Doug Wylie still stops to look at the mountains.
After more than four decades in Whistler, after helping build the trails, parks, and infrastructure that shaped the community into what it is today, the feeling has never really left him. Whether he’s skiing on Whistler Blackcomb, walking the Valley Trail, or simply looking out at the peaks surrounding town, the awe he first felt decades ago is still there.
“I still stop and look around and just absorb that view,” Doug says. “I never get tired of it.”
His captivation with the nature of western Canada began long before Whistler became home. In 1969, he traveled from Hamilton, Ontario to Calgary for a wedding.
“I arrived in the evening, and I remember waking up in the morning and opening my curtains and there were the peaks of the Rockies,” Doug recalled. “Wow. That moment has stayed with me.”
A skier since childhood, Doug had already fallen in love with being in the mountains, but he had never been out west. A year later, during a summer trip to Vancouver, he spotted a sports car heading toward Mount Baker with skis strapped to the roof in the middle of July. Kitsilano Beach behind him, mountains in the distance ahead.
“I thought, wow, that’s pretty cool.”
Soon, Doug heeded the call west and moved to Victoria. He joined the Alpine Club of Canada and began spending more time climbing and skiing in the mountains of Vancouver Island and the Sea to Sky region. On winter weekends, he and friends would drive up to Whistler to ski. Over time, it became clear: this was where he wanted to build a life.
Doug (far left) with some friends on the summit of Mount Arrowsmith on Vancouver Island in 1972
“There was just this sense of wonder,” he said. “The geology, the wildlife, the plants, the mountains themselves. I really developed an appreciation for undisturbed spaces.”
Eventually, in 1981, an engineering job with the newly formed Resort Municipality of Whistler brought him there permanently.
At the time, Whistler was still taking shape. Doug helped oversee critical infrastructure projects including roads, water, sewer systems, beaches, parks, and the early development of the Valley Trail network—a project he still considers one of the most meaningful parts of his career.
“People sure love the Valley Trail,” he said with pride. “And I myself still use it almost every day.”
Today, Doug walks and bikes those same trails for exercise, transportation, and recreation. He sees bears emerging in spring beside the pathways. He watches how quickly outdoor spaces are changing under the pressure of growth and tourism. It's part of why he supports BC Parks Foundation.
Over the years, Doug has supported BC Parks Foundation in many ways: through monthly giving, annual donations, and crowdfunding campaigns in support of conservation work across the province, including Princess Louisa Inlet, French Creek Estuary, Pemberton Meadows, Morrison Creek Headwaters, and more.
Doug supported BC Parks Foundation’s Pemberton Meadows campaign, helping protect these 46.5 hectares of riverfront habitat along the Lillooet River corridor for grizzly bears and other wildlife.
“If you don’t protect these places, many of them will be overrun or lost to development,” he said. “We have so many incredibly beautiful places that are worthy of protection.”
Even in retirement, Doug continues working to protect access to nature in the Sea to Sky region.
Doug (right) with Karl Ricker on the fiftieth anniversary of Karl measuring Wedgemount Glacier. Over the years, Doug has helped monitor the glacier and witnessed firsthand the dramatic changes taking place in BC’s alpine environments.
For the past five summers, he and a small group of volunteers have been developing a proposed trail connection between Whistler and Pemberton. The process is slow. Applications take years. Permissions are complicated. But Doug keeps showing up anyway, spending hundreds of volunteer hours helping plan and build the route while advocating for it to eventually become part of the region’s official trail network.
Doug scouting a potential route for the East Green Trail in 2023. Doug and a small group of volunteers have spent the past several years working to develop the proposed trail connection between Whistler and Pemberton.
“We decided to just put our heads down and keep plugging away at it,” he said.
Because nature has shaped Doug’s life, from the mountains that first inspired him as a young skier to the trails and wilderness areas that still bring him joy today.
As someone who spent decades helping build Whistler, he knows places do not stay special by accident. They stay special because people care enough to protect them.
“At my age, I don’t climb mountains anymore,” he said. “But I still love to look at them and remember where I’ve been. I think of the youth, because it’s their future. It’s more important than ever to work to save what’s left.”
You can join people like Doug in protecting nature and the places that shape lives across BC. Give today.