Whistler Question – Page 78 – Whistler Museum and Archives Society

Happy Birthday Whistler Question!Happy Birthday Whistler Question!

June 18, 2016 Whistler Museum 5 Comments

Earlier this year, Whistler’s longest-running newspaper, the Whistler Question, celebrated their 40th anniversary. The Whistler Museum wanted to celebrate in style, so what better present could we give than digitizing nearly 35,000 photographs from the Question’s archival collection and making them available online to the public?

Our archives recently received generous funding from UBC’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre to digitize The Question’s negatives. The project will aim to preserve and share snapshots taken for every week’s newspaper spanning from 1978-1985. These stunning black and white 35mm negatives chronicle such poignant events in Whistler’s history — Village construction, the opening of Blackcomb, 1982 Alpine Skiing World Cup, to name a few. We felt this collection would not only be of the most use to the community, but also the most fun to explore in its entirety online.

Question 2_183_003_002 — The Keg hits the road, from the week of May 28, 1981.

When the collection’s digitization is complete, anyone with an Internet connection will be able to explore this town’s sporting events, parades, Village construction projects, road collisions, festivals and portraits of locals from the years 1978-1985. Corresponding captions that originally accompanied the photos in each week’s published newspapers will tell the story of Whistler’s transitional years and the day-to-day lives of the people who lived here at the time, all on one snazzy website.

The Question’s negatives were donated to our institution in 1991. When archival documents are donated to the museum, they go through quite the process before we are able to share them with the public. The entire collection must be labelled with an accession number, put into preserver sleeves safe for photographs, and then entered into our online database with full descriptions. It is at this point we are able to make high-quality scans of the photographs.

Once the collection is scanned, we will upload it to our Smugmug photo-hosting website, so that the public can explore and even purchase the photos for personal or commercial use. The Whistler Question collection will join several collections of already digitized material, including the Whistler Mountain collection, the Myrtle Philip collection, the George Benjamin collection, among several others already hosted on this website.

We have boxes full of binders full of pages full of strips of negatives. There are a LOT of photos to scan!

We have finally begun scanning, slowly bringing Whistler’s history into the digital world. The project is slated to take roughly six months, at the end of which we hope to present to you the massive Question collection in all its glory, online.

Happy Birthday, Whistler Question — here’s to many more!

A Question of SnowA Question of Snow

March 22, 2015 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

When talking about a lack of snow in the valley, Whistlerites often recall the winter of 1976/77 which was undoubtedly the worst season since Whistler Mountain opened for business.

The snow, Whistler’s most valued winter guest, was seen only rarely in the neighborhood that year – but made it to the front page of the Whistler Question every week. In November 1976, the Whistler Question was still a “youngster”. Only six months old, Whistler’s local weekly paper consisted of not much more than ten text heavy pages stapled together.

Grab yourself a coffee, and check in for a time travel. We take you back to the five-month snowflake hunt of 1976/77, which came as a severe shock to the round 500 Whistlerites that lived in the valley at that time and have never considered snow-making before.

November 24, 1976 : Think Snow!

November 1976 was dry with a cold north wind blowing. There was some snow in the alpine but not enough to ski to the bottom of the old Green Chair which is pretty much where the Emerald Chair is today. The editors start worrying about the acute shortage of snow on the mountain and the loss of revenue to the businesses in the valley. Spot the snowflakes that the editors have scattered around the paper that week – their share to help augment the snow drought. November 1976, Whistler Museum, Question collection. — The editors start worrying about the acute shortage of snow. Spot the snowflakes that the editors have scattered around the paper that week – their share to help augment the snow drought. November 1976, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

December 1, 1976: First consequences

The paper reports that due to the lack of snow, the lift company laid off about 12 employees. “This together with the permanent staff that was not hired in mid-November as usual means that there are about 25 people out of work” says that week’s paper. December 1976, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

December 22, 1976: A little Christmas miracle?

Whistler Mountain was able to open for the Christmas holidays. You could ski on the Green Chair and in the t-bar bowl, but had to download on the Red Chair and the gondola. November 1976, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

January 12, 1977: One last defiant struggle…

January 1977, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

January 19, 1977: The unbelievable happens

January 26, 1977: Frozen Alta Lake becomes the new center of life

February 2, 1977: Time for superstition

February 1977, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

February 9, 1977: The first snow gun arrives in the valley

March 16, 1977: Guess what…

March 1977, Whistler Museum, Question collection.

And the moral of the story? Patience wins March powder glory!

Suitcase Race (Part Two)Suitcase Race (Part Two)

November 8, 2014 Whistler Museum 4 Comments

The suitcase race discussed in last week’s blog post was co-opted by the Pepsi Celebrity Ski Invitational in 1987. The organizer of this event, Bruce Portner, stated in the article Hundreds pull together for publicity event by Larry McCallum, that many celebrity events do not succeed which is why “the two and one half days will have to be packed with eye-catching, unusual activities to appeal both to the celebrities and the media”. Flinging yourself down a ski hill on top of a suitcase certainly fits into that category. CP Air sponsored the suitcase race and the Star dinner event raised $30,000 for helping to immunize children against polio.

