Ski Stop #15 of 42 - Clearwater Ski Hill

Ski Stop #15 of 42 43 - Clearwater Ski Hill

Our single biggest journey of our Skädi Tour - 856 km. The good news was that the drive was on completely clear roads. However, we would have gladly given up the driving conditions for some fresh snow - but it looks like we will have to wait a little longer.

           

In Clearwater, we crossed the mighty North Thompson River and headed up to the ski hill - on Secwépemc territory. The first thing we saw when we pulled up was the beautiful lodge at Clearwater. Daniela Wiunig, the President of the Clearwater Ski Club, greeted us at the doors with her big warm smile. 

Clearwater boasts the fastest 'T' in the west as well as a cute handle tow. The beginner area had far and away the best and most snow - and that became our focus. Daniela got Len, their long-time wonderful maintenance guru, to fire up the handle tow so we could get in our first turns at Clearwater. Maveric Northcott, owner of Wells Gray Outfitters and one of the other directors of the Ski Club, did some fun laps with us and told us a story about arriving in Clearwater and meeting people at the ski hill. You can see and hear that story here: Clearwater Chairlift Chatter

                                                    

Len was an incredible wealth of knowledge about the history of the ski area - and showed us some amazing pictures. He was a skier there as a kid and has been helping run everything mechanical (and other) for a long time now. The ski hill first opened in 1965 and has been the pride of the community ever since, as well as the home of some amazing live music nights hosted in their lodge.

We didn't get to enjoy all the hill offers when they are fully open, but we did get out of the beginner area and up further on the hill in the limited snow they had with a short hike. We got some good skiing in here with the views. 

Our recap video can be found here: Clearwater Recap Video and our featured Canadian song is the adequately named Love Valley by the warm and wonderful Michael Bernard Fitzgerald (www.michaelbernardfitzgerald.com). You can listen to the entire Skädi Tour Playlist of Canadian artists on Spotify: Skädi Tour Playlist.

www.clearwaterskihill.com