Any Given Sunday

"You must see them again, all lying in splendor, their summits are stretching up into the sky.  Behind them the peaks illuminated in glory . . ."

- from the poem entitled The Hills of Home by Shirley K. Patience

The Qu'Appelle River has carved a unique landscape out of the seemingly endless plain of the prairies and the hills that form the river valley have offered recreation to residents and visitors for years.  I had a chance to sit down with Bert Wills over a cup of tea in my antique shop as he reminisced about skiing in the 1930s.

Just east of St. Michael's Retreat, the Regina Ski Club maintained a ski shack.  In those days there weren't any of the things that we associate with ski resorts today - a parking lot, a ticket wicket, a ski rental facility, a day lodge, lounge or even ski lifts.  Local ski enthusiasts were joined by folks from Regina who travelled to Lumsden on the train that arrived at 10:30 am.  Some would hike to town for lunch at the hotel and some would suit up immediately.  According to Bert, his mother-in-law, Marg, would feed anywhere from 75 to 100 people any given Sunday at the Lumsden Hotel.

In the absence of a ski lift skiiers would do the "herring bone" up the hill by pointing their toes out and doing a sort of duck walk to the top.  The pattern that was left in the snow resembled the herring bone pattern found in fabric of the day.  Everyone went up in the same spot and then took their favourite route down.  Some chose the steeper terrain of the ravine while others stayed higher up and skiied down on the crest of the hill.

The ski hut was a 24' x 24' structure that was built out of cindercrete blocks and heated by a wood burning stove.  It was a great place to warm up or, for those who had brought a lunch, to grab a quick bite before heading back to the slopes.

In the early 1940s the Regina Ski Club built a ski jump in one of the ravines so that they could host ski jumping competitions.  They also hosted slalom competitions in which skiiers would race through a zigzag course.  The competitions always drew crowds of spectators to the hill.  Most of the skiiers were in their late teens and early twenties but some families spent their Sunday afternoons on the ski slope.

At 5:30 pm the train would arrive to take everyone back to the city.  The train ride took approximately 45 minutes.

The hills of Lumsden that were used for winter recreation then are still used for recreation today, although the skiis may have been replaced by snowboards and tobaggans.