This week, Mayor Crompton’s guest is Jan Jansen, the recently retired General Manager of Resort Experience for the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Jan was with the municipality for 30 years, 10 of which he was seconded to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. During this 10-year anniversary of the 2010 Games edition of the podcast, listeners will gain insight into the many steps it takes to go from the bidding process through to hosting a successful Games; and Jan shares a few of his favourite behind the scenes stories he picked up along the way.
This week, Mayor Crompton’s guest is Jan Jansen, the recently retired General Manager of Resort Experience for the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Jan was with the municipality for 30 years, 10 of which he was seconded to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. During this 10-year anniversary of the 2010 Games edition of the podcast, listeners will gain insight into the many steps it takes to go from the bidding process through to hosting a successful Games; and Jan shares a few of his favourite behind the scenes stories he picked up along the way.
Narrator: 0:02
The Whistler podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. With host, Mayor Jack Crompton.
Mayor Crompton: 0:09
Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Whistler Podcast. Thanks for joining us. I amJack Crompton. I'd like to acknowledge, first of all, that we live, work and play on the traditional territory of the Lil'wat Nation and the Squamish Nation. And I want to thank Mountain FM for hosting us here. Todaym I am pleased to have Jan Johnson with me. Jan is currently the General Manager of Resort Experience for the Resort Municipality of Whistler. He has been with the municipality for 30 years, 10 of which he was seconded to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We've invited Jan here as part of our little series of podcasts on the 10 year anniversary of the 2010 Games. Welcome. Thanks for joining me here.
Jan Jansen: 0:54
Great, thanks Jack. Great to be here.
Mayor Crompton: 0:57
So we always start with what brought you to Whistler. Why? Why Whistler and not... you're from?
Mayor Crompton: 1:03
I was from Toronto. So my story is not unlike that of many people who live in Toronto and coming out here on vacations in the early eighties and falling in love with the place and eventually realizing this is the place I wanted to live and came out West one vacation–happened to be that week Rob Boyd won the downhill race–and had a resume in my pocket, which actually never saw the light of day till a Friday afternoon after festivities, and walked into Muni Hall and met Bill Barrett. And coincidentally, they were just advertising for a Parks Planning Technician, which fit the bill. And they were looking to build a sports center somewhere in town.
Mayor Crompton: 1:42
So that was what turned into Meadow Park (Sports Centre)?
Jan Jansen: 1:45
Correct.
Mayor Crompton: 1:46
Wow.
Jan Jansen: 1:46
After a bit of a process.
Mayor Crompton: 1:48
Okay, there was a location finding process in a Village, not village...
Jan Jansen: 1:54
Yes, we had it...there were thoughts to have it in the upper fields there, under a bubble with Britgo trailers. We had it in the Village here at $15 million really developed the plans there for a pool and an arena. And that was part of the original master plan that Eldon had put together for the Village. And at the end of the day...and of course, nothing had been built yet in the Village pretty much at that time except further was the existing Myrtle Philip School at the corner of Village Gate and Highway 99. Council turned down the $15 million, which was a real disappointment at the time for me. But then, in retrospect, that was probably the best decision they ever made. It would have been the wrong facility in the wrong place.
Mayor Crompton: 2:32
Could you get me a rec center for $15 million right now, do you think?
Jan Jansen: 2:36
You could get part of a center for that.
Mayor Crompton: 2:37
The front entryway, maybe.
Jan Jansen: 2:40
Pretty much, yeah.
Mayor Crompton: 2:40
Um and what do you remember about Rob Boyd's win? So did you know about Whistler? You knew about skiing or did you just show up and all of a sudden people are going...
Jan Jansen: 2:50
Oh, no, absolutely. I followed World Cup ever since I could listen to the radio and listening to the Crazy Canucks in Europe and waiting for the 5 a.m. broadcast to see how they did in the mornings. And so, of course, following World Cup and lining up a vacation with a World Cup in Whistler was just a natural fit. And then, of course, aside from the run being extremely memorable, was all the festivities afterwards.
