[TIL] Shawbridge, QC: The first ski lift in the world!

grandpere (66)in #til • 8 years ago

Where is Shawbridge and what was the first ski lift to look like?

First, Shawbridge is now called Prévost. It is a small village located in the Laurentians 50 km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Why in Quebec? Because here there are "patenteux". If there is a problem or a need, there is a solution!

Note: the original photos are available on the links below. We can not present them in the text being protected by copyright.

Skiing in Quebec.

First, you had to ski! In Quebec, around the major centers there are no high mountains at the most 400-500 m. Skiing was introduced through Scandinavian immigration in the 19th century. The Montreal Daily Star speaks of a group of professors from McGill University who made their first ski trip to the country. Already in 1904, the Montreal Ski Club organized a ski jumping competition. In 1905, mention was made of a first trek between Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and Shawbridge.

In 1927, it was the beginning of the "snow trains" or the "P'tit train du Nord" that transported skiers to the Laurentians.

The ski resorts have developed along the lines of railway. Skiing was practiced by the Montreal elite. Several ski clubs have been formed either for leisure or competition.

It was primarily Nordic skiing: jumping and ski touring. Then, with the ski resorts, developed the alpine skiing, the downhill and the slalom. Skiers climbed the slopes on foot.

However, as early as 1926, Mr. Moise Paquette, a garage mechanic in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, offered an aeroski service. The activity consisted of towing skiers on Lac-des-Sables in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts with nothing less than a wingless plane equipped with skiing.

The « folly » Foster.

Alex Foster, a Laurentian Lodge member, won the Dominion Ski Jumping Championship as a student at Wetmount High School. He was admitted to the Canadian ski team for the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1932. A serious accident during the race ended his Olympic career. He was called the "flying skier".

He liked to do acrobatics and runs at full speed. However, as he measured 6 feet and weighed 200 lbs, he was less inclined to climb the hill for another run. So he often wondered how to save time on the ascent to devote it to the descent.

In the winter of 1930, young Foster, aged 22, built a model at the foot of the Big Hill in Shawbridge, based on a model he had built in his basement. This installation included a 4-cylinder Dodge car, mounted on cement blocks to which the tire had been removed from a rear wheel. A cable of 2400 feet (700m) wound on the wheel was connected to a pulley placed at the top of the hill. In 1931 he operated the facilities commercially at 0.05 ¢ per ascent or 0.25 ¢ / day

Mr. Moise Paquette then set up lifts at Sainte-Adèle, at Saint-Sauveur in Sainte-Agathe and at Mont-Tremblant, inspired by Mr. Foster's invention. Paquette received the patent on 27 September 1935.

Developments

Businessmen from New York, who came to ski in Vermont, heard of a "patent" in Quebec that carried skiers to the top of a mountain. They invested $ 75 to fund the research. A group of skiers came to Shawbridge and met Alex Foster. They left with the idea and plans they adapted to a Ford T model.

The first American cableway was inaugurated on January 28, 1934 in Woodstock, Vermont.

In Europe, the first ski lift will appear in 1935.

In Isère, Jean Pomagalski, a mechanical engineer of Polish origin, imagined, in 1935, the first system of lift with pulleys, cables and poles. The ski lift, or "tire-fesse", was born! The first is installed on the hill of L'Eclose at Alpe d'Huez.

http://voyage.blogs.rfi.fr/article/2014/02/27/la-grande-histoire-du-ski#origines