About Pemberton
Welcome to Pemberton! When you arrive in our valley, you’ll discover lush farmlands tucked in by mountains that rise to more than 2,500 metres, with the impressive Mount Currie towering over them all. This is a place where both traditional and contemporary lifestyle pursuits are embraced. Don’t be surprised if you stop in for a latte at one of the local cafés and find a couple of the latest downhill mountain bikes parked next to a horse tied up to a hitching post! In Pemberton the land is equally shaped, harvested and worshipped by adventure seekers, farmers and the first people to live in the valley—the Lil’wat Nation.
Located 20 minutes north of Whistler, and two hours north of Vancouver, Pemberton’s unique geography and micro-climate provide both a home and industry for the people who live here. The Lil-wat Nation, a branch of the Interior Salish, settled in the valley at least two thousand years ago, as evidenced by rock paintings, or pictographs, and continues to live at Mount Currie and manage their territorial lands.
Gold rush fever brought the first non-native visitors to the Pemberton Valley, and prospectors made a huge impact to the accessibility of the region when they volunteered to cut a trail to join Anderson and Lillooet Lakes, where Port Pemberton was built. Once the gold seekers moved on to better routes, the first European settler arrived to farm the valley, John Currie. Mount Currie was named after him, and the town itself was named after Joseph Despard Pemberton, a Hudson’s Bay Surveyor-General.
The isolation of the fertile valley created prime conditions for developing a unique industry: the first commercial, virus-free seed-potatoes in the world. Pemberton is a leading supplier to British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California. If you eat potato chips grown on the West Coast, there’s a good chance they had their start in Pemberton! Agriculture is still a key economic driver, although the offerings have diversified to include a variety of fruit and vegetables, herbs, beef and even locally produced vodka. In the growing season you can get a little dirt under your own nails at one of the family-friendly U-Pick berry sessions at several of the farms.
In 1969 the narrow gravel road from Whistler to Pemberton was paved, providing easier access to the region’s scenic valley, rivers, lakes, and forested mountains, and it has since become a recreational paradise for locals and visitors alike. The variety of world-class activities includes golfing, horseback riding, jet boat trips, hiking, mountain biking, road biking, parasailing, hot spring soaking, swimming, fishing, river rafting, kayaking, heli-tours, paragliding, sky-diving and camping.
In the winter, while the fields rest under a blanket of snow, visitors can experience the peace of the outdoors while cross-country skiing, or head into the backcountry wilderness for ski-touring.
With such easy access to an incredible variety of terrain and activities, it’s no wonder Pemberton’s motto is “Adventure Begins Here.”