Skiing Silver Star Circa 1965.
Image Credit: CanadaMotorSports / Reel Life
February 26, 2020 - 7:30 AM
With not a snowboarder to be seen and still a couple of decades before neon clothing would hit the slopes, early film footage of Silver Star Mountain gives viewers a glimpse of the early days of skiing at what is now SilverStar Mountain Resort.
The three-minute long footage shot in around 1965 on 16 mm film, shows what appears to a downhill ski race. The footage was posted to the Facebook group, Vernon and Area Community Forum by Francois Arseneault, who runs the Reel Life YouTube channel, dedicated to vintage film footage from all over Canada.
The first person to ski Silver Star was Vernon resident Bert Thorburn in 1930, according to the film. Thorburn rode his bicycle up a logging road in the area and then hiked to a forestry lookout. He spent the night at the lookout and skied down the next day.
It was 28 years later when, in 1958, the last three kilometres of road were completed to the village and two tow rope lifts and a lodge were built. In 1959 a new lift was installed to the top of the mountain and in 1964 T-bar lifts were installed. The lodge got an A-frame extension in 1965, and in 1967 and 1968 more ski lifts were added making it one of the biggest ski hills in the country, according to the film.
The Youtube footage asks, “Do you recognize any of the faces? Let us know.”
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