BC Ferries has banned a cheeky new book — with an equally cheeky cover — written by Whistler author Stephen Vogler.
Vogler, 45, who grew up in Whistler, has written an entertaining recollection of the wild, weird and wacky things that have happened in the last 30 years in the famous ski town that in a few months will host the Winter Olympics.
And while Vogler takes a lively look at the town’s party-hard cast of characters in the just-released book, he thinks the cover is what caused the biggest stir with BC Ferries.
On the cover of Vogler’s Only in Whistler — Tales of a Mountain Town, there’s a picture of four naked women on skis ready to load onto a blue chairlift. The photo was taken by Squamish-based photographer Gary McFarlane in the early 1990s.
Only in Whistler is now in bookstores across B.C., but Vogler has been told it will not be in any of the busy onboard bookstores run by the ferry corporation.
“The book explores Whistler’s irreverent and rambunctious spirit,” he said. “It is Whistler laid bare — and the cover reflects that.”
Vogler also thinks he may be caught up in the midst of a campaign to keep Whistler’s image squeaky clean with the Olympics on the horizon.
“Apparently we are showing ourselves to the world with the Olympics and this book didn’t fit those guidelines,” he said of the book published by Harbour Publishing.
Ironically, Vogler details troubles at the Whistler Answer newspaper, prompted by running photos of nude skiers on its cover in the early ’90s. At the time, Vogler was a contributor to the publication, and notes now that Whistler has a “tradition of public nudity.”
“It’s rather humorous, considering I chronicled the whole Whistler Answer nudity scandal from the early ’90s ,” he said.
BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall confirmed that the nudity on the cover of Only in Whistler forced the book’s removal from store shelves.
“We do not carry that (book) title,” Marshall said. “That one, we were concerned about the cover. It is a bit racy and it was deemed not appropriate. We do have lots of children in our bookshops.”
