From the archive: As Whistler begins its 50th ski season, a look back

As Whistler Mountain opened for its 50th season of skiing today, Garry Watson could scarcely believe the changes that have happened over the decades.

READ MORE: Whistler and Cypress opening early for 2015 ski season

“We came here ski mountaineering,” says Watson, who arrived in Whistler in 1961 as a young lawyer.

“Our idea was basically we’ll build a cabin and climb the bloody mountain. In 1963 we bought a district lot for $200 an acre,” he added, before breaking out in a laugh.

In those days, the idea of a ski resort was championed by Franz Wilhelmsen, a Norwegian who was looking for a ski hill near Vancouver to host the Winter Olympic games.

On January 15, 1966, Whistler Mountain opened for operations. According to the Whistler Museum, there was one gondola, one chairlift, and two t-bars.

Today, Whistler and the adjacent Blackcomb Mountain have a combined 37 lifts, able to carry 69,939 skiers per hour.

Much of the critical expansion came in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1975, the Resort Municipality of Whistler was incorporated, in 1978, construction began on Whistler Village, and in 1980 Blackcomb Mountain opened as a rival to Whistler (the two resorts merged in 1997).

But while expansion was a success, with the town’s population going from 2,000 in 1986 to 9,000 in 2001, it wasn’t guaranteed.

A BCTV feature from the time show some of the discontent during construction of the village and adjacent hotels.

WATCH: Development of Whistler Resort in 1979

“In a lot of respects, this quarter-billion dollar baby hasn’t worked, at least not as well as they’ve hoped,” said BCTV reporter Jim Hart in 1979.

“Condo sales are down, although they keep building even more of them, and prices are high.”

Hart then tours one of the newly-opened condos.

“You’d hardly pay that for a unit this size in the choicest part of Vancouver.”

WATCH: Additional stories on the development of Whistler from 1980 and 1981

– With files from Ted Field