First day on the ski slopes
With the snow fall which we have experienced the last little while it brought back some good memories of my debut to skiing. In 1946, at the age of twelve, I started to ski. I had received skis, poles and boots for Christmas, and so my brother, Charles, took me skiing.
This was very special for me as I was going to spend the day with my “big” brother. When we reached the parking lot at the Wallace Hill cabins, Charles said we would put our skis on there and walk/hike up to the hill – sure, I had never had skis on, let alone hiked anywhere with them. He showed me how to glide and push with the help of the poles along the snow. “Just like walking, slide your right ski forward with your left pole planted and pushing and do the same with your left foot” easier said than done when you are having a hard time even standing on the planks.
It was okay on the flat but all too quickly we started up the hilly logging road. I either had to learn to do the herringbone step or side step up the hill.
I was taking two steps forward and one back. I ended up taking my skis off and tried to carry them and my poles up the switchbacked road. As a beginner, I wondered how one carries your skis and poles – across your arms, over your shoulder, together or separately.
Luckily, Charles had our lunch so I didn’t have to worry about that. This was not too bad until one of my skis decided to slip and careened down the hill – you got it! I had to climb down and get it.
We finally reached the ski hill. To me even the small hill looked steep but with Charles’ help and my Uncle Max I managed to get through the day and I did learn to make a few trips down the hill without falling.
I did not use the rope tow that first day; it was hard enough learning how to maneuver around on the skis. Remember, I had to ski down to where the car was parked. I can remember Charles suggesting that I should get started around 2:30 heading for the car as he knew I would be going slower (doing the snowplow that I had learned that day) than most everyone else.
I can remember the very small cramped quarters of the log cabin with its one small window facing the hill. By 1947, this small cabin was bursting at the seams when lunchtime came around. In 1948, a beautiful, rectangular ski chalet building with very large windows facing the two hills was constructed. This was a much-needed building for the ever-increasing popularity of skiing in the valley.
The first skiers to reach the hill early in the morning were asked to help “pack” the hill at least once. This meant side stepping on your skis up the hill to the top – no motorized packers in those days.
I eventually graduated from the bunny hill to the big hill with the help of Uncle Max; he decided one day that I was to go over there and he showed me how to get down the hill easily.
No sweat, haha!! Since I was one of a few of the girls who skied on the big hill my cousin Ralph and Bill Gaddes decided to have some fun one day and make me go to the top (I was going only to the first stop). Bill got on the rope tow before me and Ralph hooked on behind me. The next thing I noticed was Bill was getting closer to me and Ralph was right behind me. You guessed it, they locked my skis in-between theirs and I ended up at the TOP!! How was I going to get down, “Remember what your uncle taught you?”rang in my mind. I made it down.
In the early years your ski length was governed by how high you could reach up and the end of your fingers was the desired length for your skies. Today, it is quite a different matter. Even in my time harnesses had changed drastically.
Before my time, harnesses were the toe, bear claws with a loose strap around the back of the soft style boot. When I started, the harness was the bear claw for the toe but with the cable around the back of the sturdier boot. From in front of the toehold the oval-shaped cable would be held in place by a clamp.
You would slip the cable under the side clips attached to the ski and the heavy piece of cable wrapping behind your boot, you would then push the clamp down to tighten the cable into place. Your boot was held (clamped) very close to the ski.
With urging from my cousin, Ralph, and Johnny McAlister I graduated in due time to lanyards. This harness was a seven-foot long piece of half inch wide leather attached with rings under the clips on the side of the ski.
This piece of leather wrapped around your boot in a certain configuration.
This really made your ski boot and ski ONE! There was no release from these unless you undid the lanyard. Not like today’s 2018 release harnesses and your ski breaks – we had never heard of any of these new products. By 1954, ski poles had developed from single, one-piece bamboo poles, to metal poles, to telescopic (adjustable), to fibreglass. Ski clothing also had progressed from wool pants and tops to lightweight semi-water proof materials – today, 2018 is another story.
On some occasions, if we couldn’t reach the ski bowl, we would walk to the Okanagan Lake ferry and cross over to the westside ferry dock.
After disembarking from the ferry, we would hike up a trail (to the south of the highway) to a hill overlooking the lake (this was located where in 2011 the pitch and putt golf course was constructed at the end of Okanagan Lake Bridge).
We would ski down through the trees to the hill and pack it and then ski all day long and at day’s end would make the long and challenging hike to the top, ski down to the ferry dock, and then return to the safety of our home after a tiring day.
Skiing took place in other locations in the valley before Black Knight Mountain. There was a ski hill on the Weddell property in the Joe Riche Valley.
Several local ski meets were held at this location. They had a cable tow from a power take-off from the Weddell tractor. There was a ski hill and club on McCulloch Road called Timberline Ski Club. Vernon had a ski hill part way up Silver Star Road called Tillicum. Summerland had a great hill with a cable tow out in the Pleasant Valley area.
Princeton had a ski hill just outside of town. Kamloops had Harper Ski Hill. Some of the small hills survived for a few years after the “big” hills opened.
If my memory serves me correctly, when Big White was opened by Doug Mervyn and Cliff Serwa they used the equipment from the Black Mountain rope tow as one of the first tows to get them started.
Today we do not have any small local ski hills in the valley – it is called progress.
Alice (de Pfyffer) Lundy was born and raised in Kelowna.
She was a member of the first kindergarten class of the Immaculate Catholic Church. She attended elementary and high school in Kelowna and graduated from (KHS) Kelowna High School in 1953. She has been instrumental in organizing their six school reunions, lunches and annual picnics. She was on the committee that published “Kelowna Street Names – Their Origins”.
She is a Life Member of both the Okanagan Historical Society and the Kelowna Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society.
This article is part of a series submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society.