Whistler Blackcomb
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| Whistler Blackcomb | |
|---|---|
| File:WhistlerBlackcomb-logo.png | |
 Whistler Panorama | |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
| Nearest major city | Whistler, Pemberton |
| Vertical | Whistler: 1530 m (5020 ft) Blackcomb: 1565 m (5135 ft) |
| Top elevation | Whistler: 2182 m (7160 ft) Blackcomb: 2240 m (7349 ft) |
| Base elevation | Creekside: 653 m (2140 ft) Whistler Village: 675 m (2214 ft) |
| Skiable area | Whistler: 4,757 acres (1,925 ha) Blackcomb: 3,414 acres (1,382 ha) |
| Trails | >200 |
| Longest run | 11 km |
| Lift system | 38 (4 gondolas, 18 chairlifts, 16 surface lifts) |
| Lift capacity | Whistler: 34,345 skiers/hr Blackcomb: 31,162 skiers/hr |
| Snowfall | 10.22 m/year (402 in./year) |
| Snowmaking | Whistler: 215 acres (87 hectares), 4.5% Blackcomb: 350 acres (142 hectares), 10.3% |
| Website | Whistler Blackcomb |
Whistler Blackcomb is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. It has been ranked No. 1 ski resort in North America by SKIING Magazine for 12 years in a row;[citation needed] No. 1 in TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine for three years in a row,[citation needed] and has held the No. 3 ranking in SKI Magazine for two years in a row.[citation needed] The resort is owned by Intrawest, a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group.
Description
The two previously separate ski areas of Whistler and Blackcomb were integrated into one resort operation since 1997[1] when Intrawest finally completed the addition of neighboring Whistler Mountain to their Blackcomb ownership. Combined ticketing, pass, and access control systems for the two ski areas were finally integrated in 2003.
Together, Whistler and Blackcomb form the largest single ski area in North America at 8,171 acres, over 50% larger than that of Vail, the runner-up, with 5,289 acres. Both mountains boast some of the largest lift-serviced vertical skiing in North America, with Blackcomb having the most at 1,565 m (5,133 ft), but marketed as one mile (5,280ft or 1,609m)[2]. Whistler has slightly less vertical at 1,530 m (5,020 ft). The highest lift elevation, on Blackcomb, is 2,240 m (7,349 ft).
The mountains are accessed primarily by two gondolas (Excalibur and Whistler Village Gondolas - one for each mountain) meeting at the base of Whistler Mountain in Whistler Village A quad chairlift (Wizard Express Chair) is located at the base of Blackcomb Mountain, while a third gondola, serving Whistler only, is located some distance to the south at the Creekside base. Traversing from one mountain to the other was possible from the bottom only until December 2008. To address this problem, Whistler Blackcomb connected the two mountains at approximately 1,800m (6,000 feet) with the Peak 2 Peak Gondola which opened on December 12, 2008[3]. The lift has a total length of 4.4 km (2.73mi) and the longest unsupported span for a lift of its kind in the world at 3.02km (1.88mi) while also being the highest lift of its kind, 436m (1,427 ft.) above the valley floor[4].
The primary skiing terrain starts about 1/3 up the mountain. A ski-out is typically kept open for most of the season. The mid- and upper- areas are served primarily by high-speed detachable chairs of various sizes, with a small number of older Doppelmayr and Poma lifts and a few t-bars servicing the Blackcomb, Horstman and Whistler Glaciers, where winds make chair operations difficult. The overall lift capacity, 65,507 skiers per hour, is the highest in North America, although only slightly greater than Vail.
The well-developed village contains several large hotels, restaurants and bars, condominiums, and vacation homes. The village is 675 m (2,214 ft) above sea level, and is located approximately 126 km (78 miles) from Vancouver, and the Vancouver International Airport.
Whistler Blackcomb will host the alpine skiing events for the 2010 Winter Olympics, including the men's and women's Olympic and Paralympic alpine skiing disciplines of downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, super combined and slalom.
Whistler Mountain
Whistler Mountain opened for skiing in February, 1966, with a gondola lift, double chairlift (the Red Chair) and T-bar, all built by GMD Mueller. The new mountain won instant acclaim for its vertical drop, good snow conditions, and huge alpine area. The only problem at the time was the road—it was a dirt logging track, which was only plowed on Saturday, to the detriment of Friday travelers.
The mountain soon expanded, adding the Blue and Green chairlifts in 1970, as well as a mountaintop lodge, the Roundhouse, which provided respite for cold skiers who had survived the long ride up on the Red Chair. After the Sea-to-Sky Highway was paved in 1969, more people than ever came to Whistler Mountain, which is located two hours north of Vancouver and four hours north of Seattle.
