Golden anniversary on the slopes

BARRHEAD - Close to 400 people visited Misty Ridge Ski Hill March 5 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. 

As part of the celebrations, the ski hill society hosted a dinner, put on a fireworks display and opened the ski hill to night skiing. They also unveiled the name of the hill's new mascot, Bruce the Moose. 

"It's been a great night," said Misty Ridge Ski Hill Society president Matthew Swan. "We've had a great turnout. I think we've had something like 280 skiers and snowboarders today with a lot of people at the dinner to help us celebrate and share memories of the hill." 

The celebration/fundraiser was in doubt a few weeks earlier, as a warm spell forced the hill to close temporarily in early February. Mother Nature cooperated soon after though, bringing snow and cooler temperatures to resume operations. 

The ski hill, 30 kilometres north of Barrhead, next to the Athabasca River, first opened its doors in 1972 to provide a low-cost outdoor recreational facility for skiers of all skill levels. 

The County of Barrhead purchased the original 10 acres from Walter and Helen Neuman and leased the slopes to Jack and Jeanne Bozak. 

The Bozaks made an agreement with the county to take over the lease during the winter months, with it reverting into grazing lands in the summer. 

County Coun. Bill Lane, a longtime Thunder Lake resident and supporter of the hill, gave kudos to all the volunteers over the years that made the ski hill possible. 

"Sometimes people forget about what an asset we have. It is kind of tucked away and doesn't always get the attention it deserves," he said.  

Lane noted that before Misty Ridge opened, there was a much smaller hill at Thunder Lake, adjacent to the Barrhead Gun Range. 

"It was quite popular. There was a chalet, a rope tow operated by a tractor," he said. "But Misty Ridge gave generations of area residents a place to ski." 

George Visser, one of the original board members along with Walter Neumann, Ed McCallum, Phil Fluet, Allan Charles and William Reitsma, remembers that the ski hill's creation came about at least in part due to provincial and federal government funding. 

"We had a few years where unemployment was high and created a program to help put people back to work," he said, noting at the time he was part of a joint town and county recreation board. "So I started thinking about ways we could use the (back to work incentive program) and started talking to Vega residents about the possibility of a ski hill because there was land that had quite a good slope." 

Some of the residents Visser approached ended up serving on the ski hill's first board. 

The group then visited the location of Misty Ridge. 

"We knew it had a lot of potential," he said, adding it also had a substantial challenge. "Back then, the property was all trees." 

The year before the hill opened, when the property was being cleared, Visser said the board was buoyed by the amount of snow they received. 

However, after the ski hill opened, the weather did not cooperate, and they had several lean years when they did not have enough snow. 

"So we got some used snowmaking equipment, but of course that was a lot of work, pumping water from the river back up the hill," he said. "A lot of effort has been put in by a lot of people to make the ski hill what it is today, making it into one of the best-known hills in the region. It has a lot of good things going for it." 

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