The 'Golden Age' On Hollyburn Mountain 
1935/1936 Ski Season
Canadian Ski Year Reports, Photos from HHS Archives

West Lake Lodge, 1936

Hollyburn Pacific Ski Club

We are gratified to report that the season 1935-36 surpassed all others as to competitions, social activities, etc. Exceptional advance was made in the slalom and downhill divisions due mainly to the clearing of ski runs and courses during the summer, and valuable experience gained from competitions held here and in the Pacific Northwest States. 

Our annual meeting was held early in April at which it was decided to build a clubhouse on Hollyburn Ridge with sleeping accommodation for thirty and a room suitable for club social affairs. The fo!lowing officers were elected for 1936-37: Honorary President, Wm. Dudgeon; President, R. Morris; Vice-President, Wm. Brown; Secretarv, Belva Graves; Treasurer, Wm. Sutherland; Chairman Sports Committee, R. Dokka; Slalom Division, G. Johnson; House Committee. Tess Murby; Club Representative, D. Fladgate. 

Following are the results of our club championships; (“A” Class Jumping) A. Knight, C. Hoffman, J. Sveen; (“A” Class Racing) C. Ellingruud, G. Johnson, N. Beaumont; (“A” Class Combined) A. Knight, J Sveen, C. Hoffman; (“B” Class Jumping) E. Laurillard, G. Robinson, J. Foster; (“B” Class Racing) W. Sutherland, G. Robinson, J. Foster; (“B” Class Combined) G. Robinson, I. Foster, W. Sutherland; (“C” Class Jumping) B. James, J. Lindsay, E. Macintosh; C" Class Racing-B. James, E. Macintosh, E. Burton; (“C” Class Combined) B. James, E, Macintosh, J. Lindsay; (Ladies' Racing” A” Class) Miss D. Bourdon, Mrs. W. Brown; (“B” Class) Miss J. McCurdy, Miss N. Harrison, Miss B. Graves; (Junior Jumping)A. Hansen, J. Pratt, A. Fraser, R. White, C. Shoop; (Junior Racing) J. Pratt, A. Fraser, R. White; (Class "A" Slalom) G. Bury; (Class "A" Downhill) N. Beaumont; (Class "A" Combined) Noel Beaumont; (Class "B" Slalom) J. Lindsay; (Class "B" Downhill) J. Lindsay; (Class "B" Combined) J. Lindsay.

Vancouver Ski Club

For the Vancouver Ski Club, 1936 proved to be a banner year, living up in every way to our predictions of the previous spring and summer and fulfilling our hopes for real progress. Several new activities were attempted, all with great success. Club parties were arranged for members and their friends and so well attended were they that it was decided to plan a series of open-air dances in Stanley Park. These were very popular besides netting a small contribution to club funds. 

Spurred on by the necessity of ample funds to operate the B.C. Ski Championships in the spring, we presented a two-hour educational moving picture pro,gram of ski-ing films. This was something new in Vancouver, and we were somewhat doubtful of the result. To the pleased astonishment of the club officials, particularly the treasurer, twelve hundred people turned out for it, with resultant excellent publicity for us and the sport in general. '

In conjunction with the Hollyburn Pacific Ski Club, we cleared a new slalom and downhill course on Hollyburn Peak. Only a little more work needs to be done on it this fall and it will be ready for a busy season. A splendid new jumping hill was secured by the club through the generosity of the proprietors of the Hollyburn Ski Camp, These boys are always working for the advancement of ski-ing here and have made several other notable contributions to our progress during the past few years.

The annual meeting was held on May 8 with an attendance of approximately one hundred members. The meeting authorized the Executive Committee to proceed with arrangements to incorporate the club under the Friendly Societies Act of British Columbia and by the time this appears in print, the incorporation will be an accomplished fact. All reports were approved, and the following officials appointed for the 1936-37 season: President, Jack Hutchinson; Vice President, E. Loberg; Secretary, Thelma Stevens; Treasurer, George Garrish. The new executive was empowered to negotiate with the Hollyburn Ski Camp with regard to additional club quarters. with the result that the coming winter will see us housed in two large new log cabins overlooking Hollyburn Lake. Each cabin will accommodate thirty-two persons.

Our Zone delegates reported t.hat our membership was now the highest in this district, showing an increase of about 100 per cent over that of the previous year. The club had a paid-up membership of 190 at the end of the 1936 season.  

We were very proud to have our No.1 skier, Tom Mobraaten, selected to represent Western Canada on the Canadian Olympic Ski Team. He acquitted himself remarkably well, despite injuries suffered before the tournament. In the British Columbia Ski Championships at Easter, he proved his right to his place on the Olympic Team by taking off the Sparling Cup for the best all-round skier in the tournament. In this meet he placed first in the cross-country, second in the jumping, first in combined, first in the downhill, and first in combined downhill and slalom. "Irish" Beaumont, Hollyburn Pacific Ski Club giant, took first place in the slalom, sliding in ahead of both Tom and Portland's ace skier, Hjalmar Hvam. Miss Peggy Harlin, our top ranking lady skier, won honours for herself and the club by taking all the ladies' events in the British Columbia Championships in fine style, and also winning the Sir Eric Holt-Wilson Trophy, emblematic of Canadian Ladies' Downhill and Slalom Championships. Another competitive triumph for our members occurred during the Brenton S. Brown International Team Competition held in conjunction with the British Columbia Championships. Of the six Canadians who retained the cup for Canada, four were from our club. This trophy is competed for on a combined basis, the three best in racing and the three best in jumping. Mobraaten, for his first place in racing and second in jumping, took two places on the Cup Team. Einar Norman and Brian Muir, who placed second and third respectively to him in the cross-country, made up the other two.

Canadian Ski Year Reports Courtesy of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame & Museum