Many stars attended this event including Richard Roundtree who played John Shaft in the Shaft movies, and TV series. He also made appearances on shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Heros. Olivia Barash known for her roles in Fame (1987), Out of the Blue (1979), and Patty Hearst (1988) also attended the events.

suitcase_race028 — Richard Roundtree getting ready for the race. Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

The next year (1988), the Pepsi Celebrity Ski Invitational Act II took place in the middle of April. The Black Tie Ball promised “A full Hollywood-style variety show” with Dynasty’s own Emma Samms as host, and performances by Platinum Blonde and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.

suitcase_race031 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

The Pepsi Celebrity Act III took place on April 13^th to the 16^th, 1989. On April 13^th, 1989 the Whistler Question published an article stating that the goal of this year’s Suitcase Race, which was sponsored by American Airlines, was for two teams of two racers to sit in a suitcase and “speed down the slope above the Solar Coaster quad chair.” The object was not only to be the first across the finish line but also to “make it down the slope without falling out or flipping over the plastic luggage case.”

suitcase_race035 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

Emma Samms returned to Whistler for the Pepsi Celebrity Ski Invitational of 1989. The proceeds of the weekend were once again donated to the Starlight Foundation, founded in 1982 by Samms and her cousin Peter Samuelson, which grants wishes to chronically ill children.

The 1989 event boasts stories of Tommy Lee of Motley Crue getting a Ski Esprit instructor to help find gloves that he dropped from the chairlift, as well as Lee nearly taking out the race shack at the bottom of the Orange race course on Whistler Mountain. Another story from the event describes Gil Gerard (who played Buck Rogers in the Buck Rogers TV show) accidentally stabbing Sean Vancour with his ski pole.

racebringstarsdown — The Whistler Question April 20th, 1989

After Act III had concluded there was a lot of talk about the event not continuing. As far as I can find, from digging through the Whistler Question archive, there were no more Pepsi Celebrity Ski Invitational’s or suitcase races held on Blackcomb Mountain.

suitcase_race022 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

Suitcase Race (Part One)Suitcase Race (Part One)

November 1, 2014 Whistler Museum 2 Comments

For those of us at the Museum who have not worked, or lived, in Whistler for long, it is always great when people who had lived around Alta Lake in the early days drop in and say hello. It is wonderful to get firsthand experiences of Whistler’s history and to take our eyes out of the archives. This is what happened last week when a couple came in to see if the Museum had a book they were looking for. Through our discussion they told me about a suitcase race that was held on Blackcomb Mountain in the 1980s. This peaked my interest, as anyone traveling down a ski hill in a suitcase sounds amazing. I went to the Whistler Library to dig through old copies of The Whistler Question to see what I could find. There was surprisingly little information to be found about what I assumed would be a hilarious event to bring athletics and non-athletics together.

suitcase_race027 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

It seems that the first one took place on March 10^th, 1984 and was called the Samsonite Media Celebrity Race. The event description in the Whistler Question went as following:

To be held on Blackcomb Mountain, possibly the downhill of the decade – a definite “photo opportunity.” Celebrities and press alike compete on a treacherous two-part course. The course is a downhill designed for racers piloting the latest in Samsonite’s Nagahide bobsled. Only Samsonite could take this beating. Definitely a spectator’s event. Free admission, refreshments available.

My favorite part of this is that there are very little clues as to what is going to take place but that “Only Samsonite could take this beating.” On March 15^th, 1984 there is a small mention of how the event went in The Whistler Question’s Notes from All Over section. Stating that the MC of the event, Greg Lee, did a great job announcing the race in both French and English and that Dennis Waddingham’s racing helmet was a good idea.

suitcase_race034 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

A year later, on March 14^th, 1985, an article was published in The Whistler Question about the event now called the Chillers Suitcase Slalom.

Sliding down a mountain on pieces of metal and fiberglass is one thing. But how about doing that in a suitcase? For a slightly different downhill experience, the Chillers Suitcase Slalom on Blackcomb is the perfect solution. Organizers are calling it a soapbox derby on snow. The jury’s still out on what the competitors will call it. The suitcase slalom will take place on a specially prepared 100 m course on Chair 2 Sunday March 31 at 2 p.m. Teams of two with each participant sitting in one half of an open suitcase race head-to-head against another team. Blackcomb provides the suitcases. The race is designed for anyone working for a Whistler business…“It will be the best laugh of the spring,” say organizers.

In the April 4^th 1986 The Sports Column by Mike Youds, Youds pokes fun at the National Ski team stating that the team “ought to bypass summer training camps and enlist team members in hotel and restaurant jobs to get them in shape.” He goes on to report that the teams in the hospitality trades performed much better than any profession or trade in the race. “Even the airline industry, with two of the Murray brothers on the team (no one could boast as much air time as these guys have) couldn’t catch up with the likes of the Creek House Canines and the Highland Highballs.”

This event was then co-opted by the Pepsi Celebrity Ski Invitational in 1987, which I will discuss in Part two of the Suitcase Race Blog next week.

suitcase_race036 — Photograph by Greg Griffith. Griffith Collection. 1988

Tag: Whistler Question

Happy Birthday Whistler Question!Happy Birthday Whistler Question!

A Question of SnowA Question of Snow

Suitcase Race (Part Two)Suitcase Race (Part Two)

Suitcase Race (Part One)Suitcase Race (Part One)