If you grew up in Saskatoon then you might have skied on a giant mound of garbage.
Although it’s been ‘dead’ for years now, the Blackstrap Ski Hill remains an interesting prairies anomaly.
A shambling mound of dirt – rumours abound that the hill is made out of garbage – plopped out in the middle of the prairies, Blackstrap is still a nice lookout if you don’t mind a brief climb to the summit. And the view is decent if you dig kilometres of uninterrupted fields and the slight depression of the lake.
The real draw, however, is the abandoned chairlift equipment and all the weird old shit that has been left behind.
A ski hill ghost town, the lift poles remain embedded in the side of the hill along with the decaying lift shacks. There’s also lots of bizarro graffiti adorning most of the structures – apparently the T-bar shack played host to a “five man orgy” if spray paint vandals are to be believed.
There’s also a lot of cool-looking buttons to press, if you are into that sort of thing.
The lodge, which was wiped out by a fire in 2009, is gone. And if you ever skied there back when the hill was still open it’s a surreal site.
It’s not really dead though. When we were out at the site several families were tobogganing near the ski-ruins.
