1949-50 the Winter the Snow Took a Holiday
From a personal point of view, the winter started out with a very positive outlook. In the spring of the year I acquired my very first car, a brand new 1949 Ford (cash on the barrel head, no time payments, no Ontario sales tax, $5.00 for the plates, $2.00 for the driver’s license, $2080 for the car). Freed of the constraints of public transportation, I and three friends (all male - we were still a long way from the notion of mixed gender accommodation) rented our first ski shack from Jozo Weider at Collingwood. Jozo too was attempting to take advantage of the burgeoning post-WW II economy, and had put up several rental ski shacks on the road up from Craigleith. Word reached Toronto that fall that the Laurentians had been blessed with a particularly early and bountiful snowfall, something that had not come Collingwood’s way. Undaunted, and with our own transportation available, several of us made early plans to spend New Year 49/50 in St. Sauveur. Still later word had it that the early Laurentian snow bonanza had been wiped out by mild weather and rain. Not to worry, they always had plenty of snow in the Laurentians by Christmas didn’t they? Of course - so five of us set out secure in the belief there would be plenty of snow on the ground at Sauveur when we arrived there.
As we got closer and closer to St. Sauveur we began to realize that perhaps it might take a bit of time for the snows to arrive there. It took a bit of time all right - in the end it took all winter. What we lacked in skiing we made up partying - but this was something we could just as easily have done at our rental in Collingwood, and saved ourselves an 800 mile round trip on the treacherous old #2 highway into the bargain. Today’s generation of skiers has to realize we lived in an entirely different ski world on the late 40's. To begin with, TV was far from a major factor in our lives. True, a few wealthy people had black and white sets that allowed them to tune in to a few channels close to the Can/USA border, but that was it. Today’s dedicated weather channels hadn’t even been thought of. Our weather information was sketchy at best, based as much on lore as anything, farmer’s almanac sort of thing. Snow making was years from being invented, and hill grooming consisted of foot-packing on skis or snow shoes. In fact, Keith Nesbitt, one of our illustrious "Ski Hall of Famers" used to earn his daily lift pass on the St Sauveur "Uphill Limited" from operator Bob Creighton by early morning foot-packing before the crowds arrived. So clearly skiers of that era were at the mercies of the elements.
Well, our intrepid group of would-be St. Salver skiers dragged our way back to Toronto more or less with our tails between our legs, and looked ahead to better days ahead at Collingwood. They were not to come. That entire winter we didn’t have a single decent weekend of skiing. Oh yes, there was plenty of cold weather that winter and plenty of precipitation, but the two never occurred together. It was either mild and raining, or bone chillingly cold and sunny. Though the 1950 part of the 49/50 winter was a write-off at Collingwood, I was not discouraged, for I had a job offer in Montreal which I had accepted with alacrity. What I discovered upon my arrival there was that in 1950 even the ever-reliable Laurentians had suffered a snow famine that same winter, and thereby hangs a tale.
Jim Champion, one of our former Directors of the CSM, had been selected that year for training as a ski instructor at Real Charette’s famed Snow Eagle’s Ski School. Having successfully passed the rigorous course requirements with flying colors, Jim was more than pleased to accept Real’s offer of a position on the ski school staff. Jim willingly gave up a stellar amateur racing career, and from that time forward was classified as a "pro".
It turned out the Laurentians had the same disastrous winter snow-wise as we had experienced in Collingwood. Real Charette was forced to cut his ski school staff drastically because of the cancellations resulting from the bad conditions. However some die-hards showed up at Grey Rocks anyway, so Real was obliged to keep a skeleton group of instructors around to try to keep these die hards occupied one way or another, and also so he had at least some instructors on hand should the missing snow ever materialize. Jim was one of those kept on staff. When Real finally declared that dismal winter season officially over, Jim headed back home to Montreal. To his dismay he discovered that when all his accounts were settled,a whole winter’s work had left him with the grand sum of $1.00 in his pocket.
Right then and there Jim decided that the life of a ski instructor was not for him. He applied (successfully) for reinstatement as an amateur competitor, and enrolled at Sir George Williams (now Concordia) university in a business course. There he met his future wife Barbara who was studying to enhance her teaching qualifications. The rest is history.
Another of Real’s pupils was Al Forbes. The start of Al’s ski career predates WW II. Al is now over 90 years of age and blind. In his prime Al was one of the finest and most fearless recreational skiers it has been my privilege to ski with. Real flunked Al because Al disagreed on teaching novices how to snowplow. Al thought parallel Christies were a far easier way for a tyro to turn and to control speed. Al admits to being devastated when Real turfed him out. In retrospect Al says his switch to the business world was the best thing ttat ever happened to him.
A winter such as 1949-50 can never again have such far reaching and negative effects on so large a segment of the skiing population. The jet age has increased the mobility of much of the world’s skiing population to the point that they simply pick up and go to wherever the skiing is good. Modern snow making guarantees that given sufficiently low temperatures snow can be produced in whatever quantities are required. And finally, modern grooming equipment and techniques ensure that whatever snow lands on a hill by whatever means is massaged so that today’s skiers are seldom exposed to harsh bumps and never to bare spots.
With all this in mind, 1949-50 (the winter that wasn’t) has some historical significance.
