Experience The Mountain Parks Blog

Forty years ago, during the record snow years of the early 70s, I stood outside all winter at Sunshine Village Ski Resort loading the Strawberry T-Bar. Clifford J. White, President of the organization, often rode my lift, as did his children, Cliffy, Brad and Tristan. Little did we think that someday I would be writing their family history.

“Is it White or is it Whyte?” is the question I always get when I tell people that I am writing this book. “It’s both”, I say. Dave and Annie, the founders of the dynasty, spelled their name with an i, but their son Peter, in 1927, while studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, began signing his drawings with a y, perhaps feeling that this had more class or cachet. Since then different members of the family have used both spellings: Catharine and her nephew Jon used a y, Clifford J. who with his wife Bev created modern Sunshine Village, always used an i. And his father Cliff Sr. and Uncle Jackie spelled their names both ways at different times. One thing is certain, however, the Whyte/White family has had an immense impact on the Banff community. Their legacy is everywhere - Mount Norquay, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village ski resorts are their creations, as are the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, the Margaret Greenham Theatre at the Banff Centre, the Banff Recreation Centre and the Banff Public Library. The oldest commercial property on Banff Avenue is the Dave White Block, completed in 1913. Patriarch Dave arrived in Banff in 1886 from New Brunswick and his wife-to-be, Annie Curren arrived not long after from Scotland. Married in 1901, they built up one of the most successful businesses in town, a dry goods store. The wealth that this pair amassed gave their children freedom to express themselves in other creative ways. Cliff fell in love with skiing and became the first person in the Canadian Rockies to devote his life to promoting the fledgling ski industry. In 1928 he was a leading member of the group of Banff locals who built the first cabin on Mount Norquay. Two years later he and Cyril Paris were the prime movers in the construction of Skoki Lodge and for almost a decade Cliff ran nearby Temple Lodge. These two ski lodges form the core of what was to become the Lake Louise Ski Resort. Cliff also pioneered ski adventure, skiing from Jasper to Banff in 1932 and along the way, made the first ski ascent of Snow Dome on the Columbia Icefield.

Cliff White was one of the first to promote the ski industry in the Banff area ►
- image V683-I c 2 b-pa 139-112 - Courtesy of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Cliff’s brother, Peter, was a talented artist and while studying in Boston fell in love with Catharine Robb, a wealthy and cultured young woman from nearby Concord, Mass. He regaled her with tales of romance and adventure in the Canadian Rockies and they were married in 1930, settling in Banff. They both were excellent artists, perhaps the best to emerge from this area. Later, with family money that Catharine brought from the USA and property that Dave (and later Peter and Catharine) had amassed, they founded what is today the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. Their love of the human and natural history of Banff and the Rocky Mountains forms the core and the spirit of this organization. Peter died in 1966 but Catharine lived another 13 years. Her life is marked by great generosity to the Banff community - she donated money to build the Margaret Greenham Theatre at the Banff Centre and she paid a significant amount towards the original Banff Recreation Centre. In the early sixties she donated a building for the Banff Public Library and later the land on which the present library stands. Her support for the Stoney people from Morley is legendary and, over the years, dozens of individuals in Banff also benefited from the generosity of this remarkable woman. In 1969 she received an honourary doctorate from the University of Calgary and in 1978 she was awarded the Order of Canada.

When Cliff’s son, Clifford J., and his wife Bev, bought Sunshine Village in 1960, it consisted of three log cabins and a rope tow. When Cliff retired in 1977, Sunshine had five lifts, a day lodge and a hotel. In addition, Goat’s Eye and the gondola had been approved. Without a doubt, modern Sunshine Village Ski Resort is their creation.