All downhill from here

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/01/2010 (5926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LA RIVIERE — Before Holiday Mountain Ski and Golf Resort opened 50 years ago this Saturday, there was what you might call a "makeshift slope."

A CPR train dropped off ski buffs here, who then skied down runs they cleared themselves, on the north slope of the Pembina River valley.

There were no chairlifts, so people had to walk back up the hill each time, and no lodge. That was in 1913. Masses of people visited. By 1940, CPR charged skiers $1.56 for a round-trip ticket.

Noel Later was one of those ski buffs and that’s what motivated him to start Holiday Mountain — but on the south side of Pembina Valley, which didn’t get as much sun, so snow didn’t melt as quickly.

All this week, the family-owned business, now run by daughter, Bernice Later and her partner, Nate Lupuliak, is celebrating its history. That includes live music and skiing until 9 p.m. every day.

It’s also a reunion of sorts, with many families of people who helped build the resort, like Gord Reid of Gord’s Ski and Bike Centre, and Eddie Champagne, former coach of the Canadian men’s ski team when it was called the Crazy Canucks, who learned to ski at Holiday, invited back.

The celebration culminates Saturday, the official birthday of the Jan. 23, 1960 opening.

Starting Manitoba’s second ski hill — Agassiz Ski Hill was first by a matter of months — on the level prairies was "a huge struggle," said Noel Later’s widow, Julie Later.

Noel died last year at the age of 77.

Explained Julie: "He couldn’t get money (from banks). He wanted this land and the farmer wouldn’t sell. He finally asked someone who knew the farmer why he wouldn’t sell. The man told him, ‘He thinks you’re a damn fool. This land is nothing but sloughs.’ "

The farmer eventually sold and a bank eventually provided a small loan but Later mostly used his own money, a no-no for many entrepreneurs. That’s why Holiday Mountain was built incrementally. He took the sooner or Later approach. (He was also very accustomed to people making puns with his name).

Later kept reinvesting earnings back into the operations until it was a full-fledged ski resort. Today, it takes in 35,000 to 40,000 paid visits per year.

Bernice, 30, admits being the typical "resort brat," who was on skis at age two and hung around the ski hill all her life. She lived in Calgary for six years before returning and was the only family member interested in the business.

"We tried to talk her out of it," said Julie. "It’s a lot of hard work. It takes so much of your time."

About half of Holiday’s business is school kids. From 15,000 to 20,000 of them take either day trips, or two-day trips, to the ski hill each year, where instructors teach them the basics. Others can access lessons, too.

"That’s our specialty, always has been, a teaching resort," said Bernice.

Later was the first to introduce snow-making in Canada, and travelled to the United States to set up similar systems at other resorts.

He was also a tremendous athlete. He was a nationally ranked ski jumper and cross-country skier, attended a professional hockey training camp with legend Gordie Howe and once roomed with Billy Martin, a former New York Yankee manager.

Holiday Mountain has 11 runs, two chairlifts and a tow carpet, which has replaced the old tow-rope system, to freight people up the bunny hill.

As well, Holiday Mountain’s hotel rates — the rooms are in longer trailers that were formerly army barracks — have been set at $50 a night this ski season, versus $80 the previous year, to mark the 50th anniversary. The guest cabins are $100 a night.

La Riviere is west of Manitou on Highway 3, about 160 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

 

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca