Tag: Whistler history

Dick Fairhurst’s Memories: Paul GolnickDick Fairhurst’s Memories: Paul Golnick

October 6, 2018 Whistler Museum 4 Comments

Many people know Dick Fairhurst as the owner and operator of Cypress Lodge on Alta Lake, now occupied by the Whistler Sailing Association and the Point Artist-Run Centre. When he first moved to Alta Lake in 1943, however, Dick spent the springs working for Alf Gebhart at the Rainbow Lumber Company Mill. After Cypress Lodge opened in the late 1940s Dick continued to work as a logger and, through his work, got to meet many different characters that came through the valley.

In Dick’s short collection of “Whistler Stories” some are mentioned only briefly while, others, like Paul Golnick, seemed to make life at Alta Lake exciting and memorable.

Paul Golnick arrived in the valley in 1952 and was assigned to work under Dick at the Van West logging camp. Paul, a young German immigrant, was described as a “very husky, burly, no nonsense man” who “looked like he could carry the logs out on his back.”

The Van West Logging Camp in the 1950s, set up closer to today’s Function Junction. Noyes Collection.

Paul’s time at the logging camp stuck in Dick’s memory from his first loggers’ breakfast. Before coming to Canada Paul had lived in post-war Germany and then worked in the coal mines in France. The breakfast tables at the camp were piled with food and, as Dick recalled, in one sitting Paul made it through a dozen eggs, a plate of bacon and hot cakes and a finisher of toast and jam. Paul later told Dick he had never seen so much food before.

Though Paul quickly proved to be a hard and capable worker, his time at Alta Lake was not without mishap. While getting a drink from a creek one day he accidentally dislodged a small pole which came to stop of the head of a coworker (a chaser) getting a drink slightly down the creek. The chaser’s head was pushed down and when he came back up mud streamed from his mouth and was lodged behind his glasses. This wouldn’t have been so terrible but, in his temper, the chaser tripped over another log and fell into more mud. While Dick hid behind a tree laughing and Paul tried to explain the accident the chaser gathered his things and left.

Logging donkeys, caterpillar tractors with arches and mobile loaders were used by Van West. It was hard work but an improvement over the hand logging of the 1920s. Green Collection.

There were few opportunities for driving in the valley but by the 1950s a rough tote road had been made by the logging camp on the old Pemberton Trail. Dick bought three Ford Model As and, though his was a “real lemon” and good only for parts, Paul’s was good enough to get them to work. Unfortunately, according to Dick, Paul wasn’t the best driver and he wouldn’t let anyone else behind the wheel. On steep hills the motor would stall and Dick would have to jump out to put a rock behind the wheel – apparently Paul couldn’t yet handle the brake and gas at the same time. On one occasion the rock failed and Paul, thinking he’d hit the brake, went back down the hill in reverse at full speed. Dick described it as “the fanciest bit of steering I ever saw in my life.” Despite two flat tires, the car was back on the road in just a couple of days.

After a year at the camp Paul took over Dick’s job hooking for the catskinners and brought his bride Marianne to join him from Germany. A wedding party for them was held at Dick’s house and went well until, just moments after Paul had commented that he “had never seen so many happy people,” a fight broke out leaving Dick with a smashed window and a bloody wall. Dick never asked what he thought about the “happy people” after that.

When Marianne was seven months pregnant a group from the Van West logging camp went to visit at Parkhurst. This journey involved driving over the “road” to the log dump at the south end of Green Lake where they got a ride on the Queen Mary across the lake. Visits to Parkhurst were great socializing opportunities and by the time the group left it was getting dark. The Queen Mary brought them back to the log dump where there was so much bark and debris floating that, in the dusk, the debris could be mistaken for solid ground. Unfortunately the first one out of the boat was Marianne who went straight through the debris and into fifteen feet of cold water. Paul and the others still onboard quickly grabbed her and hauled Marianne back into the boat. Luckily there were no ill effects from her dunking.

The settlement at Parkhurst in the 1950s, across the lake from where Marianne fell in. Clausen Collection.

Two months later Paul and Marianne created more excitement when, at 3 am, Marianne went into labour. With no scheduled train, the section foreman had to be called to bring his speeder with a trailer to take Marianne to Squamish. At Brackendale Marianne was loaded into an ambulance and a daughter was born before they made it to the hospital.

We’re not sure what happened to Paul and his family after they left Alta Lake and Dick doesn’t include any details on their later years. This is not uncommon – so many people pass through the valley that it’s hard to keep track of everyone. Paul’s time here, however, was certainly memorable to those who knew him.

This Week in Photos

This Week In Photos: October 4This Week In Photos: October 4

October 4, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

You may notice this week’s post is shorter than usual – some weeks have missing negatives while others are missing entirely. This happens to be one of those weeks, but there was still a lot going on in the years that are covered, from bridge openings to boat building to Brownies meetings.

1978

Mayor Pat Carleton waits for a train to arrive outside the Whistler Station.

Construction crews on Whistler Mountain recently got the feeling that they were being watched…

The most photographed bridge on #99! The bridge over the 19 Mile Creek as it was in a nearly finished state last Saturday.

1980

The Midstation towers on the new Olympic Chair on Whistler North. Picture taken from the top of the Village Chair.

Do-it-yourself! – Whistler United Pharmacy owner Dave Stewart gives his front windows a polish.

LUNCH BREAK! Nello Busdon, Neil Roberts, Pat Greatrex and others enjoy the sunshine in the town centre plaza.

