In January 1988, Whistler Mountain announced a new event for the lift company to coincide with the full moon on Feb. 2. More than 100 skiers could buy tickets to a “moonlighting” evening that included a full-course dinner at the Roundhouse and a moonlit ski down to the valley guided by patrollers and instructors, followed by a “moondance party” at Dusty’s with live entertainment. The idea for the event reportedly came from Bernie Protsch, a ski patroller, and Werner Defilla, vice president of food and beverage, who had both seen similar events while working in Switzerland. The first full-moon event apparently went well, with another planned during the World Cup week in March. What the participants did not know, however, was that theirs was not the only party on Whistler Mountain that evening.
At a recent Speaker Series event featuring mountain caretakers, Janet Love Morrison, Laird Brown and Colleen Warner shared stories from their time living on Whistler Mountain in the 1980s. Laird and Colleen spent more than two years living at midstation and Janet and Gord Harder lived at the Alpine Service Building at the top of the Red Chair. According to Janet, while guests and staff (including Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation president Lorne Borgal) were enjoying a fine-dining experience at the Roundhouse, she and Gord decided to have their own party at their place.
At the time, Laird had built an ice rink between the Roundhouse and the Alpine Service Building and, according to Janet, they “just wanted to go outside and go ice skating.” Knowing the event was still ongoing, however, their party of six to eight people decided to stay inside until those at the Roundhouse had departed. Once the official guests had headed down the hill, the unofficial party went for a moonlit skate, had a few more drinks, and then decided to go skiing.
With the help of two snowmobiles driven by Gord and another friend, the party did multiple laps of Upper Whiskey Jack before rolling one of the sleds, breaking the flag, the key and the windshield. It was about 4 a.m. by the time they got the machine back up to the Alpine Service Building, and Janet stayed up to do the 5 a.m. weather reading, a daily duty of the alpine caretaker. Later that day, Janet and Gord went to the office of Jamie Tattersfield to confess what had happened to the snowmobile. He looked at them, asked if everyone was alright, and said, “OK.”
Being out in the alpine during a full moon was far from a new experience for Gord and some of his friends. Prior to the construction of the Peak Chair in 1986, the Peak Bros. would camp on the peak for every full moon, hiking up for about an hour from the top of the T-bar at the end of the ski day and setting up tents. According to Shawn Hughes (also known as SO), this tradition went on faithfully every winter full moon for more than six years.
The construction of the Whistler Express Gondola in the summer of 1988 made the alpine caretaker position redundant and the mid-station and valley caretaker positions were phased out over the next few years. Whistler Mountain’s full-moon dinners at the Roundhouse, however, continued into the 1990s. n
