Tag: Whistler Question

Whistler’s Answers: January 20, 1983Whistler’s Answers: January 20, 1983

January 20, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It’s a new year, which means we are on to a new year of Whistler’s Answers!

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1983.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: In 1980, when the Town Centre was still in relatively early stages of construction, the Labour Relations Board ruled that Whistler Village was a common site, meaning only union workers could be employed. By 1983, however, as some construction had been completed and more businesses were opening, this policy was being reexamined in a different context.

Question: Do you think Whistler Village should drop its union policy and become an integrated site like Tumbler Ridge?

Roger Moxley – Union Labourer – West Side Road

Whistler Village as a whole concept cannot afford to go union. I’ve been in the restaurant business and know that it would be difficult for these places to survive if they’re going to have to pay union wages. It should be up to the employer. The unions are going to have to realize that times have changed.

Stan Hammond – Non-union Carpenter – High Forest

Yes, because I don’t think there should only be unions in Whistler Village. It doesn’t go along with the free enterprise system. It also doesn’t give employers a chance to find the least expensive way of getting their building completed or business done. I actually don’t see why they insisted on unions here in the first place.

Dave Lalik – Union Carpenter – High Forest

Now that the major construction of the village is finished I don’t think it should be a general policy but should be left up to the tenants of each building to make their own decision. That’s just a common sense approach, it seems to be.

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Whistler’s Answers: January 13, 1983Whistler’s Answers: January 13, 1983

January 13, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It’s a new year, which means we are on to a new year of Whistler’s Answers!

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1983.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: At the end of 1982, the Whistler Village Land Co. was in great financial difficulties. In response, the provincial government proposed to form a new Crown corporation, WLC Development Ltd, to take over the operations of the Land Co. The Crown corporation would also take over the development of the golf course and the Sports & Convention Centre. What this would mean for the province’s involvement in other parts of Whistler’s governance, however, was unclear.

Question: Do you think Whistler will have less control over its affairs following the provincial government’s take-over of the Land Co.?

Ike Elboim – Contractor – Valleau Road

Yes, I think we’ll probably lose a lot of control. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government appointed a provincial representative on council again. They’ll start to have input into things like our Official Community Plan. I think all this should be controlled by the residents of Whistler, not the government.

Peter Gordon – Satellite Salesman – Microwave Road

I believe Mark Angus has the authority not to allow anything like that to go on. The government probably isn’t interested in having any more control than they’ve had in the past unless things start to mess up. They’ll just leave it to Angus and his council I’m certain.

Ed Bezeau – Computer Consultant – Adventures West

Looking at other corporate bailouts there have been recently, I’d say when the government puts money into something it usually wants to get involved. This is probably even truer on the municipal level than any other. I don’t know that they’ll go so far as to suggest zoning bylaws or any details like that.

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Making It SnowMaking It Snow

January 11, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

For the first decade of operations on Whistler Mountain, an abundance of snow was normal for the ski season. The season of 1973/74 was a record-setting winter, with Whistler Mountain recording a base of just over 5 m in the early spring. After so many seasons, most people had grown to expect Whistler always to have lots of snow. According to John Hetherington, who was working on ski patrol at the time, “We just thought it would go on forever.” Then, just a few years later, it didn’t.

The season of 1976/77 is often described as one of the worst ski seasons Whistler Mountain has ever had. The Whistler Question reported that over the American Thanksgiving weekend, “a few hardy souls went up the mountain to hike up & down either at the top of the red or the ridge behind the top of the blue chair.” By Christmas it had snowed a little bit more and Whistler Mountain was able to open, but skiers had to download by the Red Chair and the gondola. Then, in January 1977, it rained to the top of the ski area and washed away what little snow there was. The lift company closed for the rest of the month and well into February.

The Whistler Question, January 1977.

This complete lack of snow inspired the first attempt at making snow on Whistler Mountain. While today snowmaking is carefully planned, has a large infrastructure, and follows procedures, that was not the situation described by Hetherington and fellow patroller Roger McCarthy. According to Hetherington, “Back then, Whistler was pretty wild and out there and things were pretty loose… Nobody gave a damn what you did on the mountain.” In this case, what ski patrol did was use an entire case of Submagel (the explosive often used in avalanche control) to blow a huge crater in the creek at the bottom of the Green Chair.

They built a dam at one end of the crater, got some pumps, borrowed a snow gun from Grouse Mountain (Grouse had installed the first snowmaking system in British Columbia in 1973), and began making snow to get skiers to the bottom of the Green Chair without having to carry their skis for the last 100 m or so. Once the crater slowly filled, it could support about two to three hours of snowmaking. However, McCarthy recalled that the system was far from perfect: “The challenge was that any time we tried to make snow, it got cold enough to make snow, the water would stop running and stop filling the little creek and we’d end up sucking mud into the pumps. So it wasn’t that successful, but it was the beginning.” Packer drivers were able to spread what snow they did make to form a narrow run to the bottom of the Green Chair, providing some temporarily skiable terrain.

Ian Boyd demonstrates the ins and outs of an SMI snow-making machine capable of producing enough snow to cover one acre one-half inch deep in one hour in 1982. With the addition of more machines and proper reservoirs and infrastructure on Whistler, snowmaking became more common through the 1980s. Whistler Question Collection, 1982.

This first attempt at making snow signalled a shift in thinking as the lift company was forced to realize that they would not always get the snow there were used to. In 1981, Sandy Boyd was hired as Gondola Area Coordinator for the lift company and, already having experience with snowmaking, Boyd brought more snowmaking to Whistler through the 1980s. Today, as the questions of snowfall and the impacts of climate change on Whistler are never far from mind, snowmaking is an important part of mountain operations and it is not uncommon on a clear night to see the snowguns at work on both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

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Whistler’s Answers: January 6, 1983Whistler’s Answers: January 6, 1983

January 6, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It’s a new year, which means we are on to a new year of Whistler’s Answers!

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1983.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: In December 1982, Whistler’s council gave three readings to Bylaw 231, which proposed to replace Bylaw 124 and redefine a sign as an object both outside and inside a building. Bylaw 231 would prohibit neon signs inside Whistler businesses and branded merchandise displayed in a window could be considered as signs. Some Whistler Village business owners opposed the new bylaw, and thought that signs should be considered individually, to avoid “a five-storey neon sign down the side of a building here” while still allowing small, “tasteful” signs. The proposed bylaw sparked heated debate within Whistler, but was ultimately adopted by council on January 10, 1983.

Question: What do you think of neon signs at Whistler?

Jeff McAllester – Ski Keep Manager – Alpine Meadows

Overall the village would be better without them. Neon has its place, but cheap signs and an over-abundance of them will make this into a little Tahoe and one Tahoe is plenty.

Charles Seeberg – Computer Programmer – Vancouver

The ones I’ve seen here I like. If additional signs are put up i the same tasteful fashion they would only add to the charm of the village. They’d have to be only one or two words though, and not flashing.

Mike Young – Travel Consultant – Whistler Cay

I’m not opposed to neon as such, but some that flash and turn can be quite distasteful. I think in the case of Whistler Village if the signs are required to be a certain size and kept indoors we should be alright.

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