Village Squire, 1978-01, Page 24travel in from Winnipeg to the west,
Sudbury to the east. Thousands of
American skiers from Minneapolis -St.
Paul, Chicago, Duluth, and Milwaukee
who were forced to look north and east, due
to the drought in the far west, settled on
Thunder Bay.
The facilities at the resorts and the plush
accommodations really are enough to make
skiers forget about the cold. The hills
themselves are considered to be a
geographic oddity in the mid-continent
flatlands. Vertical drops range to 240 m
(800 feet) of beginner to expert terrain. A
star of Canada's National Men's Alpine
team, Dave Irwin, learned to ski at Loch
Lomond, his father's resort. Here is a
breakdown of facilities available: all resorts
have day -lodges featuring cafeteria ser-
vices, Lock Lomond has three chairs, two
T -bars and a rope tow serving its 240
vertical metres (800 feet). The longest trail
is about 2,100 m and skiers can spend the
day, chasing the sun, on one exposure to
another. Information: (807) 577-8926.
Mount McKay has spent time and
money clearing, widening and smoothing
out some of their runs. But it isn't all easy
skiing; there is a good mix of beginner to
expert runs. Three chairlifts, two T -bars a
poma and a rope tow take the skier to the
top. Vertical drop is 187.5 m (625 feet).
Information: (807) 629-9543. Of the five
resorts, Mount McKay is the closest to the
city, 4.8 km (three miles) from the
International Airport. Note, however, the
furthest from the city, Candy Mountain is
only 18 minutes driving time.
Candy Mountain crews had a busy
summer as well; more snowmaking
equipment has been installed and the trails
--one of them is 2.1 km (1.33 miles) long --
have been readied for the coming season.
Candy's vertical is 224.2 m (734 feet).
There is a chairlift, T -bar and a rope tow.
Information:(807) 577-6033. All five resorts
have excellent ski schools with personnel
trained under the CSIA. The method is
standard all across Canada which means
that if you decide to take lessons at one
resort, then switch to another, the teacher
may be different, but his instruction
method won't be.
The runs and trails at all resorts are
patrolled by the Canadian Ski Patrol, the
coast to coast "good Samaritan" organiza-
tion. Before moving on to the review of
facilities at the other centres, it's worth
mentioning here that d#ys of operation
vary from resort to resort, and many offer
night skiing as well. Lift ticket prices are
generally standard; $8 per day during the
week, $9 on weekends and holidays. (Some
packages have interchangeable tickets.)
Mount Norway, a good alpine centre in
its own right, is becoming better known for
the Olympic Ski jump, a world class facility
that is home to Canada's National jumping
team. It is the scene every year of world
competition, featuring the best jumpers
from Austria to Japan. Visitors to Thunder
Bay should consider timing their stay with
this spectacular sports event. (Mount
Norway Information (807) 577-8813). When
the jumpers are not doing their frightening
thing, skiers can put the 232.5 vertical
22, VILLAGE SQUIRE/JANUARY 1978.
metres (775 feet) of well groomed snow to
good use. Lift facilities include a double
chair, T -bar and rope tow; base facilities a
snack bar, licenced lounge. pro shop and
equipment rentals.
Mount Baldy offers a series of good runs
down its 180 vertical metres (600 feet). the
longest of which is just a short schuss
under 1.6 km (one mile). The uphill
equipment includes a double chair, T -bar.
one poma lift and three rope tows. Mount
Baldy, like its four neighbours. has
snowmaking equipment, a pro shop.
rentals and snack bar.
The accommodations available in Thun-
der Bay are very impressive to the first
time visitor. The Red Oak Inn. the Alpine
Motor Hotel, the Airlane Hotel ' and
Landmark Inn have a total of 471 rooms.
Each hotel has at least one indoor
swimming pool. a warm jacuzzi bath and
saunas. What better way to relax after a
hard day sliding down the slopes...and
after that food! The hotel -motel dining
rooms will also be a pleasant surprise. And
after that? If you have the strength. you'll
find dancing with live entertainment in the
lounges.
Other accommodations are available;
there is a Holiday Inn (with indoor pool).
the Prince Arthur Hotel. the Chalet Lodge
and the Ritz Motel.
Canadian visitors to Thunder Bay
usually take group flights from Winnipeg.