Mayor Crompton: 3:13
John Grills tells me a story about the celebration they had in the Conference Center afterwards, where he built a ski run out of food. And it was when the atrium, the front entryway, had those stairs that went down it. And they got Rob's ski suits somehow and put it on a mannequin that was skiing down this run of food and you would come and you'd grab your slice of meat and your piece of cheese off of the ski run that they had built on the stairs.
Jan Jansen: 3:42
I don't remember that, but certainly it was going off.
Mayor Crompton: 3:45
Yeah, great. So let's get to Whistler news. Two pieces of Whistler news. The first is that the Poets Pause competition is open for submissions until March 9. Everyone who enjoys writing is encouraged to submit an original unpublished poem. So any of your poems, Jan, that you've published you wouldn't be able to submit.
Jan Jansen: 4:08
Well, little do you know Jack, I've been writing poems every year, but I don't submit them, and they're certainly not published, but they're always based on fiscal responsibility and budgets, and used to be...Ken was in my sights, the Director of Finance. And of course, now it's Carly. So you know this year's submission I didn't have is "Budgets are red, skies are blue. Carly Price, I wouldn't want to be you."
Mayor Crompton: 4:35
Uh, my mom enters a poem every year, and she's won a couple of times, which is always strange to be sitting up front while your mother reads a poem, but we're always very proud. So winning poems will be read at the council meeting in April, as part of the National Poetry Month, and winning poets will receive $200 each. You can read more at whistler.ca. Today, you and I after this are getting in a vehicle and driving over to the Meadow Park Sports Center, where we will be cutting a ribbon on the $1.4 million cardio room expansion that was funded by part of a donation through the Community Foundation of Whistler. How long has... We have the cardio room expansion...tell us about cardio room expansion.
Jan Jansen: 5:23
Well, it's fantastic. I think it's the third expansion, because initially we didn't even have a cardio room exercise area on that upper floor. We built that as a storage area under wraps, and then no sooner was the Sports Center finished and downstairs was too small, and we renovated the upstairs, pushed it out a second time through the arched door to the cardio room. And now, with the generous donation of a resident and municipal funds, we're ableto expand it yet again to meet the community demands. We've got obviously a section that is there to expand the cardio equipment. And on the other side of the wall, we'll see the new stretching area. So a dedicated area simply for stretching, exercise mats and not too much activity.
Mayor Crompton: 6:09
And what I didn't say at the beginning is that you are currently the General Manager of Resort Experience, but for how many more days?
Jan Jansen: 6:18
Just a couple more days.
Mayor Crompton: 6:19
Okay, a couple more days, and Meadow Park (Sports Centre) was your first project–finding a home for Meadow Park (Sports Centre)–and the cardio room expansion will be your last.
Jan Jansen: 6:30
Indeed. Fitting, isn't it?
Mayor Crompton: 6:31
Yeah, it is! And did you work in Parks for a long time before you took over management of the department?
Jan Jansen: 6:41
I did, actually, and I started in parks and property in Toronto and cut my teeth on building an ambulance station, police station and an archives for the City of Toronto and coming out here and working on project management and the Sports Center construction and was with Parks for my whole career other than the VANOC break.
Mayor Crompton: 7:00
Yeah. Well, it's an incredible facility, but it's also an incredible community that you have been such an important part of building. The parks that we have access to, the facilities that we have access to, are terrific. So thank you for the good work that you've putting on those.
Narrator: 7:19
You were listening to The Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations on current events, local government and everything Whistler.
