Whistler Blackcomb: the back story

About Whistler Blackcomb: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Ski Resorts Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Whistler began as Alta Lake, a summer fishing retreat in the Coast Mountains. A group of Vancouver businessmen set out in the early 1960s to bring the Winter Olympics to British Columbia, opened Whistler Mountain in January 1966, and the pedestrian village and Blackcomb Mountain followed in 1980.

Winter comes to Alta Lake

By the early 1960s the community of Alta Lake, already a popular fishing and summer destination, was attracting attention in winter too. Inspired by the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley, a group of Vancouver businessmen led by the Norwegian-born Franz Wilhelmsen began working to bring the Winter Olympics to British Columbia, and their Garibaldi Olympic Development Association chose London Mountain, on the south-eastern shore of Alta Lake, as the site.

A mountain renamed

In 1965 London Mountain became Whistler Mountain. Some say the name comes from the whistle of the hoary marmots on its upper slopes; others from the wind whistling down past Singing Pass. A rough dirt road went in, and building began beside Whistler Creek, the start of today’s Creekside.

In 1965 London Mountain was renamed Whistler Mountain.

Opening day

Garibaldi Lifts opened Whistler Mountain on 15 January 1966 with a four-person gondola, the original Red chairlift, two T-bars and the deep Coast Mountain snow that still defines the place. The Olympic bid for 1976 did not succeed, but skiers kept coming, and in 1975 the province created the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

A village and a second mountain

Plans followed for a second ski area on Blackcomb Mountain and a European-style pedestrian village where the two bases met. Blackcomb opened in December 1980, and for years visitors bought Dual Mountain tickets to ski both. Whistler went on to co-host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and in 2008 the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola joined the two summits in one continuous lift system, 436 metres above the valley floor at its highest.

Whistler Blackcomb today

Today Whistler Blackcomb, part of Vail Resorts and on the Epic Pass, spreads across 8,171 acres, more than 200 marked runs, 16 alpine bowls, three glaciers and 36 lifts, with an average of 1,072 cm of snow a year. The car-free village sits at the foot of both gondolas, with Creekside on the Whistler side and the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb.

Our advice: buy a pass or lift tickets online and early, since prices rise towards the walk-up rate, and remember that British Columbia now keeps daylight time all year, so the lifts open later until mid-January.

Whistler through the years

Dates from Tourism Whistler (whistler.com) and Whistler Blackcomb (whistlerblackcomb.com), read October 2026.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Whistler Blackcomb: the back story before you go.