victorjeanouellette - Skiing Story

I grew up in Stoney Creek, Ontario and went to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) in Toronto. I was into Keel-boat racing at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, right away after graduation. Started sailing (not racing) in 1969.

After graduating from CMCC in 1973 I got myself into Sail boat racing, Skiing, Tennis, Cycling and Squash pretty much right away and all at the same time. I was already into Scuba Diving as I was a lifeguard and still involved with teaching and examining swimming. I received my National Lifeguard Service certification while still in High School so was into the water sports early. My dad taught me water skiing at about 8 years old and I was a pretty good slalom water skier but, my dad did not want to pay the fees for me to compete.

There was no Rollerblading or Snowboarding in those days as they had not been invented yet, and I picked up Racquet Ball, Ping Pong, and Badminton as I had that equipment already. I dabbled in Ice Boating in the 1970's and some water skiing in Caledonia with people from the Rosedale Tennis Club but, was too preoccupied with the new practice, academics and learning sail boat racing theory and strategies to want to invest in Ice Boating or water skiing. When I got sort of burned out from racing keelboats (I raced keel boats Tuesday and Thursdays AND DaySailers [Hobbycat and Albacore dinghy classes ] Monday and Wednesdays] and sailed some nights and on weekends in the Yacht Club racing schedule. I did that for two full summers then dropped the dinghy classes. I was also into teaching and Examining Red Cross First Aid and got involved with the new CPR program in the mid 1970's at the Basic rescuer level, instructor level and examiner level, when the Hamilton Red Cross Society asked me to get trained in CPR and teach the nurses at the Red Cross Centre. Understandably I got burned out. But I did learn to juggle many things at the same time. I do have a more complete profile history elsewhere on the internet.

I dabbled into Sailplaning (Gliding, Soaring) and took my two children up when they were 5 and 6. They loved it. No fear at all with heights in those little kids. They went up with a gliding instructor not with me. When I was considering dropping sailboat racing I considered sailplaning but was going through a divorce then (nothing to do with my activities) and took on a Master of Science Biology Nutrition course and then a three year sports injury course so never really got into the flying thing. Anyway back to the story of skiing.

Skiing

Some of the places I have skied. Let's start way back in the 1970's but not in chronological order as I don't remember that order now. At the Yacht Club they said everyone skied so, I figured I should too. Hamilton was the closest place to ski. I rented at Chedoke Ski hill and tried the hill out. I liked it.

Then I bought a set of Eaton's Department Store Hickory skis with cable bindings and screws in the underside of the metal ski edges. LOL Deb knows what I mean. LOL. I did not want to invest a lot until I knew if I really liked it. Also, I was in debt from college too, so was careful with money.

Hamilton had two ski hills in the 1970's, Chedoke, in the West end and Kings Forest in the East end. They were closed down decades ago. This web link discusses Chedoke a bit.

I bought my first set of real skis at McMaster Sports on Main St. in Hamilton across from McMaster University. Ron Weston owned that shop. I took my skis into a scuba diving shop on Kenilworth St. in Hamilton as I also was into scuba diving in those days and the scuba shop sold, repaired and tuned up skis too.

Chedoke had some of those infamous T-bar lifts and when you go two people per T-bar it was a bit tricky to get them both coordinated to sit on that bar at the same time. They also had those round ones that would take only one person at a time, Poma lift I think they called it.

King Forest (now-days its the Golf Club) had one chair lift. It was a great tobogganing place. A little farther afield was Glen Eden, still pretty small.

And I got into a bit of Cross Country skiing too. Still have the equipment but it is really old now, and I mean really old. Can't figure our why I keep it. There were some trails around Hamilton in those days. Did a few dates Cross Country skiing but it never took hold.... the dates or the skiing. LOL Maybe I was to intense in those days. Have mellowed a bit. Did a lot of camping back in the younger days too. Had a Trillium Trailer that slept 4. The kids and I camped a different city every summer for a while and biked the cities, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, (Mountain Biked Mont St. Anne with the kids on that trip.) Windsor, Niagara Falls.

The Ski Venue List

I will list Canada first on my list of places I have skied. I have skied 4 Canadian provinces and 6 US States.

Lake Louise, AB Broke my leg here on day two of a 10 day honeymoon. The story gets better. It was New Years Eve December 31, 1982, a Friday afternoon. They had no X-Ray facility in Lake Louise, and they diagnosed it as a sprain against my protests. They had no casting facilities anyway. I danced New Years Eve on crutches with the broken leg, yes I knew it was broken, then the power went out and I had to up three flights of stairs at the Chateau Lake Louise in the dark. The following Monday we bussed to Banff and they X-rayed and casted the broken Fibula. I asked for a waterproof cast as I had already skied on one leg once at Kissing Bridge when I hurt my right leg there and could not put a ski boot on, and I slalom Water ski on my left leg anyway so no problem. Doctors wouldn't buy that so I played Pac Man for 7 days at the Banff Springs hotel while my wife skied Sunshine. I see they call the Banff Springs Hotel the Fairmont Banff Springs now days.
Panorama, BC Skied it but can` t remember much. Trying to figure out why. LOL
Revelstoke, BC 2015 they had the worst snow in recorded history, No powder. They had more snow back here in Ontario. LOL But, I clocked myself at 86 km per hour on a ski app called Ski Tracks.
Sunshine, AB Was there, playing Pack Man. Does that count for any points? LOL Nice swimming pool in the Banff Springs Hotel. That was where I played Pac Man. So, I never really did see Sunshine.
Whistler, BC Great time great snow, great hot tub parties. I took the ski tour with the instructor and she took us outside the rail gait into powder to your knees. Just a short trip a few hundred feet along the fence. But you know, I am hard of hearing right so, did not hear much of what she said. The second to last day of the trip I went out to that spot and went off trail to ski there and skied the powder to my knees ALL AFTERNOON, probably a dozen runs or more over the whole hill. Great time. Went in for the apré ski drinks and boasted about the only place with powder because they groomed everything else. You had to pay for Heli-skiing to get powder you see. Someone asked me this question. "Do you know why that area is out of bounds?" I said no, it's a great area. They said "BECAUSE IT IS IN AN AVALANCHE ZONE. The ski patrol does not check it. If you had fallen and gotten buried they would have found you next spring." LOL Okay, lesson learned. Stay on trail. But boy, was that great skiing. Never fell once. See, I am still here.

Skiing Story

Vic's Past Ski Venue List

Skiing

The Ski Venue List