Whistler Traveller Magazine

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

- STORY BY REBECCA WOOD BARRETT IMAGES BY JOERN ROHDE

Afew years ago Whistler Blackcomb added the ski-run trail map to many of the chairlift lap-bars. While you’re on the lift, you can try to figure out if you’ve just been lost on Jimmy’s Joker; choose whether Cockalorum should be your next double black diamond shred; or argue with friends about which bowl serves up the most untracked white gold.

But why bother with naming the runs at all? Names foster a sense of place, a feeling of human attachment and belonging. They all have a story to tell and are connected to the land, history and events of Whistler.

For example, when ski patrollers set off avalanche bombs in a particular bowl, the windows in Alpine Meadows rattle. The

Boomer Bowl explosions are the perfect reminder to leap out of bed and head up the mountain to the powder. Some names, though, are perhaps not what you think. 7th Heaven received its moniker from Whistler Blackcomb President and CEO Hugh Smythe, who realized the lift servicing the area was Blackcomb’s seventh. That the name ties in to the heavenly conditions on a sunny spring day after a snowstorm is nearly a happy coincidenc­e.

Besides connecting us to the place, names also connect us to the past, and a history which is largely unknown to the seasonal workers and visitors who flock to Whistler every year. As they learn the names of their favourite runs, perhaps a little piece of history is subtly infused in their collective consciousn­ess.

Blackcomb, once slated for logging, had many of the runs named after logging terms. The highest quality timber was known as

Jersey Cream, the cream off the top; and the grease used on logging equipment was referred to as Cougar Milk. Skid Row (or skid road) was a path along which logs were skidded. If you were a hand faller, you stood on a Springboar­d cut into the broad base of a large tree. While working, you certainly didn’t want to stand inside The Bite, which is the dangerous area in the slack of a cable that would snap out once the log was pulled.

A Stoker, Hooker, Cruiser, Catskinner and Gearjammer were colloquial names for the various skilled workers in the logging industry. While we associate history with events, we also remember the past through extraordin­ary people, pioneers and athletes. Franz’s run honours Franz Wilhelmsen, and Chunky’s Choice is named after Chunky Woodward, both founders of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. Jimmy’s Joker is named after a surveyor who lost his way in the fog and laid out a trail that was quite different from what he had planned. Seppo’s (Seppo Makinen) logged many of the first runs on Whistler and Blackcomb. Cockalorum describes a tiny person with a big presence, and is named after mechanic Jack Goodale, who died in an accident. The Dave Murray Downhill memorializ­es a Whistler skiing legend and one of Canada’s Crazy Canucks.

Since Whistler Blackcomb is constantly adding more lifts, gondolas and runs, the connection­s to place, and Whistler’s history and most memorable, influentia­l people, will continue to be immortaliz­ed in the alpine. To find out more informatio­n on the history of naming Whistler, from runs to streets, and surroundin­g mountains to creeks, visit the Whistler Museum and Archives Society, open seven days a week, 11:00 am–5:00 pm.

whistlermu­seum.org | 604-932-2019

For more informatio­n and detailed ski run trail maps, visit whistlerbl­ackcomb.com.

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