Tag: Whistler Mountain

It’s a Small WorldIt’s a Small World

April 1, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

Last month we shared a story about Whistler residents encountering each other while traveling when, in 1984, Inge and Jens Nielsen discovered Chuck Blaylock was piloting their flight back from Europe. It’s also not uncommon for visitors or residents to come across someone in Whistler who they know from outside the valley, often long before they moved to the area. In the 1990s, this phenomenon happened to Karen Vagelatos when she dropped her kids off at ski school.

Karen grew up in the Vancouver area and first visited Alta Lake as a teenager in the summer of 1963 when she, her cousin Bob Calladine, and their racing coach Lorne O’Connor were part of a group that climbed up Whistler Mountain and were filmed skiing Whistler Bowl. Karen learned to ski at the age of three (not surprising as her father had a popular ski shop in downtown Vancouver for many years) and was a member of the Canada National Ski Team from 1964 to 1968, competing in two Olympic Winter Games.

Karen is seen next to Nancy Greene during the 1969 Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

After retiring from racing, Karen coached for the Whistler Mountain Ski Club and the Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp and even when living in Vancouver continued to visit the area regularly, first staying with friends and then buying a cabin. Her family moved up full-time in 1995.

By 1995, Karen and her family had moved over to Blackcomb Mountain and were members of the Blackcomb Ski Club. When asked why she made the switch after such a long history on Whistler, Karen explained that is was not as much about the terrain as it was the chairlifts; Whistler was still running double chairs while Blackcomb had triples, which meant that she and her husband could each take two of their four young kids instead of sending them up with other skiers.

A Kids Kamp lesson on Blackcomb Mountain. Blackcomb Mountain Collection

This switch meant that her children attended Blackcomb’s Kids Kamp and when taking them in one she came across none other than Florence Petersen at reception. Karen happened to be with someone she went to high school with who pointed out Florence as “Flossie,” their PE teacher in Burnaby for grades 11 and 12.

It might seem strange to some to call a teacher by a nickname, but Florence was known to quite a few of here students as Flossie. Florence attended Burnaby North Secondary School before doing her teacher training at the Vancouver Normal School. At the time, most new teachers would spend a few years teaching at a one-room school after completing their training before they applied for positions in the larger city schools. However, there was a shortage of trained PE teachers in the late 1940s. Florence was one of only a few in her year who completed the extra course to be qualified, meaning she went straight into teaching at city secondary schools.

Florence’s first position was as a PE teacher at a school in Coquitlam, where she was only a year older than some of her oldest students. After two years, she moved to Burnaby North, her alma mater, where she taught for the next fifteen years. When she first arrived back at Burnaby North, she found herself teaching former schoolmates who had been young students when she graduated. Looking back in 2007, she recalled “I have to thank them all for being very respectful” and calling her Ms Strachan in class and Flossie outside of school.

Florence and Don Gow on the Burnt Stew Hike in the 1950s where Burnt Stew Basin was given its name. Gow Collection

Florence later transitioned into counselling and went first to Moscrop Junior High and then Burnaby South Secondary School before retiring in 1983 after 36 years as a teacher.

In 1955, while teaching at Burnaby North, Florence and fellow teachers and friends Betty Gray (Shore), June Tidball (Collins), Kelly Forster (Fairhurst) and Jacquie Pope purchased Witsend, a cottage on Alta Lake that they would visit regularly until it was destroyed by a fire in 1965. Florence moved up permanently when she retired, joining her husband Andy Petersen who had already been living in their Whistler property full-time.

As well as becoming Whistler’s first marriage commissioner and a founding force behind the Whistler Museum, Florence could sometimes be found working in places such as the Kids Kamp building, where Karen Vagelatos came across her. Though Karen had not known about Florence’s connection to Alta Lake, after this first meeting she would regularly see her around Whistler. Looking back, she recalled Florence as a great but demanding PE teacher with high expectations of her students.

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Lounging in WhistlerLounging in Whistler

March 25, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

Jack Bright first arrived in the Whistler area with his wife Ann in 1967 as the new ski area manager, responsible for everything for the lift company that didn’t move (mountain manager Dave Mathews was responsible for the things that did move, such as lifts). In 1975, while Jack was still working for Garibaldi Lifts Ltd., the couple opened the Whistler Inn, described in its first season as “ultra modern yet rustic accommodation,” right near the shores of Nita Lake within walking distance to the lifts. After a seemingly successful first season, a restaurant and cocktail lounge was added onto the Inn in preparation for the winter of 1976/77.

In its first year, JB’s Dining Lounge featured some familiar faces in the area, as well as some new ones. Roger Systad, who had previously worked at the Brandywine Falls Restaurant, the Cheakamus Inn and L’Apres, was hired as the head chef and John Reynolds, manager, barman and fixture of the Cheakamus Inn, returned to Whistler as the barman at the Whistler Inn. A few months after opening, JB’s also hired Michael D’Artois who, though he had been visiting the area to ski for years, was at Whistler for his first season as a full-time resident.