Mayor Crompton: 7:26
We're here to talk about the 10 year anniversary of the 2010 Games with Resort Municipality of Whistler General Manager–for the next two days– of Resort Experience, Jan Jansen. Jan worked with the Games organizing committee for 10 years in the planning and lead up to the Games. He worked initially as the Director of Whistler Venues, then as project manager of the Whistler Sliding Center. He then later became the Executive Director of Games Operation and led the charge for the extensive Games-time transportation plan and other operations. A lot of people may not realize the many, many steps and decades it takes to go from bidding process through hosting a Games. So I'd want to understand that a bit. Can you walk us through a chronology of how a Games bid is prepared and then delivered?
Jan Jansen: 8:18
Well, it's a hugely complicated piece that involves a lot of people, but it does start off quite small initially. And so, after winning the domestic bid, VANOC was formed–the bid committee–and...
Mayor Crompton: 8:29
Sorry, and do we bid against, like, Calgary and Montreal or something?
Jan Jansen: 8:33
Exactly. I think it was Quebec City, actually. I wasn't actually part of that. But that is the starting point. So then you get to represent Canada, in the international bid with the IOC. And so it starts off as a small team. Then I think there were about 25 of us. A number of the people were seconded–I was one of them. And there's also professionals who are in the event business who are contributing sport specialists. And so that's really the starting point. And it was a relatively small team, initially–I think about 25 of us–and, well, the exercise is pretty straightforward initially: where one is needing to determine what's the location of the venues, where would one want to want to have sports and Vancouver versus Whistler, what's the scale and operationally, how might that work? And most importantly, really, what's the legacy that you want to leave behind? And so there really was a focus right at the onset to not overbuild like you see in a lot of bids and Games, subsequent games, and to focus on really the legacy piece. So don't build more than you need in the long run. And that's not something that's that common in the business, as well as being focused on really meeting the demands of the federations and the focus is also on building realistic venue plans in the bid book. What you often see is bid submissions, and then it's back to the drawing board trying to determine where should those venues be located. And so the approach VANOC took was 'let's put a realistic bid book together, and we'll follow up with the construction should we be successful with the bid.' And so it's a process where one meets with a lot of the sport federations, one integrates the operational planning, one meets with the various organizations around legacy planning and sports organizations and then advancing the bid process. And it's a hugely complicated process, really. There's lots of different options, and so in Whistler we were focused, of course, on the competition venues up in the Callaghan–so the ski jump and the Nordic venue and the biathlon–as well as the sliding center and the Alpine venue, obviously on Whistler Mountain. But of course, we had options with runs on Blackcomb Mountain as well competition venue and then the non competition venues: the athletes centre, the athletes lodge and the broadcast center and, most importantly, the athletes village as well. And so lots of moving pieces and that is as one determines what the operational plan might look at and look like. And so it is, it's a complicated process, integrates a lot different disciplines to arrive at a plan that is actually functional.
Mayor Crompton: 11:17
And how much did the bid book reflect what actually ended up being delivered as part of the Games?
Jan Jansen: 11:26
Absolutely 100% to the T, and so that's where we stand apart. That in fact, everything got built where it was proposed to be built and so that was a real step forward and certainly gives us–gave us–an advantage in terms of timing once we won the bid. However, you you do need a CAO or CEO to lead the process at that point, and we were well ahead in terms of developing the RFPs (Request for Proposals) for the development of the venues and engaging the consultants. However, no budgets had been established. The board wasn't fully in place and there was no one leading the charge. So there was a bit of a wait there.
Mayor Crompton: 12:02
And had the game been awarded at this point? So there's 25 of you. Games have been awarded or not?