Workers lay interlock brick tiles in the Whistler Village Square.

Chamber of Commerce’s Michael D’Artois shows off the Town Centre to members of the BCIT Hospitality and Tourism Faculty.

Cst. Chuck Klaudt, the new member of the Whistler RCMP detachment.

1982

The winners: The Boot Pub Ladies Golf Classic.

Dryland downhill training – Dave Murray takes Blackcomb and Whistler Ski Club members through some of the exercises that help limber up skiers for the season opening.

The winning team (minus one key player) who put together Whistler’s weekly miracle, the Question, which was judged top in its class by BC and Yukon Community Newspapers Association October 2.

Dennis and Judy Waddingham display the new sign painted by Charlie Doyle, which hangs outside their store in Whistler Village. Opening day will be before the mountains begin their season.

Whistler’s Brownies rekindled the campfire spirit October 4 when they gathered at Myrtle Philip School for the first meeting of the year.

T’is the season to get sawing and chopping. These Alpine residents seem well prepared for winter’s onslaught.

A crew of landlubbers helped hoist the deck onto the sleek craft which Cress Walker and Paul Clark have been building all summer long in the driveway of their Alpine Meadows home.

Members of the Niels Petersen Band. Niels Petersen (lead vocals), Connie Lebeau (bass guitar), Christopher Allen (harp) and Gary Petersen (drums) warm up an act that will be entertaining Whistlerites all winter. The band will be appearing at Tapley’s and at the Brass Rail throughout the ski season.

1983

A cold crisp morning kept most creatures inside early Sunday, but this great blue heron had work to do. It was photographed as it flew over the River of Golden Dreams close to Green Lake looking for fish. Shortly after this photo was taken an industrious beaver swam past carrying wood for its lodge.

A smiling Ted Pryce-Jones proudly snips the ribbon to mark the official opening of the new suspension bridge built across the Callaghan River near the Cheakamus River junction last Thursday. Pryce-Jones designed the army-style bridge and with the help of a host of EBAP workers completed the project in under three months.

Bridge decking is composed of 3.5m long fir planks treated with a special wood preservative designed to make them last more than 20 years. And for those with bridge phobias, 2 1/2cm steel cables stretch across the river to provide for a safe crossing.

Marilyn Manso, one of three employees at the Alta Lake weather station, enters local weather information on a data terminal linked with Toronto. Entries must be made every hour on the hour or more often as changing weather patterns dictate.

Posing for photographs can be an awkward process.

50 Years of Green50 Years of Green

September 29, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

When the mountains open this winter things will look a bit different. Over the summer both mountains have undergone some changes. On Whistler a new six-person Emerald Express will replace the four-person chair. This will be the fifth chairlift installed along this lift line, with this season marking fifty years since the installation of the Green Chair.

Blizzard! The scene looking down the Green Chair during a snowstorm in February, 1979. Whistler Question Collection.

The first Green Chair, a two-person lift with an uphill capacity of 1000 people per hour, was installed on Whistler Mountain for the 1968/69 season and opened up new terrain for skiing. Over the summer of 1968 two new beginner-intermediate runs were cut and groomed, known today as Ego Bowl and Jolly Green Giant, and advanced skiers were promised fantastic bowl skiing and powder skiing in the evergreens around the lift.

Once open the Green Chair made it possible for skiers to ski down to the valley on the northeast side of Whistler. A new intermediate run was cut from the top of the Green Chair to what was then referred to as the “gravel pit”, the future site of Whistler Village. A bus service provided by Whistler Mountain would then run skiers back to the gondola base at Creekside.

The two Green Chairs can be seen heading up towards the Roundhouse. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

The Green Chair and the runs it serviced proved popular and in 1970 the lift was extended. Loading now took place further down the hill where skiers and boarders were still loading when the mountain closed this spring. At the same time Ego Bowl and Jolly Green Giant were widened and cleared of trees, stumps and boulders.

The Orange Chair, built in 1972, added more access to the Green Chair area and enabled the building of the Whiskey Jack run, which ran from the top of the Orange to the bottom of the Green Chairs. By this time the “gravel pit” had been renamed the Olympic parking lot and Olympic Run was a regular ski out for many skiers.

Skiers head up the Green Chair on a sunny day, 1980. Whistler Question Collection.

By 1973, the popularity of the Green Chair and its beginner-intermediate runs already indicated the need for greater uphill capacity. A second double lift, imaginatively named Green Chair II, was planned for the 1974/75 season. Running parallel to Green Chair I and transporting 1200 skiers per hour, this new chair promised to eliminate lift lines in the area.

The next few years saw more changes for the Green Chairs. A new run was cut in 1976 to reduce congestion in the area and the winner of the accompanying contest named the new route Green Acres. Green Chair I gained a new tower in 1977 to allow the addition of a mid-station loading ramp. The new loading point was meant to allow for skiing both earlier and late in the season.

Skiers board the Green Express at the bottom of Ego Bowl. Whistler Question Collection.

The two Green Chairs ran side by side until 1989, when both were replaced by the Green Chair Express, Whistler Mountain’s first quad chair. This Green Chair lasted only eight years before the high-speed Emerald Express, also a quad, replaced it in 1997.

More than 20 years later the old Emerald Express has been disassembled and will reappear on Blackcomb this year, replacing the original Catskinner Chair from 1980. The new six-person Emerald Express will provide access to the same runs built under the original Green Chair fifty years ago, though it may look a little different today.