Fwiw, it's pronounced MacMillan "Blow-Dell". Thanks for the video - I remember the '98-'99 snow year very fondly. I worked at Cypress Mountain at the time (Cypress Bowl then) and the amount of snowfall at all western resorts for that year was truly mind-boggling, absolutely epic. Skiing terrain regularly inaccessible for lack of coverage in any other year became commonplace. Lifts being buried from the previous night's dump occurred multiple times, but iirc our hill was prevented from opening due to such conditions only once. It's a shame management for Arrowsmith couldn't rise to the challenge, but if the skier-visits weren't there I can see it being a hard sell. Cypress was and is blessed with skier-visits by being so close to Vancouver, and that's a luxury not many resorts can boast. At the close of the season in spring '99 the longtime owner/operator/manager Wayne Boothe opened the taps in the lodge's bar for employees only and proclaimed that we would never see another year with such immense snowdepths in our lifetimes. Thus far he's been proven correct.
Had one of the scariest runs down this mountain. Got off the chair and hiked to a ridge left of the chair. Found out it was so steep, you only had to lay back a foot for your head to touch snow. So about half way down, we could see that it would be possible to drop in. Turned out to be so steep, that as I traveled straight down my skis just lifted off the hill into free fall. Thank god the mountain came back.
I learned to ski on the lower area when I was 7 in 1974 , this video brings back a lot of memories! When the upper alpine opened we used to hitchhike up from the start of the gravel road, ski half a day then ski all the way down to the lower area (same ticket was valid) where we would finish the day & hitchhike back down to the highway where our parents would pick us up. Sometimes we would hike from the second upper T-bar to Cokely Ridge , then ski down in the powder. Good times 😎
My first time skiing on Arrowsmith was the winter of 1978. I was 8 years old and won lesson via the old Alberni Times news paper. This was at the lower area. The next year as you said i started skiing the alpine areas. It was great fun. Hitch hiking from the highway and getting rides in the back of random pickup trucks to the hill and back. My final year skiing year was 1994 which after i moved away from the valley. The final couple of years i would help set up and tune skies for free afternoon skiing. Some of yhe best skiing i ever did was climbing Cokely and skiing the bowl coming out near the bottom of the first T-bar. Great memories, thank you
Can’t thank you enough for making this video. My grandparents Art & Louise Skirrow were very involved in Mt. Arrowsmith. I spent every winter weekend of my childhood up there.
Good video. My sister and I happen to be in the photo of the Nancy Greene Ski League. Dad was on the ski patrol and that might be him in the pic walking into the old A-frame ski patrol hut. The last time skiing Arrowsmith was in the spring of 2000. Spent lots of volunteer hours up there helping with getting the hill ready for the season. One error though, the pic of all the cars parked beside the flat-roofed lodge, that's Mt. Washington Ski Resort.
I recall the Mt Arrowsmith ski hill when working the Alberni area years ago for Macmillan Bloedel. I never skied there as the snow wasn't much when I was there. That said, looking at the terrain, access etc, I can't help but wonder if the potential for a revised ski and Mountain bike park would make sense now? Mtn Biking is huge these days, the terrain looks suitable for trail building and it would allow for all year operation, assuming access via Mosaic lands was allowed
Probably before BC's safety regulations for chairlifts. Safety bars add extra money. So for a small ski area looking to buy a costly chairlift, why would you add them if the government doesn't require them?
Fwiw, it's pronounced MacMillan "Blow-Dell".
Thanks for the video - I remember the '98-'99 snow year very fondly. I worked at Cypress Mountain at the time (Cypress Bowl then) and the amount of snowfall at all western resorts for that year was truly mind-boggling, absolutely epic. Skiing terrain regularly inaccessible for lack of coverage in any other year became commonplace. Lifts being buried from the previous night's dump occurred multiple times, but iirc our hill was prevented from opening due to such conditions only once. It's a shame management for Arrowsmith couldn't rise to the challenge, but if the skier-visits weren't there I can see it being a hard sell. Cypress was and is blessed with skier-visits by being so close to Vancouver, and that's a luxury not many resorts can boast.