Jan Jansen: 12:09
Yes, it starts at 25 in the first year. There's a couple of years of bid development. So by the time you get to the submission to the IOC and going to Prague, it's a much larger team than the initial 25. The various venue locations that were under consideration included ski jumps over on Whistler Mountain over in the Khyber Zone. We had a bobsled track up there as well at one point, and there's technical requirements that have to be met. So with ski jumping, obviously wind, sun exposure, the broadcasters have a huge part in it in terms of determining the view angles they want in the shots, all part of the bid process and the development plans. We had the Nordic up in the Callaghan and Brad Sills had informed us about the copious amounts of snow that one gets up in the Callahan. And I remember bringing the FIS (International Ski Federation) officials up there once and asking whether we need it to have snow making up there, and they were just shaking their head. They couldn't believe how much snow we had up there looking at the depth of snow
Mayor Crompton: 13:16
Was there any discussion of doing sliding events in Vancouver? It's such a great location where it is, because it seems like it takes advantage of existing infrastructure– roads and on mountain infrastructure–but it seems to me as someone that knows nothing about this, that a sliding venue could have just as easily been built in Metro Vancouver?
Jan Jansen: 13:45
Yeah, it's interesting you mention that. There was a real push to look at putting it on the North Shore. And yet the federation, Bob Story, who is president of the Federation Canadian, was really insistent that it be located in Whistler, similar to most tracks in Europe being in mountain destinations, particularly St. Moritz, and saw that really, as something that belonged in an Alpine setting and not a city. And that was an excellent call. It was a real challenge to find the right site for a bobsled track has very specific design parameters, and I remember sitting in the Village with Richard Way. He was seconded from the province one day, and we're looking over at Singing Pass and going 'well, there's a bit of a flatter piece of terrain over there, and we went up there, and that happened to be the bone yard for Whistler Blackcomb Mountains and scoped it out and started developing the early venue plans for that.
Mayor Crompton: 14:39
And that group of people that found those venue plans, did you then engage engineers and all that kind of thing? Or was it very much a small group still doing that actual on the ground work?
Jan Jansen: 14:52
Oh absolutely engaging engineers right at the onset, so needing to prove-out profiles and center lines of tracks, profiles for ski jumps. And so there was definitely a professional team that was their to support the bid. I think that course Richard and others took a first crack at center lines. But, you know, ultimately it's a very technical and specific discipline that requires professional assistance.
Mayor Crompton: 15:18
And there's a whole group of people that travel with the IOC, right? That go Olympics to Olympics, to Olympics. Is that the case?
Jan Jansen: 15:28
Well, certainly it's a large organization and they have a number of different representatives. They haven't evaluation commission that came obviously to evaluate once we were in the running that came right during the Olympic period and to evaluate our bid and to look at the venues and listen to our presentations. A memorable moment wit that, of course, was we pulled into the bus loop there, right at the base of Whistler Mountain and coming over the stairs over the training berm and looking down at the Longhorn, realizing it was Australia Day, so that was a bit of a surprise.
Mayor Crompton: 16:05
With the IOC? Was there any Australians on the IOC at the time?
Jan Jansen: 16:09
Oh, it was going off, all right. Oh, there weren't any on there, but they appreciated the enthusiasm.
Mayor Crompton: 16:15
For sure. So venue development must be a massive project. So once you've established where these places are going to be built, what's involved in actually building a venue of this size?
Jan Jansen: 16:29
Well, it really get serious once you you win the bid and engaging the consultant teams and really having another look at the the preliminary venue designs and making sure one understands the field of play where the athletes are performing and then also doing all the due diligence around all the studies, environmental studies, technical studies and so on and working with the broadcasters in the sport federations to work really through the design, as well as the operational aspect of the Games and working with the various teams that support that. So it's certainly a lot of work in very little time. We won the bid July 2, 2003 and one needs to have the venues finished approximately two years in advance, so it gives you four and a half years to figure out what the design is, to bring everyone on board and to construct and have it ready. Not that one would ever admit one wants to give their own national athletes any kind of advantage, but certainly by finishing prior to the Games that you get a bit of a training season for your own athletes. And then subsequently you have the test event the year prior to the Olympics to work out the bugs and then, of course you're into the Olympic year after that. So very little time to do a whole lot of work.
Mayor Crompton: 17:45
Um, so there was an independent power project at the sliding center? Is that the Fitzsimmons Creek independent power project or is that a...
