Gatineau Park
History of the Ottawa Ski Club
by Herbert Marshall
Chapter 5 - Evolution in the Gatineau
The opening of the Joe Morin Slalom Hill in 1932 signified the start of dramatic changes in skiing habits in the Gatineau Hills. Numerous subsequent developments contributed to this evolution, including the advent of ski tows, the increasing number of open hills, motor transport, a vast improvement in access roads and adequate measures for winter clearance, provision of ample parking for motor cars close to the skiing grounds, the teaching of ski technique and changes in ski equipment.
In 1932 practically all members of the Club were enthusiastic trail skiers. Thirty years later, though the membership had more than quadrupled, those who were devotees of the trail constituted only a fraction of the total. Many of the latter had been enthusiasts in the cross-country era and were still lured by the delights of the changing scene rather than confinement to one or more downhill runs. On the other hand, thousands who joined the Club in recent years have never participated in the joys of trail skiing.
Transportation
Improved transportation facilities, of course, have been a prime factor in opening the ski areas and creating new needs. Those very long trips of the early days via Chelsea, Tenaga, Kirk’s Ferry, Cascades, and Burnet’s were taken because the train was practically the only means of getting to within striking distance of the ski terrain. Bus service to Old Chelsea and later to Kingsmere diminished the length of the trips and the coming of the motor car with convenient parking was an influence leading to greater concentration. Outlying lodges were dismantled and splendid trails became little used of not used at all.
Certainly the changes in transportation facilities were of great benefit to the skiers but something also was lost. For instance, gone forever is this Sunday morning scene of a half a century ago:
Hundreds of skiers crowded into Union Station, and, pack on back, boarded the northbound train. Skis were placed upright between the backs of the seats, sometimes so carelessly that a lurch of the train precipitated them on the heads of the occupants of the seats on the opposite side of the aisle. Since the coaches always seemed to be super-heated, outer garments were taken off and hung on every available projection, in all colors of the rainbow. There was a continuous passing of people up and down the aisles and between coaches because the journey up was a good opportunity to visit one’s friends. It was wonderful camaraderie. As each station was reached there was a hasty donning of outer garments and gathering of skis, poles and packs. Off the train it was necessary to wait a few minutes until the skis cooled but soon a long line was gliding along the trail.
By 1928 the bus and motor car were competing strongly with the train service, creating new problems as their popularity grew. The Ski News of March 8th, 1928, contained the following:
Sunday March 4th will pass down in history as ‘Blizzard Sunday’. Hundreds were caught in the storm of sticky snow which started about 3 p.m. Buses, motor cars and trains were snow bound for hours. Captain T.J. Morin, with his squad of Night Riders, helped to shovel out several buses on the Chelsea Road, which, had it not been for this timely assistance, might have been stalled there for the whole night. Your Editor was wise. He came down in the morning.
Three years later traffic had increased to the point that the Ski News published this item:
May we again remind our friends, the owners of the motor cars, and those using taxis, that this is the first time in the history of skiing that an attempt has been made to keep the road open as far as Kingsmere. The road, however, is too narrow to provide double lines of traffic. The Gatineau Bus Company is unable to push the snow any further on account of the fences and it simply means that a bus running from Kingsmere meeting a car coming from Old Chelsea must both go into the ditch. There is no remedy for the situation at present and skiers motoring to the hills will be well advised not to go any further than Old Chelsea.
Obviously the solution of this difficulty was more adequate snow clearing and the establishment of parking places. Soon there were parking lots at LeMay’s and Young’s farms opposite the Penguin Trail and one opposite Captain Wattsford’s kept by George Moore with a charge of 20 cents per day. The Ski News of December 15th, 1938, reported:
Skiers motoring to Camp Fortune by way of Meach Lake Road, who have been handicapped in the past by the lack of proper parking facilities, will be glad to know that steps have been taken to remedy this grievance. The field at the foot of the Dunlop Bush Road, on the south side of Meach Lake Road, has been leased by the Club and will be kept as a parking lot, under proper supervision. The charge will be the same as at Kingsmere.
The provision of parking on the Meach Lake Road near Dunlop's soon increased the use of the Dunlop Road into Camp Fortune. This was especially true as the trend to open hill skiing gained momentum. It all led to improvements in the Dunlop Road itself, the easy way in and out of Camp Fortune by reason of its gradual and gentle slopes, which joined the Meach Lake Road exactly 2-1/2 miles from Old Chelsea. “Long travelled by the Dunlop family, whose house and barns adorned the knoll of Camp Fortune some 70 years ago, it had been by right of use practically the exclusive property of the Ottawa Ski Club since 1920. The Federal District Commission set to work to convert it into a 60-foot auto strada during the '30s, but such stiff opposition was met from the hard igneous rocks of the Laurentians that the scheme was abandoned a quarter of a mile from the start.”’ A prediction of Mort’s, however, that the Dunlop Road would always remain “a picturesque bush path for hikers and skiers, from which the motor car is banned” proved to be very inaccurate. The first departure came when the Federal District Commission widened and improved it from its beginning as far as what is now the junction with the Parkway.
