15 replies to this topic

[edmontonguy]

On the way out to my Cabin just off the side of the Highway is Lake Eden. It's intrigued me for a number of years and i decided to take a trip out there and snap a few photos of the place. It's located on a small hill just north of the highway in the midst of what could be a moraine as the whole little area is packed with small steep hills. (steep for Alberta) It is closed to the public and is gated. The pictures i took were from vantage points in the surrounding area

I don't know much of the history but i've been able to scrounge up a few things. The Charilift was installed in 1973 which is likely around the time the resort would have been first concieved. The resort is recorded as a running resort in a 1985 book i have on skiing in Alberta. From then i do not know when the place closed down. It has been at least 10 years since it has been open but there is little documentation to suggest anything specific.

Lifts:
-1973 Doppemayr Double Chair, Top tension looks similar to ones found on t-bars, "around the back" center pole chairs
-2 Parallel t-bars, possibly Doppelmayr
-5 rope tows, Likely homemade
Runs:
-15 green
-4 blue
-1 black

The front side of the resort:
Double Chair (right), T-bars(Center), Ropetow (left)
 DSC02639.JPG (779.44K)
Number of downloads: 99

The Backside:
Double Chair(left), T-bars (right)
 DSC02636.JPG (669.08K)
Number of downloads: 87

The Breakover tower and Upper Terminal:
 DSC02637.JPG (714.64K)
Number of downloads: 74
 DSC02635.JPG (752.3K)
Number of downloads: 67

[floridaskier]

I like the Coke ad up at the top of the chair
Does that book say the vertical?

[edmontonguy]

It's down as 60m of vertical. I'd say that might be a little large, but comparable to Snow Valley here in the City. The resort also had 100% snowmaking when it was in operation.

[SkiBachelor]

You should try to get ahold of the owner and ask him if you can hike it sometime. I'm sure he would be fine with it, but you might have to sign some liability waiver.

I would love to hike that place but it looks pretty muddy right now.

[floridaskier]

I wonder if they keep the lift in good enough condition to ever operate again

[SkiBachelor]

It doesn't appear that they do because the carriers are still on the haul rope. I would presume they would have put the carriers in storage to preserve them and the grips.

[edmontonguy]

Has anyone seen a Doppelmayr chair with a return station like that before? It looks like the one on a Doppelmayr t-bar in edmonton so could it be just a beefed up version?

[jimmyzee53]

ahhh the memories,,seems like sooo long ago, and im only 26,, thx alot for the lreport,,, think about it everytime im out around there(cabin at wabamun),, Lake Eden was a gr8 lil hill and was very forward thinking for their time,, i seem to remember them having the longest halfpipe around ,, think they based some of there ads on this,, dont think the walls had any vert,, and it was shored up with hay bales but hey still not bad,,
think they were still open/wouldve closed in 92 or so not sure, thats just a guess,

Edmonton sure seems to have had alot of hillls ,, does anyone know if LAke Eden, Sunridge, Edmonton ski Club, Snow Valley,, Rabbit hill, and Tawatinaw, were all operating at the same time,, thats 6 hills in not too big an area,,

Ive also heard about another hill along the south shore of the north saskatchewan southwest of the city between calmar and thorsby?? ive never looked for it but i should next time im out there,, anyone know anything about this?? any help would be great..
anyone know of any others dead hills around here??

This post has been edited by jimmyzee53: 25 April 2005 - 01:30 PM

[edmontonguy]

During most of the 80's all these resorts would have been opereating at the same time. Sadly Lake Eden was lost, but the other 5 are still in operation. The Edmonton ski club has fallen on hard times as Snow Valley, Rabbit hill and Sunridge are all taking larger shares of the skiier population. Tawatinaw is pretty much only a local hill now, seeing only a hundred or so people a day on the weekends most of which come from the farming communities surrounding it.

The hill you may be talking about down by Calmar is the Devon Ski club. I don't know much else other than it offered ski jumping and had 4 runs, none of which were black. Ski jumping was a common sight in edmonton at the turn of the century. The Edomonton Ski club and Camrose ski club both offered jumping. The jump in Camrose still stands near the biathlon range.

As for other small ski hills and lost ares across central Alberta here are a few:

Long Lake Ski Hill: Open with new snowmaking next year
Mt Joy Ski Hill: Closed?
Swan Ridge Ski Club: Closed?
Wetaskiwin Ski Club: Closed?
Woodlea Ski Hill: Closed?

[edmontonguy]

Is the former Whitemud Hill the narrow strip of logged rivervalley with stair running up the right side? It's now a taboggan hill if that's the one you are reffering to.

[jimmyzee53]

thx for the reply,, i actually know someone who did ski jumping in camrose,, if you could priovide approximate locations for some of these hills that would be great,, i dont really know where any of them are,,

some people in thorsby were talking about a cleared area on the bank of the north saskatchewan that they were using for snowmobiling and a friends dad sad that it used to be a ski hill,, i thought that the devon hill was in devon where the golf course is now,, i could be totally wrong on this one , but i think it might be possible we are thinking of seperate hills,, the place i am referring too would be a fair ways west of calmar ,, i think thorsby is about 25 k so this would be about 20 k west of calmar then north to the river,, is this about where u would place the devon ski club?

also... 2 areas that i have found recently: one lost ,, i think,, there are signs and you can see the top terminal for what looks like a t bar,, on the road west out of innisfail,, not sure when this hill was open i dont think it still is ,or what it was called, think its just the local tobaggon hill now,,

one still open: Medicine lodge ski area,, west of bentley,on highway 12 i think.
Its actually a pretty steep little place,but still very small.. It might be of interest here ,ie.skilifts.org, because they have a t bar that is just a long bar , it has no cable to each T ,, i have never riden a lift like that, dont think ive even seen another one.. me and some friends meant to go check it out this year but it never happened,, i think youd be able to see the rockies from the top on a clear day....

edit: i wrote this earlier and forgot to post it so it looks like we are talking about seperate hills out by devon,, have done some cross country around chickakoo,, and there are some decent hillls, guess il have to look closer next time to find swiss valley,,

This post has been edited by jimmyzee53: 26 April 2005 - 05:55 PM

[edmontonguy]

Chickakoo is an awsome area to go skiing, though i'd like it if less people walked around the trails because it tends to destroy them fast.

Medicine ski lodge looks like an awsome little area and for being out in the middle of the prarie it has a comparitevly huge vertical compared to most hills. I golfed near there once and only managed a short look at the ski hill. As for the t-bar, there was one at Tawatinaw i rode about 3 or 4 years ago. It had the telescoping t-bar tubes and was probably of similar make. They replaced the Old bars with new cable ones the next season. As for the view, it'd be amazing, i can only imagine what one would see from the top.

I've canoed the river before though i haven't gone past Genesee Bridge so i would have missed the hill by clamar by a few km. It's higly likely that there was a hill out by thorsby at one time or another. Devon ski club was/is right in the city. So there is obviously more than one hill in the area.

Of the hills i mentioned earlier:
Long Lake ski club is locted near Long Lake Provincial Park Southeast of Athabasca.

Mt Joy is Southwest of Lloydminster

Swan ridge is North east of Swan Hills

Woodlea was located at 55th st and 42nd ave in Red Deer.

[edmontonguy]

I think originally they put snow fences and haybales on the hill to keep tabboganers from going kamakazi down the hill. Now there is a big retaining wall and fence about half way up to keep tobboganing people safe.