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With the first snowtail now Iltllllll us and more cold weather on its way many anxtous skiers in Barrie and the surrounding com munities are hauling out the skiis filing their edges putting on the skiboots and wearing them around the lIOtlt to get the lttl usetl to them iii anticipation of another season on the slopes To help out the many Barrie ara skitrs when they itlt thinking about places to ski The Ex aminer has prepared report on the Barrie ski areas Snow Valley Moonstone Mount St Louts Medonte Mountain Horseshoe Valley and Mansfield Skiways The report also iii troduces you to the Director of Skiing at each area three of which are new to the Bairiearea With over 17 different places to ski in Southern Ontario choosing an area thats right for vou is difficult But skiers in Barrie need not worry there are six areas no more than 2ft minutes away with something for everybody Snow Valley adds trail offers racing programs Snow Valley located off Highway 27 just fie miles from Barrie northwest along Snow Valley Road is owned by the Eders and their tttyearold daugher Ieniiy is in her second year as the areas Director of Skiing Penny is anticipating good year at Snow Valley and thinks that alpine anc crosscountry skiers will be delighted with two changes that the area has made For Alpine skiers says Ienny Weve ad ded another trail by making it out ofa flat part on another bill And for crosscountry skiers we have widened our cross country trails and also made them longer Eder emphasizes Snow Valleys racing pro gram which offers alpine league racing for children any age up to It and junior program for kids under 13 which runs every Saturay morning starting in January Snow Valley will also hold two Molstar races this yearwhich are open to the ptiblic As well Snow Valley ski club has several skiers that participate in Southern Ontario Division tSODi lone racing only the second year for the area in this program Eder is proud of the junior racers programfor five years they have been winning constantly For noctural skiers Snow Valley is the only Barrie area that offers night skiing from Wetlneday night to Friday night 730 pm toll pm Snow Valley is also open during the day from Wednesday to Sunday GEORGIAN SIlIIENI Eder who is Barrie native and whose father is former Olympic skier is also stu dent at Georgian College and expects to be busy with her duties at the ski area and in school She has been skiing since she wasone year old and feels that Snow Valley offers something for everyone still am challenged when ski down our hardest run here says the Canadian Ski In structors Alliance tCSIAi level two instructor One thing Eder is getting into at Snow Valley is freestyle skiing Snow Valley will be hosting the Ontario Freestyle championships and also offering instruction in freestyle skiing pro gram which started last year but only offered to Snow Valley club members Snow Valley has ski jump and there are usually one or two skiers working on jumps on skiing days Snow Valley also has bar and dining room open to the public Eder thinks that the gas shortage should have little or no affect of the public skiers that come to Snow Valley When skiers want to go skiing nothing will stop them says Eder Snow Valley like all the Barrie areas besides being in natural snow belt has exten sive snowmaking In fact the area should be opening shortly with their manmade snow If the weather is cold enough then we can make snowas soon as that happens well be opening says Eder WHATS THERE IN BRIEF 400 ft hills 15 slopes three tbars one Chairlift one rope tow Tow tickets weekend $10 day $7 after pm Season membership Adult $190 student $170 junior $110 Hours of operation WedSun 94230 WedFri nights 73011 Rob Butler in his first year as Director of Skiing at Horseshoe Valley ad justs his binding in anticipation of the start of another ski season Ex aminer Photo Horseshoes instructor likes objectives and aim Horseshoe is probany Barrics best known area and the most developed It is located 13 miles northeast of Barrie on County road 22 off va too Like Moonstone the newest thing about Horseshtw is not to be toniid in facilities but rather in the person of Rob Butler Horseshoes new Director of Skiing Butler CSIA Eyaniiner spent siy years in Western Canada in the Hilllllrlitlkt Louise area before coming back to Ontario to be near his hometown of Toronto He just graduated from Iniversity of Waterloo in recreation mangcment and his position at Horseshoe alines nicely with that discipline Ore of the reasons came to Horseshoe as because liked their statement of objective and aims says Butler also knew that would have some input as far as management is con cciiicd SIIIIIII FIVE Ironically Butler himclt started skiing at Horseshoe when he as the years old Now he hopes to upgrade the quality of the ski school at the men Butler secs skiing as legitimate lite sport People looking for some kind of sportsac tivity for thcii leisuic time can get into skiing andstay with it skiing respond to that need says Butler Butler hopxs to emphasize the diverse childrens programs offered at Horseshoe One of these is Christmas camp which includes racing toboganniiig and crosscountry skiing New facilities include an expanded rental shop and selfserve system for skiiers