St. Maurice Valley Ski Zone Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939

152
to become interested and keener to learn all
the necessary fundamentals that go toward
making a Class A jumper.
.
"Punch" BoH during the season completely
tamed the big hill as he won five straight major
championships and proved himself beyond a
doubt the greatest jumper in Canada. Among
the Class B jumpers of the year, Ramsay
Riddell slowly but surely improved and by the
end of the season was promoted to Class A.
The Juniors came in for very special a Hen tion
in 1939 and in Porter, Foster, Alex Riddell,
Rolf and Kaare Olsen and Bob Walker we have
the nucleus of as good a band of fu ture
champions as may gather together.
E a rly in the winter our hard working and
energetic Laurentian Zone Chairman suggested
that the chairman of the jumping committee
(Mr. John King) take the Juniors in hand and
put them through a course of training that
would, within a few years, bring them up the
ladder to Class A. As a result a series of visits
to out-of-t own ski jumps was arranged on
successive Sundays.
With the help of Mr. Harold Bott, Mr. King
introduced the boys to the new jumps which
had just been erected at Sutton, St. Gabriel and
St. Sauveur and finally to the Alpine jump at
St. Margaret's. As the swing round this circuit
progressed the boys' interest increased and their
ability to handle themselves on strange jumps
became more and more pronounced till a t the
end of the season they were acting like veterans.
Early in April a final competition was held at
Cote des Neiges, especially for those who had
visited the out-of-town jumps and their improvement in style and distance was nothing
short of amazing.
Officers and Committee Chairmen for 19391940:- Chairman, Victor Gagne; SecreiaryCommiiieesTreasurer, Fred Lamoureux;
Competition and Rating, Jack Houghton,
Chairman; Ski Jumping, John King, Chairman;
First Aid, Neil Stewart, Chairman; Trails, K.
G. Christie, Chairman; Canadian Ski Schoot
Dr. W. L. Ball, Chairman; Ladies Committee,
Miss Dorothy Blair.
St. Maurice Valley Ski Zone
THE
Ski Season of 1938-1939 was without
doubt the best ever experienced in the
St. Maurice Valley. Ideal snow and weather
conditions prevailed throughout the season, and
unseasonal rain, which on so many past
occasions has spoiled our meets and dampened
our enthusiasm, was for once noticeable by its
absence.
The Cap-Madeleine, Shawinigan Falls, and
Trois-Rivieres Ski Clubs all reported encouraging increases in membership. The Grand'Mere
Ski Club, due to certain local conditions, found
it necessary to restrict their membership to
Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939
competitive skiers only, and this naturally was
reflected in a decreased membership.
All four clubs noted improvements to their
facilities. The Cap-Madeleine Ski Club enlarged their clubhouse and improved their
jump. At Grand'Mere the jump was dismantled and moved from its site on the bank of
the St. Maurice river some distance above the
town to a more favourable location within the
town limits. In its former location only a
short distance above the big dam, great trouble
was experienced whenever the dam gates were
closed, causing the river level to rise and covering the out-run with water. In its better and
more accessible location it should do much to
increase interest in jumping in that section.
At Shawinigan a group of members led b;X
Lamont Page devoted the autumn weekends
to improving the big slalom hill and cu tting ou t
new trails. A major misfortune was experienced by Shawinigan skiers when their valley
clubhouse was burned to the ground on the
night of the official opening. A temporary
shelter was put up nearby and served as headquarters for the balance of the season. Fortunately the loss was fully covered by insurance,
'so it is expected that a new clubhouse will be
buil t for the coming season.
Members of the Trois-Rivieres Ski Club
devoted most of their efforts to further improving the St. Jacques des Piles territory. A fine
slalom hill was cleared and several new trails
were cut out and marked. In collaboration
with the Canadian Pacific Railway the club
organized excursions to the new ski centre. In
all, six snow trains were chartered during the
season and on each occasion from two to three
hundred skiers took part. Other improvemen~s are planned in this locality for the
coming season.
Of the competitive events, jumping still leads
in popularity in this Zone, with downhill and
slalom a close second. There has been a
regretable falling-off of interest in crosscountry racing during the last three or four
years, due in part to the too great emphasis
being placed on downhill and slalom racing.
Last season the Zone Committee decided to try
to remedy this si tua tion by organizing schoolboy
races, donation of prizes, etc., and as results for
the first year were quite encouraging we intend
to continue with this policy.
At the first Zone meeting of the season the
competitors' schedule was drawn up and thanks
to good weather it was possible to adhere to it
without a cancellation or postponement.
The following is a summary of the principal
Zone competitions:-
Cap-Madeleine Jumping Meet, January 15.
Class I-I, Leo Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, Ken
Bush, Shawinigan Falls; 3, P. Corbin, CapMadeleine. Class II- I, J. Gibbs, TroisRivieres; 2, P. Aubry, Trois-Rivieres; K.
Gaulin, Trois-Rivieres.
153
Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939
Shawinz:gan Falls Jumping Meet, January 29.
Class I-I, L. Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, F .
Latour, Trois-Rivieres; 3, S. Dufresne, Trois
Rivieres. Class II-I, R. Rutherford, Grand'Mere; 2, L. Drolet, Trois-Rivieres ; 3, J .
Gibbs, Trois Rivieres.
