The History of Nordic Skiing in Revelstoke

In the late 1800s and early 1900s the Nordic skiing traditions crossed the ocean to North America by the Scandinavian immigrants. Long wooden skis were used for winter travel to navigate deep snow and mountainous terrain. Skiing in this region dates back to sometime before 1890 when Ole Sandberg used a pair of homemade skis to descend from his mine to the railway station at Albert Canyon.

The mode of transportation morphed into a form of recreation with ski events held in the early 1900s.

Revelstoke merchant F. B. Wells was the first to retail skis and also helped establish the Revelstoke Ski Club in 1891 (the oldest continually operating ski club in Canada).

The Revelstoke Ski Club first organized cross-country races and ski jumping events on Mount Revelstoke in 1915.

By then, ski jumping and cross-country skiing had gained popularity. At the time, Nordic skiing didn't receive quite as much attention as ski jumping but it flourished as a competitive sport.

The first race in 1915 was a distance of almost 8 miles. The succeeding years saw races of 7 miles (men) and 2 miles (women). In the 1940s, races had been lengthened to 11 miles for men. Generally, the races took place in large part on Mt. Revelstoke and often finished with a descent of the lower slopes to town.

In 1954, a Danish immigrant, Soren Sorensen, moved to Revelstoke and began working for Parks Canada in the carpentry shop, making rustic signs.

By the late 1960s, he became a major driving force in the development of cross-country skiing in the community. Sorensen, with the help of Alan McInnes and others, laid out the five- and two-kilometre trails that now bear Sorensen’s name.

The club bought a “big, heavy snowmobile” to pull the track-setter for the 1983 BC Winter Games but the machine just didn't meet their needs and was not reliable.

Cross-country skiing was changing with Skate skiing -- the new and increasingly popular technique. The trail on Mount Revelstoke was not big enough for the new technique and not wide enough for new machinery.

The trails begin at the base of the Nels Nelsen Hill and are popular running, walking, and snowshoeing routes today.

In 1988 Parks Canada was reluctant to allow the ski club to widen the trails so Brian Abear and others approached Peter Frew at the provincial Ministry of Forests about using the logging roads at the base of Mount Macpherson, where some cross-country skiing was already taking place.

In 1989, the Nordic branch of the Revelstoke Ski Club formally separated from the alpine branch and created an agreement with the Ministry of Forests to set track at the base of Mount Macpherson. The trails on Mount Macpherson were wide enough to accommodate skate skiing and the club was able to gradually upgrade its grooming equipment to meet the new demands.

In 2005, a new grooming machine, a Bombardier, was purchased by the Nordic Club and greatly improved the trails, widening them for skating and having a classic track set on the side.

c2010, Dave Kaegi saw the need for a day lodge at Mt. Macpherson. He went to the Nordic Ski Club executive, joined the club, and spearheaded the project. A feasibility study proposed an additional custodian residence, maintenance facility, and micro-hydro project for electricity and night-lighting for the Mickey Olsen loop.

Kevin Bollefer stepped up and took the lead on project management. by 2013, together Kaegi and Bollefer spent countless hours with many volunteers in creating a modest, well-build day lodge with custodian residence above, a spacious maintenance facility to house grooming equipment, a stadium track for races, and a terrain park for kids. The club could now host regional races and set a goal of hosting a BC cup race within 5 years.