Glacier Air is an small airline providing scenic air tours, charters, and flight training based in Squamish. Glacier Air was begun by Ron Banner in 1974 out of the Squamish airport using wheel and ski-planes, offering public and commercial services to fisheries, forestry outfits, and mining outfits. Originally known as AAL Air Alps Ltd. in the 1970s and 1980s, the company also offered flight training for local pilots. At one point “The Mountain Flying School” with its memorable logo, operated up to eight different aircraft at one time. In the early 1990s, while mining, forestry and flight training opportunities were declining, tourism was on the rise, so the name was changed to Glacier Air. By then, Glacier Air became the only company in Canada to operate a Pilatus Porter on wheel-skis and offer glacier landings, and even dining. In 1999, Glacier Air introduced helicopter flight operations for glacier landings to meet the demand of the tourism market and phased out the ski-plane operations. As Ron and Isabel Banner began contemplating retirement from the flying business after years of dealing with aviation’s highs and lows, in 2001, Colette Morin (a pilot who began working with Glacier Air in 1997) became Chief Pilot and Operations Manager and was responsible for the daily operations of Glacier Air. In the spring of 2002, Ron and Isabel retired and Colette purchased the assets of the business. Colette reintroduced fixed wing flight training at Glacier Air and began rebuilding the company after the decline in the tourism market and the dramatic changes within the aviation industry following the events of 9/11. In 2004, Glacier Air partnered with Omega Aviation (now Blackcomb Aviation) to provide helicopter tours. Glacier Air continues to provide air service for many private and government industries.

Albert Keith "Bert" Irwin was a Canadian alpine ski racer. He was born on October 1, 1917 in Princeton, BC. Alongside his brother Bill, Bert Irwin rose to prominence in the Canadian amateur skiing scene during the 1940s, but took a break during World War II to serve as a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery. At the Canadian Olympic trials, he qualified for all three alpine skiing events at the 1948 Winter Olympics - downhill, slalom, and combined - but his best finish was 37th in the slalom. After his brother moved to Thunder Bay, ON, Bert remained in British Columbia and continued skiing even into the 1970s. His nephew, Dave (Bill’s son), an Olympic skier himself in 1976 and 1980, was a member of the Crazy Canucks, a group of Canadians who, during the 1970s and 1980s, gained reputations as fast and reckless skiers. Bert Irwin passed away on January 22, 2006 in Vancouver.