The mountain added the Olive and Orange chairlifts in 1972. A parallel lift to the Green Chair to alleviate crowds came in 1974, and the Little Red Chair came in 1978.
Because the number of visitors was rapidly increasing, the town in the valley had to expand as well to accommodate them. A plan was drawn up, and the village of Alta Lake was incorporated into the Resort Municipality of Whistler in 1975. The new municipal government, which had powers that enabled better management of the growing community, immediately, initiated construction of Whistler Village.
Whistler Village opened in 1980. Along with it came a succession of three triple chairlifts, the Village, Olympic, and Black Chairs, that carried skiers from the Village to the Roundhouse in no less than 45 minutes. Hotels and restaurants soon emerged in the pedestrian village. Hearthstone Lodge, built by Vancouver real estate developer Clifford Ames, was the first building completed during phase I of construction.
The next major addition came in 1986, when 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.
In response to Blackcomb Mountain's 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 m (3,795 ft) vertically and 5 km (3 mi) horizontally over 63 support towers, the lift opened on November 24, 1988.
In 1990 Whistler Mountain reached another milestone, the addition of its first high-speed quad chairlift. The Green Chair Express, which replaced the Green Chairs, was built by Lift Engineering (Yan), and substantially cut long lift queues in the Green area of the mountain.
A year later, in 1991, Whistler Mountain continued in its construction streak, replacing three double chairlifts and the original gondola with two high-speed quad chairlifts, the Quicksilver and Redline lifts, also built by Lift Engineering.
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 1995, tragedy struck. On 23 December 1995, the lift operator on the Quicksilver lift pressed the button to make a routine stop, to allow a fallen skier to get out of the way of the unloading ramp. Instead, the emergency brake activated, sending shockwaves down the cable. Grips on at least two of the chairs slipped, and caused chairs to slide down the cable and slam into each other. In all, eight were injured, and two were killed[5] [6] in one of the worst ski lift accidents in North America. The disaster ended up causing the bankruptcy of the lift's manufacturer, Lift Engineering.
In 1997, the Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation was bought out by Intrawest, which had owned Blackcomb since 1986. Big changes were made on Whistler Mountain. The Quicksilver lift was replaced with a gondola, the Green Chair Express and Redline lifts were removed and replaced with modern Doppelmayr lifts, and the original Roundhouse was demolished and a new lodge built in its place.
1998 saw the replacement of the Peak triple chair with a high-speed quad.
2000 brought more changes, as the Black Chair was replaced with a high-speed quad (the Garbanzo Chair), and another was added (the Fitzsimmons Chair), following the line of the long-gone Village Chair. The top of the Fitzsimmons and the bottom of the Garbanzo are more or less co-located in the Village Gondola Olympic station area, thus providing extra lifting capacity from the main village into the high Alpine additional to the Village Gondola itself.
In 2005 Whistler Blackcomb announced the proposed $51.4 million Peak to Peak gondola which aims to break the world records for height, as well as total distance between two towers. The gondola terminals will be adjacent to Whistler's Roundhouse and Blackcomb's Rendezvous restaurants. The 4.4 km (2¾ mi) lift would span 415 m (1,360 ft) above Fitzsimmons Creek with just four towers. The maximum distance between the two largest towers will be about 2.9 km (1¾ mi) long. Construction of the lift began in May 2007 and should take 18 months to complete, just in time for the 2008/2009 season. Construction is only taking place during the summer months and shut down in October.
During the summer of 2006, Whistler-Blackbomb installed a new four person detachable chair that begins at the base of Flute Bowl and carries riders to the top of Piccolo. In August 2006, Whistler Blackcomb announced that this new lift was to be called the Symphony Express and would provide access to the Symphony Amphitheatre, a name chosen to reflect the high alpine area's natural amphitheatre-like terrain. The new lift opened on December 16 2006 [7].
Whistler Mountain is said to offer some of the most varied terrain of any North American resort, from the park and pipes, to glades, cliffs off the peak chair, wide open harmony and symphony zone, beginner terrain at the base, and cruiser runs off the gondola and Big Red chair. [citation needed]
Whistler Mountain Bike Park
The Whistler Mountain Bike Park celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2008. Having consistently grown since its inception, it sees an average of 100,000 bikers each summer.[citation needed]
The Whistler Mountain Bike Park uses Fitzsimmons and Garbanzo quad chairlifts, as well as the Village Gondola to shuttle bikers to around midstation, at 1,200 m (4,000 ft). The park has 47+ trails for all skill levels totaling 250km + of trails. There are smooth trails with gentle banked corners for beginners, steep twisty trails for intermediates, tight trails with jumps and stunts for advanced riders, and challenging trails with giant jumps, drops, and root-strewn terrain for the experts.
