Why A Canadian Badlands Ski Area Is Now Abandoned
Drumheller, Alberta — There aren’t many ski areas in the Badlands of the U.S. and Canada, so it’s cool to learn about one that no longer exists.
A few years ago, YouTuber Skier72 detailed the history of Drumheller Valley in an episode of his The Lost Resorts series. The ski area first opened in 1993 and was run as a non-profit. They had seven trails and two lifts there, including a Riblet fixed-grip quad chairlift.
The ski area, first opened in December 1993, was made possible by fundraising. Around the time the ski area opened, they got a $60,000 CAD loan that had to be repaid eight years later. When tourists didn’t come in as much as the owners expected, the ski area faced significant financial difficulties. Eventually, Drumheller Valley defaulted on its loans and had an outstanding water bill of $30,000 CAD. They last operated during the 2009-10 season.
With the quad chairlift removed back in 2014, a reopening seems unlikely. It’s a bummer because it has such a cool natural backdrop, and it clearly mattered to the local community. I feel that if someone were to give this place another go, adding the t-bar to the summit would be the right move, kinda like what we’ve seen at Ascutney Outdoors.
One person shared their memories of the ski area in the comments section of the video:
“I do remember Drumheller. Admittedly it never offered much challenge in terms of terrain, even its “black” runs did not seem to be anything more challenging then a ‘blue’ run at other resorts, but was an okay community hill for the town of Drumheller. A big part of the challenge was that Drumheller only had a population of about 7500 throughout the hill’s existence and not all of them skied. As a result the hill would need to pull in out of town visitors. Tourists going to Drumheller in the winter wouldn’t think of going there for skiing, they’d be going there for things such as the Royal Terrell Museum. Skiing tourists heading to Alberta are going to either Banff or Jasper. Skiers from the Calgary area wanting a small local hill for a few hours skiing wouldn’t drive the 90 minutes to get to Drumheller when Canada Olympic Park is right in town and Wintergreen (only 30 minutes away) offered better terrain then Drumheller. Those in Calgary wanting a full day of skiing would go to one of the bigger hills. It really was local skier enthusiasm that kept it going for years.
I also always wondered about the choice they made going with a Quad. Right from the start it seemed that a double (or even a T-Bar) could have handled the capacity for the skiers they’d likely get, and I suspect that would have reduced the lift purchase and installation costs leaving less debt. Of course it is possible they bought the chair used.”
If you’re looking to check it out, you can get a glimpse of it while catching a show at The Badlands Amphitheatre, which is next door.
Image/Video Credits: Skier72
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