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PAGE 4 SKI SUPPLEMENT, Wednesday, February 9, WIT

Ahistory of the

by Horst Saffarek

Skiing started in Smithers
in the early 30's. The main
push behind the club was
Mr. Chris Dahlie and the
late Mr. Harry Orm. The
events’ of this time were
mostly in the Nordic style,
namely jumping and cross-
country. ;

The Smithers Ski Hill
started right in Smithers
and was located where the
resent water reservoir is
ocated. It yas later moved
to the Malkow Lookout Hill
near Driftwood. At this time
no uphill facilities were
present and climbing to the
top was required to get a
downhill run. The Maikwo
Hill was active during the
early, forties and also in-
cluded a small jump, which
was present on most ski hills
at this time.

The hill was moved back
to Smithers at the original
location in the late forties
and some good size jump
hills were built. The
facilities included a small
jump, a class ‘A’ and class

* jump. A slalom hill was
added and also a rope tow
installed. This rope tow
powered by’ an old In-
ternational Bailer Motor
served the ski club until 1967
on three different locations.

The persons behind the
club at this time were Mr.
Chris Dahlie, his sons
Jergen and Halver, John
Lapadad, Eddy Malkov,
Walter Griffith, Jimmy
Briggs, Graham Collison,
and Joe Aida.

Local talents including ski
jumpers at this time were C.
Dahlie who also made his

last jump (twin jump) on became too popular.

the 120 Meter Hill in 1954 at
the age of 58 years, his sons
Jergen and Halver, Jimmy
Briggs, Joe Aida, etc.

In 1935 Smithers hosted
the Western Canada Nordic
Championships. Among the
contestants was Mr. Tom
Mobraaten, Canada’s best
ski jumper at this time.

Skiing was big in Smithers
at this time. Schools were
closed when tournaments
were held so children could
attend the meets. '

Due to lack of snow, the
hill in tewa lost popularity
and interest in skiing
dropped off. The tow was
moved to a site at the
Chapman Burn about 15
miles along the Babine Lake
Road in about 1958 or 1959.
However, this area never

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in 1963 the ski tow was
moved to the 5500 foot level
on Hudson Bay Mountain
where a few ski cabins were
being built. The first cabin,
asmail shelter 8x 12. It had
two bunks, a small table and
an air tight heater in it, in
about 1959 or 1950. The cabin

-was owned jointly by C.

wt

Ski Accessories |

Dahlie, Jergen Dahlie,
Halver Dahlie, Eve Person,
J, Lapadad, Steve Maze and
Dr. K. Leighton. This cabin
served very well as a shelter
for touring skiers on the
mountain.

In 1961 1 started my cabin
— a 18x 24 frame style and
Mr. C. Dahlie started his
cabin — a log structure. My
cabin was ready for use the
same winter while Mr.
Dahlie completed his the
following summer. ;

In 1962 the first Ski
Tournament was held on the
slopes of Hudson Bay
Mountain. As there was no
uphill transportation and no
road to the area we used an
Okanagan Helicopter from
Terrace to-lift people from
the road (Duthie Mine) to
the ski area. My cabin was
used as a shelter and
headquarters for the
tournaments. I believe we
have not missed a_tour-
nament since that date. The
Terrace, or better Bornite
Ski Club was quite active at
this time, and we had quite a
few skiiers from Terrace
attend and compete in these
tournaments.

In 1963 we moved the rope
tow from the Babine Road
area to the 5500 foot level on
Hudson Bay Mountain. It
was located in the area that

is now called ‘the cabin
runs’. This area was best
suited because of the
natural meadows which
were present. The tow was
moved by myself and Mike
Young, George VanTine,
Dr, D. Moore, Eve Person,
Bill Bryant and, of course,
the still very active Chris
Dahlie.

The length of the two was
1200 feet with the motor
being on top. A year later we
built the first club cabin
which was located halfway
up the present cabin run
area. The cabin is still on the
mountain and was sold to
Mr. D. Marleau of Kitimat
when the new lodge was
completed. The cabin was
moved from its original
location to the bottom of the
cabin run, after we installed
the first cable tow which

was 2000 feet in length.

Mr. Dallie and myself

started to work on getting a
new road to the ski area, the

road at this time was a 4x4.

road for dry summer days
only and not open during the
-year, Anall year access was
needed to get skiers to the
mountain. Armed with
slides of the area covering
summer (hiking) and winter

(skiing) we presented these
slides at several meetings
with different organizations
including the Chambers of
Commerce attempting to
get public support.

‘We managed to get
started on the new road in
1957 and same was com-
pleted in 1968 by the
Department of Highways.
The Chamber of Commerce
and the Town of Smithers
were very helpful in getting

this road started and also

‘the merchants of Smithers.

Mr. W. York-Hardy, who
was with the Smithers In-
terior News and Chamber of

Commerce, was a great help.

in getting the road started.
_As mentioned, the new
2000 foot cable tow was
installed in 1968 and with
road aceess to the ski area
skiers from the Pacific
northwest started to
frequent the area in great
numbers, and soon the 2000
foot Baby Tel lift was very
crowded and a new tow was
needed.

The ski club did turn down

the construction of a T-bar.

lift at this time but gave the
okay for a second cable tow,
which was installed in 1970
and had a length of 2500 feet.
However, the length and

elevation of this tow did not

work very satisfactory as
both were maximum.

However, the popularity
of Hudson Bay Mountain
grew and again facilities

ame crowded. A group
within the club continued to
work towards a T-bar, and
finally we got approval from
the club in 1973 to built a T-
bar on Hudson Bay
Mountain. A Dopplemyer T-
bar was ordered in the
spring of 1973.

The south face of Hudson
Bay Mountain was surveyed
‘and a suitable location for
the T-bar was found. The
layout of the hill was done
by Dr. D. Moore and myself

during the spring of 1973.

The T-bar was built
during the fall of 1973 with
the aid of Okanagan
Helicopters for pouring of
concrete and setting up the

After th

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SKI SUPPLEMENT, Wednesday, February 9, 1977, PAGE 5

towers. Work progressed,
sometimes slowly, as we
had to contend with snow
and cold. However, on
Christmas Eve of 1973 we
got final approval from the
D.O.T. to commence

operation — just in time for .

the Christmas holiday.
A new lodge was built the

‘following year (1974) and

the hill has been going very
strong ever since. But again
we find the lift is getting a
bit crowded at times and
plans are being tossed

=

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* Licensed Dining Facilities

the time

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around for an expansion
downwards to the -lower
road. A new run was cut in
the location of the proposed
new chairlift approximately
1.5 miles long with a vertical
drop of approximately 2000
feet. So let’s hope we do not
have to wait too long for this

lift.

Some of the people that
worked hard to make the
Hudson Bay Mountain ski
area successful were Ray
and Fran Clarkston, and
Dan and Iva Hawe during
from 1965 to 1970.

ry
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