THE WHISTLER MOUNTAIN SKI CLUB: A HISTORY

Not long after Whistler Mountain opened for recreational alpine skiing, it became clear that there was a group of young people, keen and frequent skiers all, who were not wholly content to spend their days on the slopes simply executing their turns on the regular trails, however challenging some of those might be.

It was up to Hungarian native Joe Czismazia to propose to the parents of these young athletes that they should gather together on weekends for training in the techniques of alpine ski racing. And ten or a dozen young people of both sexes happily responded to the suggestion.

So successful was Czismazia's program that it was not long before he announced that he would like to enter some of them in races which were scheduled to be held on Seymour Mountain. However, under the rules of the Canadian Ski Association, the governing body of all ski racing, all entrants were required to be members of a recognized ski club.

For their first foray into competition, this problem was overcome by declaring that the competitors from Whistler were all members of GODA (the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association), a legally constituted organization. However, it was clear that this could only be a stop-gap solution.

Thus, it came about that at a meeting held in the lounge of the Highland Lodge in the early spring of 1966, a small group of the involved parents met and resolved to form a new ski club which would become a part of the national ski association and thus provide the required affiliation for the young competitors.

Sam Toy, one of those parents, agreed to draw up the necessary legal documents, and it was decided to seek incorporation under the name "Garibaldi Ski Club" in recognition of the support and encouragement which we had from the outset from Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. and its president, Franz Wilhelmsen.

However, word eventually came from Victoria that the name had been taken many years before by a group of ski tourers centered in the Diamond Head region of Garibaldi Park. Although the Club had long been inactive, the name was still pre-empted, and hence the Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) was born.

Shortly after the Whistler Club's recognition by the Canadian Ski Association, it was made known to the Club that another obligation of CSA membership was the sponsorship of an officially sanctioned race, open not only to local competitors but to those of other clubs as well.

An immediate problem was that our fledgling Club was woefully short of members who had possessed any knowledge of organizing a ski race. But the Club was saved from disaster by the presence of Walter and Lucy Sokoloff, who had been long-term members of the Mount Seymour Ski Club.

Fortunately, they had a wealth of experience of what was required both on the hill and in such matters as issuing invitations, registering competitors, preparing start lists, compiling and publishing results and all of what turned out for us neophytes to be a myriad of frequently confusing details.

We were also quite ignorant of the need for and duties of "gatekeepers," and only a very last-minute school organized by Joe Batho on the morning of the race saved the day.

On the last Sunday of April, the first of what was to become a long series of Garibaldi Spring Slaloms, was successfully held on the headwall leading down to the upper T-bar bowl. And in the years to come, the Spring Slalom on Sunday was paired with a giant slalom race hosted by the Tyrol Ski Club on the Saturday to provide the final competitions of each ski season. One further momentous event capped the inaugural year of the WMSC. Sonny O'Sullivan, another founding member, was determined that an outdoor wine party should be held on the holiday weekend near the end of May, and accordingly a snow bar was constructed on the knoll where the Round House and its successors have stood.

The event took place on a very warm and brilliantly sunny day and was adjudged a great success even though the skiing abilities of some of the participants at the end of the day (including those of the present writer) perhaps left much to be desired. This was the first of the many wine-and-cheese parties which the Club organized in members' houses from time to time throughout succeeding years. They were always much appreciated and very well attended - although we never had another one outdoors on the mountain.

As the years went by and both the membership and its expertise expanded, so did the Club's training programs and the number and diversity of races which it staged.

One important development was the clearing by the lift company - with considerable volunteer help by WMSC members - of a run on the north side of the mountain from the top of the T-Bar to the base of the Blue Chair, which provided an excellent downhill course for young racers.

By this time the Club had acquired Bob Parsons, also formerly with Mount Seymour, as a member. Under Parson's expert guidance and skill at course preparation, downhill camps for young competitors were held at Christmas and in the spring.

These culminated in races which soon became features of the year's racing schedule. Once again, the active collaboration of both management and staff of Garibaldi Lifts contributed enormously to the success of these efforts.

During Whistler's early days, the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA) was an active organization which was seeking to bring the Winter Olympic Games to Vancouver, with at least some of the alpine skiing events to be held on Whistler Mountain.

