Terrace- Ski Hill History

When I came here in 1969, there was no Arena, no Swimming Pool, no Skeena Mall, but there was a Ski Hill. Well it was more of a Toboggan hill, but it did have a rope tow! It was located on the Bench, on Walsh Ave. If you look on Google Earth you can still see the runs there.

The first ski hill was called Northern Heights Ski Hill, owned and operated by Bill Little. It was only 1,000 feet long, and only 1 wide run.

Then the push came for a proper ski hill with lifts, more than one run, etc. Early 1970's I remember we got a call from Stan Patterson, who was the head of BC Tel here at that time. He wanted us to have one of the BC Tel snowcats hauled up to the road, near our Kitsumkalum Radio site. We were told there would be dignitaries there, and we would be expected to take them into the area, on the north side of Kitsumkalum Mtn. We used the largest machine we had at that time. The Thiokol Spryte (It held 5 inside, plus room for another 4-5 standing on the back deck.) The mayor was there, Stan, and the Guest of Honour Nancy Greene. There was so much snow in the area, and with the heavy load of people, the machine just bogged down. We unloaded half the crew, and made it a bit further. The hill received a glowing report, and construction began after some fundraising was done. Hard to believe a few years later there was no snow on the hill, the Regional district owned the hill, and sold the lifts and lodge to the Shames Mountain Corp.

It was operated for many years by a local group.

Opened ca Dec 1990

Today (2013) the Shames Mountain Ski Hill is operated by the My Mountain Co-op

Think Snow!
Onion Lake Ski Trails (Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club)
https://www.snowvalleynordics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/211064732666174/