Backpacker Buzz Issue 76: Whistler, the Olympics and the hunt for a new hostel

It took nearly 40 years of hopes and dreams for Whistler to get the Olympics and it took just as long for Hostelling International – Canada – Pacific Mountain Region (HI-C-PM Region) to get the Whistler hostel it always wanted.

Opening July 1, the new HI-Whistler, which sleeps 188 people, will significantly boost budget travel in Whistler for the first time. HI has been in Whistler since 1968 but the property on the shores of Alta Lake only had room for 25 people. Since then, Whistler has grown from a nearly inaccessible summer fishing spot to arguably one of the best winter sports destinations in North America. HI-Whistler, a fishing lodge built in 1945, has witnessed it all. Now, HI-C-PM Region, the life force behind little HI-Whistler, is about to grow up.

In the mid 1960s, a few Vancouver businessmen created Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. and set about rigging up some ski lifts near Garibaldi Provincial Park in the hopes of luring the Winter Olympics. Hostelling International, still known as the Canadian Youth Hostels Association (CYHA), wanted an inexpensive way to join in the winter fun.

By the end of 1968, two years after Whistler Mountain opened for skiing, the CYHA’s Pacific Region had its sights set on building a new 100-bed hostel in the area. In a November 1968 Pacific Hosteller newsletter to members, CYHA Pacific Region President, Stewart Cunningham, insisted that a bigger hostel was necessary because, “there is an excellent chance that the 1976 Olympic Games will be held at Whistler Mountain and we could use at least 100 beds right now.” After raising just over half of their projected $140,000 budget for the project, the CYHA hit a roadblock and were forced to reconsider their plans.

The next winter, the owners of Cypress Lodge, a summer fishing lodge on the shores of Alta Lake, agreed to lease their property to the CYHA for the winter months. They did this until 1972, when the owners agreed to sell the property and its buildings to the association for the funds they’d raised for their originally planned hostel. And so the Whistler Hostel came to be.

Not much changed for 38 years. HI-Whistler continued to operate year-round on the shores of Alta Lake. It always had room for 25 people, and you could always borrow a canoe and paddle around the lake in the summer or strap on ice skates and have a twirl on the frozen lake in the winter.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Hostelling International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.