The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and Whistler Museum & Archives Society are offering the chance to own a piece of Whistler’s mountain history this February with the sale of trail signs from both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.
Over 250 unique signs will be available for purchase online at whistlerblackcombfoundation.com Thursday, February 7 at 10 AM PST. These signs previously directed skiers and boarders down their favourite runs and include a variety of trails, lifts and logos. Whether you favoured Jimmy’s Joker or Pony Trail, there’s sure to be a sign to bring back memories of days spent in the snow.
Signs range from $20 to $250, depending upon condition. Purchased signs will be available for pick up at the Whistler Museum February 9, 10 & 14 only.
All proceeds from the sales go to support the work of the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and Whistler Museum & Archives Society. A selection of signs will be retained in the Whistler Museum’s artifact collection.
The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation is dedicated to providing financial support to registered non-profit organizations whose activities provide benefit to residents of the Sea to Sky Corridor in the areas of health, human services, education, recreation, arts and culture and the environment with an emphasis on children, youth and family programs.
The Whistler Museum & Archives Society works to collect, preserve, document and interpret the natural and human history of mountain life – with an emphasis on Whistler – and to provide a forum in which to present an innovative range of exhibitions and education programs to enrich the lives of residents and guests.
The names of people, places and things sometimes change. At the beginning of the 20th century, Whistler Mountain was labelled on maps as London Mountain and, until the creation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler in 1975, this area was officially known as Alta Lake. Even Alta Lake was once called Summit Lake.
Some name changes, such as that of Whistler Mountain, occur gradually, beginning as a nickname and then changing officially to reflect the popular name. Others change only partially, leaving enough of the previous name to ensure it is still easily recognizable. An example of this is The Point.
Bert Harrop first came to Alta Lake in 1920 for a short stay at Rainbow Lodge. Like many before and after him, his first stay in the valley ended up lasting a few decades longer than expected. Helped by Alex Philip, the Harrops settled on a point of land on the west side of the lake, just south of Rainbow Lodge, which became known as Harrop’s Point.
Bert has been trained as a cabinetmaker in England and he quickly put his skills to use at Alta Lake. Before winter arrived, he and Sewall Tapley had framed in a small house on the beach at Rainbow Lodge. Constructed on a raft of cedar logs and later secured to the shore of Harrop’s Point, this became Alta Lake’s first (and possible only) floating cottage.
The floating cottage on Alta Lake built by Bert Harrop and Sewall Tapley. Fairhurst Collection.
This cottage was followed by a tearoom with a porch extending over the water. Harrop’s Tearoom became a gathering place for locals and visitors, presided over by Bert’s wife Agnes. The tearoom was known for more than simply a good meal; Agnes told fortunes by reading tea leaves. According to Pip Brock, whose family began visiting Alta Lake in the 1920s, Agnes “did it very well, assisted by all the rampant local gossip! I used to have my cup read so I could see how I stood in the neighbourhood.”
Harrop’s Point as seen from above the PGE tracks. Philip Collection.
Bert continued building, constructing a cottage on his property to rent out to visitors and others for summer residents, including the Brock family. He also built a workshop for himself. As the snow fell in winter Bert crafted furniture in his workshop, some pieces of which survive today in the museum.
Myrtle Philip and Agnes Harrop ice-boating on a frozen Alta Lake. Photo: Philip Collection.
Bert and Agnes sold Harrop’s Point in 1948 to Cathy and Ivan Collishaw who continued to run it under that name until they sold it in 1952. Loyd and Sharen Mansell then renamed the enterprise Bob’s Point and ran it for only a year before selling to their neighbour Dick Fairhurst, who had been operating Cypress Lodge for a few years before purchasing this property, adding three cabins and a tearoom to his business. Dick’s mother Elizabeth Alice moved up from Vancouver to help run Cypress Lodge on Cypress Point. Under her, the tearoom became known for its “Hot Dog Friday Night” when a refrigerated rail car bought fresh food and meat on Fridays as well as Ma Fairhurst’s famed butter tarts.
The tearoom and Bert’s cottages were demolished in 1962 and replaced with four new cabins, complete with Alta Lake’s first coloured bathroom fixtures. Cypress Point became a gathering place for the community, including the Alta Lake Sailing Club and its annual “Regretta.” The Fairhursts continued to operate Cypress Lodge until 1972 when it was sold to the Canadian Youth Hostel Association.
For the next few decades, the property was known as the Youth Hostel until the hostel moved away from Alta Lake. Today, the buildings of Cypress Lodge host the Whistler Sailing Club and The Point Artist-Run Centre and is often referred to simply as The Point.
We’ve written quite a bit about Parkhurst and life at the mill before, and often these stories tell of the challenges that came with daily life on Green Lake in the ’30s to ’50s. Some of these challenges included the isolation, lack of running water, or the need to haul buckets of sawdust in order to keep the stove going. For children such as Ron and Jim Kitteringham, living at Parkhurst also meant a long commute to and from the Alta Lake School.
According to the mother Eleanor, however, life at Parkhurst also had its share of entertainment and fun.
Parkhurst when the mill was operating in the 1930s, taken before the Kitteringham family’s time at the site. Debeck Collection.