renting boots On the slopes there is new freestyle hill which happens to have boon constructed the same vear that Homeshoe IS hosting the Radio Shack Realistic National Amateur Freestyle skiing championships The hill as an area for jumps natural levelout for ballet and nar row slope beside the jumping area for the mogul tOlllpOflllOll Ihers is crosscountry skiing offered with myiad of trails starting from the lodge Also included will be crosscountry instruction and which comprises instruction on orienteering technique EXTENSIVE FALL TRAINING As far as the ski school is concerned Butler says that his instructors probably go through the most extensive fall training program that he knows of Since Butler is attempting to upgrade the quality of skiing and teaching he has hired higher level instructors There will 1035 all together itli stx fullttine Carl Davidson is in charge of the racing pro gram again and will try to achieve more par ticipation in the racing Horseshoe holds kids racing programs plus and cardholders As well they re involved in the new adult racing program kind of home and away racing series for adults with the other Barrie ski areas Horseshoe will nave lolstar races and the Molson Golden thallcngt Cupa prostyle dual slalom race for the Ontario ski school Horseshoe will also have ladies program on Wednesday afternoons and also look to school groups and hospital groups to fill up the hills during the week Butler isn worried about ski conditions at Horseshoe with the snowmaking at Horseshoe it is usually the first area to open and one of the last to close Butler has been skiing for several years and feels that the quality of skiers in Ontario has improved markedly thanks to better equip ment and more people interested in learning about the technique of skiing He also sees the trend changing from shorter skis back to the more traditional length skiis WHATS THERE IN BRIEF ft hills one triple chair two double chairs three bars tow ticketweekend $11 Weekday$700 Open 94230every day as Carlo Bartolacci the new Director of Skiing at Medonte Mountain stands in front of the new sundeck one of the renovations done in the base lodge Bartolacci likes Medonte because of the opportunity for develop ment Examiner Photo Medonte makes change to improve facilities Two main changes have been made at Med tone across the road from Horseshoe Valley on County Road 22 off Hwy 40 for this season One is in personnel and the other is facilities Carlo Bartolacci is Medontes new Director of Skiing and the area has done extensive renova tions on its base lodge Included in the renovated base lodge is new and bigger eating area liquor license for both the lounge and the new sundeck that looks onto the slopes The rental shop has increased the number and quality of skis and boots available instead of the 100 skis and boots that were available before there will now be some 480 skiis many of them new Head skis and 480 boots most new Nordicas available at the skiing public There will be nursery ski boutique and also repair shop that will do ac cording to Bartolacci any and all types of ski ing repairs There is also meeting room for the many clubs that make weekly foray up to Medonte As far as the slopes are concerned there have been no major changes other than new flatter beginner area All beginning teaching will take place here and double rope tow is being installed For the first time ever Medonte will be open for sevenday week This has concurred with big change in personnel the most major change being the appointment of Carlo Bar tolacci as Director of skiing Bartolacci will be busy man this season at Medonte He is in charge of the repair rental and skip shops as well as responsible for the ski school program But perhaps the most unusual thing about Bartolacci is that unlike most skiers in his position Bartolacci has not been skiing most of his life In fact he has only been on the boards mere seven years LIVED IN TORONTO lived in Toronto for awhile said the nativeof Italy And decided to try skiing one day After two years went out for my instruc tors and the following season started teaching at Blue Mountain under Ernie McCullough Organizing the ski school at Medonte should be no problem for Bartolacci He was one of the main people who set up the Blue Mountain ski school when it separated from the Ernie Mc Cullogh school It was the opportunity of getting into an area just starting to develop that brought me to Medonte says Bartolacci Blue Mountain as like ski machine ther wasnt much to do that was innovative But Medonte is relatively unknown and one of my main objectives is to make people aware of Medonte Bartolacci is espec1alty excned because of the area available for development at Medonte The owners Jerry and Elinora French have several more acres that as yet are still forested but in the future will most likely be opened for additional trails Bartolacci CSIA level three instructor level two coach and level one national coach emphasizes several aspects of the skiing pro gram at Medonte One of these is the racing program which Bartolacci says is going crazy This year we will have the Huronia league racers an adult racng program SOD zone Alpine racing and plus in which we will have taams We have two teams in the Huronia league junior and senior This is good league because it