1969 Craigleith Ski Club Scenes

Craigleith Ski Club near Collingwood, Ontario was founded in 1958 on property previously owned by relatives of Sir Sandford Fleming. The chalets you see in this homemovie film were the first to be built by the original members of the club. They were all torn down some years ago as 'unsightly'. My family was among the first 50-60 original members of the Craighleth Ski Club. One of the chalets, an A-frame, sadly not filmed, my family built. I added a couple of my family photos. One photo is of the Craigleth Ski Team winning a race. My younger brother Dan, 2nd from left, was on the team before he crashed into a tree and lost a kidney. The guy in the upper right corner was Steve Podborski. First ski lift was a long thick rope tow driven by a small airplane engine that only had two speeds - zero and 100 miles per hour. Everybody went thru at least 3 pairs of rope tow burnt smoking mitts or gloves per ski day, and, you were very lucky if you didn't go 'airborne' into the trees at the top if you didn't let go at just the right split second. Club house was a tiny shack, about 6 people at a time size, with an old wood or coal pot belly stove that your gloves and boots would melt from if you got too close. But you did anyways to thaw out your frozen hands and feet. Several members had to have a finger or toe amputated. Lunch was a twice daily visit from a coffee truck that always got stuck in the snow and had to be dug out, or wait for a local farm tractor to come pull it out every time. Every summer, volunteer club members would have to help with ski hill preparations, pulling out tree stumps and removing rocks and smoothing the worst of the surfaces. At the end of the day, each chalet member would take turns holding a hot dog and burger BBQ for everybody. If there were grazing horses on the property, kids might be lucky to hop one for a ride, usually getting thrown off. Truly, the good old days.