This year marks a few important anniversaries for ski racing on Whistler Mountain: it has been 40 years since the ski hill almost hosted the World Cup in 1979 before it was cancelled due to weather and safety concerns, and it is 30 years since Rob Boyd became the first Canadian male to win a World Cup downhill event on Canadian soil.
Whistler Mountain held other successful World Cup events in the 1980s and '90s starting with a World Cup downhill in 1982.
By the last week of February 1982, Whistler had undergone some major changes since a World Cup was last attempted in 1979. Blackcomb Mountain opened for skiing in 1980, giving Whistler Mountain nearby competition, and the first phase of Whistler Village construction was, for the most part, wrapped up.
The course for this World Cup downhill was changed as well. Rather than follow the traditional route that used what is now known as Dave Murray Downhill ending in Creekside, the 1982 course ended in Whistler Village.
The new 3,810-metre course was expected to result in a winning time in the two-minutes-and-15-seconds range. Racers began near the top of the Black and Orange Chairs and then headed down through the Double Trouble rollers, the Pony Trail Flats, Tokum Corner, the Elevator Shaft, across Crabapple Creek and to the finish line in view of the spectators waiting in the village.
There was more to Whistler's 1982 World Cup than raceday on Saturday. The opening ceremonies began the festivities on Wednesday, Feb. 24 and included a parade of nations complete with flags and local dignitaries. The following evening was Western Night. The scheduled events included a display of logger sports such as axe-throwing and chainsaw demonstrations and a square-dancing demonstration for the national teams. The Lil'wat Nation also hosted an outdoor salmon barbecue. The Friday evening before the race was a more casual affair with a torchlight ski parade and fireworks display.
According to The Vancouver Sun, prior to Saturday the weather was "the most-discussed element of the whole affair." Days of fog and fresh snow leading up to the race meant great conditions for those skiing on the rest of Whistler Mountain but these conditions weren't great for training runs, causing delays and cancelled practices. Luckily, on Saturday the weather cooperated and, for the first time on Whistler, the World Cup downhill could go ahead.
Going into the race, the two racers to watch were thought to be Steve Podborski of the Crazy Canucks and Austrian Harti Weirather, the 1981 World Cup downhill champion. The race was, however, won by Swiss skier Peter Mueller, a two-time World Cup downhill champion (the 1982 season ended with a tie for title between Mueller and Podborski).
At the awards ceremony after the race on Saturday, the cheers for Mueller were reported to be just as loud as those for the Crazy Canucks. Mueller appeared to enjoy his second trip to Whistler, having first come to the valley on a five-week camping tour of Western Canada in the 1970s. When speaking of the area's hospitality, he told reporters that, "The people here are so friendly. They come up to me and say, 'Hi Pete,' even if they don't know me. I would really like to come back here."
Whistler's 1982 World Cup was not an unqualified success to everyone. According to Doug Sack in Whistler Magazine some teams "loathed the new course." It ended too slowly, passing over the flats of Lower Olympic, and one Austrian was even heard to say "I should have brought my cross-country skis with me."
Whistler Mountain hosted more World Cup downhills after 1982, using the Dave Murray Downhill course. If you're interested in learning more about Whistler's World Cups and what it takes to organize and pull off such an event, join us at the Whistler Museum for our next Speaker Series on Thursday, March 28 with guests including Rob Boyd and Alex Kleinman.