At the close of the season in spring '99 the longtime owner/operator/manager Wayne Boothe opened the taps in the lodge's bar for employees only and proclaimed that we would never see another year with such immense snowdepths in our lifetimes. Thus far he's been proven correct.
Well done for helping to preserve the history of lost ski areas.
Had one of the scariest runs down this mountain.
Got off the chair and hiked to a ridge left of the chair.
Found out it was so steep, you only had to lay back a foot for your head to touch snow.
So about half way down, we could see that it would be possible to drop in.
Turned out to be so steep, that as I traveled straight down my skis just lifted off the hill into free fall.
Thank god the mountain came back.
I learned to ski on the lower area when I was 7 in 1974 , this video brings back a lot of memories! When the upper alpine opened we used to hitchhike up from the start of the gravel road, ski half a day then ski all the way down to the lower area (same ticket was valid) where we would finish the day & hitchhike back down to the highway where our parents would pick us up. Sometimes we would hike from the second upper T-bar to Cokely Ridge , then ski down in the powder. Good times 😎
Thanks for your comment!
Damn my old man has told me many stories of skiing here. I've hiked here many times but never actually knew what it looked like. Thank you.
My first time skiing on Arrowsmith was the winter of 1978. I was 8 years old and won lesson via the old Alberni Times news paper. This was at the lower area. The next year as you said i started skiing the alpine areas. It was great fun. Hitch hiking from the highway and getting rides in the back of random pickup trucks to the hill and back. My final year skiing year was 1994 which after i moved away from the valley. The final couple of years i would help set up and tune skies for free afternoon skiing.
Some of yhe best skiing i ever did was climbing Cokely and skiing the bowl coming out near the bottom of the first T-bar.
Great memories, thank you
Super excited for the series!
Thanks for the support!
Great job on the video. Kinda weird that a lot of mountain lodges on Vancouver Island end up burning down. Maybe we are cursed.
Or it’s insurance fraud…
Can’t thank you enough for making this video. My grandparents Art & Louise Skirrow were very involved in Mt. Arrowsmith. I spent every winter weekend of my childhood up there.
Good video. My sister and I happen to be in the photo of the Nancy Greene Ski League. Dad was on the ski patrol and that might be him in the pic walking into the old A-frame ski patrol hut. The last time skiing Arrowsmith was in the spring of 2000. Spent lots of volunteer hours up there helping with getting the hill ready for the season. One error though, the pic of all the cars parked beside the flat-roofed lodge, that's Mt. Washington Ski Resort.
AWESOME!
Wow ski lodges sure have a nasty habit of burning down
I recall the Mt Arrowsmith ski hill when working the Alberni area years ago for Macmillan Bloedel. I never skied there as the snow wasn't much when I was there. That said, looking at the terrain, access etc, I can't help but wonder if the potential for a revised ski and Mountain bike park would make sense now? Mtn Biking is huge these days, the terrain looks suitable for trail building and it would allow for all year operation, assuming access via Mosaic lands was allowed
Great video. Awesome Sunshine Chairlift videos.
Forbidden Plateau. :)
Thanks for your comment!
Awesome work!!
Thank you!
Dude these videos are f**king awesome, I have skied at a few......
So MacBlo never ended up donating the land?
Great job ,very interesting , Nanimo archives just posted some video on Green mountain.
Road location/windeabout was the big issue, a direct road would have solved it
Skied Mnt Arrowsmith
This makes me so sad :( great video tho!
why the double have no safety bar,
Probably before BC's safety regulations for chairlifts. Safety bars add extra money. So for a small ski area looking to buy a costly chairlift, why would you add them if the government doesn't require them?
I thought he said blow hole ! He meant Bloedel