Our newest temporary exhibit Finding A Place: A History of Housing in Whistler will be opening Friday, May 31!
Finding A Place takes a look at the different ways people have made a home in the valley over the past century, from constructing a fishing lodge to subdividing a neighbourhood and from squatting in the woods to the Whistler Housing Authority (and everything in between!). The exhibit also features the photographs of Carin Smolinski’s Living the Dream, providing a glimpse of some unique living situations in Whistler’s present.
Doors open at 6:30 pm. Cash bar & free admission. The exhibit will run through July 31.
We love newsletters at the museum. They’re a great way of keeping interested parties up to date and sharing information and, when donated to the archives, are an interesting record of changes to an organization over time. Recently, some of the museum’s resource binders were digitized to make them text-searchable to help with our own and others’ research projects. One of these binders housed a collection of newsletters published by Blackcomb Mountain over the late 1980s and early 1990s: the Blabcomb.
The 18 foot cake prepared by Gourmet for the opening of Blackcomb Mountain in 1980. By the time the Blabcomb began publishing the mountain had been open for skiing for only seven seasons. Whistler Question Collection.
When the first edition of the Blabcomb came out on March 17, 1988 the newsletter was only four pages of news and updates related to Blackcomb operations; the last issue that the museum has a copy of, from July 12, 1991, had grown to twelve.
Early issues of the Blabcomb came out with payroll every two weeks, then switched to monthly publication for the summer months.
The issues included lists of birthdays, staff changes, discounts, meetings and recognition of the latest ICE (Inspire Continued Excellence) Awards. Even birth announcements made it in,
Thought the newsletter included frequent calls for volunteers and contributions, it would seem Blabcomb was spearheaded by Eric Sinclair of Blackcomb’s accounting department. The name “Blabcomb” was the product of Wayne “Chookhead” Burt, who won out against competing submissions such as “Snow News” (Bart Parsons), “Seventh Heaven Express” (Peter Bacholtz), and “Blackcomb Briefs” (Gerhard Reimer).
Considering the chatty (and, at times, perhaps gossipy) tone of the newsletter, Blabcomb seems like a perfect fit.
The suitcase races on Blackcomb were a popular event, and would have made for great television. Blackcomb Collection.
In some ways the resort described in the Blabcomb is very different from the Whistler Blackcomb operations of today. Events such as the Celebrity Challenge Suitcase Race (you can learn more about that event here) no longer run and with the merger between Whistler and Blackcomb guest numbers are no longer a competition. Other parts of their spring 1988 newsletters, however, could almost be published today.
The Blabcomb reportedly began “in order to maintain the Blackcomb spirit,” which some feared was being lost as the company grew (a feeling not unknown in Whistler). In early March 1988 the Blackcomb staff (combining both employees of Blackcomb Skiing Enterprises and of Alta Lake Foods, which ran the food and beverage operations for the mountain) surpassed the 600 employees mark. The creation of the Blabcomb recognized that it could be “difficult to maintain that feeling of ‘family’ among such a large employee base.”
Original pin that was used to promote the new Wizard Chair at Blackcomb Mountain. Whistler Museum.
With expanded food service and five new lifts added in 1987 (Magic Chair, Wizard Express, Solar Coaster Express, 7th Heaven Express and Horstman Glacier T-Bar) the 1987-88 season was a big year for Blackcomb Mountain. By early April it had exceeded 512,000 visits (to put the number is perspective, the previous record of 508,000 had been set by Whistler Mountain in the 1984/85 season) and looked on track to exceed 600,000 by the time the season ended.
Employees asked by the Blabcomb described the season as “exciting, exhausting, wild and, of course, magical” but the newsletter also acknowledged the toll the season had taken.
As they put it, “Not only did Blackcomb employees have to adjust to a massive expansion project that included new lifts, buildings and added responsibilities, they were overwhelmed by the number of skiers we received in Whistler Resort this year… A shortage of employees, cramped, and sometimes marginal living conditions made these ‘adjustments’ even more difficult.”
Over the next few years the Blabcomb continued to update employees about changes in operations and events on the mountain, while also covering topics that we still discuss in Whistler today, such as the construction of employee housing (it was during this period that Blackcomb and CP Hotels, later the Chateau, built some of the housing currently in use).
Though newsletters are often written thinking of the present and future, they can be really useful resources when examining our past.
The Whistler Museum’s archive houses many documents, printed material, films, oral histories, and photographs from Whistler’s rich cultural past, from the arrival of Whistler’s earliest pioneers to the journey of hosting the Olympic Games. It’s a treasure trove of interesting facts and unique stories that are unapologetically Whistler.
One of the first major collections I (Brad Nichols, Executive Director/Curator) catalogued while working in the archives as an intern at the Whistler Museum in the summer of 2011 was the George Benjamin photograph collection.
George Benjamin, originally from Toronto, Ontario, first came to Whistler in 1968 on a ski vacation, staying at the infamous Toad Hall. George, on “Benji,” as he was more commonly known, would move to Whistler in 1970.
George was a semi-professional photographer. His family back in Ontario owned a photo-finishing business, and this allowed him to develop his photographs for free – a handy asset in the days before digital photography.
George Benjamin himself holds his catch at the dock of Tokum Corners. Benjamin Collection.
