In this photo, likely taken in December of 1959, Katherine (left) and Anna Weider, twin daughters of Blue Mountain Resort founder Jozo Weider, ride the newly built South Chair. The first chairlift in Ontario, the South Chair rounded out the resort, allowing skiers to make their way across the two-and-a-half miles of hillside, from north to south, by riding up one lift and skiing to another.
Jozo Weider and outdoor manager Ken Skelton supervised the construction of the new double chairlift. Sections were cut, welded and assembled into towers at the Weider home farm. Eleven of the towers were dragged up the mountain by tractors and sleds and mounted into holes that had been dug by hand using picks and shovels – a laborious process through heavy clay and rock. Ingenious workers used makeshift derricks, ropes and pulleys to wrestle the towers into place.
The South Chair operated through the 2000 winter season, after which it was replaced by the Southern Comfort, a high-speed, six-person detachable lift that opened in 2001. The Southern Comfort cost $3.1 million to build, with a capacity of 3,600 skiers per hour; the double chairlift it replaced had cost only $81,000 to install and carried 936 skiers per hour.
The top tower of the South Chair was preserved by Ken Skelton’s son, Bill, at the request of Jozo’s son, George Weider. George provided the description for a sign describing the original lift, which still stands on the site attached to the preserved tower at the top of the hill.
Katherine, who was married to long-time Blue Mountain president Gord Canning, and Anna, whose married name was Marik, both passed away in 2007. George Weider and Bill Skelton still reside in the area. Bill served as vice president of operations at Blue Mountain for over 40 years, leading the transition to modern detachable lifts and tower snowmaking. Bill’s son (Ken’s grandson), Dan Skelton, is the current president and COO of Blue Mountain Resort. ❧
Sources: George Weider, Gord Canning, Blue Mountain Resort.