is something we can build up and draw from for the better racing pro grams TWO NEW COACHES For their Christmas racing camp Bartolacci has hired Gary Kulisek level three coach an done of the coaches at the national ski teams camp in Whistler Don McLean former pro racer who coached at the Jean Claude Killy cam in Snowshoe Vermont will also be coac ing at Medontes Christmas camp Medonte will hold three Molstar races and winter carnival But Bartolaccis favorite The great threepin race Thats my baby says Bartolacci started it up at Blue Mountain and it was great success Its race where the skiiers race downhill on crosscountry skiis with threepin binding and no heel locks Ther is also Lemans start to the race which makes things all the more fun Bartolacci says that Medonte has closed off their racing hills to all skiiers except racers saying that this way nobody interferes with anybody which can cause collisions and pro blems Right now Bartolacci is going an hundred miles an hour He says that there are lot of things to be done with Medonte in the aiture but he is pleased with the changes for this season He also likes to brag about the the chief one of the slopes at Medonte The Chief has very steep pitchso steep that it can be used for international ski testing WHATS THERE IN BRIEF 400 foot hills one double chair three tbars three rope tows one mightymight 19 slopes Tow tickets weekend $11 day weekday $8 day Mondaylunch lesson lift for $11 Open all week 91 30 Mansfields snow fences help retain conditions MANSFIELDSKIIIAYS Though Mansfield is not really Barrie area it is close enough to be included in this report It is located two miles north of Mansfield off Hwy 89 Probably the most unique ihing about Mansfield this year is the attempt to increase their snow retention by building snow fences at the ridge which tops the area Once they catch the snow they will push it over the hill and groom it which will enable them to ac cumulate good snow on the breakover Mansfield does not usually get as much snow as the Barrie areas Mansfield also features racing programs for children and adults as well as Alpine racing and plus They will also have the Molstar pacesettcrs race Mansfield didnt participate in Molstar last season but returned to it this year One person who is definitely not new is ski school director Frank Sullivan who has been there all 17 years Mansfield has been operating When Sullivan first started there was himself and one other person who ran the ski school Now ther are 35 instructors all together EVERY YEAR CHALLENGE Every year is challenge says Sullivan who is CSIA level three instructor Every year we get bigger and there are more and more skiers in the ski school But thats good because the easy way to learn skiing is through lessons Sullivan is optimistic about the upcoming season but says that in the ski business you always have to be optimistic While Mansfield presently does not have chair lift but five bars Sullivan hopes to see chair lift installed in the future because he feels that it would be an asset to the area There are racing programs at Mansfield in cluding Christmas camp for youngsters and an adult interclub racing program Wednes day is ladies day with buses coming from Port Credit Burlington and Oakville The club is af filiated with the SOD and will also host some college meets They are looking at freestyle but havent decided whether they will start pro gram yet One thing that Sullivan sees as possible benfit is the gas situation The gas situation could cause more people to stop here rather than go on to Collingwood because of our proximity to Toronto says Sullivan WHATS THERE IN BRIEF 400 ft hills five tbars 12 slopes Tow ticketweekend $10 weekday the examiner Saturday pee 1979 Examiner stories and photos Cath Heather Moonstones director formerly at Talisman The biggest change this yar at Moonstone comes in the person of Doug Matthewman the new Director of Skiing at the ara located 18 miles north of Barrie off Hwy 400 and the Mount St Louis Road But Matthewman is not new to skiing he has been skiing all his life and has just moved down to Barrie after teaching at Sault Ste Maries Searchmont Valley ski area for four years He has also taught at Talisman Ski Resort and Mt Snow in Vermont USA Up north as pretty removed from the ski scene so decided to move down buck into the skiing centre says Matthewman The posi tion was open at Moonstone and it seemed like nice area with good hlls soI took it Matthewman is from London Ontario but has lived many places as his father is Cana dian forces officer The CSIA level three in structor and level two coachs main aim this year at Moonstone is to rebuild the ski school would like to improve the ski school says Matthewman Being at Moonstone this year will be challenge for sure for me dont have many contacts here so it will be busy session N0 MAJOR CHANGES Matthewman says there are no major changes besides himelf at Moonstone this year There have been maintenance improvements such as extra electric lines and the chairs re painted all minor improvements Mat thewman says that because he is so new to the area he hasnt really had time to think about what things he would like to accomplish at Moonstone We do have good racing program ays Matthewman There is Christmas camp for kids and also special class