Alpine Canada’s Greg Scott and his pal Ted Allsopp were on a chairlift comparing notes about who had skied more places, when they developed a dare – to ski every resort in Canada.
Scott has been a part of the ski race scene for three decades; Allsopp, aka “Ted Shred”, founded Downhill Riders, a ski and snowboard adventure travel company almost 40 years ago and Northern Escape Heli-Skiing in Terrace 10 years ago.
Ted started pulling out maps and adding dots in the fall of 2009. “The spreadsheet grew right away, as there were lots of little spots that needed to be added,” he said. “Lots of investigation.”
In 2008, the pair went together to ski Mount Cain, in northern Vancouver Island, a resort Allsopp had never heard of.
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Over the next six years, he shredded at all 78 destinations in Alberta and British Columbia (35 in Alberta and 43 in B.C.). Destinations are defined by anything with a lift: chairlift, T-bar, or in one case, a diesel engine with a metal tow rope attached.
“By the end of the 2014 winter ski season, my buddy Trevor Suer and I went around Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek and Northern Alberta discovering a few more that didn’t show up on any maps. We skied them and thought I was done.”
There are a lot of great little ski hills are out there, said Allsopp.
“Over the course of six years in really working to reach this goal, I found a new respect for small little ski spots, and how many awesome little spots (there are) with great terrain.”
Scott thought that after working with ski resorts, Alberta Alpine, and Alpine Canada, he had a leg up on Ted, but “now I owe him a beer that I definitely thought was going to be coming my way.”
To ensure accuracy Allsopp developed a spreadsheet, a map and went through Canada West Ski Areas Association to ensure the list was complete.
Where will you ski this season?
Photos by Doc Pow
There are tonnes of choices!
“If someone comes along and says, ‘Wait a minute, X location isn’t on your list,” perfect”, I’ll just have to go ski it!” said Allsopp.
You can fly to several ski resorts thanks to Pacific Coastal Airlines.
The mountains are always gorgeous from above.
I get to experience the joy of small hills first-hand when Shred and I went to hill number 78 at the Tweedsmuir Ski Club, in Bella Cool. We hit Scott’s Run, a little run tucked to the left of this single-tow rope operation. It hadn’t been skied in a week and was about a football field long. Overlooking the Bella Coola mountain range, it was a cruiser strip of snow with a nice pitch at the top to keep it interesting. Ted and I were giggling from the heli-ski style conditions, powder all around us.
Allsopp says Canada is a ton of incredible ski spots.
“We have some stellar terrain in a boutique environment – perfect little combo options for an epic road trip that’ll take you to five or six places all in the same ski experience.”
This winter, Ted Shred’s quest expands to the north and east – Yukon, North West Territories, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
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