The provision of parking places was only one of the problems. Road conditions were often quite bad, but there were usually enough motorists going or coming from the ski grounds to help pull less fortunate sportsmen out of the ditches. They got to their destination by co-operative effort! However, conditions improved gradually, and there was a joyous note in the Ski News of December 20th, 1940:
Now that the Federal District Commission has assumed charge of the roads from Hull City limits to Kingsmere and Meach Lake, automobiles should have no difficulty whatsoever in making Old Chelsea, Kingsmere or the Dunlop Farm on the Meach Lake Road, the three points on which trails leading to Camp Fortune may be picked up.
Somewhat later the Federal District Commission opened a picnic field on the Kingsmere Road which had a restaurant run by the LeMays. In winter this was available for free parking and continued to be much used by skiers until it was absorbed in the Parkway development. From this point one could connect with the Canyon Trail. In the early 1950’s Mr. Ed. Quipp had developed a ski terrain with a ski tow. Many going to Camp Fortune used the tow and saved themselves a good deal of climbing.
In 1950 the Commission rerouted the Dunlop Road by following the west instead of the east side of Fortune creek and ending where the Alexander parking lot is situated. In December of that year the Ski News commented:
The Dunlop to Alexander Hill road will be plowed and used exclusively by the Hull Transport Company. The fare from the Chateau Laurier to the foot of the Slalom Hill and back to the Chateau from the Dunlop Parking lot will be 75 cents. If you prefer to drive your car to Dunlop's at the Meach Lake Road you can get a jitney bus there to the Slalom for 15 cents. The scheme is to ride in and ski out... When the first bus unloads at the Slalom Hill we had better post a guard around the graves of all the skiers who used to pass this way after skiing in from the train at Kirk's Ferry or Tenaga; there may be quite a lot of turning over.
The Ottawa Ski Club minutes of an executive meeting held on December 20th, 1955, contained an item of great interest to the thousands of club members. It related to the culmination of the improvements which had brought about easier access to Camp Fortune:
The President reported on the agreement with the Hull Transport Company with regard to the upper parking lot and the maintenance of the Dunlop Road. The Hull Transport have undertaken to maintain and operate the parking lot, which is club property; to keep the road open all week, and sand it; to charge a fee of fifty cents for parking, and after three years to pay 10% of the gross to the Club.
The last Dunlop Road improvement took place in 1963 when the National Capital Commission paved it as far as the Alexander Terminal. In 1966 the Club took over the parking lot concession by reimbursing the Hull Transportation Company. The fifty cent parking charge was dropped and free parking instituted.
Ski Tows and Hill Development
While the trend during the 1930s was definitely from trail to downhill skiing, the trickle became a torrent only after the creation of the first ski-tow on Joe Morin’s Slalom Hill in 1940. A few enthusiasts, including John Taylor, Tod Laflamme and Hubert Douglas, led a movement to bring the Club up-to-date with changes developed in Europe and in some Canadian ski centres. But they were confronted with many difficulties — some of which were inexperience in tow construction and operation, the rugged nature of the Gatineau Hills and the cost of installation.
Actually the first ski tow reached a state of efficient operation only after some years of trail and error. In March 1940 a rope tow was installed, powered by an old Cadillac motor which had been dragged to its site by horses. Although the tow was immediately popular and performed usefully, its efficiency left much to be desired. The Ski News of January 1Sth, 1941, reported:
This year again at the suggestion of Engineer Gresenback of the National Research Institute who supplied the plans, and with the help of Director George Brittain, the energetic chairman of the Trails Committee who supervised the work of grading, and Director Hubert Douglas who made the necessary changes in the system of pulleys, the ski tow has been greatly improved.
Improved it was but still not satisfactory. Spasmodic efforts continued to be made to remedy its defects. Five years later a more drastic effort was made. The Year Book of 1945-46 had this to say:
Awkward breaks on steep parts, and a complicated arrangement of pulleys, resulting in heavy traction and slow service, prevented for a long time the smooth running of our slalom ski tow, projected as everyone knows by Hubert Douglas, Tod Laflamme and John Taylor. Spasmodic and not always judicious attempts were made to remove the bumps — the cause of the trouble — but it was only in the fall of this year, in 1944, that a determined effort at improvement was made under the supervision of vice-president Herbert Marshall, George Brittain and Hubert Douglas — with the advice of Alan Hay, superintendent of the Federal District Commission. Conditions have been gradually improved. There are still two “breaks" but on flat surfaces the system of pulleys is now almost normal. People clinging to the rope will no longer have their arms pulled out of their sockets, the service will be speeded up and the rope won't fray so easily.
