Tag: Whistler Mountain

Marmots and the MountainMarmots and the Mountain

July 9, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Before landing on the name “Whistler” the mountain was known by a few other names. Whistler Mountain was first known as Cwítima/Kacwítima by the Lil’wat Nation and Sk̲wik̲w by the Squamish Nation. In the 1860s, the mountain was named London Mountain by British Naval Surveyors because the thick fog coating the area was reminiscent of the foggy skies of London. The name didn’t stick because of the connotations from the dangerous smog London suffered as a result of coal burning. The name Whistler or Whistle was used to refer to the mountain unofficially as early as the 1920s, inspired by the Hoary Marmots that populate the mountain and the whistling sound they make when trying to alert friends that danger is near. The name was officially changed in the 1960s. 

Photo: Hike to Russet Lake. Photo of courtesy Cliff Jennings.

British Columbia is home to four species of marmots: the Yellow-Bellied marmot, the Vancouver Island marmot, the Woodchuck, and, of course, the Hoary marmot.  Only the Hoary marmot lives in Whistler. While the local marmots appear to love to hang out on the mountain, sunbathing and entertaining tourists, they actually spend six to eight months underground hibernating every year. Marmots dig twenty three foot deep hibernation burrows to spend their winters in. In the months they are not hibernating (March-September), these critters’ diet consists of berries, roots, mosses, lichen, grasses, and other plants. These furry friends generally live in colonies of ten to twenty and a group of marmots is often called a madness. Whistler’s favorite rodent also happens to be the largest breed of ground squirrel, weighing a whopping eight to twenty pounds! Luckily, marmots are protected by the BC Wildlife Act so we can count on keeping the mountain full of these adorable, friendly faces.

Photo: Half Note hike. Photo of courtesy Cliff Jennings

It is not a stretch to consider the hoary marmot the mascot of Whistler given that they are the namesake of the mountain and the town. Back in the 1980s, the Whistler Resort Association (today known as Tourism Whistler) even made it official. A contest was held to name the new marmot mascot and the winner, eight year-old Tammi Wick, chose the name Willie. Willie Whistler became an active community member, attending ski races, giving out awards, and entertaining locals and visitors alike. Willie Whistler the marmot served as a mascot at local events into the 1990s.

The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games introduced a second marmot mascot to Whistler, this one named MukMuk. An official sidekick to the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Miga, Sumi, and Quatchi, MukMuk also represented the Tsleil-Waututh First nation, one of the four host nations of the 2010 Games.  While MukMuk was a great representative for Whistler’s marmot community, he was actually modeled after the Vancouver Island marmot rather than the Hoary marmots found in Whistler.

Photo: Willie Whistler, Whistler Question Collection, July 1982

Though Whistler currently has no official mascot, the hoary marmot still holds a special place in the heart of locals and visitors. If you are lucky, you may spot the community’s muse while hiking around Wedgemount Lake or riding up the gondola. Marmots have played an important part of Whistler’s past and will continue to be a part of our future.

Ella Healey is the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program.

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Whistler Mountain’s Spring CarnivalWhistler Mountain’s Spring Carnival

May 28, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the early years of lift operations on Whistler Mountain, the end of the ski season was sometimes determined not by the conditions or lack of snow but by a lack of skiers. For some skiers, the end of the Easter holidays marked the time to put away their skis and start pulling out tennis rackets and golf clubs, even if the chairlifts were still running. In order to keep people coming to the ski area through May, Whistler Mountain hosted a Ski or Spring (the name depended on the year) Carnival over the May long weekend.

According to Hugh Smythe, who began working for the lift company in its first season, this effort to keep skiers in the area was driven in large part by Jack Bright. Bright arrived at Whistler Mountain as the new area manager in early 1967. While the mountain manager Dave Mathews was responsible for everything that moved on the hill, Bright was responsible for everything else, including marketing.

Jack Bright, Mountain Manager for Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

The first Carnival took place in 1967, though there is little information about it in the archives apart from a mention in the April 22, 1967 edition of Ski Trails advertising “a razzle-dazzle weekend lined up that will include queen candidates, races and a variety of hijinks.” By the spring of 1968, however, the publication of Garibaldi’s Whistler News (GWN) provided much more detail about the event.