Zone Championship Jumping
Class I- I, Ken Bush, Shawinigan Falls; 2, B.
Heywood, Trois Rivieres; 3, L. Page, Shawinigan Falls.
St. Maurice Valley (Open Meet) Championship, Trois-Rivieres, February 4.
Jumping- I, L. Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, P.
Corbin, Cap-Madeleine; 3, R. Riddell, Ski
Club of Montreal. Cross-Country- l, G.
Gille~pie, Esterell; 2, C. Delisle, La Voirie; 3,
M. Lavoie, La Voirie.
Zone
Interscholastic Meet,
February 11.
Four
E vents,
1, Trois-Rivie res High School; 2, De LaSalle
Academy; 3, Trois Rivieres Technical School.
Grand'Mere Jumping Meet, February 19.
1, L. Laferte, Trois-Rivieres; 2, L. Pinard, CapMadeleine; 3, E. McCulloch, Trois-Rivieres.
St. Jacques des Piles, Zone Downhill Championship, February 26.
1, H. Peck, Trois-Rivieres; 2, K. Gill,
Grand'Mere; 3, L. Laferte, Trois-Rivieres.
The Zone was also strongly represented in
the Provincial Championship Meet at Lac
Beauport, as well as in the Junior Dominion
Championship Meet at Cote des Neiges,
Montreal.
The Zone Committee functioned smoothly
throughou t the season thanks to the good
co-operation of all members.
Our Zone cannot as yet be compared to one
of the larger Zones, nor can we as yet undertake
to do all the things that a larger Zone can do.
We feel, however, that we are m eeting the
peculiar needs and problems of our own Zone
in the right way, and that for the time being we
are doing all that is practicable and financially
possible.
We are pleased to report a surplus of $50.98
with which to start the new season.
The Zone Committee elected for the 1939-40
season is as follows :-Chairman, Duncan
Breese, Trois-Rivieres ;
S ecrelary- Treasurer,
Roland Bourdon, Trois-Rivieres;
Technical
Adviser, W. B . Thompson, Shawinigan Falls;
Directors, Paul Desilets, Trois-Rivieres; Jack
Dauncey, Shawinigan Falls; Fernand Veillette,
Grand'Mere; Raymond Paquette, Cap-Madeleine.
The clubs in this Zone are:- Trois-Rivieres
Ski Club, Shawinigan Falls Ski Club, Grand'Mere Ski Club, Cap de la Madeleine Ski Club.
La Zone de Ski de La Vallee
du Saint-Laurent
L
A ZONE DE SKI DE LA VALLEE DU
SAINT-LAURENT peut se louer d'avoir
ete favorisee de sa plus belle saison hivernale
depuis sa fondation.
La premiere bordee tomba vers la minovembre et les skieurs chausserent leurs skis
des Ie d ebut de decembre et ne remiserent leurs
bottes qu' au debut du mois de mai et meme
la mi-janvier quand Ie redoux glac,;a la plupart
des pentes sur tout Ie continent, nos conditions
resteren t favorables et les courses et les
randonnees s'effectuerent ~ans interruptions sur
les myriades de pistes et de sen tiers qui a l' abri
des sapins sillonnent la region si piHoresque du
lac Beauport.
Nous fUmes plutot contraries par la trop
grande abondance de neige, 95 pouces au
Tourbillon, et ]' extraordinaire odyssee des
skieurs emprisonnes toute une nuit sur une
ferme par Ie violence de la tempete, a trois
milles de Ia ville, Ie dernier soir du championnat
provincial est encore vivace notre memoire.
Les clubs de la zone organiserent de nombreu'<es competitions chaque semaine, qui
attirerent au ski, un nombre sans cesse accru
de neophytes.
Les ecoliers furent particulierement encourages. Repondant a rappel des clubs de la
Beauce nouvellement formes, Franc,;ois Pichard,
Albert Laliberte et Lionel Lebel se rendirent
plusieurs fois dans ce nouveau district ou ils
organiserent d' attrayants concours.
Le championna t de la province eu t lieu pour
la seconde fois, dans notre centre hivernal et
malgre les frasques de la temperature, remporta
un eclatant succes.
Les officiers de la zone desiren t remercier
publiquement l' as~ociation ambulanciere StJean pour sa precieuse et humanitaire collaboration. Les ambulanciers skieurs de l' association ayant toujours p rete leur concours
desinteresse
toutes nos competitions. Leur
rapport demontre qu'ils soignerent environ 75
cas durant l'hiver, dont quelques fractures.
La zone fait rema rque r que p a rmi ces trop
nombreux accidentes, troi~ ou qua tre skieurs
seulement etaient membres d'un club affilie.
Grace l'excellent travail de notre secretairetresorier Maurice Pouliot, la zone possede en
banque un excellent avoir. d' environ 80 dollars.
66 ca r tes seniors et 70 cartes juniors furent
egalement emises aux competiteurs.
N ous pouvons egalement ajouter que pour la
prochaine saison, tous nos competiteurs seront
classes selon leur merite de la saison precedente.
Les officiers de la zone et les skieurs de
Quebec sont particulierement flaHes de la
nomination de leur vice-president, Albert
Laliberte du Ouebec Ski Club
une vicepresidence de 1;C.A.S.A.
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