The Whistler Inn as seen from the tennis courts next to Nita Lake. Whistler Question Collection, 1979

Michael had previously worked in the front office at Chateau Lake Louise until the general manager heard him singing and playing guitar at a staff contest. He was hired as a resident entertainer at the hotel for the next winter, playing in various spaces throughout the day. In the fall of 1976, when he decided to move up to Whistler, Michael left a demo tape at the Keg restaurant at Alta Lake and then returned to Vancouver. When he returned to Whistler, the Keg asked him, “Where have you been? You’re hired.” Although the Keg had been known as the place to go for disco, apparently the staff were not disappointed to come in and find Michael playing folk music for a change.

Michael D’Artois, Laura McGuffin, Rod MacLeod & Mark Sadler entertain at the Alta Lake Community Club’s Children’s Christmas Party at the Keg. Whistler Question Collection, 1980

The early winter of 1976/77 is still talked about today as very dry and cold, with little snow. Michael played at the Keg while Whistler Mountain was operating through the holidays and the beginning of 1977, but the lack of snow forced the lift company to close down in January. With no skiing, not many visitors were coming to Whistler, though residents embraced activities offered by the frozen lakes.

When it had finally snowed enough for the mountain to reopen in February, Michael was hired by Jack to perform at JB’s, similar to the position he held in Lake Louise. He played three 45 minute sets between 9pm and midnight, mostly to a local crowd who soon knew his repertoire and were happy to put in requests. According to Michael, “Not infrequently, Jack would call last call [and] people would leave, except those people that knew they didn’t have to leave.” They would have one last drink and Michael would play one last set.

After Michael moved on to other opportunities, JB’s continued to hire musicians to perform. Here, Annette Ducharme, accompanied by Jamie Boyd, plays while regular performer Betsy Chaba took a leave to play at the Folk Festival in Vancouver. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

Not wanting to work late nights again the next winter, Michael opened the Valley Inn in a building on Nesters Road he rented from Rudy Hofmann. He stayed in the hotel business for a few years, even living onsite in the Whistler Village while still under construction, before getting his real estate licence and starting a long career in real estate.

The Whistler Inn and JB’s are still standing in Creekside today, though they have changed some over the past five decades. The Whistler Inn is today known as the Whistler Resort & Club and JB’s has changed names a few times. The space became Hoz’s Pub under Ron Hosner in the 1980s and Karen Roland began working there in the 1990s. She took over the space in 2008 and today JB’s restaurant area houses Roland’s Pub while JB’s bar area has been transformed into the Red Door Bistro.

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“The greatest job in the world”“The greatest job in the world”

February 25, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Leanne Dufour came to Whistler Mountain for the 1971/72 season to teach skiing for a year, Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. was still a relatively small operation. Jim McConkey’s ski school had only seven full-time instructors and the lift company had only a few departments who divided up all of the responsibilities of running a ski hill.

Heading into the 1974/75 winter season, Leanne (who didn’t leave after that first season after all) was approached by Jack Bright, the mountain manager in charge of ticket sales, administration, image, publicity and much more, about establishing a new position, that of Mountain Hostess. Though Leanne was given some direction from Jack, she was also allowed a lot of free reign to start the program. She put together a small team; first hiring Judy Johnson and soon after Connie Cathers and Gail Morrison. Over the years, more Mountain Hostesses would be hired as the team grew.

Leanne Dufour, Kim Armstrong, Heather Lynskey, and Gail Morrison, the Mountain Hostess team. Photo courtesy of Leanne Dufour

According to Leanne, Whistler Mountain’s Mountain Hostesses “specialized in fun.” They led twice-daily free ski tours around the mountain, organized special events, worked on ski races like the McConkey’s Cup and World Cups, and in many ways served as Whistler Mountain’s public relations and guest services. For the Christmas holidays, they would dress up as elves and ski around with Santa; over Easter, one of the Mountain Hostesses would double as the Easter Bunny and they would hand out candy, which often led to them being followed around the mountain by crowds of children. On Sunday evenings the Mountain Hostesses would go to the different lodges in the ski area (there were still only a handful) and do a presentation about Whistler Mountain. They often showed the film “The Snows of Garibaldi” and even knocked on room doors to let everyone know that there would be a film screening.

Mountain Hostesses follow Santa down the hill. Greg Griffith Collection

Early on Leanne had made herself a nametag that read “Mountain Hostess Ask Me” by writing on a piece of paper with felt pen, putting it in a plastic case, and pinning it to her lift company uniform. Unfortunately, she then spent the day outside in the pouring rain and her nametag soon became illegible. In an effort to make themselves identifiable and differentiate themselves from other mountain employees seen on the mountain, the Mountain Hostesses needed their own uniforms.

A Mountain Hostess on the mountain in the one-piece navy blue Bogner suit. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

Judy decided to approach Franz Wilhelmsen, the lift company president, to get one-piece Bogner suits as uniforms for the Mountain Hostesses. She and Leanne traveled down to Vancouver to put on a fashion show in his office and, as Leanne recalled, his response was “Sure, I’ll buy those.” Though the suits were expensive, Mountain Hostesses became easily recognized in their navy blue one-pieces with “Whistler Hostess” on the front and back and even written in Japanese on the arm.