The Pacific Great Eastern Railway may not have been the most convenient method of travel through the valley, but it did provide some excitement for young children at the mill site. When the Kitteringhams first came to Parkhurst most of the trains were steam engines, or “steamers”. The engineers would blow the whistle on their approach to Parkhurst and Ron and Jim would run out to wave, even during supper.
Later, the “steamers” started to replaced by diesel engines, which, though a lot louder, continued to announce their arrival.
The steam engines would announce their arrival at Parkhurst to the delight of the two Kitteringham boys. Philip Collection.
Despite all the whistles of trains, Eleanor described life at Parkhurst as peaceful, lacking the traffic or crowds of a city.
Without more common forms of entertainment, such as television, the Kitteringhams spent time listening to their battery-powered radio and shows such as The Shadow and the racing programs. While the family enjoyed the radio programs, Eleanor regretted the lack of Sesame Street and other educational shows when she thought back on teaching her children.
The journey from Vancouver, though it could be long and inconveniently timed (the train only ran north on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), was also a chance for a social occasion. After taking the steamship to Squamish, the Kitteringhams and other passengers would have time to head to the Squamish Hotel for a 10-cent glass of beer, ice cream for the kids, and a chance to chat until the train headed out.
More social gatherings around Parkhurst happened each summer and fall.
In the summer, the logging camps played regular baseball games at what was then Charlie Lundstrom’s farm at the end of Green Lake, an area that today is still full of mosquitoes and long grass. Parkhurst even had a building used as a community hall where families and other workers could gather.
With no stores, Halloween at Parkhurst was sure to produce some creative costumes. Clausen Collection.
The last big “do” of the year that families would attend was usually Halloween. As Eleanor recalled, the lack of stores to buy costumes meant coming up with some pretty ingenious outfits. After Halloween most of the families would leave Parkhurst for the winter.
Neighbours could be scarce at Parkhurst, especially in the winter when the Kitteringhams were often the only family left at the mill. Parkhurst was located at Mile 43 and some evening the Kitteringhams would walk over to Mile 45 for a “musical evening” with the Greens. Bob Green would play first fiddle, Olie Kitteringham second, and Helen Green would play the banjo while Eleanor played the kettle drum.
They even formed a band, the Valley Ramblers, and played for benefit concerts to raise money for the Squamish Hospital.
Daily life at Parkhurst and Alta Lake did come with challenges, but the people who lived here also made sure to enjoy themselves, whether listening to radio shows, playing sports or simply spending time with their neighbours.
With the beginning of the new year, we have been spending some time looking back at what 2018 brought to the museum (new records, new exhibits and many new donations of artifacts and archival materials!) as well as looking forward to what lies ahead.
Each year January marks the beginning of our annual Speaker Series. We’re very excited to start off our 2019 series Thursday, January 17 with Highways of the Past: Canoeing the Grand Canyon of the Liard River.
In 1972 Mike Stein and five fellow adventurers filmed their journey on the Liard River, which flows 1115 km through parts of the Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Their trip focused on the Grand Canyon, a 30 km stretch of the Liard River containing numerous class IV and higher rapids. For decades the resulting 16mm film was thought lost, but recently Mike Stein not only found a copy but had it digitized.
Heading through the Liard Canyon, 1972. Photo courtesy of Mike Stein.
Thursday, January 17 Mike Stein will be at the Whistler Museum for the first screening of Highways of the Past and to discuss his own experiences before, during and after the trip.
While looking through a copy of Garibaldi’s Whistler News published three years prior to the trip down the Liard River, I found an article written by another participant in the canoe trip, Jim McConkey. McConkey came to Whistler Mountain to take up the position of Ski Director in the spring of 1968 and began writing instructional articles about ski techniques for the publication during his first season. In early 1969, Whistler Mountain received weeks of what he described as “beautiful, deep powder snow.” This led to “Learning Powder Snow Technique,” an article in which McConkey instructs skiers on the proper way to ski powder.
‘Diamond’ Jim McConkey’s official Whistler Mountain portrait. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.
The article begins by defining true powder snow as “very light snow that flies out from underneath the skis, sometimes bellowing up over the skier’s head.” Once the skier found the right snow, they also had to ensure they had the right equipment, meaning flexible deep snow skis, with little camber and soft heels.
When the skier was ready to head for the hill, McConkey recommended starting with a long, gently slope to practice the “continuous, flowing motion of linked turns straight down the hill” that is powder skiing. According to the article, there is no room for traversing a run on a powder day as “traversing like a cautious old woman is Taboo.”
Jack Bright and Jim McConkey skiing Whistler Mountain, 1972 (the same year as the trip). Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.
The article ends with hints that still hold up well today, such as “establish a rhythm”, “keep your head and shoulders facing down the fall line,” and “keep your feet locked together.” Especially useful is McConkey’s last reminder:
Be sure to laugh when you take a giant clobber in the deep snow. You will get your chance to laugh with your friends when they fall. Powder snow and clobbers too are for everyone.
We may not be able to promise weeks of powder skiing this January, but you can join us at the museum Thursday, January 17 for a unique look back at an incredible journey from 1972.
Tickets are on sale at the Whistler Museum; $10 or $5 for museum or Club Shred members. Doors open at 6:30 pm, the talk and film will start at 7 pm. See you there!
