Tag Archives: 19 Mile Creek

This Week In Photos: October 4

You may notice this week’s post is shorter than usual – some weeks have missing negatives while others are missing entirely.  This happens to be one of those weeks, but there was still a lot going on in the years that are covered, from bridge openings to boat building to Brownies meetings.

1978

Mayor Pat Carleton waits for a train to arrive outside the Whistler Station.

Construction crews on Whistler Mountain recently got the feeling that they were being watched…

The most photographed bridge on #99! The bridge over the 19 Mile Creek as it was in a nearly finished state last Saturday.

1980

The Midstation towers on the new Olympic Chair on Whistler North. Picture taken from the top of the Village Chair.

The new Whistler Mountain lapel pin.

Do-it-yourself! – Whistler United Pharmacy owner Dave Stewart gives his front windows a polish.

LUNCH BREAK! Nello Busdon, Neil Roberts, Pat Greatrex and others enjoy the sunshine in the town centre plaza.

Workers lay interlock brick tiles in the Whistler Village Square.

Chamber of Commerce’s Michael D’Artois shows off the Town Centre to members of the BCIT Hospitality and Tourism Faculty.

Cst. Chuck Klaudt, the new member of the Whistler RCMP detachment.

1982

The winners: The Boot Pub Ladies Golf Classic.

Dryland downhill training – Dave Murray takes Blackcomb and Whistler Ski Club members through some of the exercises that help limber up skiers for the season opening.

The winning team (minus one key player) who put together Whistler’s weekly miracle, the Question, which was judged top in its class by BC and Yukon Community Newspapers Association October 2.

Dennis and Judy Waddingham display the new sign painted by Charlie Doyle, which hangs outside their store in Whistler Village. Opening day will be before the mountains begin their season.

Whistler’s Brownies rekindled the campfire spirit October 4 when they gathered at Myrtle Philip School for the first meeting of the year.

T’is the season to get sawing and chopping. These Alpine residents seem well prepared for winter’s onslaught.

A crew of landlubbers helped hoist the deck onto the sleek craft which Cress Walker and Paul Clark have been building all summer long in the driveway of their Alpine Meadows home.

Members of the Niels Petersen Band. Niels Petersen (lead vocals), Connie Lebeau (bass guitar), Christopher Allen (harp) and Gary Petersen (drums) warm up an act that will be entertaining Whistlerites all winter. The band will be appearing at Tapley’s and at the Brass Rail throughout the ski season.

1983

A cold crisp morning kept most creatures inside early Sunday, but this great blue heron had work to do. It was photographed as it flew over the River of Golden Dreams close to Green Lake looking for fish. Shortly after this photo was taken an industrious beaver swam past carrying wood for its lodge.

A smiling Ted Pryce-Jones proudly snips the ribbon to mark the official opening of the new suspension bridge built across the Callaghan River near the Cheakamus River junction last Thursday. Pryce-Jones designed the army-style bridge and with the help of a host of EBAP workers completed the project in under three months.

Bridge decking is composed of 3.5m long fir planks treated with a special wood preservative designed to make them last more than 20 years. And for those with bridge phobias, 2 1/2cm steel cables stretch across the river to provide for a safe crossing.

Marilyn Manso, one of three employees at the Alta Lake weather station, enters local weather information on a data terminal linked with Toronto. Entries must be made every hour on the hour or more often as changing weather patterns dictate.

Posing for photographs can be an awkward process.

 

This Week In Photos: September 20

While we have information for the photos we share here, we have many more photos that we have questions about.  That’s why tonight we’ll be hosting Naming Night at the Museum – we provide 100 photos (tonight’s edition focuses on the 1990s and ’80s) and ask community members to help add names and stories to the images.

1978

Bridge girders in place over 19 Mile Creek. The main highway has been closed since August 21 for this and residents of Alpine Meadows are concerned that the detour should not last more than a month.

The driver of this truck ended up straddling a 24″ log after having driven past four warning signs, two flashing lights and a barricade on Friday evening.

Just a sampling of what the local forests have to offer those who know what to look for.