During the summer, high speed quad chairlifts used by the bike park have every second chair replaced with a bike rack during the summer. The rack fits four bikes, three in grooves and one on a hook on the side of the chair. The bikers then get on the next chair which is a normal passenger carrier.
The bike park has two zones: the Fitzsimmons Zone (the lower zone) and the Garbanzo Zone (the upper zone). All riders take either the Village Gondola or the Fitzsimmions quad to the Olympic Station area. Then intermediate and advanced riders can take the Garbanzo quad up further to the Garbanzo zone. Garbanzo riders can return to midstation or Whistler Village, the base of the bike park. From the top of Garbanzo to the village is an impressive 1100 m (3,600 ft) vertical descent; eclipsed only by the more expensive guided descents from the top gondola station or the top of the Peak Chair, the highest accessible point on the mountain. "A-Line" is the most well-known track. The Boneyard Slopestyle Course is part of the Fitzsimmon's Zone and is located at the very bottom of the bike park, visible from the the base of Whistler Mountain. The Boneyard features a collection of high-intermediate and advanced slopestyle features, including drops, dirt jumps,
The park hosts two large, annual mountain biking competitions/festivals: Crankworx is held in the summer; Harvest Huckfest is held in the fall. The mountain is frequented by professional mountain bikers such as Wade Simmons, Andrew Shandro, Richie Schley, Francis Hopcraft, and Anne-Caroline Chausson.
Air Dome
The Air Dome is an 8,400-square-foot (780 m2) covered indoor bike training facility with a foam pit and wooden ramps. It offers jump progression from two-foot high jump ramps to 26-foot (7.9 m) quarter pipes with options for riders of all abilities. Dirt jump, slopestyle, downhill and BMX bikes are permitted on the ramps and in the pit.
Blackcomb Mountain
Blackcomb Mountain opened in 1980, under the partnership of Fortress Mountain Resorts, then a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspen Skiing Company, and the Federal Business Development Bank of Canada, with four triple chairlifts (later named Cruiser, Stoker, Catskinner and Fitzsimmons lifts) and one double chairlift supplied by Lift Engineering. The competition of this mountain was not initially appreciated by Whistler Mountain. Indeed, the mountain was considered "new kid on the block" into the early 1990s.
In 1982, "Chair 6" (later rebranded Jersey Cream) opened in the Horstman Creek drainage. In 1983 Blackcomb acquired a used T-Bar from Fortress Mountain and installed it on a south-facing slope, in full view of Whistler Mountain. This 7th lift was coined 7th Heaven T-Bar and gave access to high alpine and glaciated terrain. It also gave Blackcomb the highest lift-serviced vertical drop of any ski area in North America, although somewhat less than the company's claim of 1 mile (5,280 ft, 1,609 m).
In 1986, the mountain's assets and real estate rights were bought by fledgling real estate developer Intrawest Corp which immediately installed three high-speed Doppelmayr detachable chairlifts, moved the 7th Heaven T-Bar to Horstman Glacier, and installed a second T-Bar on Horstman Glacier. The T-Bars were installed in anticipation of summer skiing and eventual access to Blackcomb Glacier (at that time completely within the boundaries of Garibaldi Provincial Park). The new Wizard and Solar Coaster quad lifts cut the lift ride time from base to alpine from 45 minutes to 15. The Rendezvous Restaurant was re-dubbed Base 2 and the moniker moved to the restaurant at the top of the Solar Coaster lift.
In 1989, Lift 6 (Jersey Cream) was replaced with a Doppelmayr high-speed quad and the Yan triple lift was moved to the newly opened Crystal Ridge area of the mountain.
In 1992, the Glacier Express was installed, running from the base of the Jersey Cream lift to the toe of Horstman Glacier. This lift's construction was followed by the building of the Glacier Creek Restaurant- the largest building on Blackcomb Mountain.
In 1994, Blackcomb made its last major lift expansion with the replacement of the Stoker, Cruiser, and Fitzsimmons lifts with the high-speed Excelerator Quad Chair and Excalibur Gondola-dubbed by some the "gondola to nowhere" since it doesn't connect with any restaurant or access additional terrain. However, it allowed rapid alpine access for skiers in Whistler Village, who previously had to take 4 chairlifts to Rendezvous (Fitzsimmons, Stoker, Cruiser, Jersey Cream, with 3 of those being slower chairs). The Excelerator also opened up a vast area of intermediate-difficulty terrain to the left of Solar Coaster and below Jersey Cream that was previously neglected and under-utilized, because skiers who travel those slopes frequently had to go all the way to the bottom of the mountain, which is over-skied and icy.
