Oct 132011
 

Saskatchewan is known as being a flat province.   The jokes of seeing your dog run away for three days are well known around here.  However much of the province is rolling hills, valleys, and forests.  So the idea of skiing in Saskatchewan is not as crazy as some may think.  Several smaller ski hills have come and gone over the years and only a few have survived.  In August Arilem and I made it out to a ski hill that seems to have just dropped off the map. It clearly hadn’t been used in some time.  I skied here a couple times about 15 years ago and I am not sure exactly when it closed, but I haven’t heard much about it in several years and web searches bring up nothing.

Its location makes it a place that I am not comfortable to explore and the local’s generally aren’t very accepting of people like us stopping by to take a look.  Our exploration lasted less than half an hour.  It’s an interesting place but I doubt I will go back there.

Ski Resort
The day lodge – it was never anything too fancy but it did the job.

Ski Resort
The ski hill had some kind of partnership with Sunshine Village – which happens to be one of my favourite resorts. Judging by the poster it is from about 1995 when they opened the Goats Eye Mountain.

Ski Resort
The lack of vandalism around here intrigues me – I believe someone is keeping a close eye on it.

Ski Resort
Display case full of plaques and trophies

Ski Resort
A small model of the ski hill

Ski Resort
Upstairs in the Day Lodge

Ski Resort
Be Aware – Ski with care (no reference to snowboarding gives you an idea to it’s age)

Ski Resort
On the filing cabinet in the office area – lots of personal information left laying around in there.

Ski Resort
Hospital beds for the ski patrol – it appears the lodge was in the middle of renovations when it shut down.

Ski Resort
Exiting the lodge to the hill

Ski Resort
The lodge as seen from close to one of the t-bar lifts.

Ski Resort
Not to many hills in Saskatchewan had actual chairlifts let alone a quad – I have never seen such a new chairlift abandoned like this.

Ski Resort
Day lodge in the back ground and T-bar station in the foreground

Ski Resort
Looking up the chairlift from the loading area

Ski Resort
Looking up the chairlift from the machinery room.

Ski Resort
Inside the machinery room above the loading area on the chairlift.

Ski Resort
Looking up the chairlift from the entrance of the machine room

Ski Resort
The hill as we were leaving the area

 Posted by at 20:31
Oct 112011
 

I thought I would dig into the archives and post the first hospital I ever explored.  It was the former Providence Hospital in Moose Jaw.  The hospital was a victim to spending cuts in the 1990’s while the government tried to financially stabilize the province after many years of recession and poor government.  Services had to be cut to prevent adding further to the mounting debt we were facing at the time.  Dozens of hospitals were closed across this province.  At the time of its closure the building was in good shape and there were private groups and investors interested in the property.  The property was sold to a developer from the United States.  For reasons I do not know the developer never did anything with the property.  Over the years it declined further and further until it was beyond repair.  There were many fires at the hospital while it sat vacant for close to 15 years prompting public outcry for the government to do something with the derelict facility.

By the time I explored it in 2005 there were tenders out for its demolition.  The city had taken ownership of the building due to the property taxes not being paid on it for many years and the provincial government was financing its demolition.  Demolition began in September 2006 and the site is now home to new houses.

My photography wasn’t very good and neither was my gear.  I had a HP point and shoot camera and virtually no knowledge of photography beyond aim and press the shutter.  Occasionally I will continue to pull out some old photos from locations long gone and share them here.

Outside
The outside of the older and more interesting wing of the hospital

Chapel
Taken in the chapel area

Cool Graf
Some creative graffiti

Killin Babies
Maternity Department

Fire Damage
Some charred medical equipment

Fire Damage
Some of the worst fire damage that I ran into

Nurses Station on an upper floor
Nursing station on a higher floor

Scrub up area
Scrub up area for the operating rooms

OR
The somewhat intact light in the operating room

Heavy smoke damage
Smoke damaged area

Morgue
The body fridge in the morgue

 Posted by at 11:00