Whistler Blackcomb
Whistler Blackcomb is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures, it is the largest ski resort in North America and has the greatest uphill lift capacity. It features the Peak 2 Peak Gondola for moving between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains at the top. Attendance at Whistler Blackcomb often surpasses two million visitors a year.
Whistler was originally conceived as part of a bid to win the 1968 Winter Olympics. Although the bid failed, construction started anyway and the resort opened for the first time in January 1966. Blackcomb Mountain, originally a separate entity, opened for business in December 1980. The two resorts underwent a period of intense rivalry through the 1980s and 1990s, with constant upgrades and improvements that were unseen at other resorts. By the mid-1990s, the area was repeatedly named the best resort in many skiing magazines. Intrawest, the BC real estate firm that developed Blackcomb, purchased Whistler in 1997 and fully merged operations in 2003.
Whistler Blackcomb was the centrepiece of a renewed bid on the part of nearby Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which they were selected for in July 2003. Whistler Blackcomb hosted the alpine skiing events, including the men's and women's Olympic and Paralympic alpine skiing disciplines of downhill, Super-G, slalom, giant slalom and super combined. In contrast with Cypress Mountainwhich hosted the freestyle skiing and all snowboard events, and was plagued with a lack of fresh, natural snow during the OlympicsWhistler Blackcomb had the second-highest snowfall on record with 1,432 cm by the end of the 2009-10 season.
Over the next decade, Intrawest expanded by purchasing additional ski resorts across North America, before expanding into golf and other resorts as well. Whistler Village, widely recognized for its livable design, formed the basis of similar Tyrolian-inspired developments at their expanding series of resorts, as well as other resorts that hired Intrawest to build similar developments on their behalf. In 2010, Intrawest sold off much of its 75% interest in Whistler Blackcomb Resort via a public share offering.
In August 2016, the American company Vail Resorts bought Whistler Blackcomb Holdings for $1.39 billion. Nippon Cable's minority interest in Whistler Blackcomb Resort has continued throughout the ownership changes, by way of ownership of a 25% interest of the Whistler and Blackcomb partnerships.
Description
The ski areas at Whistler and Blackcomb are situated on two ridge-lines running roughly northwest to southeast. The two are separated by a deep valley with Fitzsimmons Creek running along the valley floor. The main base area at Whistler Village is located on the northwest end of this valley, where Fitzsimmons Creek flows into the larger Green River, which forms a floodplain running north–south just to the west of the village area. The Sea-to-Sky Highway runs along the Green River valley. The ski runs generally run northwest towards the village area, or into the valley area between the two ridges. A small number of runs are located on the south side of the Whistler ridge, where they run to the Creekside Base area, some distance south of the main Whistler Village.Whistler Mountain is the basis of the southern of the two ridges, on the right when looking at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski area from Whistler Village. It has a summit elevation of. The total vertical drop is and skiable inbound terrain. Whistler is served by a total of 19 lifts; 2 gondolas, 5 high-speed detachable quad chair lifts, 4 high-speed detachable sixpack chair lifts, 2 fixed grip triple chair lifts, 1 T-bar and 7 carpet lifts. It also hosts the drive station for the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, connecting it with Blackcomb mountain to the north. There are 4 on-hill restaurants, as well as a children's ski school. It is served by two base areas: Whistler Creek also known as creekside, the original base on its southwest flank, and Whistler Village on its northwest flank.
Blackcomb Mountain is the northern ridge, on the left when viewed from the village. It has a lift-serviced elevation of at the top of the 7th Heaven chair – Blackcomb Mountain itself is higher at, but unlike Whistler, the peak is not lift-served. Blackcomb has a higher skiable vertical, at, but less in-bound skiing area at. It is served by 15 lifts; 2 gondolas, 6 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip triple and 7 surface lifts, as well as the end-station for the Peak 2 Peak. Blackcomb is the location of the world-famous "Couloir Extreme" run, which is one of the top ten steep in-bound runs in the world, according to Skiing Magazine. Originally called the Saudan Couloir by local skiers even before it was part of the ski area, the company eventually had to drop the name when extreme skier Sylvain Saudan complained about the unauthorised use of his name.
The two previously separate ski areas of Whistler and Blackcomb were integrated into one operation in 1997 after Intrawest merged with Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation. Ticketing, pass, and access control systems for the two ski areas were fully integrated in 2003. Together, Whistler and Blackcomb form the largest ski area in North America at. Either mountain alone would be in the top-five in terms of size.
The mountains are accessed via four gondolas and one high-speed eight pack: Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola, Whistler Mountain Village Gondola, and Fitzsimmons Express in the village; the Blackcomb Gondola in Blackcomb Base/Upper Village; and the Whistler Creekside Gondola to the south in the Creekside area. The primary skiing terrain starts about one-third up the mountains. Ski-outs to the valley are usually possible during the months of December through April. The mid- and upper- areas are serviced by 10 high-speed detachable chairs and 5 fixed-grip lifts made by Lift Engineering, Doppelmayr and Poma. Two T-bars service the Horstman Glacier and the Whistler alpine regions and take skiers to the entrance to Blackcomb Glacier. The overall lift capacity, 65,507 skiers per hour, is the greatest in North America.