Despite its defects, the ski tow’s drawing power was such that the Slalom Hill soon became too congested for safety, comfort or convenience. Widening it was undertaken as a solution in 1945 by the Night Riders and other volunteer workers who made the hills resound with the blows of their axes and the cutting of saws. The cry of “Timber” was often heard as they brought trees crashing to earth from the proud altitudes they had occupied for many years, The explosion of dynamite disturbed the quiet of the forest solitudes. But the widening of the Slalom was not sufficient, and two new hills were opened that year: the Morning After, a sister to the Slalom, little used before because it was too rough and too narrow but now greatly widened, developed and smoothed; and another called the Malcolm MacDonald, near Mort's across the creak. Still, the demand for hill facilities continued to outrun the supply.
Increasing enthusiasm for ski tows and downhill skiing was not free from criticism. Mort remarked in the 1945-46 Year Book:
An epidemic of ski tows, spreading from the heavily infected centre north of Montreal, has broken out in the Gatineau Hills. As there is no antidote for it, all we can do is to express the hope that our members will escape the contagion. As I pen these lines, John Clifford is struggling to put up a ski town near Mort’s Hill, across the creek from the Camp Fortune Lodge; John Pringle Taylor, Hubert Douglas and John Blair are building one on Dome Hill at Ironsides. Both should be running full blast in short order, probably when you receive this publication. There is persistent talk of another going up on Traveler's Hill, and Elmer Cassell, the Major-Domo of the Pink Lake Lodge, is agitating to have one on the Pink Lake grounds. We are entering the ski-tow age. Decidely a sign of the degeneracy of the times, and not to be commended. However, if these contrivances fail to attract patrons, the operators will have plenty of rope to hang themselves with.
Sigurd Lockeberg wrote:
There is reason for this ski tow fever. How can you expect people to climb when they are carrying whole bear traps on their skis? At one time when skiers acted sensibly, they used light cane or strap fittings, weighing a few ounces at the most; they felt as light as air and (the wearer) could travel any distance or go up any slope, no matter how long or steep. Now the poor things carry whole steel works; they are so heavily laden that they can hardly drag themselves on level ground, much less climb; as to jumping they could no more do it than Mark Twain’s shot-filled frog. I weighed one of those latest contraptions the other day, with its steel toe cap, steel plate, steel lugs, steel clutches, steel cables and steel what-nots, and do you know what it weighed? Over eight pounds! And they wear tremendously heavy boots as well and put steel edges on their skis, to make them heavier, I suppose.
No nostalgic memories of past glories could stop the onward march of the hill-skiing enthusiasm, however, in the Year Book of 1948-49 the President reported:
With the coming of Spring (1947) there commenced an outburst of activity which has resulted in a major change in the skiing facilities of the Camp Fortune area. Never before in the history of the Club has so great an advance been made in a single year. It would not have been possible had it not been for assistance given by the Federal District Commission. This help is an evidence of the fact that the F.D.C. and the Ottawa Ski Club have a common interest and objective in the promotion of wholesome recreational facilities in the Gatineau Park.
Joint endeavor has brought an end to the overcrowding of the hills and ensured greater comfort and safety in skiing. The scale of these improvements can be appreciated only when they have actually been seen. They include a widening of the old Slalom Hill and a considerably expanded run at the bottom; an entirely new hill on the opposite side of the valley to the right of the MacDonald Hill, at least as long as the Slalom and having two distinct runs on it, and considerable improvements on Mort’s Hill. The Ottawa Ski Club is proud of the fact that His Excellency has given permission to name the magnificent new hill the Viscount Alexander Hill. On February 29, 1948, some of our best skiers ascended the long new rope tow; Viscount Alexander cut the tape at the bottom of the hill and on a signal the group at the top came swooping down.
About this time the Paradise Valley practice slopes were opened, to which the rope tow from the Morning After Hill was transferred. In 1951 the Slalom tow hill was rebuilt by John Clifford and a double rope tow replaced the single one.
War years, of course, had a retarding effect on membership growth but once peace came a large supply of potential skiers was available. The changes at Camp Fortune provided the incentive to join the Club and by the mid-50s the membership had reached the 5,000 mark (doubled since 1947) creating another crisis in the provision of hill facilities. The Executive, with George McHugh as President, rose to the occasion. In the 1955-56 Year Book he stated:
We have improved (in 1955) the existing hills, particularly the Joe Morin Slalom and Mort's Hill, by draining, building and bridging. We have cut two new hills, namely, the John Clifford Slalom Hill and the Herbert Marshall Intermediate Hill, both of which will be serviced by the new T Bar; they are considerably longer than any other hills. Mort's Hill, having been widened, will provide space for a ski-school. Camp Fortune Lodge has been improved by new dormers in the centre room and new chimneys to enable us to use the fireplaces which up to now have been mostly ornamental. A cafeteria and waxing room have been added to the Lockeberg Lodge.