As part of her work, Leanne also put together packages to bring ski groups to Whistler Mountain. Working with Penny Wright, who was the manager of the Highland Lodge and then other lodges in the ski area, they would combine airlines, hotels, and ski lessons or lift tickets (depending on the skill of the group) into one package and then approach tour operators such as CP Air. These tours were so successful that CP Air even took Leanne and Jim McConkey to Japan to promote Whistler Mountain, traveling to different cities and ski areas where they would put on presentations about the skiing, the accommodations, and more.

An updated Mountain Hostess uniform in the 1980s. Greg Griffith Collection

Leanne ran the Mountain Hostess program for five years. Before she left she hired Heather Lynskey, who would take over the program from Leanne before handing the program over to Karen Krivel. Over the years, as the lift company grew rapidly, some of the duties of the Mountain Hostesses were divided into separate departments, including Guest Services, Events, Races and more, while other duties such as the free daily tours were incorporated into volunteer positions, first known as Ski Friends and operating today as Mountain Hosts.

Though Leanne left the Mountain Hostess program, she didn’t quite leave Whistler Mountain, especially as her husband Bob Dufour still worked for the lift company. (Bob worked for Whistler Mountain and then Whistler Blackcomb for a combined 48 years before he retired.) She went back to teach private lessons once her kids were in school full-time and was part of the creation of a ski program at the local schools. Looking back at her years as a Mountain Hostess and their aim to “specialize in fun,” Leanne recalled, “We were very good at having fun because we had the greatest job in the world… being paid every day to go skiing with people.”

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From Alta Lake to WhistlerFrom Alta Lake to Whistler

February 11, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Glen Creelman arrived in the Whistler area in 1960, it wasn’t for the skiing or for the fishing. Glen moved to Alta Lake (as it was known at the time) to work for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) as a communications lineman, maintaining the telephone line and new microwave station.

Glen had recently graduated from technical college and his arrival at Alta Lake in April was newsworthy enough to be remarked on in the “Alta Lake Echo,” the newsletter of the Alta Lake Community Club, which stated “Our new telephone lineman is young, handsome, single Glen Creelman.” Over the following months, as he became part of the small Alta Lake community, his comings and goings and activities were also reported on in the “Echo,” including which his family came to visit, when he bought a canoe, and when he started organizing softball teams for Alta Lake residents and the nearby logging operations. As a resident of Alta Lake, Glen was a founding member of the Alta Lake Volunteer Fire Department, along with Dick Fairhurst, Doug Mansell and Stefan Ples (Glen served as Assistant Chief), and a founding member of the Alta Lake Sailing Club.

Members of the Alta Lake Volunteer Fire Department raft their fire shelter and its contents across the lake to Alta Vista, 1967. Petersen Collection.

As the communications lineman, Glen was responsible for looking after the microwave station on Whistler Mountain. The road up to the station (now known as Gondola Way) could be driven up in his vehicle for much of the year, but in the winter Glen was given a Tucker snowcat to make the journey. In an interview in 2023, Glen described this snowcat as “hopeless” and recalled that he would often park it, put on snowshoes, and then walk most of the way up to the station. He was later given a better machine, which he called “Little Tucker,” that could make it all the way up to the station. As one of the few people in the area with a snowcat, Glen had the experience of driving Franz Wilhelmsen and other members of the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association up Whistler Mountain in the early 1960s when they began planning for lifts and ski runs. Glen was also there when they began constructing these lifts in 1965 and helped pull the cable for the Red Chair when it was installed.

Another part of his job was to maintain the telephone line that ran along the railway which was also made more difficult by snow. According to Glen, winters could be pretty snowy and wet and it was not uncommon for the snowplow that cleared the tracks to throw wet snow onto the telephone line and break it. Glen would have to go out, go up the telephone pole, tie a rubber-covered cable to one end of the break, and then go along the tracks to find the other end and reattach the wire, climbing and working alone as the only lineman for the section.

Bob Williamson, one of Glen’s predecessors, at work on the lines. Smith Collection.

After Whistler Mountain opened for skiing in 1966, Glen started teaching skiing on the weekends, first for Roy Ferris and Alan White and then for Jim McConkey after he took over the ski school. It was through skiing that he met his wife Trish, who first visited Whistler Mountain in February 1971. She was promptly offered a job at the Mount Whistler Lodge and moved up for the rest of the winter. According to Trish, the first time Glen saw her she was climbing on the bus at the bottom of the dump run after a long day of skiing. Like Glen, Trish taught skiing for Jim McConkey, as well as working at the Mount Whistler Lodge and then Rudi’s Steakhouse.

Apart from one year when he went traveling, Glen continued to work as the PGE (and later BC Rail) lineman for the area until 1973, when he and Trish left to get married in Ireland and then settle in the Kootenays, where Glen grew up. By the time they left, Glen had seen the small Alta Lake community he arrived in transform into a growing ski area.

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