Blackcomb is the location of the world famous "Couloir Extreme" run, which is one of the top ten steep in-bounds 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.
In 1996, Intrawest purchased Whistler to create Whistler Blackcomb as it is known today.
2008 Excalibur Gondola accident
The Excalibur gondola had a major malfunction on December 16, 2008, when the upper portion of one of the lift towers detached and collapsed, causing several of the gondola cabins to drop near to the ground,[8] leaving 53[9] people trapped on the lower section of the lift line. Firefighters rescued passengers from a cabin dangling over Fitzsimmons Creek, and from another gondola that landed on a bus shelter. The third cabin had crashed into the trees, narrowly missing a condominium. Twelve people suffered minor injuries.[10]According to Whistler-Blackcomb, a joint in the tower separated due to the buildup of ice from water that had seeped into the tower.[11]
The undamaged upper half of the lift running from Blackcomb's Base 2 was reopened on Saturday 20 December.[12] After repairs were made to the collapsed tower, the whole lift was back in service on Wednesday 24 December.[13]
Whistler Blackcomb's Coca-Cola Tube Park
For the 2005-2006 ski season Blackcomb mountain opened the Coca-Cola Tube Park to allow for recreational tubing at the resort. The tube park is located at Base II on Blackcomb Mountain alongside the Village Run.
XXI Olympic Winter Games
During the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Whistler Mountain will host the alpine skiing events. The men's skiing will take place on the Dave Murray Downhill, while women's skiing takes place on a new course, which starts on Wild Card, cuts across Jimmy’s Joker to Franz's Run and connects at the bottom of the Dave Murray Downhill.
Whistler Blackcomb says the mountains will remain 90% open to the public during the 2010 Winter Games.
The Whistler Sliding Centre will host bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events. Meanwhile, Whistler Olympic Park will host Olympic and Paralympic biathlon, Olympic and Paralympic cross-country skiing, Nordic Combined and ski jumping.
Whistler, as a host venue, has undergone massive changes in order to create the sport venues and house the athletes and staff. $600 million dollars have been spent to improve the drive from Vancouver to Whistler on the Sea to Sky highway down to about two hours, improve safety, and increase traffic capacity[14]. Other money will go towards upkeep of stadiums and renovations on local mountains in and around Vancouver.
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A panorama of Whistler Blackcomb -
A view of 7th Heaven on Blackcomb Mountain from Whistler Mountain. -
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See also
- Whistler, British Columbia (the Resort Municipality of Whistler)
- Whistler Mountain (the geographical feature)
- Blackcomb Peak (the geographical feature)
- Garibaldi Provincial Park
- Peak 2 Peak Gondola
References
- ^ Intrawest: History
- ^ Accurate Lift-served Vertical Feet Totals
- ^ Johnston, Greg (2008-12-12). "Tram catches air between summits". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Hearst Corporation. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Whistler Blackcomb - PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola - Details". Whistler-Blackcomb. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
- ^ Nixon, Emily Disaster and Emergency Management: The Quicksilver Chairlift Incident, Graduating Essay, University of Victoria, Geography Dept., April 2004
- ^ Pyn, Larry (2008-02-09). "Minimizing the risks on B.C.'s ski lifts". The Vancouver Sun. Canwest Interactive. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Symphony Amphitheatre & the Symphony Express
- ^ "Gondola tower snaps at ski resort". BBC News channel. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Excalibur Gondola Update". Whistler-Blackcomb. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ Culbert, Lori (2008-12-16). "Twelve injured, rescue complete after Whistler gondola accident". The Vancouver Sun. Pacific Newspaper Group. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Whistler Blackcomb Operations To Resume Following Bc Safety Authority Secondary Inspection". Whistler-Blackcomb. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ "Whistler Blackcomb press release: Upper Line Of Excalibur Gondola Re-Opens Saturday". Whistler Blackcomb Resort. 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
- ^ "Whistler Blackcomb press release: Excalibur Gondola Will Fully Re-Open December 24". Whistler Blackcomb Resort. 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
- ^ Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from January 2009
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from January 2009
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from January 2009
- Wikipedia articles needing copy edit from December 2008
- Articles with peacock terms from October 2008
- Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes from January 2009
- Ski areas and resorts in British Columbia
- Snow tubing areas in British Columbia
- 2010 Winter Olympics venues
- Whistler Valley