old ski resort? true or false

[Wyatt Earp]

Yeah, it's still there but you will need to be skilled in back country skiing to use it properly. Note I said skilled - that means you have to have a transponder and know what to do in an avalanche!

[vetteman]

The Green Mountain Ski Hill was left for many years in a state of disrepair with garbage left everywhere. If you've been to the old Forbidden Plateau Ski Resort,you'll find the same thing. Abandoned shacks,towers and diesel fuel tanks especially at the top of the chair lift(which is still in place on the mountain).There seems to be no responsibility for cleanup when a group(Society) walks away from a venture like these two mentioned.
Mt Cokely (Arrowsmith) is an exception.If you visit that site today,there is nothing left to even hint that there was a ski resort there at one time.Unless you skied the area you can hardly tell that there were even ski runs there.It won't be too many years before it returns to its natural state.
As of late,the Nanaimo & District Fish & Game Protective Assn, has completed a project to clean up the old Green Mountain site.Done by volunteer help,garbage was piled into cargo nets and helicoptered down to a staging area where it was trucked away.
Dave

[gaser]

I have been following the Nanaimo History Forum for a few weeks recently. It is a very interesting web site to say the least. Because I have just recently discovered it I have not responded to any of the posts. This is my first and to answer your question as best as my local knowledge will allow, I offer you this info. As a teenager growing up in Nanaimo we used to hunt on the south slopes of Mt. Benson. The area we used to hunt on was called the Ski cabin. There was an old abondoned ski cabin there at the time. It was quite small and delapidated. I hunted there with my Dad and Uncles in the early 1960's and then later I and my buddies would go up there on weekends during the hunting season. You could get there by simply driving up what is now Nanaimo Lakes Rd. and turning right a few miles before Gogos Tree Farm, and head westward toward Barsby Lake. Yes there was a ski resort started at Green Mountain in the late 1960's but I believe the Ski resort you are referring to was actually on Mt Benson. Around about 1967 we as teens used to drive our cars up to Green Mountain in three feet of snow and most of us had no snow tires. I am quite familiar with a great deal of the surrounding areas around Nanaimo and having been born and raised in this city I have pretty much covered it all. Hopefully this helps answer your question.

[All Ages Music Concerts]

Welcome to the forum. Please continue to fill us in on your childhood experiences in Nanaimo.

[gaser]

I will from time to time. I don't get to visit the site as often as I would like to, however whenever I get a chance to view, it is with great interest. I will certainly share my chidhood experiences of growing up in Nanaimo whenever I get the chance. There are a lot of childhood memories and time has flown by, but I grew up in this city when there were only approx. 8000-10000 people living here. There's been a lot of changes. Thank you for your welcome post.
Gaser

[Flugel Horn]

From a leisure display at Nanaimo Museum:

- Green Mountain poster:



- and a postcard of the chalet at Green Mountain:

[neilc]

I used to ski on Green mountain every weekend and I must have some pictures around somewhere. I will post them if I can find them.

[Loco]

I do quite a bit of hiking up on Green Mountain so I'll add whatever info I can here. For the most part nature has reclaimed the old ski hill but there are still a couple of poles standing from the lift and if you hike a lot on the mountain you eventually come across some artifacts like an old tractor. The lodge is now just a foundation with some rubble in it. It was interesting to see the postcard showing it.

This is one of my favorite local hikes. It is relatively accessible although you will need a 4x4 to get up the road. I saw someone posted a link to my GPS track above. If you have a GPS you can download the track from that site. Its pretty helpful since the logging roads get pretty confusing on the way up. Access through the logging gates on Nanaimo Lakes road can be spotty depending if TimberWest has them open or not. Due to the configuration of the logging road on the mountain winter access to the mountain can get cut off by snow pretty early. We were up there Dec 4 and were not able to get up close enough to hike in due to snow. Last year I think it was almost July before the snow melted enough to get up there.

Here is a link to a bunch of photos so you can see just how gorgeous it is up there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorneco...7613444031974/

[vetteman]

Timberwests official policy is no access to their properties for any reason Island wide. The only exception was the Nanaimo Lakes division which was left open on weekends during hunting season only. Hunting season ended last Saturday.
If you value your access to privately held backcountry lands then it would behoove you to contact Sue Handel at Timberwest and voice your displeasure.
Dave

[gaser]

Loco
Thank you for posting the photos of the Green Mountain area. I have travelled up the road to Green Mt. several times during the hunting season these past few years, but have never hiked into the Old Ski hill. Have't been to it since the mid 60's. Your photos are awesome. What a scenic wonder we have in and around Nanaimo.
For those who are following the Forum, just a footnote as to the question that started the Old Ski hill thread about a ski hill on Mt. Benson. I have found documentation that there was a ski hill too on the backside of Mt. benson on Wolfe Mountain. It operated in the 50's. Not sure when it actually closed down. There, was what we called Wolfe and Little Wolfe Mt.