Mount Joy Snow Resort passed a big milestone March 14 as it celebrated 60 years in business.
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The day was filled with snowy fun as the resort hosted races for skiers and snowboarders as well as a cardboard race.
“They’ll head up on the bunny hill and race for time to get to the bottom,” said rental shop volunteer Christopher Bogue when asked about the cardboard race. “Hopefully, all cardboard boxes survive on the way down. It’s always a great time.”
Reflecting on the anniversary, Bogue says the resort’s operations are only possible thanks to the many hard-working volunteers.
“It’s 60 years of volunteers. It’s 60 years of hard-working people,” he said, noting the hill opened in 1966. “People in the community coming together to ensure that it carries on the long heritage the hill has.”
He said the group that first founded Mount Joy loved it to life, something that’s still evident in the volunteers today.
“The volunteers that are out here, in current day, they love it to life. This is what makes it go around,” said Bogue. “Everybody is out here because they love winter sports. They love helping out local events and giving back to the community.”
Bogue’s happy to see people are able to come out and still enjoy the hill.
“It’s very heartwarming to see people come out and enjoy the hill year after year,” he said.
The hill itself is one of the largest in the area.
“Our ski to acres is larger than most that surround (us),” said Bogue. “We also have a back-country area that people can enjoy. Ungroomed, when the snow is really good, it’s really fun to get out and do that.”
He spoke about the history of the hill, as Mount Joy previously played host to the Alberta winter games.
“Back in the early ’80s, we actually hosted the Alberta Winter Games here,” said Bogue. “We had a luge track, we had a ski jump, all kinds of different things.”
Sitting in the rental shop, he said the building’s been completely renovated a number of times as it’s more than 100 years old.
“This building was the original building back in 1966,” he said. “This building was built in 1921 for a school about three miles east from here.”
The historic building once served as an all-in-one chalet, concession and rental shop. Today, it holds roughly 175 pairs of skis and 100 snowboards.
Bogue explained Mount Joy is still on the search for additional volunteers.
“Volunteers is the biggest thing out here and we need more volunteers to continue this on,” he said, noting they have one paid member who does maintenance.
Mount Joy is also open during the summer months to allow users to enjoy the various trails in the area.
“About five years ago, we started our summer operations,” said Bogue. “This opened up the 150 acres that we’re exposed to, mountain bike trails, running trails, just kind of a place where you can get away.
“There is quite an enormous trail system past our ski runs that make up our trail system.”
They host mountain bike events, running events and running races over the summer months.
“We really believe in this place and we want everybody in our community to know about it,” he said.
Volunteer forms can be found at Mountjoyresort.com
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