Jan Jansen: 17:55
Yeah, that's right. So, you know, there were a number of challenges that arise as you develop the venue plans. In the case of the Sliding Center, the first challenge is that you've got two different federations there. You've got a bobsled and luge federation. They used to be one federation, actually, but they don't particularly get along, not that they would admit that. Certainly at an international level, that's the case, not at a national level. And so the nature of the sliding apparatus is dramatically different. You're looking at a four man bobsled, which is the premier event in sliding, no different than the downhill in skiing, is considered that by the International Federation. And so you've got essentially the NASCAR car that likes to go around the oval, kind of versus the squirrely, little loose sled. And so trying to get them to agree on what a track length would be, how long straightaways are, how high the corners are, and so on, and where the center line is the first challenge within the process. But once you get that nailed down, you're off to the detailed design. In this case, the independent power project, Ledcor came along as we're finalizing the design, and they laid it out right down the middle of the track. And we thought, probably not a good idea to mix the ammonia plant in refrigeration system with a massively large pipe down the middle of it, and so it took some work there to relocate that over into the mountain access road off to the side.
Mayor Crompton: 19:20
And were they just happening at the same time because the Olympics and the idea of an independent power project came up at a similar time? Or was the independent power projects sort of a part of the Games legacy?
Jan Jansen: 19:34
Two independent initiatives that just happen to collide during the same period.
Mayor Crompton: 19:37
Isn't that interesting. So the success of a lot of these venues will be measured over time. When you see the way they're being used today, what are your thoughts?
Jan Jansen: 19:50
I'm really happy about it. I think that part of our due diligence was going to a lot of Olympic venues and seeing how they operate in the long term. And I have to say there's success stories, but there's a lot of venues that aren't particularly successful and we learned a lot from that. I think that's where we determined right at the onset, we need to appropriately scale and program our facilities to suit our long term needs and that we're going to build more temporary infrastructure in the venues just specific to the Games. Of course, thes sport federations are particularly happy with that approach. They would see winning the Games as you know, winning the lottery every four years where they get to build a large monument, and by doing that, they're actually going to grow sport in a particular area. It doesn't quite work that way. But, you know, our approach was more frugal, and we probably had one of the lowest capital budgets for venues. So I think we scaled it appropriately, we planned it. I remember meeting with event planners and caterers up at the Sliding Center and going through the plans in terms of how a start building might be used, and how would that work post-events for catering and events and suitably sizing it? And so, looking at it now from my perspective and going out there, and I was saying to Roger Stone just the other day, I was out there on Wednesday night and it's going off over on Olympic park on a Wednesday night with–never seen cross country skiers dancing before–but it was happening there. So I think there's obviously the athlete village, Cheakamus Crossing, hugely successful. And then there's some that are more challenging, a track post-Games, a ski jump, post-games. And really, the success of the Games is going to be measured in the utilization and the longevity of those venues.
Mayor Crompton: 21:43
And we fought hard for permanent housing, which from everyone I talked to is a major legacy of the Games that the housing wasn't temporary. But I heard you just say that one of the wins was some temporary facilities in sport venues. Does that mean that in some places that host the Games, they build restaurants and sports-specific things that stay for a long time and end up being difficult to pay for and manage? And doing some temporary stuff in those facilities meant that they could be pulled down and no longer...
Jan Jansen: 22:23
Exactly. So we've seen a lot of that looking at other venues and particularly in areas where there is no culture of a particular sport and thinking because you've built a large venue there, now you're going to create ski jumpers in an area where there are no ski jumpers. And so certainly there's venues that are dramatically large and integrate hotels, restaurants, as you said just but they're not very busy post-Games. And so from our perspective, what we built permanently is what we needed to run national and some international events in the long run. But the focus being on how do you use it In the legacy operation? What size lodge do you want over the Callaghan and so on. The rest, all trailers. So how many wax cabins are you going to build permanently? None. You're going to have all trailers, you're going to leave some of the cabins behind. But generally the overlay was fairly significant in our Games as we weren't building that many large permanent structures.
