14

It was the "plank hoppers", as they were described by C E Mortureux , who, between 1910 and the outbreak of World War l in 1914, built the first wooden jumping tower in Rockcliffe Park. The jumpers built the tower in annual stages until it reached a final height in excess of 100 feet.

15

View of large crowds of people flanking either side of the outrun of the Rockcliffe Park ski jump.
1914
Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, ON

16

Weekend jumping practice became a popular spectator sport attracting hundreds of spectators and on at least one weekend drawing a crowd estimated at 5,000.

17

Jumping group, founding members of the Ottawa Ski Club 74.39.1.32
1910
Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, ON

18

They were the same "plank hoppers" whose need for better jumping facilities provided the impetus for the formation of the original Ottawa Ski Club in 1910. While the constitution of the Club specified that all aspects of skiing be encouraged, the early emphasis on ski jumping ensured that other forms of skiing activity were neglected, trail skiing in particular.

In the winter of 1914 the membership base had finally expanded sufficiently to allow the first cross-country race to be organized in January of that year. At the same time, jumping activity declined as men enlisted for military service at the outbreak of World War l. It would come to an end following the Dominion Championship held in Rockcliffe Park on March 6th, 1915 and would only resume following completion of another jumping tower in Rockcliffe Park in 1920. Unfortunately, the original tower, laboriously constructed in stages over four years, collapsed in a windstorm in the fall of 1915.

19

Jumper in flight off the Rockcliffe ski jump 74.39.1.94
1914
Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, ON

20

Only the older men were left to accompany the women skiers during the war years, 1914 to 1918.
1916
Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, ON

21

Throughout the war years, 1914-1918, ski touring continued as a weekend sport and the main emphasis of the Ottawa Ski Club when it was re-organized in 1919. New trails were surveyed both within the Ottawa city limits and throughout the hills of the Gatineau in Quebec. By 1920 the emerging system covered over 31 kms.

22

Line of skiers touring the trails 74.39.1.4
1922
Gatineau Hills, QC

23

Skiing by a woodcutter's shanty on top of King Mountain on the Canyon Trail 72.22.2
1920
Gatineau Hills, QC

24

Ottawa Ski Club membership ribbon, 1922
1922
Ottawa, ON

25

Skiers at bus in Old Chelsea, QC 72.22.1
1922
Old Chelsea, QC

26

Skiers on the trail 74.39.1.20
1922
Gatineau Hills, QC

27

'Woodcutters shack' first lodge of the Ottawa Ski Club 74.39.1.117
1918
Gatineau Hills, QC