The Olympic bid was unsuccessful, but it provided the impetus for the development of a world-class downhill race course on the front side of the mountain.

This started on the knoll, which later became the uphill terminal of the Orange chair and descended through sections quaintly known as the "Toilet Bowl" (from the configuration of the terrain), "Weasel", "Fall-away Corner", "Sewer" and "Coaches' Corner," to end on the flats above the then gondola base. (I have a vivid recollection of being part of a volunteer group struggling in a blizzard to erect a suitable structure to accommodate the timing personnel on those flats.)

It was inevitable that the Whistler Club would be asked to stage major races on this course, and over the years it was host to several Canadian and international events.

There were also several early attempts to hold World Cup downhills which unfortunately were frustrated by the weather, always the most difficult of the factors facing race organizers.

Two events, of the many which the Club arranged, stand out in my memory, however. One was the Canadian National Championships, when not only downhill races, but also giant slaloms and slaloms for both men and women were held during a week of continuous sunshine. The second was the Canadian Juvenile Championships, when again all three alpine events were run for racers younger than 16 from across the country. Again, the weather was perfect. None of these activities could have taken place without Bob Parsons.

The amount of work required to prepare a downhill course, even on the Club's training downhill on the north side of the mountain, is formidable, ranging from preparation of the track itself to installation of safety nets and barriers, and arranging communications from start to finish. When the first events were held on the front course (which has more recently been named the Dave Murray Course in memory of one of the early and most successful WMSC racers), Bob assembled a band of stalwarts to assist with course preparation.

These soon became known as the Weasel Workers, named after that section of the course which was so steep that all work on it had to be done manually rather than with the assistance of snow-grooming machines.

As the years passed, word of the expertise of the Weasel Workers spread and they were asked to assist at other ski areas planning major downhill races.

Although the primary emphasis of the Whistler Club was on alpine skiing and competition, cross-country skiing was not forgotten. In the 1970's WMSC published and made available to the public a booklet complete with maps which first described 29 cross-country skiing trails in and around Whistler.

The author was Monique McDonald who personally knew all the trails and the booklet was very popular.

I have mentioned earlier the support from the Garibaldi Lift Company, and particularly from its president, Franz Wilhelmsen, which the Club in all its activities enjoyed.

That support included the provision of numbered bibs for competitors and flags for race courses, expenses which, in its early days, the Club could not have sustained. It also included authorizing snow machines to assist with course preparation, the movement of needed materials and finding space for the operation of the race secretariat. For larger races, this often involved occupying considerable space in the company's parking lot with mobile trailers, which occasionally sank in the mud. For smaller and more local events, the Club sometimes took up space in the cafeteria, then known as L'Apres, or in the small building near the entrance to the gondola, called the Park-A-Tot.

As its name implies, this provided a baby-sitting service during the day. But it also served as headquarters for the ski patrol, and at the end of the day could be occupied not only by members of the patrol but also by a considerable amount of their equipment. The operation of a race office is by its nature an untidy business, and it says much for the tolerance on all sides that the secretariat, the patrol and the baby-sitting managed to co-exist relatively smoothly.

After a number of years, the Garibaldi Lift Company again rose to the Club's assistance, and we were permitted to design and construct a building on company land close to the Skier's Chapel which could serve in part as an office when needed. This was quickly accomplished with an upper floor serving as a lounge/office for members and a lower area in which lockers for the storage of skis and other equipment could be rented. Space was also set aside for the waxing of skis and as a meeting place for those in training programs and their coaches.

In addition to its role in hosting competitive events at all levels, the Club never forgot its initial raison d'etre - to provide coaching for aspiring racers. Over the years that program has expanded greatly, both in numbers and costs, and, as is so often the case, a source of income was needed.

The opening of the Myrtle Philip school with its gym provided the site for the Whistler Mountain Ski Swap which was modelled on the one which had been held in Vancouver for many years.

But the Whistler swap, staffed entirely by members who volunteered (or were coerced), was an instant success. For many years it provided much of the financial support needed by the Club.

The Club had fallen on good times and continues to prosper and grow into the organization which it is today.

Sam McLennan
Director, WMSC, 1968
Courtesy "Whistler Question" Newspaper