The George Benjamin Collection consists of 8,236 images from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Photos in the collection include images of early Whistler Mountain Ski Patrol, Soo Valley Toad Hall, Gelandesprung ski jump competitions, summer days spent at many of Whistler’s lakes, parties, and everyday shots of living and working in Whistler. This might be the most candid representation of Whistler during this era in our collection.
Photos don’t usually get more candid than this. Benjamin Collection.
Folks living in Whistler during this time would have had more in common with Whistler’s early-20th century pioneers than with the Whistler of today. Many residents were still using outhouses, had little-to-no electricity, and relied on wood stoves for their cooking needs. George’s photos capture this pioneer lifestyle, but with the added element of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s – and, of course, people that loved to ski.
George’s residence in Whistler was the infamous Tokum Corners. This cabin – which was once home to Whistler Museum Board Chair John Hetherington, had no running water, and was often repaired with found materials – would become one of the cornerstones of social life in the valley.
Tokum Corners, as seen across the tracks in 1971. Benjamin Collection.
George, who had access to 16mm film equipment, would often shoot on Whistler Mountain, capturing his days following ski patrol blasting and partaking in avalanche control. These film vignettes would be screened at Tokum Corners, usually with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon playing over top to ever-growing crowds.
The Photocell, covered in snow. Benjamin Collection.
George opened the Photo Cell photography store in Creekside around 1973.
He later became a commercial fisherman in the late-1970s. He moved from Whistler back to Toronto in the early 1980s and now lives in Port Perry, Ontario.
George generously donated his collection of photographs and negatives to the museum in 2009. The bulk of George Benjamin’s photos are available on the Whistler Museum’s website here.
If you have any interesting stories, films, or photographs from Whistler’s past, we would love to hear from you.
Hearing the name Alpine Lodge, many people may assume it refers to a lodge located in the alpine or in the neighbourhood of Alpine Meadows. Alpine Lodge, however, is actually one of the three lodges we have information about that were located around the Garibaldi Townsite.
The Garibaldi Townsite and several other small communities formed in the Cheakamus Valley near Daisy Lake around the Garibaldi Station of the PGE Railway that opened in 1914. Much of the information the museum has on the area has been provided by Betty Forbes who, along with Ian Barnet, gathered interviews and other documents to put together what Betty called “a record of the history for generations to come.”
Betty (seated on suitcase) and Doug Forbes (third from right) wait for the train at Garibaldi Station with three other couples. The pair visited Alpine Lodge on their honeymoon in 1945. Forbes Collection.
The first lodge, Garibaldi Lodge, was built by Tom Nye in 1014 on the east side of the Cheakamus River. Like Rainbow Lodge, it included a post office and a store. The lodge was operated by Tom Nye and his family until the late 1930s. Garibaldi Lodge was largely inactive during the Second World War until it was reopened by Bill Howard and his father in 1946. According to Bill, one of the more popular trips they offered was up to Black Tusk by horseback. As he recalled, “Very few ever hiked it – very few of our guests anyway. It was a 12-mile (9km) trail that used to go way out by old Daisy Lake. It took about four hours on horseback to get to the top.” Often these excursions would be camping trips, with pack horses carrying supplies to stay overnight.
The Howards operated Garibaldi Lodge for only two years before selling to the Walshes in 1946, who later sold the lodge to Pat Crean and Ian Barnbet in 1970. They winterized the lodge to serve the growing number of skiers heading to Whistler Mountain.
Members of the “Alive Club” outside Alpine Lodge in 1979. Forbes Collection.
Alpine Lodge, further along the Cheakamus River, was built by the Cranes in 1922. A store was later added in 1926 and a post office. Alpine Lodge was operated by members of the Crane family through the 1940s. In 1970 it was bought by Doug and Diane McDonald and, like Garibaldi Lodge, was winterized. Both lodges appear in hotel directories in publications such as Garibaldi’s Whistler News from the 1970s.
A third lodge, Lake Lucille Lodge, did not make it the 1970s. Built by Shorty Knight in 1929 and close to the lake, it was very popular for fishing. The lodge went through various owners before it was bought by BC Electric in 1957 and used as a construction camp during the building of the Daisy Lake Dam. The lodge was burnt down in 1959 after construction of the dam was completed.
Tongue in cheek signs at Garibaldi – Alpine Lodge signs Northbound (l) and Southbound (r). Whistler Question Collection.
Both Garibaldi and Alpine Lodges were still operating in 1980 when the provincial government issued an Order-in-Council declaring Garibaldi Townsite unsafe due to the instability of the Barrier, a naturally formed lava dam retaining the Garibaldi Lake system.
Despite opposition from the residents, the townsite, which had grown considerably by this time, was to be emptied. One of the last community gatherings was held at Alpine Lodge. As Betty Forbes recalled, “The McDonalds at Alpine Lodge opened their whole lobby, kitchen, and dining to the residents of Garibaldi for a pot-luck supper… It was rather like a wake, but it was a happy wake.”
Garibaldi Lodge was sold to the government in 1982 and most of the structures were destroyed (one cabin was moved to Pinecrest). Alpine Lodge followed the same fate in 1986.
While the museum has transcripts of oral-history interviews and various photos, it is difficult to create a cohesive history of Garibaldi. Recently, however, Victoria Crompton took over the project from Betty Forbes and Ian Barnet and has now published a book, Garibaldi Townsite: Life & Times, for those interested in learning more about the area.
