Mount McKay Ski Area
Mount McKay Ski Area was a ski area on the north slope of Mount McKay, on the reserve land of the Fort William First Nation south of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It operated from 1932 until 1988 or 1989.[1][2]
The Fort William Ski Club moved to the mountain in 1932 on a long-term lease of reserve land, and built a 165 m jump and a tow for the 1939 Canadian championships.[2][3] In 1971 the club sold the operation to the Fort William band, which developed a four-season resort through Ojibway Resorts Ltd., with Poma double chairs and a T-bar by 1973.[1] The band ended downhill skiing in 1988 or 1989, citing falling visits and ageing lifts.[1]
See also
Thunder Bay Museum material (October 2026)
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- 1939 Dominion championships (24–26 February): cross-country from the clubhouse; men's downhill on "Deception Run" at the south end, reached by the Mission Road and the Chippewa Park road; women's downhill on the main hill; men's jumping on the Sunday.[4] Knute Hansen reportedly jumped 155 feet off the Mount McKay jump in 1939, a hill and Ontario record.[5]
- 1963: High winds forced the Fort William Winter Carnival's ceremonial fire on top of Mount McKay to be postponed.[6]
- 1964: Plans for snowmaking, a floodlit slalom, a new run in front of the clubhouse and a two-mile run adding 300 feet of vertical, with skiing from the top of the mountain (1,100 feet) as the goal.[7]
See History of skiing in Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Museum material and Big Thunder.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Mount McKay". Skier 72, The Lost Resorts.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Imrie, Diane. "High flying". Bayview Magazine, November 2017.
- ↑ Imrie, Diane. "Skiing is in fabric of area's city". The Chronicle-Journal, 26 January 2021.
- ↑ "Port Arthur Girls Entered In Ski Events". Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 23 February 1939, p. 1 (continued p. 12); clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
- ↑ Imrie, Diane (Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame). Article in Lakehead Living, 1987, as summarised by Emma Hurley Warren, Thunder Bay Museum, email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). The 1987 article itself has not been seen.
- ↑ "Winter Gets Rough As Carnival Opens". Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 2 February 1963, p. 1; clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
- ↑ Patola, Roger. "Big Plans Ahead For Skiing Areas". Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 28 April 1964; clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