The Ski Carnival of 1968 began on Friday, May 17 with a “ski cruise” from Vancouver to Squamish up the Howe Sound with entertainment and refreshments. From Squamish skiers were transported by bus to Whistler Mountain to prepare for the events of Saturday, which included an obstacle race, a gelandesprung contest (while gelandesprung in a type of jump in skiing, it was described in GWN as “people on skis will be jumping off things”), a fashion show, and a Carnival Ball in the Roundhouse. The Ball had a dress code of “informal apres ski wear,” with attendees having to make their way over from the top of the Red Chair. On Sunday the World Championship Inner Tube Race was followed by a “fairly legitimate, though easy” slalom race and a barbecue at one of the lakes in the valley. After a morning of skiing on Monday, skiers were encouraged to attend the rodeo in Mount Currie hosted by members of the Lil’wat Nation. The schedule for the Spring Carnival of 1969 was very similar, though the cruise would appear to have been replaced with sail boat races.

Jack Bright skiing with Margaret Trudeau on one of her visits to Whistler Mountain. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

Hosting events like the Carnival was just one of the many ways skiing on Whistler was advertised during Bright’s tenure. He and Lynn Mathews published GWN three to four times a year and distributed it as widely as possible. Bright also attended and sent employees to meetings with ski clubs and tour operators, as well as ski shows across North America. He even hired Jim Rice to make a ski movie on Whistler Mountain so that they had something to show at these meetings and shows. On Sundays, ski instructors would put on their uniforms to show ski films in Roy and Jane Ferris’ living room at the Highland Lodge so that guests could see what the coming week might look like and in 1968, convinced that the ski school needed a big name to attract more skiers, Bright and Smythe went to Tod Mountain (today Sun Peaks) to persuade Jim McConkey to be the new ski school director at Whistler. In the mid-1970s, Bright and his wife Ann developed the Whistler Inn and JB’s Restaurant (today Roland’s), which they continued to operate after Bright left the lift company.

Four-year-old Justin Adams advertises for JB’s while skirting the municipal sign bylaw. Whistler Question Collection, 1982.

Although there is no official Ski or Spring Carnival hosted on Whistler Mountain today, decades of marketing efforts, beginning with those of Jack Bright and other early lift company employees, mean that few skiers or riders are unaware that ski season goes into May.

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Banking on WhistlerBanking on Whistler

May 7, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In February 1984, a “Whistler’s Answers” feature in the Whistler Question asked residents “Are your banking transactions made overly complicated because there’s no bank in Whistler?” Before the summer of 1984, there was no permanent financial institution located in Whistler, which could make banking more difficult than usual for residents and even visitors. Over time, we’ve heard many stories about banking (or not) in Whistler at the museum, such as the race completed by Whistler Mountain employees on payday to make it to Squamish before the bank there closed.

Two of the stories we’ve hear from longtime residents concern bank robberies, both occurring at the trailer that the Bank of Nova Scotia (now known as Scotiabank) operated near the base of Whistler Mountain for a time in the 1970s. It seems that the trailer operated as part of the Pemberton branch and, though it did not offer all the services one might expect to find at a bank, local residents could cash cheques there, avoiding a drive to either Pemberton or Squamish.

Historically, quite a few Whistler services and retail operations have been located in portable buildings, such as the Liquor Store in 1980. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

According to one tale, one or two people in Vancouver who were acquainted with some Whistler residents decided that they were going to rob the bank. They drove up the highway, went into the trailer, held up the teller (though it is unclear what, if anything, they used as a weapon), and escaped with the money, though there was apparently at least one customer who recognized them. While it might have seemed like a simple robbery to plan, the thieves forgot to make a plan to get out of Whistler. With only one road in and out, the bank called the RCMP in Squamish who set up a roadblock on the highway and apprehended the thieves.

The second story of a bank robbery in Whistler was even more straightforward. As the bank was located in a trailer, someone reportedly decided to hitch it up to their truck and drive away with it. Unfortunately for them, there was no money kept on the premises and the bank was found abandoned but intact relatively close by.

Important elements of a financial institution are delivered to Village Square to be installed in the North Shore Community Credit Union. Whistler Question Collection, 1984.

Though the Bank of Nova Scotia did offer some services in the trailer for a few year, it was not until June 1984 that a financial institution opened an official branch in Whistler. The North Shore Community Credit Union (NSCCU; known today as Blueshore Financial) officially opened in the Blackcomb Professional Building in Village Square on Saturday, June 2, though they had already been accepting clients for almost month. Although credit unions are not the same as banks, the NSCCU provided residents with many of the same services, including chequing, RRSPs, mortgages, and loans. With four full-time and two part-time employees, the NSCCU planned to be open five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) and was also planning to install an ATM. This was the seventh branch of the NSCCU to open and the first outside of the North Shore and West Vancouver. For visiting NSCCU members, the opening of a Whistler location was also very convenient.

