As some hid inside their warm houses Saturday and quivered at the sight of the snow falling, others were outside enjoying the winter weather at Table Mountain.
A large group, of instructors, ski patrol member, skiers and snowboarders gathered with a number of invited guests at the new chairlift at Table Mountain for the grand opening of the lift, the opening of a new run and a chance to honour some instrumental people in the history of the ski resort.
In 1991 the first chairlift was opened at Table Mountain. For 19 years it operated without a proper name, but Table Mountain general manager Lawrence Blouin, said, "today we are going to rectify that."
The original lift was named Luckey's Lift after John Luckey. He spent a lot of time on the executive doing research of other ski resorts to determine the kind of chair lift that would be right for Table Mountain and got a major sponsorship from Coco-Cola to help pay for the chair. Luckey served on the board from 1978 in several positions until he passed away with pancreatic cancer in 2007.
Luckey's wife Joyce and grandchildren were in attendance and Joyce said on behalf of her husband, "Johnny would be so proud. This was such a big part of his life and he loved coming out here."
The second chair, which replaces the old T-bar, was opened and named the Silver Summit Chair. Instead of the traditional ribbon cutting, RM of Battle River Reeve Joe Backman, mayor of Battleford Chris Odishaw, North Battleford councillor Don Buglas and regional park chair Bernard Richard sat on the chair as it started up and rode through the ribbon to officially open the new lift.
Along with the lifts, Blouin also introduced the newest run at Table Mountain. The longest trail at Table Mountain, a green run west of Max's Choice, was named in honour of Bill Thom and Morris Shaw, two other instrumental board members. The new trail will now be known as the Thom-Shaw Trail.
"I am truly honoured to have this trail dedicated to us," said Shaw, who also made note of the board members who were also important parts of the success of the hill and have since passed away. Both Shaw and Thom also thanked Blouin for his work and credited his job as general manager as a major reason Table Mountain has developed into such a great place to spend the winter months.
"If you look up devotion and dedication in the dictionary you are going to see a picture of John Luckey, Bill Thom and Morris Shaw," said Blouin.
Anyone who was asked to give their thoughts on Luckey, Thom and Shaw all had the same comments: that all three were very hands on and did whatever they could to help improve the hill with countless hours of work at a place they loved.
"It is huge, it is great for the hill, it is great for the community and long overdue," said Richard. "These people have done a tone of work and it is about time they got recognized."
As for what is in the future for Table Mountain, the day lodge will likely be the next project addressed and both Richard and Blouin confirmed it is something the board has talked about at the preliminary stage.