1979

The view from the top! Looking down on the Town Centre from the air, September 14, 1979.

The Town Centre two-level parking structure under construction.

The Roundhouse expansion under construction by Quadra.

The view from the Roundhouse showing the new washroom building.

Looking down the “Toilet Bowl” while the drill rig heads down to blast some more rock.

The Blackcomb runs as seen from the air.

Constable Tom Hansen stands beside the new RCMP machine.

1980

Two big coolers are fully stocked with all types of fine meats and cheeses you’d expect to find in a delicatessen. Hilda’s is now open in the Town Centre.

Just one of the many houses that were raised for basement work this summer.

A tree over wires at the south end of Mons overpass was one reason for Whistler losing power.

Increased line tension snapped this pole in half just down the line.

Hugh Naylor takes a closer look at one of the displays at the Pemberton fair.

1982

These enterprising young vendors had a refreshing pause for participants in the Terry Fox Run on Sunday.

All shapes and sizes of cars, from go-carts to the formula cars took part in Whistler’s first hillclimb competition held September 18 – 19 on Blackcomb Way.

A tribute to the joys of earlier days and ways, Renaissance Night at Delta Mountain Inn Tuesday proved to be a hit with visiting travel agents.

Dave Roberts and Curtis Beckon join the merry throng at a medieval dinner thrown for P. Lawson Travel and Bon Voyage Tours at Delta Mountain Inn.

Taisto Heinonen and co-driver Lynn Nixon buy some airtime on the Callaghan Lake leg of the Pacific Forest Rally. They went on to win the event in Heinonen’s Toyota Celica.

This kayaker is swept away in competition excitement during the Cheakamus Indian Summer Race.

1983

Amateur race driver Dan Pantages sits at the helm of his Lotus Super 7, a four-cylinder exposed wheel racer capable of about 160 km/h. Pantages joined about 35 other car enthusiasts over the weekend for a hillclimb race of the steep, winding road to Blackcomb Daylodge. Slightly modified cares races as well as exotic speedsters, but out of all the cars the fastest time was turned in by a dune buggy. Drivers competed in a slalom course in Blackcomb parking lot as well. The hillclimb and rally were sponsored by the Burnaby-Coquitlam Motorsport Association. Competitors came from as far away as Prince George.

An improved road leading into the Club Cabin area from Highway 99 needs a stop sign, having been without one since roadwork was completed in the early summer. The intersection is located about 1 km north of the Gondola area on a streak of highway with poor visibility in either direction. Ministry of Highways District Manager for the area, Ron Winbow, said Tuesday, “We’ll take care of it.”

Chris Carson and friends performed Scandinavian folk dancing during Whistler’s Class of ’83 arts and crafts show Friday.

Workmen from Alpine Paving completed paving on Village Stroll Monday. Coastal Mountain Excavations also placed three drainage basins ten days ago, ensuring that last year’s puddle problems aren’t repeated next spring. Curbs have also been placed along Whistler Way and Mountain Lane. Paving of those roads should occur next week.

When Peter Brown throws a party, money is not the biggest concern. Brown, head of Canarim Investments, treated employees to a weekend of baseball and assorted fun activities. The company limousine, complete with telephone, spent Saturday in the shade of Whistler Resort Association’s Arabesque tent, along with a weekend supply of appropriate refreshments.

Sydney Humphries, Philippe Etter, Bryan King and Ian Hampton return for the second encore at Sunday’s performance of the Purcell String Quartet at Brackendale Art Gallery.

Whistler’s newest and only board game features a mock Highway 99 plus ski runs and apres-ski challenges.

1984

Bartending course student Sandy Vallender practices the fine art of making a layered liqueur drink. Ross Smith, instructor of the three week course offered through Capilano College, teaches the 12 students everything they need to know about tending a bar professionally – including the recipe for a perfect Martini.

About 45 modified competition cars gathered here again this year for the Burnaby/Coquitlam Motorsport Association hillclimb and rally over the weekend. Entrants ranged from formula cars to souped-up Datsuns.