The opening of a financial institution in Whistler was well received by the community. Businesses and organizations such as the Whistler Resort Association and both mountains took advertisements out to welcome the NSCCU and there was a very good turnout at the opening. The NSCCU also encouraged residents to become members by offering a chance to win either a season’s dual mountain ski pass or a summer’s windsurfing. Though all members from any branch were eligible to enter the competition throughout June, it was two Whistler residents, Fred Lockwood and Heather McInnis, whose names were drawn by Willie Whistler at the beginning of July.

Tony Tyler (NSCCU branch manager) and Linda Stefan (NSCCU employee) draw the winners of the NSCCU opening draw with the help of Willie Whistler. Whistler Question Collection, 1984.

The NSCCU did not remain in its Village Square location for long. Over a weekend in December 1984, everything in the branch, (including the safe) was moved across Village Square before later making its move to its current location on the Village Stroll. Over the past forty years, other financial institutions have opened branches in Whistler, though none have been as portable as the Bank of Nova Scotia’s trailer.

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WSSF: The BeginningWSSF: The Beginning

April 9, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

April is the last month for our temporary exhibit Off the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in Whistler. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, make sure you stop by before it closes to allow for the installation of another new exhibit. Although Off the Lip is the first exhibit dedicated to snowboarding in our current facility, the museum’s first snowboard display took place in April 1996 and was developed to coincide with the very first World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF).

According to festival director Doug Perry, the organizers of the WSSF had two goals when they began planning: to increase activity in the resort at a traditionally quiet time of year and to attract as much media attention as possible. To this end, they planned 22 events over ten days with 1,500 athletes participating.

Insight Photography Collection, 1996

The 1996 festival brought together established events that already took place in the spring such as the Couloir Ski Race Extreme, the Whistler Cup, and the WestBeach Classic and added more events both on the mountain and throughout the Whistler Village. These included family events, related arts and culture events such as the snowboard exhibit at the Whistler Museum, industry displays and demos, more ski and snowboard competitions, and performances by nearly a dozen bands in various venues over three days with Vancouver’s 54•40 closing out the festival. By the end of the ten days, Perry had head the festival described as “the single most important happening in the ski and snowboard industry” and organizers were already looking ahead, promising an even bigger and better festival next year.

The WSSF returned in 1997 from April 4 to 13, including many of the same events. Additional events were planned as well, including two biking events meant to take place on the mountains. The Grinders Cup Dual Eliminator Mountain Bike Snow Race was scheduled to run on Blackcomb Mountain under the Magic Chair but was canceled due to lack of interest by competitors. The Norco Challenge did go ahead and featured Norco factory riders trying to gain as much speed as possible down Whistler Mountain’s Saddle.

WestBeach events were incredibly popular during the World Ski and Snowboard Festival. Insight Photography Collection, 1997

Some of the snow events also raised money for various causes, such as the Backbone Enduro Vertical Challenge coordinated by Chris Kent. Teams and individuals competed to see who could finish the most runs over an eight-hour period while uploading only the Creekside Gondola and the Red Chair. Competitors collected sponsorships and the money raised went to a rehabilitative medical research centre proposed by BC Rehab and to the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre.

This appears to be the only photo we have found of Heaven at the Conference Centre so far. Insight Photography Collection, 1997

Other organizations also got involved in the festival through partnerships and by creating their own tie-in events, increasing the number of arts and culture events within the WSSF. The Whistler Resort Association (WRA) offered a new “Stay for Free” promotion where buying three days of dual mountain skiing got you two nights in a hotel for free. Heaven, advertised as a “full-on all-night interactive rave,” planned to turn the Conference Centre ballroom into a dance club with DJs from Toronto and Los Angeles. 23 bands were scheduled to play throughout the festival and, for the first time, film was introduced as a component of the festival with the Moving Pictures film festival featuring “some of the hottest and most controversial Canadian films from the past year.”

The Air Canada Whistler Cup was incorporated into the WSSF from 1996. Though no longer part of the festival, the Whistler Cup continues to run each year. Insight Photography Collection, 1997

According to statistics gathered just after the WSSF finished, the festival was a great success for the resort. Over 2,000 athletes came out that year to participate in the various events and the audiences for most events also increased, with over 8,000 spectators gathering at the base of Whistler Mountain to watch the WestBeach Invitational Big Air competition. Both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains reported their highest single-day skier numbers for the month of April on April 5 and the WRA reported bookings exceeding the 1996 WSSF by about 80% and an increase in package bookings of 200%. Though not all businesses reported their numbers, the Longhorn and McDonald’s both reported record sales days during the WSSF.

The WSSF is back again this year from April 8 to 14 and, though it has changed in many ways since it first began in 1996, will still include some familiar aspects.

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