for kids from five to seven On Sunday morning for the adults we have what we call our hangover classjust fund kind of thing Moonstone will also have Molstar racing as well as the Ski test international which is standard test for all skiers in Canada Ac cording to the skiers ability on chosen hills they can earn their bronze silver or gold medal There will be 14 instructors at Moonstone five fulltime The classes taught there are short ski progression method stressed by the CSIA While Matthewman says he is looking at freestyle he doesnt think they will be teaching it In my opinion freestyle skiing is dying out says Mattewman One aspect Mattewman would like to see changed with respect to lessons is the skiers who come out for instruction Mostly the beginner skiers are the ones who want lessons says Mattewman Once people are skiing fairly decent parallel turns thats when they can really learn something about skiing But there arent too many who want lessons then Matthewman who is also the Director of the Ski School Directors Committee in Ontario feels that ski areas and skiing must work hard to overcome the get cold stand in line break leg syndrome that hs somehow been publicized There is extensive snowmaking at Moonstone and Matthewman believes that anost every trail is covered by snowmaking inere is also cross country but only three trails which total about 10 km Matthewman has different opinion to offer about the effect that high gas prices might haveon skiing dont think it will change much this year says Matthewman But it could change in the future skiers might make skiing more of weekend thing than oneday adventure WHATS THERE IN BRIEF 425 ft hills three double chairlifts tbar two pomas one rope nine slopes Tow ticketweekend$11 Openevery day 94230 pm Geoff Bryant in his second year as Director of Skiing at Mount St Louis likes the added I75 extra feet that Mount St Louis now has The new tri ple chair in the background means that the area has capacity for 9100 skiers an hour Examiner Photo Mt St Louis adds areas highest drOp The biggest boast at Mount St Louis located right beside their neighbor Moonstone off Hwy 40018 miles north of Barrie on Mount St Louis is the fact that they now have the highest vertical of all the Huronia ski areas The reason They have taken two years to add 175 feet to their hill giving them 500 foot ver tical The project which cost owner Yosel Huter cool million took two years to com plete and they are one if not the only area in North America to do something like this As well they have added another triple chair lift giving them two at their area To get the area ready for this season it was necessary to bring in eight earthltm0ving machines and have them going 24 hours day since July They have installed new snowmak ing right to the top of the new hill All of the hills top to bottom at Mount St Louis are covered by snowmaking MOST QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR The director of skiing for the second year in row is Geoff Bryant who is probably the most qualified of all the instructors in the Barrie area Bryant native of Ottawa is CSIA Ex aminer and also certified Australian Ex aminer Why Australian too Because Bryant skis and teaches there during the summer monthswhich means he skiis 11 out of 12 mon ths in the year When was at Mt Snow in Vermont where taught for eight years got to know some Australian instructors who were there So every year Ive been going to Australia in the summer Bryant was contacted by Huter down in Ver mont and decided to come to Barrie and Mount St Louis because of the new challenge and the fact that Mt Snow changed ownership which meant that there were no longer any interna tional instructors cards handed out Like the other Barrie areas Mount St Louis will also hold Molstar races and has fairly ex tensive racing program including junior pro gram every Saturday morning for kids seven to 18 years old However Mount St Louis hasnt gotten involved in the SOD zone racing Special events include visit by former US Olympian Billy Kidd As well Mount St Louis has ladies program every Wednesday after noon in which the ladies are given lesson lunch and tow ticket for one price We started that last year and this year it has really skyrocketedwe should have well over 100 ladies involved in it says Bryant MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED Bryant hs been on the ski scene for many years and hs noticed that over the last five or six years more people have become involved in skiing because of the shortski progression caching method which he uses at Mount St louis If people have never skiied beforethey can get on pair of short skis and pretty soon we can have them doing good elementary turns says Bryant WHATS THERE IN BRIEF ft hills two triple chairs one double chair one poma one rope tow 18 hills cross country trails 15 km tow ticket $11 on weekends $8 weekdays Season rates adult $195 student $175 Capaci ty 9100 skiiers an hour Open every day 94230 pm Ski information For skiers to get uptovdate information on the conditions and any other information they require the numbers to call in Barrie are 7260932 or 7288861 Persons at the Ministry of Tourism will have report filed at 680330 am by the ski area owners on conditions at their area including base depth new snow and the weather