Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain face each other. Their physical connection at the base would suggest similarities between them. But, this is a story of how two mountains can create two completely different skiing or snowboarding experiences. A view from the valley foreshadows the mountain's stories.
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Whistler Blackcomb’s Whistler Creekside was the Alpine Skiing Venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The courses hosted the disciplines of men's and women's Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom and Super Combined on Whistler Mountain.
The men's skiing took place on the well-respected Dave Murray Downhill, while women's skiing took place on a new course, which starts on Wild Card, cuts across to Franz's Run and connects at the bottom of the Dave Murray Downhill.
The Dave Murray Downhill is named after Dave Murray, one of the original “Crazy Canucks,” and one of the most popular ski personalities Canada has ever produced.
After retiring from the Canadian Ski Team in 1982, he joined Whistler Mountain as Director of Skiing and created a series of events and programs targeting mature skiers. The legendary Dave Murray Camps continue to be offered at Whistler Blackcomb to this day. Dave passed away in 1989, after a valiant fight against cancer. The run was named in his honour in 1990.
The steepest section on the men’s course is 58 per cent on the Fallaway pitch. The approximate range of pitch on the Dave Murray Downhill is from 29 per cent to 58 per cent.
This original trail was basically a narrow creek bed for the first 13 years. The run was first blasted and made wider in 1978, again in 1983 and again in 1995 (all for ski racing).
In the late 90’s the marketing people changed the names on the official Downhill course map but the old names stuck and the new ones disappeared.
The “Toilet Bowl” is near the start of the course and is where there is an abrupt roll-over onto a steep pitch. Since this was originally the main route back to Olympic Station, during the end-of-day ski out there were comparisons made to the “flushing out” action of a toilet as there were so many people in such a narrow corridor. This also led to the naming of the “Sewer” as the place that all this flushing delivered these folks.
“The Weasel” is a steep pitch at the equivalent elevation as the top of the Creekside Gondola (mid-station). Whistler Weasel Workers got their name from the job of boot-packing the Weasel section of the course. “Afterburner” is a steep ledge that crosses Lower Insanity to Coaches Corner. “Coach’s Corner” is just past the halfway mark and has been widened in preparation for 2010 Winter Games athletes. “Boyd’s Bump” is a short section just before “Murr’s Jump” or “Hot Air.” “Murr’s Jump” is also known as “Hot Air” and is the last technical section of the course before the finish line.