Mayor Crompton: 23:22
Yeah, and the one thing that I can't get over is how well it took advantage of its existing infrastructure and how well the new infrastructure was used for our community to grow into after the Games. Tell me about the conversation between housing in the Callaghan and housing in Cheakamus.
Jan Jansen: 23:47
It was an interesting process, and I recall spending what seemed like forever–probably it was only just a year–but trying to determine where to put the athlete village. And we'd looked at temporary solutions, and we'd very seriously looked at the bottom of the Callaghan and looking at potentially acquiring some land there and building the athlete village in that particular location. The challenge of course, is finding flat land and sufficiently large, but ultimately were one wants a community. And, of course, the base of the Callaghan is well away from Whistler, in terms of a community. There's no sewage treatment plant, water would need to be sourced and so on and so on and and ultimately looking at bus service. How far do you want to run your bus service out in a legacy condition. Challenge is there weren't a whole lot of other options. We were looking at again the south flank of Whistler Mountain. And, of course, the mountain was interested in exercising its development interests on the mountain as well. So there wasn't as much land as one needed, and it was a long, expensive road to get up there. And I remember sitting in Dwayne Jackson's office working with Carson Ham, and we're doing a flyover on the South, so flank of Whistler and looking at the modeling. And low and behold, there's this huge, flat piece down below, and it's like, what's that? That's the dump. Well, perfect. And so that's, uh, how that came about. And certainly there were a number of different solutions in terms of what would be appropriate, but certainly the permanent housing that suited the athlete needs and ultimately the community needs was the right solution.
Mayor Crompton: 25:22
So is the fact that Whistler Village is built on a dump inform that decision to build the athletes village on a dump? I mean, I can't imagine what goes into thinking, 'oh, I'm gonna bury a whole bunch of garbage and build a community on top of it.'
Jan Jansen: 25:38
Well, we didn't actually build any of the permanent housing on the dump there, but we did, VANOC did flatten that out, obviously, and put the temporary dining facility and other temporary structures on there that ultimate ultimately became Bailey Park down there. So surrounding that area with the more permanent structures and the housing.
Mayor Crompton: 25:57
Yeah, it's a tremendous asset to the community. We're lucky to have it. Um, all of this is very fascinating. I'm sure there are stories from the Games that are interesting. One of the things that I've heard is that a bobsleigh track design is like a symphony. It has quiet moments and intense moments. What quiet moments?
Mayor Crompton: 26:22
Well, that's what I was asking myself when Udu Gurgel from Leipzig, who's the only track designer in the world–e designed most, I think, 13 tracks at that point–and I remember walking through the forest, and I actually found those pictures cleaning out my office the other day, and and he's explaining to me how it is like a symphony. And there's quiet moments that I'm looking at the run dynamic calculations of doing 140, 150 kilometers an hour and thinking that's ironic to call that little straight away for a blip of a second to be a quiet moment and, you know, interesting learning from sport federations and no different than learning from the Nordic sports from the cross country that you know it's really designing a cross country Trail is really a marriage between the heart rate and the physical duress you want to impose on the world's fittest people and the landscape. And really, it's an exercise of running heart rates up and letting them flat note momentarily and then doing it a little more and then finding the suitable terrain to overlay those gradients and make it work within the landscape.
Mayor Crompton: 27:31
Those people sound like cruel people.
Jan Jansen: 27:33
I think they are.
Mayor Crompton: 27:35
They are cruel people. There's this story that I've heard referenced, but I've never heard it told. You are at the Callaghan. You've got the group of FIS officials with you and you're looking at a venue. Tell us the story.
