WHISTLER MOUNTAIN-How the Magic Began

WHISTLER MOUNTAIN
Whistler Mountain first opened for skiing in February 1966 and began with a gondola lift, double chairlift and T-bar. Whistler Mountain won instant acclaim for its vertical drop, good snow conditions, and huge alpine area. The only problem seemed to be the road, which was in fact more of a dirt track which would only get snow ploughed once a week.

In 1969 the Sea to Sky Highway was paved and more people than ever came to Whistler Mountain. In 1970 things started to progress even more with the addition of the Blue and Green chairlifts, a mountain top lodge and the Roundhouse. In 1972 the Olive and Orange chairlifts were added. Two years later, in 1974 Whistler recieved a parallel lift to the Green Chair to alleviate crowds and 1978 saw the addition of the Little Red Chair.

By 1975 the number of visitors to Whistler Mountain had greatly increased and these visitors needed to be accommodated for. Therefore the village of Alta Lake was incorporated into the Resort Municipality of Whistler. The new municipal government, which had powers that enabled better management of the growing community, immediately initiated construction of Whistler Village. The village opened in 1980, with it came a succession of three triple chairlifts, the Village, Olympic, and Black Chairs, that carried skiers from Whistler Village to the Roundhouse in less than 45 minutes.

In 1986 the Peak Chair to the summit of Whistler Mountain was constructed. This lift revolutionized skiing on Whistler Mountain, allowing access to the largest alpine ski area in North America. Following Blackcomb Mountains construction of three high speed quad chairlifts, Whistler Mountain undertook one of the biggest ski lift construction projects ever realized in Canada, the construction of the Whistler Express Gondola. Carrying passengers 1,157 meters vertically and 5 kilometers horizontally over 62 support towers, the lift opened in November 1988.

The year of 1990 saw Whistler Mountain reach another milestone, which was the addition of its first high speed quad chairlift. The Green Chair Express, which replaced the Green Chairs, and substantially cut long lift queues in the Green area of the mountain. A year later in 1991 Whistler Mountain continued its construction, replacing three double chairlifts and the original gondola with two high speed quad chairlifts, the Quicksilver and Redline lifts. The year of 1994 saw the removal of the Blue Chair, and the construction of the Harmony Express, which started from the base of the former Blue Chair but ran all the way to the top of Little Whistler Peak.

In 1996 the Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation was bought out by Intrawest, which had owned Blackcomb since 1986 and the Quicksilver lift was replaced with a gondola. In 1997 big changes were made on Whistler Mountain. The Green Chair Express and Redline lifts were removed and replaced with modern Doppelmayr lifts. The original Roundhouse was demolished and a new lodge was built in its place. Then in 1998 the Peak triple chair was replaced with a high speed quad. The millennium brought more changes as the Black Chair was replaced with a high speed quad, and another was added, following the line of the long gone Village Chair.