Ninety-year-old Olds resident Myrl Goddard has had many adventures and projects in his long life – and none more exciting and challenging than the time he started up a ski hill west of Olds 50 years ago this month.
Ninety-year-old Olds resident Myrl Goddard has had many adventures and projects in his long life – and none more exciting and challenging than the time he started up a ski hill west of Olds 50 years ago this month.
Located on the Perry Fox farm property at Rice's Coulee just south of Highway 27, the Olds Ski Hill featured a diesel-powered towline and two groomed runs.
Goddard and Mountain View Gazette publisher Murray Elliott visited the site last week, the first time Goddard had been back to the site since the mid-1960s.
Goddard recalled thinking right away that the site had a lot of potential for his project.
"The coulee had some hills that looked promising for such an adventure," said Goddard. "At the time I thought I would look into it, which resulted in what took place. After getting permission from landowner Perry Fox, things started to roll."
One of the first jobs in the project was clearing away the heavy growth of trees on the north-facing hillside, he said.
"To clear the rope tow area and other skiing areas, I had to get in touch with a Cat tractor dozer and we cleared away the trees and roots," he said.
"It was an up and down hill operation which took a number of days to clear the land area for the rope tow, a place for a building and a place for the people to gather."
Starting from scratch, Goddard built the rope tow unit out of "a lot of four-inch pipe, wheels and pulleys. The winch was 12 feet up in the air. The tower legs were cemented in concrete."
The rope tow itself was about 500 feet from top to bottom.
"At the bottom we cemented in a foundation for the stability. There we had a big crank winch to tighten the rope," he said.
The rope itself came from a firm in Calgary.
"To my memories it was 1,000 yards of rope, all in one piece. I had a friend of mine who could place a joint for the ends and make it hold."
Once the rope tow was in place, an inspector from Calgary had to come up and approve the system.
"We did have the power unit all closed in after to keep it from the weather," he said.
With the hill cleared and the rope tow in place, it was time to open for business, in February 1966. The cost for a whole day of skiing on the two runs? One dollar.
"I rented skis and boots and a place for some heat and we sold hotdogs and coffee. We found a small house which we moved to the ski hill site."
The house proved too small, so a bigger one, which happened to be a former schoolhouse, was moved in.
"This one had much more room," he said.
While locals seemed to enjoy the hill, Goddard didn't find skiing much to his liking.
"It tried it a couple times and ended up falling more than I was skiing," he said with a laugh.
Unfortunately, all the work and effort Goddard put into the ski hill proved for not when it turned out that there just wasn't enough snow at the site to handle the traffic.
Goddard decided to close the hill after only a couple of seasons.
"We would get six inches of snow but the skiers would soon wear it down," he said. "I soon gave up, moved the house to town and made a nice house in Olds. As for the tow, a fellow from Edmonton took it away."
When he returned to the site last week, Goddard managed to find one of the gateposts, heavily rusted but still in place. As for the ski runs and the rope tow track, they are all overgrown and forgotten.
"It was one of my extravaganza deals," he said. "I guess it was a good experience in a lifetime of experiences. Every time I go by there on the highway I think about what took place there."