Jan Jansen: 27:56
Well, I never did let on to any of the...and of course, the FIS officials are primarily German, and that's my ancestry–and I never let on that I could speak German. So for many tours, I'd be taking them around. And, uh, I wouldn't say I was eavesdropping, but I could over hear, certain things being said, I remember taking them up into the Callaghan and overhearing how there talking about how grandiose the views are and how perfect this venue is. And we're still in the competition at that point with the with the other bidders and I recall driving them down to the city. And at that point, they actually wanted me to join the Ski Jumping Federation and become a Canadian representative. And we're sitting around–this is just before taking them to the airport– and they were saying pity because you can't speak German, at which point I started speaking German and I think their eyes pretty much popped out of their heads, then they were wondering about all the conversations they had had in front of me in German that they were unaware I could understand.
Mayor Crompton: 28:57
So you never took that job, or are you retiring to actually go and take that job?
Jan Jansen: 29:01
Just didn't have a passion for ski jumping. It's not something I can see myself doing quite frankly.
Mayor Crompton: 29:05
All right, all right. Another story about an evaluation commission trip to the Callaghan. Late day reversal. Tell us about that trip.
Jan Jansen: 29:14
That was an interesting one. That was during our evaluation commission visit to Whistler, and we're...
Mayor Crompton: 29:22
Sorry, which is the IOC coming to check everything...
Jan Jansen: 29:23
The IOC, right. So they've got the whole entourage and security and everything. And we had planned, actually a trip into the Callaghan. At that time off course, there was no road up there. And Canadian Snowmobile Adventures had trailered, I don't know, a couple dozen snowmobiles down there, set up all the snow suits and ready to go. But over the course of the day, they felt it was unnecessary to go up into the valley and we're sitting in Millennium Place–at the time Milenium Place– and showing them the venue presentations. And they're looking at the Callaghan and I'm watching the sun going down through the windows, as they're saying, Well, I think it be important that some of you go up to the Callaghan. And so of course we're scrambling to find a number of snowmobiles and they decided the FIS representative, and I think it was the finance guy and, of course, the Prince of Orange. And so scrambling to get the snowmobiles to the base of valley and driving down there, and it was a beautiful, beautiful day and going up onto the ridge above Northair Mine in the clear cut, looking down and overseeing the mountains. And it was absolutely spectacular. In the meantime, the whole evaluation commission was on their bus driving to the city, and they're going to have dinner and get ready for the big debrief in the evening. And how did Whistler fair? And so we zipped out of there on the snowmobiles, got to the base of valley, and I said, 'well, do you want me to drive you down to the city or do you want to get a bite to eat in Whistler?' And of course, they were hungry. They wanted have bite to eat. And so I was like, okay, well thinking okay, Prince of Orange, we could take you Araxi, we could take you to Bearfoot Bistro. Or, you know, we could take you to something a little more Canadian. And he said, yeah, let's try Canadian. And so, of course, first place that came to mind was driving over to Dusty's. And, so there we are–Prince of Orange, couple of the other officials there–and it was crazy. The Canucks were playing and I remember walking through the door and the Canucks had scored that very second and the place erupted. Everyone stood up, there was a tray of beer and shooters going by and they look at me and go, 'This is fantastic. You guys are crazy about hockey.' And it was the best time and boy was I ever in trouble. They didn't get back down. They didn't get back down for the debrief. And I never heard the end of that.
Mayor Crompton: 31:49
We ended up getting the bid, there ya go.
Jan Jansen: 31:52
They were asking, 'why don't we have all the events in Whistler?' by the end of that.
Mayor Crompton: 31:55
So final one. Early design days in Callaghan, you're running a weather station or who's running the weather station at the time?
Jan Jansen: 32:04
Well, I think those early days were all jack of all trades going in there and doing everything.
Jan Jansen: 32:09
You're running a weather...you are actually...
Jan Jansen: 32:10
I wasn't, I wasn't...we'd be setting up the weather stations, downloading it and making sure everything was working and putting the various gauges into the water and measuring currents and that. I remember I thought we were doing pretty good until two years in a row, I'd be driving up there in the snowmobile to check on the weather station and a little snow creep, an ice creep and the thing would be lying down and buried under snow and thought, okay, here we go again. We need some real professional help. Which of course, we eventually got, and got a real proper weather station installed there. But lots of memorable trips into the Callaghan.