Before 2008 the only connection between the two mountains was via the village. The opening of the Peak 2 Peak Gondola on 12 December 2008 connected the two mountains at approximately. The lift has a total length of and the longest unsupported span for a lift of its kind in the world at while also having the highest ground clearance for a lift of its kind, above the valley floor.
Whistler Village, which is part of the Resort Municipality of Whistler, a geo-political entity not directly associated with the resort company's operation, is situated at the base of the Whistler Mountain Village Gondola and Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola. The village incorporates community services, shops, entertainment venues, restaurants, bars, hotels, condominiums and vacation properties. The village is above sea level, and is located from Vancouver International Airport.
History
Early visitors
The valley area between Whistler and Blackcomb was first surveyed and documented in 1858 by Hudson's Bay Company men looking for an alternate route into the Cariboo area further north. Although little-used at the time, the route later became one of the many paths used during the Gold Rush at the turn of the century. Known as the Pemberton Trail, the route followed a path similar to the Sea-to-Sky Highway, leading past the Whistler area to the present-day town of Pemberton. In the 1860s British Naval surveyors named the mountain "London Mountain," but it soon garnered the nickname "Whistler" because of the shrill whistle made by the Western hoary marmots who lived among the rocks. Four lakes paralleled the route of Trail, the highest then being known as Summit Lake. However, there was another Summit Lake in British Columbia, and in 1910 the name was changed to its current form, Alta Lake.One of the first permanent residents in the Alta Lake area was trapper John Millar, who set up a cabin next to the trail just south of the base of the mountain. During a trip to sell furs in Vancouver in 1911, Millar stopped at the Horseshoe Bar & Grill for dinner. The cook was Alex Philip from Maine, and Millar invited Philip to join him for dinner. Millar was a storyteller, and during the conversations that followed, he invited Philip to visit the Alta area. Alex and his wife Myrtle visited what was then known as Summit Lake several times over the next few years, and in 1913 they purchased of land on the northwest corner of Alta Lake for $700.
Rainbow Lodge and other early resorts
By 1914, the Philips' Rainbow Lodge fishing resort was completed with four bedrooms, a large living/dining area and a kitchen. The resort was named for the rainbow trout that were the main attraction of the resort. That same year, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway reached the lake from Squamish. Executives of the PGE suggested the Lodge host fishermen from Vancouver, which was now less than two days away via steamship to Squamish and then the PGE to Alta Lake. A standard rate of $2 for a week was applied, and the first group arrived with 25 people. The resort was a hit. Millar left when the railway arrived, looking to get further away from civilization.Building followed demand, and over time the lodge grew to include an additional 45 buildings and could accommodate 100 people. It became the most popular west coast resort for 30 years. The Philips operated the Lodge until 1948 when they sold it to Alec and Audrey Greenwood. The main Lodge burnt down in 1977, but today the area has been preserved as Rainbow Park. The Philips both remained in the valley until their deaths. Alex died in 1968 at age 86, and Myrtle died in 1986 at age 95.
Following the successful launch of Rainbow Lodge, several other tourist resorts set up in the valley. Russell Anderson Jordan opened the Alta Lake Hotel, which burned down in 1930, and replaced it with Jordan's Lodge on nearby Nita Lake. Bert and Agnes Harrop built Harrop's Point in the 1920s. This became the Cypress Lodge in 1945 under its then-owner Dick Fairhurst, who built new cabins and a main lodge in the early 1960s. In 1972 the property was purchased by the Canadian Youth Hostel Association and it remained the Whistler Hostel until it was closed in 2010 when the association opened a new, larger hostel. The original building is still standing today, home to the point artists' centre and the Whistler sailing club. Cecilia and John Mansell moved to Alta Lake in 1945 and built the Hillcrest Lodge near today's Lakeside Park on Alta Lake. They sold it in 1965 to the Mason family and others who operated it as Mount Whistler Lodge for skiers. The main lodge was burnt in a fire practice by the fire department in 1986.
There was some commercial use of the London Mountain area as well. Logging had been carried out for some time, but the arrival of the railway in 1914 made this much more profitable and for several years there were a few sizable mills and lumber operations: The Barrs at Parkhurst Mill on Green Lake, and the Gebharts with the Rainbow Lumber Company on Alta Lake. The fur trade remained for some time, later supplanted by a mink and marten farm. Jimmy Fitzsimmons ran a prospecting support company, which led to mining surveys up Fitzsimmons Valley. The shafts can still be found on the Singing Pass trail.