Whistler Fire Department members Craig Barker (left) and Dave Steers were among the 22 firemen who rushed to the burning house at 9516 Emerald Drive early Sunday afternoon. Although the blaze appeared to be extinguished, it re-ignited early Monday morning.

Kin Lalat, a quintet of exiled Guatemalan musicians, entertained a sympathetic audience Sunday at the Pemberton Legion. The group uses traditional instruments including marimbas, maracas, drums and guitar, and gives a strong voice to freedom-fighting Guatemalans.

Mark Angus, Pascal Tiphine and Umberto Menghi were jointly asked Whistler’s Answers this week. Although they all agreed that yes, we need more cultural events here, they disagreed on the type of house wine village restaurants should use.

The Raines: Willy, Charley, Nancy and Al, returned to Whistler just before school started after two years in Crans, Montana, Switzerland. Al and Nancy were ski instructors in the 1,500-person resort while the 14-year-old twins went to school in the French speaking community.

Frozen Alta Lake

Winters at Alta Lake were a quiet season for the small community without the crowds of summer visitors.  Whistler Mountain did not open for skiing until 1966 and until then downhill skiing in the valley was uncommon.  Instead winter sports centred on and around Alta Lake.  In addition to cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sleigh rides, activities that took place on the frozen lake itself were popular within the small community.

Myrtle Philip and Agnes Harrop ice-boating on a frozen Alta Lake. Photo: Philip Collection.

With the right conditions skating was a common pastime that could quickly become a community gathering with a bonfire and marshmallows.

In 1924 Sewall Tapley built an iceboat for his daughter Myrtle after she injured her leg.  He used a few boards, old skate blades and a sail and thus introduced a new activity to Alta Lake.  With a good wind the iceboat could easily outpace the skaters.  While the iceboat did have a tiller attached it was not an effective means of steering.  Instead, Myrtle recalled, “we’d crash into the snow bank on the other side of the lake, get out and turn it around to get home.”  In the 1980s a new generation tried sailing on Alta Lake, this time using “windskiers” which hopefully had much better steering capabilities.

Wind skiing was a new sport for Alta Lake. Photo: Whistler Question Collection, January 1985.

The lake continued to be a community gathering spot for Alta Lake residents through the 1950s and into the 60s.  In the January 5, 1960 edition of the “Alta Lake Echo”, the weekly newsletter put out by the Alta Lake Community Club under various names from January 1958 until June 1961, it was noted that “a good crowd turned out Friday night to skate and spectate at Rainbow Rink.  Cabin 8 was cosy and warm for the less hardy types and those whose feet would not fit the available skates.”  The evening ended with hot dogs and hot chocolate provided by Alex and Audrey Greenwood, then owners of Rainbow Lodge.

The same newsletter also reported on the annual New Year’s hockey game that was postponed “due to poor player condition after New Years Eve.  Rescheduled for 2 pm Jan. 2nd, game commenced promptly at 3:30.”  On the side of the Alta Lake Amatoors were Frantic Fairhurst (foreward front and centre) and Non Stop Crankshaft, Capricious Croaker, Gummed Up Gow and Fearless Ferguson (all playing defence).  The Rainbow Rockets lineup featured Sky Scraper Skip (“centre, right and left, fore and back”), Spud Murphy (“goal defence and generally against Alta Lake making a goal”), Gallopping Greenwood, and GoGetter Gordon.

A game of hockey on frozen 19 Mile Creek, November 1978. Photo: Whistler Question Collection.

Despite having fewer players, Rainbow took an early lead that they kept for a final score of 7-1, though the accuracy of the score is questionable.  According to the sports report, “before the first half of the first quarter was over the judges retired to the warmth of Cabin 8 and the score was rather hard to keep track of.”  Clearly the residents treated this game with the utmost professionalism.

The opening of Whistler Mountain shifted the focus of winter sports away from Alta Lake, though it took only one winter with very little snow to return people to the lakes.  According to the Whistler Question, in January 1977 Whistler Mountain closed due to “adverse weather conditions”.  Instead skating, hockey and even ice stock sliding kept the community busy.

Ice stock sliding, a sport introduced to Alta Lake during a particularly bad snow year, remained popular in Whistler for some time. Photo: Whistler Question Collection, January 1980.