Mayor Crompton: 32:42
Well, Jan, thank you so much for the work that you did on this event and the work–I think most importantly–that you've done for our community. There's legacies, I think that are ours as a part of the Games, but also really important deep legacies that are a part of your work with the municipality you. You had an incredible career, since those early days as a Park Technician and finding a home for Meadow Park and now delivering a cardio room expansion, that's very exciting. But I just want to finish by saying thank you. This for me has been a fascinating conversation. Your insights around how a Games happens–how any games happens–but how are Games happened and how these facilities came into being. I think you'll be getting a phone call fairly shortly from John Furlong. Are you going to take that phone call?
Jan Jansen: 33:42
We'll see.
Mayor Crompton: 33:44
Because he's out, you know, looking for another one, which is interesting. So anyway, I want to say thank you and just finish with this. Give us your highlights. What was the highlight of your time here? Games related or not working with, this community and with our organization.
Jan Jansen: 34:06
Well, how much time do I have Jack? It's...
Mayor Crompton: 34:08
We've got another 17 minutes.
Jan Jansen: 34:11
It's been a long career, and certainly I've been super lucky, privileged to be able to be entrusted with the responsibilities I've had and to be able to work with with such a strong team. We've got just a great team at the municipality. We've got great partners. We certainly don't achieve it alone. And so, you know, I think that's really the key to our success. And, you know, those early years building Meadow Park, building the parks and trails–Keith Bennett, Dave Patterson, the crews out there doing that–those were really exciting days and and seeing that through. Obviously, the Games period is a huge highlight. And then the ensuing years, the next decade, I really break it down into three decades: the building years and the Village development years, the Olympic decade and then the management decade that ensued. And looking at how do we grow our summer business and the programs that John Ray and Bob Andrea put together for the FE&A (Festivals Events and Animation program), the cultural tourism program John Ray has steered, you know, looking at all the various initiatives in terms of even the OCP (Official Community Plan) and seeing that work through and Mike Kirkegaard's work, so there's so many highlights. It's really hard to summarize it and you know, I think that looking ahead, you know, we're in great hands:Toni Metcalf taking over in the interim and the Strategic Planning Commission Committee being formed. They've got, they've got a lot of work to do, and I think that's going to be the next chapter of the community, and in some way I'll be participating.
Mayor Crompton: 35:51
It's so pointed to hear you talk about your greatest memories and legacies and they're all around people: people that have worked alongside you, that I've learned from you that you've learned from. One of the most wonderful things about walking into our Municipal Hall is to find a group of people who enjoys working alongside each other and who are so professional at the work that they do. And I think you've done a very good job building professionalism and teamwork into our community. It's it's evident in the way we do things.
Jan Jansen: 36:26
Thanks, Jack, and I think it starts with passion. I think the commonality that whether I'm looking at the people in Muni Hall, I'm looking at the crews–and I meet with them regularly–the commonality is the passion, the love for Whistler and that's the starting point, and that sees through success.
Mayor Crompton: 36:41
Yeah, I agree. Well, thank you again Jan for your years of service, over three decades. You have been a part of planning and building many of our core amenities and projects and key plans and decisions that you've made that you've been a part of have been crucial for our success. So thank you for telling stories. Thank you for joining us and talking about the 2010 games. And thanks for all your work.
Jan Jansen: 37:03
Thanks for having me.
Mayor Crompton: 37:05
Thanks, Jan. I also want to thank Mountain FM for hosting us here in the Whistler studio. Thank you for listening. I am Jack Crompton. See you next time.
Narrator: 37:13
You've been listening to The Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. To find out more about the Whistler Podcast, visit whistler.ca/WhistlerPodcast.