Drumheller Valley Ski Club

From WikiSki

Overview 

This section has been added because I think the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, and the visibility of the KT Boundary (of which you will read more) are both things worth promoting. I have hijacked the resort to communicate my excitement about that. I am a nerd. I am sure that the ski hill, and the town, are excellent, but I have had a bit of fun on the way.

Drumheller is a town in the badlands on the prairies of Alberta. I haven't skied there, but it looks like a one chair local hill.

A compact 30 acre ski area nestled against the fringe of the town of Drumheller, Ski the Badlands was first opened in December of 1993. The ski area is owned by the non profit Drumheller Valley Ski Club.

The Tyrell dinosaur museum is the real attraction in town. I suppose you could combine a visit to the museum with a couple of runs.

Contents 1 Location 2 Pros 3 Cons 4 Contacts 5 Planning 5.1 Getting There 5.2 Accommodation 5.2.1 On Mountain 5.2.2 Off Mountain 5.3 Lift Tickets 5.4 Ski School 5.5 Equipment Hire 6 Resort Facilities 6.1 Getting Around 6.2 So you want a private resort? 6.3 Childrens Birthday Parties 6.4 Parking 6.5 Activities 6.6 Dining 6.7 Bars & Entertainment 6.8 Shopping 7 Ride Guide 7.1 Beginner Areas 7.2 Groomed Runs 7.3 KT Boundary 7.4 Off Piste 7.5 Out of Bounds 7.6 Cross Country 7.7 Parks & Pipes 7.8 Bumps 7.9 Powder Zones 7.10 Sheltered Runs 7.11 Snowplay 8 Other 8.1 Weather 8.2 Geography 8.3 History 9 Resources 9.1 Maps

Location

Drumheller Valley Ski Club is located on the outskirts of the town of Drumheller on the Alberta prairies. It can be found on South Dinosaur Trail next to the Passion Play Site, It is about 135 km east of Calgary.

Drumheller is on the Alberta prairies, which are flat as a tack. The last thing you expect to trip over is a downhill ski area. But it is there.

I see it as a sort of Rivendell - a homely hill in the middle of the Flat.

Pros

• Cheap as chips.
• Convenient (if you live in Drumheller)
• Skiing across the KT Boundary.

Cons

• You get what you pay for.

• You will not notice skiing across the KT boundary because it is covered in snow (although it would be really neat if there was a sign saying "You have now entered the Cretaceous")

Contacts

Phone: (403) 823-2277

Fax: (403) 823-6203

Postal: Drumheller Valley Ski Club, Box 165, Drumheller, Alberta,T0J 0Y1

Web site: Ski the Badlands

Planning

Getting There

Many airlines service Drumheller. They land at Calgary, a nearby town.

Accommodation

On Mountain

None

Off Mountain

Drumheller has a range of motels, from low budget to low budget.

Drumheller Accommodation

Lift Tickets

Cheap as chips.

Ski School

It has one.

Equipment Hire

You can hire skis and snowboards.

Resort Facilities

It has a 10,000 square foot cafeteria and a skating rink. And the KT Boundary

Getting Around

There is only one there there.

So you want a private resort?

Rent the entire ski hill on a Saturday night for your own private event. Great for corporate parties, youth groups and social clubs.

Childrens Birthday Parties

Of course they do them. Private room. Balloons. Hot dogs and cake. Yummo.

Parking

Only for SUVs. They let other people in, but they are a bit suspicious of them.

Activities

• The Tyrell Museum of Palaentology is nearby, and well worth a look. Although there is a reasonable argument that the ski area is an activity associated with the Museum.

• The Burgess Shales, familiar to any educated person, are not far away in the Yoho (Ho??) National Park. There is an excellent display about the ediacaran fauna of the Burgess Shales in the Tyrell Museum. It goes without saying that the ediacaran fauna are named after Ediacara, a thriving metropolis in South Australia.

• This may be the only ski area in the world in which you can ski across the KT Boundary.

• The World's Largest Dinosaur,an experience not to be missed.

• Hoodoos, but no Gurus (as far as I know). They don't have that new age crap in Alberta.

Dining

It has a 10,000 square foot cafeteria. The bright lights of Drumheller are not far away.

You can see the resort from Drumheller McDonalds.

Bars & Entertainment

The bright lights of Drumheller are not far away.

Shopping

Drumheller has many used car lots and wrecking yards. And a coal mine. What else does anyone need?

Ride Guide

Beginner Areas

PLEASE EDIT

Groomed Runs

PLEASE EDIT

KT Boundary

The boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods can be seen in the strata in the canyons. This may be the only place in the world where you can ski across the boundary, down into the time of the dinosaurs.

The KT boundary is a darker stratum rich in iridium, made up of the fallout from the asteroid impact.

Off Piste

PLEASE EDIT

Out of Bounds

Yes, but you have to wait until the traffic lights change before you can get there.

Cross Country

Th prairies are flat as a tack. Go anywhere.

Parks & Pipes

PLEASE EDIT

Bumps

PLEASE EDIT

Powder Zones

PLEASE EDIT

Sheltered Runs

The place is in a hole in the prairies. Hopefully the wind blows straight over the top.

Snowplay

PLEASE EDIT

Other

Weather

Rug up. The Alberta prairies are cold.

Geography

The badlands are deep canyons cut into the prairie. The town of Drumheller is in the bottom of one of these canyons. The ski lift runs up the side of the canyon.

Have I mentioned the KT Boundary? You can see it. This is very, very cool.

History

About 540 milllion years ago there was an explosion in the number of species called the Cambrian Explosion. The Burgess Shales, high in the Rockies in the Yoho National Park near Drumheller, is one of the richest sources of fossil remains of the critters that formed the Cambrian Explosion. They were seriously weird little greebies, as a visit to the Tyrell Museum of Palaentology will attest. Any group of critters that has a member called hallucinogenia can't be all bad. Unfortunately rationality is moving in on some of the more extrvagant reconstructions of what these animal looked like.

Before they became really extinct, a lot of dinosaurs chose Drumheller as a good place to curl up their toes and pine for the fjords. This should not be taken as a reflection of the throbbing centre of excitement that is modern Drumheller. Many of the dinosaur skeletons were fossilised and are being dug up.

About 70 million years ago an asteroid or comet hit the earth, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs (except the ancestors of birds). This event marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods in Earth's geological history. Debris from this event was laid down in an iridium rich layer all over the world, including where Drumheller eventually ended up. The erosion of the canyons that make up the Alberta badlands has revealed this layer, which is called the KT Boundary.

After that, nothing much happened in the area until in 1993 the Drumheller Valley Ski Club put in a chair lift and put Drumheller back on the map.

Resources

• Ski the Badlands

Maps

PLEASE EDIT