Today, if the lakes have a safe layer of ice, ice skating and hockey games can still be seen on lakes throughout the valley.

Chasing Waterfalls

There are few natural phenomena as universally adored as waterfalls. From the sublime power of Niagara Falls to the delicate cascading ribbons of Yosemite or even a secluded cascade in the forest, waterfalls are some of the most magnetic destinations on Earth

Surrounded by the steep, rain-drenched Coast Mountains, Whistler and the Sea-to-Sky region is a veritable waterfall watcher’s paradise. Ever since the early pioneer days, locals and visitors have been drawn to the powerful spray and serene flow of the many cataracts to be discovered.

Alex Philip and friend in suits and ties, sitting at the base of Shannon Falls, circa 1920.

Shannon Falls are arguably the most dramatic and most accessible in the region. Here Alex Philip and friend pay a rather formal visit, circa 1915.

Based on our photo archives, it is clear that Myrtle Philip of Rainbow Lodge fame was especially drawn to waterfalls. There are dozens of such  images in her collection, and they were one of her favourite attractions when guiding lodge guests through the surrounding forest.

Some of the waterfalls in these photographs we know quite well, while others remain a mystery. Perhaps some of Whistler’s many waterfall enthusiasts can help us identify them?

On the reverse is written a note, presumably to Myrtle of Alex Philip. It reads "This could be made a nice picnic spot for hikers or riders from Rainbow as it is a beautiful waterfall and to make a pony trail would mean very little work from Pemberton trail below mile 43 post. Wedgemount Creek Falls.

On the reverse of this photo print Myrtle wrote “This could be made a nice picnic spot for hikers or riders from Rainbow as it is a beautiful waterfall and to make a pony trail would mean very little work from Pemberton trail below mile 43 post [of the PGE Railway]. Wedgemount Creek Falls.”

Photograph appears to be a copy of an original postcard. On the front is written "19 Mile Creek Falls, Alta Lake, B.C." On the reverse is written the following: ' "Above Alpine Meadow - that's where they get their water supply". (MP '83) "This was taken when we just began going up there about 1924. MP ('83)'

In a recorded interview, Myrtle noted that this photo was “taken when we just began going up there about 1924.” It became a favourite destination for lodge guests on short day hikes from the lodge. Today, 19 Mile Creek runs right through the Alpine Meadows neighbourhood.

 

These are identified as "Rainbow Falls" but it is unclear if they are half of the twin Rainbow Falls that can be seen up close from a short spur trail, low down on the Rainbow Lake trail.

These are identified as “Rainbow Falls” but it is unclear if they are half of the twin Rainbow Falls that can be seen up close from a short spur trail, low down on the Rainbow Lake trail.

 

This steep cascade in heavy flood is reminiscent of the several creeks that can be seen while hiking the Rainbow Lake trail. Any thoughts?

This steep cascade in heavy flood is reminiscent of the several creeks that can be seen during the middle section of the Rainbow Lake trail. Any guesses?

 

Brandywine Falls circa 1920s.

The stunning Brandywine Falls, circa 1920s. Photo taken by celebrated Vancouver photographer and frequent Rainbow Lodge guest, Lawrence Frank.

 

Tweed Neiland Jardine dog at Cheakamus in 1930s

Residents of and visitors to the Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood should be able to recognize these falls, which provide a stunning winter backdrop for Tweed, the Jardine family’s dog, circa 1930.

 

Most likely somewhere in the Green River canyon.

Most likely somewhere in the Green River canyon.

 

Nairn Falls?

Nairn Falls?

 

Green River Falls in summer. Inscription on verso : "Green River Falls 1918-19 taken by Myrtle Philip.

Inscription on the back: “Green River Falls 1918-19.” Taken by Myrtle Philip.

 

Another unidentified gem, shot by Myrtle.

Another unidentified gem, shot by Myrtle.

This is just a selection of photos, primarily from Myrtle Philip’s collection. There are many more images of waterfalls in our archives and, of course, many more waterfalls in our region.

What are your favourites?