Editing Whistler Blackcomb (section)

===Early visitors===
The valley area between Whistler and Blackcomb was first surveyed and documented in 1858 by [[Hudson's Bay Company]] men looking for an alternate route into the Cariboo area further north. Although little-used at the time, the route later became one of the many paths used during the Gold Rush at the turn of the century. Known as the [[Pemberton Trail]], the route followed a path similar to the [[British Columbia Highway 99|Sea-to-Sky Highway]], leading past the Whistler area to the present-day town of [[Pemberton, British Columbia|Pemberton]]. In the 1860s British Naval surveyors named the mountain "London Mountain," but it soon garnered the nickname "Whistler" because of the shrill whistle made by the [[Hoary marmot|Western hoary marmot]]s who lived among the rocks. Four lakes paralleled the route of Trail, the highest then being known as Summit Lake. However, there was another Summit Lake in British Columbia, and in 1910 the name was changed to its current form, Alta Lake.<ref name=walk>''Walking''</ref>

One of the first permanent residents in the Alta Lake area was trapper John Millar, who set up a cabin next to the trail just south of the base of the mountain. During a trip to sell furs in Vancouver in 1911, Millar stopped at the Horseshoe Bar & Grill for dinner. The cook was Alex Philip from Maine, and Millar invited Philip to join him for dinner. Millar was a storyteller, and during the conversations that followed, he invited Philip to visit the Alta area. Alex and his wife Myrtle visited what was then known as Summit Lake several times over the next few years, and in 1913 they purchased {{convert|10|acre|m2}} of land on the northwest corner of Alta Lake for $700.<ref name=walk/>