"Mountain Man" Lee McGee, an original organizer of the ski tow and long-time operator. SUBMITTED PHOTO SALLY SEHN
The expression “it’s all downhill from here” can mean both “it’s going to be steadily worse” or “it’s going to be easy from now on.”
Confusing, but it seems to apply to our local ski hill, threatened with closure but enjoying a last-minute reprieve by Alberta Parks.
Skiing originated in Scandinavia centuries ago, and ski clubs sprang up in Eastern Canada in the early 1900s and spread to the west in the following decades. Skoki Lodge began to accept ski tourists in the 1930s and other resorts soon followed. Cheap war surplus ski equipment accelerated the boom in the late 1940s.
The Cypress Ski Club established the first ski hill in the Cypress Hills in 1960 when six local enthusiasts purchased a Volkswagen engine to power a rope tow rising to the plateau south of the today’s toboggan hill. Snow was packed out by side-stepping down the hill on skis, although the first few runs in the untracked powder were always the reward for the early riser. Just watch out for hidden sagebrush, a true ankle hazard!
The Cypress Skiers Association was registered in 1962. Cars parked on the gravel Highway 41 until 1963, when a parking lot was built and a second rope tow added. The first metal skis started to appear with plastic base, steel edges and release bindings, the object of wonder and envy! Waxing was still a science and an art.
Interest grew quickly in the “Mile High Ski Hill” and in 1967, the Cypress Skiers Association Ltd. was formed with 50 shareholders chipping in $400 each to fund a move down to the current location. Volunteers and Parks staff cleared runs and installed a T-bar financed by a $25,000 loan, officially opening in January 1968. Leonard McGee operated the hill while his wife Dorothy sold tickets from a small shack in the parking lot.
By 1981, with McGee in poor health and the equipment wearing out, the association was running out of funds and volunteer labour. After lengthy negotiations, the province acquired the assets of the association in 1982, and Dave Fischer of Cypress Ski Hill Ltd. took over operation of the hill. McGee was inducted into the Sports Wall of Fame in 1983 for his contribution to skiing.
Planning began for an expansion and by 1988, the province had invested in a quad chairlift, day lodge and snow-making, and slopes were recontoured on the advice of Ken Read, of Olympic “Crazy Canuck” fame. The new name Hidden Valley was selected to distinguish the ski hill from the one at Cypress Hills, Sask. In 1996, Kevin Fischer took over as general manager of Cypress Ski Hill Ltd.
In 2015, the province took back control of the operation and this fall threatened to close the hill when it could not find a private operator. After a community outcry, the ski hill will operate this winter after all. Let’s hope the hill down is not all downhill…
Malcolm Sissons is a former member of the Heritage Resources Committee of the City of Medicine Hat and first strapped on wooden skis in 1961.
