In 1959, one man’s desire to ski outweighed all common sense. Ian “Buck” Rogers, a young law student from Ottawa, came home from skiing in Europe and wanted more. He decided to create his own ski resort, and set his sights on 86 skiable acres on the highest, steepest and most challenging section of the Niagara Escarpment near Thornbury. With 820 vertical feet, the location was a full 250 feet higher than any of the other ski hills in the area, which would enable the new club to host Slalom and Giant Slalom races.
Working with his mentor, Ross Wilson, Rogers put together a group of backers and acquired the property, with Bill Whalen overseeing construction. The original idea was to create a public ski area similar to Blue Mountain Resort, and with that in mind Rogers went to Blue handing out flyers about the new club and talking it up to skiers. Armed with a bit of seed money and 200 new best friends, Rogers, Wilson, Whalen and anyone else they could rally got busy building The Peaks.
It wasn’t easy. The terrain was challenging, and there weren’t any ‘how to build a ski hill’ starter kits in those days, so they adopted a learn-as-you-go attitude. Earth was moved, cranes were built, runs were cleared, lifts were installed, and a clubhouse was erected. By December of 1960 Georgian Peaks was open for business, with four runs serviced by a T-bar, rope tow, and 3,000-foot chairlift – the first in the area. Just two months after opening, the new club staged the largest professional ski race in the world, The Bee Hive Giant Slalom.
Today The Georgian Peaks Club is a fully private ski resort, with 22 named runs, four chairlifts and the highest vertical drop of any resort in Ontario. The club is known for its ski racing, challenging trails and raucous social scene, with a new clubhouse scheduled to open in December 2020. ❧