An outstanding project of this period was the development of facilities for beginners. In 1954 a new hill was opened opposite the present Alexander Lodge and named the Pee Wee. It was improved in 1955. This short and easy practice slope proved to be very popular for both children and adults. Its existence was essential for the development of a Midget program at Camp Fortune.
In 1957 a new Midget Hill was opened just above the parking lot, services by a slow moving rope tow. Eventually in 1959, the Pink Lake Lodge was moved and erected close to the hill for the convenience of the midgets themselves and the parents who accompanied them. The arrangement of parking, special lodge, special hill and special tow was ideal for the promotion of family skiing, which has become such a prominent feature of the Club’s activities.
The development of the Pee Wee slope brought a large influx of junior members but the intermediate and senior membership also continued to mount. Total membership 1959.1
In 1957 most of the downrun of the famous Canyon Trail was widened and the lowest section, very considerably widened was provided with a rope tow. This became the George McHugh Hill. In 1958 a T-Bar was erected on the south side of the Slalom to supplement the rope tow on the North side and to service the John Clifford Hill in part. In 1959 the Marshall Hill was widened by taking in the old Morning After slope and improvements made in smoothing the final outrun.
Still the tow lines were long and the hills crowded. Then came the crowning development in the provision of facilities for downhill skiing. The Ottawa Ski Club Year Book of 1959-60 reported the opening of an entirely new area. In the Camp Fortune Bowl considerable work was done on the Alexander and Malcolm Macdonald Hills. The lower part of the latter was widened and smoothed making it suitable for an instruction and practice slope. For awhile it was furnished with a short ski tow but this proved to be somewhat redundant. However, the major development was the opening of what had once been Bud Clark's Ski School area, facing north and sloping down to Meach Lake Road. It became, under the aegis of the Ottawa Ski Club, the new Skyline slopes. It was furnished with a poma lift by John Clifford Ski Tows. The first section of a new lodge was erected on top of the ridge.
ln 1961 the Club spent $22,000 on improvements to the new Skyline hills and $10,000 on the new ski jump designed by Franz Baier to replace the existing one which had developed serious structural weaknesses. In the same year John Clifford Ski Tows installed a chair-lift to service the Skyline area at a cost of $92,000. In 1962 the Midget Hill was lengthened to provide a slope from the top of the ridge and renamed the Arthur Pinault Hill. A poma lift replaced the short rope tow. At the same time the Pee Wee Hill was widened to some three times its former breadth and serviced by two rope tows instead of one; the second tow was run at a slower speed for the convenience of midgets. The Club spent $13,000 in improvements to the Bud Clark and Canadian hills in the Skyline area and to the John Clifford and Alexander hills at Camp Fortune in 1964, Later John Clifford Ski Tows replaced the rope tow on the Alexander Hill by a “J" bar tow.
In 1966 two new slopes running down to the Meach Lake road were opened by the Club (Vanier and Expo hills) and a lift installed by John Clifford Ski Tows Company. The new slopes provide the longest downhill runs at Camp Fortune.
Snow-making equipment had been installed at Camp Fortune in 1958 by John Clifford Ski Tows Company. This was extended on a permanent basis to five hills in 1964. Thus members of the Club were assured of skiing in December even though Nature was tardy in supplying the essential basis for skiing activity. It has been found to be a handicap if snow-making equipment is not available to supplement natural snow deficiency throughout the winter season. In some winters many areas in Eastern Canada suffered because they did not have this installation. Camp Fortune, much to its advantage, was a pioneer in this development.
In recent years the Ottawa Ski Club has had to face much competition in the Gatineau area from commercial organizations such as the Edelweiss and Vorlage areas and others, These have the advantage of being free from membership fees. Nevertheless the Ottawa Ski Club has continued to grow. The fact is that the popularity of skiing has increased by such leaps and bounds that the creation of new areas was essential and inevitable.
The close proximity to Ottawa and Hull, good roads all the way to the ski grounds, excellent provision for free parking, seven lodges strategically located, the wide variety of hills and tows, the splendid trail system (lacking in most commercial organizations), loyalty to the idea of a Club operated for more than 50 years by its members, the many opportunities to give voluntary assistance to the Club, are some of the reasons why the Ottawa Ski Club is probably unique in the whole ski world and attracts such a large following.
References
1. ln 1960 it was 10,028, 10,283 in 1961 , between 10,000 and 11 ,000 from 1962 to 1968, and reached 11,546 in 1969.