History of TSC - Toronto Ski Club

Norman Smallpiece (TSC Pres.), R.B.Chillas, George Varty (TSC Sec.) 1908 in Ro

The Formative Years:
1908-1912

First reference to the Toronto Ski Club in a 1912 Montreal publication “Ski Runner in Canada” stating “the club was formed in 1908 with 6 members and by 1911 had a membership of 44… all of whom were correctly outfitted”.

1922

Telemark Ski Club formed by 24 enthusiasts (15 male and 9 female) used High Park hills (see meeting minutes page 2). The first recorded meeting was October 16, 1922. Created rules and regulations for skiing. Most notable rule is:

“Each member shall be the possessor of a complete skiing outfit including Telemark skis, harness and ski staff.” Note: only 1 ski staff is mentioned (Staff is what we call a pole today) & explains the early logo with one pole.

1922-23

Telemark Ski Club members enjoyed skiing at High Park and Rosedale Golf Club. A metal badge was created for passing 1_st class test and a felt badge for 2_nd class test. They were emblazoned with the logo of crossed skis, diagonal letters and single pole which was the logo used until recently. November 1923 members wanted to enlarge the membership but the founders did not.

Picture of Al Wilson (left) and M (Putty) Puttman from 1928

1924

Dissenting members of the Telemark Ski Club in January 24,1924 create a different club and changed the name to Toronto Ski Club (see meeting minutes page 4). By March 1924 there were 84 members & numerous committees. Initiation fees were $1 & annual dues were $1. The Toronto Ski Club was registered on October 20, 1924. Its purpose –

“To encourage, develop and practice among amateurs ski-running in all its branches, including touring and jumping tests and competitions, and the promotion of good fellowship…….”

Activities occurred in High Park where the Reebow Pavilion was leased for a clubhouse and lockers. This was the terminus of the Carlton Street Railway. The very long skis carried to High Park on the streetcar shattered many light bulbs in the streetcars. The Club also had use of Humber Lodge, Old Mill property and another location in Caledon.

1925

“Ye Weekly Trumpet” was published to keep members informed about popular night ski tours, Hare and Hound chase and weekend activities. The Toronto Ski Club adopted a uniform for men of navy-blue peak cap, shirt and long trousers – no uniform was created for women. The Club aligned its 3_rd, 2_nd and 1_st level tests to those created by the Canadian Amateur Ski Association. The first Winter Carnival was held in March 1925 in High Park with races & jumps.

1926

150 members enjoyed the Winter Carnival, including ski jor-ing involving horses, ski running at High Park, Rosedale, Bayview, and Summit as well as ski jumping and testing. Numerous spectacular social events including a Masquerade gala were held.

1927

Toronto Ski Club members, also members at Summit Golf Club, discuss expanding ski trails to Summit. Trails were cleared by members and named for them (see map). Lease secured at Summit for bunkhouse to be the clubhouse and offered 2 eggs, 4 slices of bacon and toast for $.30 (30 cents)! Leased Summit for 47 years. At that time Summit was on the northern edge of Toronto (now Richmond Hill).

December 1927 was the first issue of the Ski Runner – a top ski publication by 1950s.

1928

Caretaker’s cottage at Summit becomes TSC Halfway Lodge.

1930

TSC purchases 10 acres on Gormely Rd and members erect a new building called Silverbirch Lodge. Member Alex Snively cuts trails in his 100-acre Lizmaur forest. Many trails are linked through Summit, Brodie and Lizmaur.

1931

Toronto Ski Club leases farmland in Caledon and membership reaches 2000! Due to the size other areas in Dagmar, Newmarket and Collingwood were utilized.

1933

Floodlights are purchased and installed by the members to improve skiing day and night at Summit. Al Wilson and “Putty” Putman concoct local ski wax from pine tar, salt, turpentine, resdan and animal fur named “High-Speed”, “Wet-Sno”, “Clog-sno”, “Dri-sno” and “All-sno”.

Norman Smallpiece (TSC Pres.), R.B.Chillas, George Varty (TSC Sec.) 1908 in Rosedale.

1934

Ontario Champion Ski-Jump held at Thorncliffe Ski Jump on Feb. 10,1934 on a jump built by TSC. Thirty members of TSC competed with three top 10 finishes and 10,000 spectators. Due to a thaw, 100 tons of shaved ice from the local skating rink had to be trucked in! Also, TSC was the first club to run ski competitions and timing cross-country races. Sam Cliff retired as President and Fred Hall took over TSC which was the largest club in Canada at the time.