Sudbury. Toronto, on either Air Canada or
Transair. The same packages, without the
return airfare. are available to the
thousands of skiers from Minneapolis -St.
Paul. Chicago. Duluth, Milwaukee and
Green Bay.
Here are a couple of examples: From
Winnipeg: five days and five nights. two
persons per room, including breakfast and
interchangeable lift tickets for Loch
Lomond and Candy Mountain, plus a
rent -a -car, with 160 free kms (100 miles). is
5279 (Canadian) per person. The same
basic ground package for skiers from U.S.
points is $196. Economy return air fare
from Chicago is $146. Samples of air fares:
from Minneapolis -St. Paul $96; Duluth
568; Madison 5126; Milwaukee 5144;
Green Bay $118. Children under 12 years
of age can stay without charge in the same
room with their parents, whilst their lift
tickets are $6. For more information,
contact Thunder Country Ski Tours, P.O.
Box 1242, 1184 Roland Street, Thunder
Bay, Ontario, P7C 4X9, Telephone - (807)
623-0235.
The North Superior Travel Association is
also a very good source of information,
including snow reports, weather, and any
other pertinent details skiers need. The
address is - 107 Johnson Avenue, Thunder
Bay, Ontario, P7B 2B9, telephone (807)
344-6659.
The weird winter of '76-'77 saw a great
increase in traffic from the United States to
the ski country a few miles north of
Toronto. The Ontario Government Tourist
Information office at Barrie didn't keep
tract of all the out -of -province licence
plates, but they did handle a lot of long
distance telephone calls from American
skiers who decided to go north, instead of
vest. One resort had enquiries from
Tennessee!
Blue Mountain and Georgian Peaks
resorts offer verticle drops of about 210 m
(700 feet). By Rocky Mountain standards,
that may not sound like much, but a couple
of the runs have been sanctioned for
world-class ski competition. and the pros of
the International Ski Racing Association
always stop over for one of their events.
Some of the runs are truly 'expert'. Most of
them however. are geared to the
intermediate and beginners.
Blue Mountain Resort stretches across 4
kni (2.5 miles) of the escarpment and the
lift system is such. that skiers can start at
one end and continue to the other, using
hill facilities that include a triple chair. five
double chairs, two T -bars. five poma lifts
and four rope tows. These are spread over
800 acres of slopes and service 26 trails.
Even on its busiest days. the resort can
handle 6.300 skiers. And this year. another
triple chair lift will be installed.
To help the skier. "Get Moving" boards
were set up; they indicate waiting times for
all of the six chair lifts of which of the six
restaurants are open. One of Blue
Mountain's greatest claims to fame is its
snowmaking facilities; 16 huge guns.
concentrated on one acre. can lay down a
foot of snow every two hours and 60 per
cent of the slopes are under the guns.
And where do all the skiers stay?
The Blue Mountain Lodging Association.
lists 25 hotels and motels. and with one
phone call. a skier can find rooms. from
dormitory to the Holiday Inn and
Highwayman Motor Inn. to the Blue
Mountain Inn at the base of the hills.
Mid -week and weekend packages have
been set up; they include lifts and
accommodation. Further information at
(705) 445-0748.
About an hour due north of Toronto. on
highway 400. is a nest of four resorts;
Horseshoe Valley. Mount St. Louie.
Medonte and Moonstone.
Horseshoe Valley has a very good
restaurant and licensed lounge.
Further north is the Muskoka resort
area. Originally, this part of the province
was known for summer holidays...but over
the past few years, it has become what the
travel brochures call "A Winter Play-
ground" as well.
One of the bigger resorts is Hidden
Valley. five miles east of the town of
Huntsville. Two double chairs, a T -bar and
a rope tow take the skiers to the top...half
way up there is a Holiday inn. with all the
necessary features for a complete ski
weekend or week. There is a heated
outdoor pool, dining room. of course. and
licensed lounge. Package plans are
available thru Holiday Inn reservations
service.
One central office at Barrie handles all
information for the skiers; up-to-date (and
honest) snow conditions, reports for all
major resorts all across the province.
weather reports; highway conditions and
special events. Telephone (705) 726-0932,
any time...728-5851 from 7:00 am. to 4:00
pm. In Toronto the number is (416)
364-4722. As for the ski conditions