After a great time touring Vancouver, we were ready to move to the resort town of Whistler. Here, we learned many interesting things about the previous Olympics and the history of the town at the Whistler Museum.
One of the first settlers, Myrtle and Alex Phillips, arrived in 1911. They built the Rainbow Lodge which became very popular for tourists. Eventually as the town began to develop, other lodges were built and the logging and mining industries opened. Businessmen from Vancouver recognized the potential of Whistler and wanted to open a ski resort to host the Olympics. They formed the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association to raise funds to construct the ski resort.
By 1965, several ski lifts had been installed, including a 4 person gondola and a chairlift. The resort was finally opened for skiing January 15, 1966. A lot of people came to the town so many condos were built in a short amount of time.
The town made 4 bids to host the Olympics. Finally by pairing with Vancouver, on July 2, 2003, they won the bid to host the 2010 games. The Olympics lasted from February 12 until March 19. It took 50 years, but the Whistler Olympic dream came true.
The Whistler Museum explained its history and more. There is also an exhibit dedicated to the 2010 Olympics. I liked this section because we were able to hold an Olympic torch and dress up in some Olympic apparel.
Outside of the museum, we also saw a big innukshuk that marked the entrance to the village of Whistler. Throughout the village, we found the Olympic rings, and the Paralympic Agitos. The word “agitos” means “I move” in Latin. The Agitos are red, blue, and green because most of the flags in the world have these colours.
My favourite Olympic place was definitely the Whistler Sliding Centre. This is the fastest track for skeleton, luge, and bobsled in the world and was built for the 2010 Olympic Games. It is 4,757 feet/1.45 km long. Construction started in 2005 and was finished November 2007. The first sled was sent down the track December 19, 2007 by Pierre Lueders. The fastest speed on the track was by a German luger Felix Loch of 153.09 km/h!
The track is kept cool with tubes of ammonia flowing through holes that have been drilled inside the track. The system is highly energy efficient and has a Gold standard LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
We went to the Sliding Centre main building where we had the chance to wear some of the gear for skeleton, luge, and bobsled and sit/lie down in the different types of sleds.
Usually, the sleds go down the track in the winter on runners, but in the summer it’s too hot for ice. There is a neat summer program at this centre where tourists can ride down the track in a bobsled on wheels. The sled is steered by a pilot, so they need to train. Newer pilots have to do 20 training runs in order to work with the public, while pilots from previous years only have to do 10. We stayed here for the rest of the afternoon talking with the pilots and watching the sleds come down. We found out that Zoe and I are the perfect age to start sledding, so if we want to compete in the Olympics, this is the best sport for us. 🙂
It was really interesting to learn about the town of Whistler and the sports which took place here. We have seen many Olympic parks around the world such as London, Beijing, and Sydney, and they were all so fun to visit and to compare them to each other. It is really amazing that Toronto has the chance to hold the Pan Am Games this year, but it would be really cool if Toronto could host the Olympics one day.
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