Blue Mountain

Meanwhile, in the 1930s, local enthusiasts became the first to use the escarpment here at Blue Mountain in the fledgling sport of downhill skiing. They climbed up and skied down the hills of what were then the Carmichael, Doherty and Goodchild farms. These pioneers formed the Blue Mountain Ski Club (the predecessor of the Collingwood Ski Club) in 1935. During the first years, they rented a room at the rear of the Goodchild farm and used it as a clubhouse. In 1938, the club bought the neighbouring Doherty farm for the princely sum of $1,200.

The early trails were reportedly quite treacherous. Rocks, stumps, ravines running across the middle of trails, and some trails that ended in the middle of a forest - all of these were apparently common things to encounter. During those early years, the TSC provided needed technical assistance to many ski clubs in southern Ontario, including the Blue Mountain Ski Club.

Among the leaders of the TSC at that time, who pushed outward into the areas north of Toronto, and into the Blue Mountain area were men such as Sam Cliff, Fred Hall, Ross Larway and Tom McGoey. The Blue Mountain Ski Club benefited from the leadership of enthusiastic local business people such as John Smart, Norman Boadway and Bert Brydon. Together these men saw the great potential for skiing in this area, and the benefit of working together to improve and expand the facilities.

BMSC (1940) INC

The two clubs engaged the services of a Swiss ski instructor by the name of Fritz Loosli, to organize the improvement of the trails, and to provide instruction. During these years, an arrangement developed whereby the TSC would pay Loosli, and second his services to the Blue Mountain Ski Club in exchange for ski privileges for TSC members, at the facility owned by the Blue Mountain Ski Club.

Much of the labour for the trail cutting was performed by unemployed workers assigned to the job by the Town of Collingwood, which administered a relief program for higher levels of government. During the late 1930s, the Granny, Schuss and Kandahar trails were developed, and they remain the principal trails in the north end of the resort to this day.

In addition to owning the land on which the trails were established, the Blue Mountain Ski Club had access to some talented workers at the Collingwood Shipyard and the Collingwood Grain Terminals. With their expertise the first “lift” was built, and installed on the Schuss in 1937. The Red Devil, as it was named, was reportedly an unreliable and sometimes dangerous piece of equipment, but it served as the main method of uphill transportation on the trails for almost 20 years.

1940 - 1941
The close association of the TSC and BMSC lead to the formation of Blue Mountain Ski Club (1940) Incorporated, in 1940. The company is owned equally by the TSC and the CSC (formerly the Blue Mountain Ski Club). Upon formation, the new organization assumed ownership of the original 150-acre Doherty farm, and immediately purchased another 200 acres approximately two miles to the south - the land on which the Big Baby, O-Hill and L-Hill runs are located.

While the two clubs owned the land and facilities together, they have remained separate entities, with the Blue Mountain Ski Club (now the CSC) drawing its members mainly from the Collingwood area.

Around the same time that the TSC and BMSC were pooling their resources for the development of skiing in the Blue Mountain area, a young man by the name of Jozo Weider had emigrated to Canada with his wife and young family, and was searching for the right opportunity to apply his energies to. In the winter of 1940-41, he was the Chief Ski Instructor at the Alpine Inn in Ste. Marguerite, Quebec.

Jozo happened to have a lunchtime conversation one day with a Toronto lawyer by the name of Peter Campbell. Campbell was familiar with the development of skiing on Blue Mountain through one of his clients, Norman Boadway, who was the owner of the Collingwood Grain Terminals, and one of the people I had mentioned earlier as being instrumental in the Blue Mountain Ski Club. Campbell kept in touch with Jozo, and both he and Norman Boadway encouraged Jozo to come to the Blue Mountain area, which he did at the end of the 1940-41 ski season.

Campbell recognized that Jozo was a hard worker, and a tireless promoter, and he arranged the necessary financial backing for Jozo to establish a winter ski resort. Campbell and Jozo formed Blue Mountain Resorts Limited, and acquired land for the construction of a lodge at the base of the hill.

However, the struggles and financial setbacks of the 1940s presented a tremendous challenge for Jozo. The war years meant that travel and recreational pursuits were limited, but Jozo persevered. With the end of the war the outlook improved, but one of the biggest obstacles that Jozo still faced was the lack of any long-term arrangement for the use of the land that was used for skiing.

1948
By 1948, Jozo was determined to secure the long-term stability that he needed to develop the resort. He arranged what was a vitally important meeting with the Blue Mountain Ski Club (1940) Incorporated, and his powers of persuasion prevailed. He emerged from that meeting and the subsequent negotiations with a commitment for a 999 year lease, and the basis for building his resort development.

The rest, as they say, is history. And since that time, Blue Mountain Ski club (1940) Incorporated has not played any operational role in the resort, but it remains a significant entity, not only because of the ownership of the land, but also because of the pivotal role that the founders of both of our clubs played in the development of Blue Mountain Resorts and in the development of skiing on the escarpment.