One Man’s Dream…
a skiers’ dream
By Bill Bartlett
Dad bought me cool things when I was young growing up in small town Bowmanville Ontario. I was the oldest of 4 brothers and sisters.
The first big thing I remember at about age 8 was a brand new pair of snow skis from our local Canadian Tyre store. The skis were state of the art in 1966, wood with screwed in metal edges at the tip and tail. They were navy blue with cable bindings that had a single action lever binding at the rear to hold your boot in tight. My boots were leather ankle high with metal loops around which you wrapped the nylon laces that you crisscrossed like ice skates to tie them to your feet. No one else at my school had skis, or even skied, so my skis were pretty special.
Another swish thing my dad bought me was a new bike at age 9. The bike was very unique‐ it had between the monkey bars a clear Perspex windscreen like motorcycles use to stop the wind from getting in your face at high speed. It also had a 3 speed stick shift gear lever mounted on the cross bar that you changed like a gearshift in a car. If this wasn’t enough the bike was finished with a custom gold and white metallic paint job, with matching gold and silver speckled banana seat that finished with a sissy bar at the rear of the seat so you could lean back when in cruise mode. This bike made me the coolest kid in the neighbourhood as all my friends ooed and awed at its magnificence and if they were particularly trustworthy would get a short ride on it under my watchful eye.
I guess what made things like this so memorable was that we grew up in an average blue collar working family where my dad was a shift worker at General Motors car manufacturing, never having an abundance of cash and while his time with family was irregular, we all took great delight when he would surprise us with special treats at unexpected times. One of our favourite times was all 5 kids and mom and dad getting into the Volkswagen Beetle and taking a drive down to the lakefront in Ontario. We would walk along the lake edge; throw stones in the water and dream of owning a boat one day to go for a spin in the Lake. In those days only the poor kids at my school lived at the lake edge in a small community. Now, I believe the real estate values have gone through the roof and only rich people live there.
Living close to Lake Ontario gave my dad the dream of one day sailing a boat from Lake Ontario to New Zealand. This idea seemed to everyone else a crazy one, as firstly my dad had never sailed in fresh water lakes let alone open blue water oceans with 5 kids and 2 adults. Such was the magnitude of my dad’s dreams and I think each one of his kids inherited a degree of this tendency to think and dream big, which brings me to my current project in 2009.
Early in my snow skiing days as an 8 year old I would catch the local school bus, which ran skiers to our local ski resort –Kirby, on Saturdays. I was the only kid amongst my friends who either had the inclination or the equipment to follow this sport. I was out on my own with this passion for skiing.
In 1968, I was able to meet a local Canadian skiing star, Nancy Greene who had done well in a World Class ski event and came to my local ski resort, Kirby Ontario to meet her adoring fans. I met and got her autograph along with dozens of other kids there that day. I think that this meeting triggered a dream in me that one day I could ski in a big International Downhill ski event and do well like Nancy had done.
Later, in 1970 my whole family immigrated to New Zealand and I was 13 years old when we arrived in Auckland. I started skiing again in New Zealand recreationally and I as I got older realized that shortage of time and money would probably not allow me to pursue a dream of World Cup victory in a skiing event. I have married, had three boys with my New Zealand wife and have lived for much of the last 38 years in New Zealand.
In 1977 to 1980 I worked as a ski patroller and ski instructor in British Columbia and loved the lifestyle in the mountains around Hemlock Valley and Todd Mountain.
Years later, as 2008 rolled to a close I started to investigate Masters Racing ‐ particularly the Downhill. I started working out in the gym in anticipation of being able to race and then I found that Silver Star ski resort in British Columbia held an annual event in which I could participate as a 52 year old. I got my plane ticket booked and now look forward to competing in this event and in some way fulfil a life long dream to compete in an international ski race event‐ in February 2009.
At the time of writing I am 1 week from the race. One of the exciting things in preparation of this event has been the sharing of my dream with family and friends. I hope that through following my dream that others will be encouraged to follow, plan and prepare their dream. January 2009