Thirteen years before Whistler and Vancouver hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Blackcomb Mountain began hosting a smaller, perhaps less prestigious, but likely no less competitive event called the Lifty Olympics.
The Lifty Olympics began in April 1997 as part of the second World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF). In its first year, WSSF featured 22 events over 10 days, including the Couloir Ski Race Extreme, the Whistler Cup, and the WestBeach classic, along with performances by bands such as Vancouver’s 54•40. For its second year, additional events were included such as the Norco Challenge (Norco factory riders competed to see who could go the fastest on their bike down Whistler Mountain’s Saddle) and the Backbone Enduro Vertical Challenge. While most WSSF events catered to those who skied or snowboarded on the mountains, the Lifty Olympics featured those who worked in mountain operations.
According to organizer Jim Tutsch, the Lifty Olympics was “specifically designed to test the wiles of local lifties” and “demonstrate the activities of a lift operations specialist in the course of their daily duties.” Teams from both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains competed in four timed events. In one, they had to set up 36 maze gates in a standard pattern used to merge four lines of skiers down to one. Teams also had to transport garbage cans of snow up the mountain, perform a net drop rescue with a fireman’s net, and complete a full shut-down procedure. Tutsch warned these activities would be made a bit harder, such as by scattering rakes, shovels, ropes and gates around the bottom terminal that would need to be stacked when shutting down. The team that completed their duties with the fastest times won a keg of beer and a year’s worth of bragging rights.
With space for six teams, all of the positions were reportedly filled within one day. Each team had four people, of which one member had to be female and one (though it is unclear if it could be the same one) had to be “an Australian or a reasonable facsimile.” A few days before the competition on April 7, Tutsch told the Question staff members on both mountains were in training “polishing shovels, moving maze gates and counting down the days to the event.” This early enthusiasm for the Lifty Olympics had Tutsch thinking of expansion, whether to other mountain departments or to teams from other ski resorts.
While the Lifty Olympics doesn’t appear to have spread to other departments, the Cascade Toboggan Ski Patrol Challenge joined the WSSF line up in 1999 and featured ski patrollers from across North America in five events such as the Dual GS Toboggan Challenge, Speed Packaging, and the Multiple Transceiver Search.
The Lifty Olympics at Blackcomb’s Base II continued as part of WSSF over the next few years, though it is not part of the WSSF these days. In 2000, Tutsch told the Question the event was not just a competition, but also “a big thank you and formal recognition of the invaluable input of these unsung heroes.”
