Jorgen and I met and talked in the waxing hut on Hollyburn in West Vancouver in the morning of Dec 22, 1999. The interview was unstructured- I just let the tape run as he talked. Here is some of what he told me. What you see here is edited slightly- its pretty close to how Jorgen told it to me. And its in his own words with very little modification. His manner of speech is really part of the story- its so distinctly his. And I have only rearranged things slightly. After transcribing his words the headings given here came quite naturally. Items in brackets are additions of mine.

And we skied to school of course when we lived in Smithers- it was an 8 mile return trip. We were the odd balls. We were immigrant kids for one thing and we were the only skiers who did that. We were 50 yrs ahead of our time because we had these fancy knickers from Norway which no one else wore and anoraks with the hoods on which were great windproof. When we skied sometimes to school it was 35 below. It started to catch on there were a lot of Norwegians and Swedes and Finns up in that area.

I think my dad came out first from the prairies in the 30's and he wasn’t going to ski when he came to Canada but he started up again. A guy from Kongsberg built the ski jump. Almost a 70 m hill in Smithers. The only ones who jumped on it were Norwegians and Swedes and then of course the town got all excited about the ski jumping and Smithers in ‘35 I remember in the Western Canada Championships the town population was about a 1000 and they had 1000 people on the flat. And they had guys like Tom Mobraaten and Henry Sotvedt --- my dad and a few others.

Mobraaten jumped 200 feet that time. Landed right in the dip. There was a lot of excitement.

Mobraaten came from Kongsberg- he skied with the Ruud brothers- came to Vancouver and he sort of traipsed around as most of the immigrants did in BC. He must have won 100 trophies in the Pacific NW. He was a good slalom runner and downhill runner. He skied the Mt Rainier silver skis- they used to hike up Mt Rainier- this was a man killer- it was several miles long and they skied downhill on the damn thing. People won’t do that today- they want the thing prepared and them and their skis brought up.

So that’s the kind of background I grew up with in my family- if we didn’t want to ski we had to in my family, not a lot of choice- (it was) the way to school in high school. We biked in summer and skied in winter. Of it was great conditioning. It stayed with us all our life.

We not only skied there but (also) at Easter in Smithers. There was a 7 mile climb from the lake up to the Hudson Bay Mountain. There was a cabin up there. Of course it was a ritual in Norway you go to the mountains. So we did it there too with our packs on our backs and my dad breaking trail. The whole family went up. We stayed there four days for Easter. And, get this, my dad had milk cows on the farm so he had to ski down every day to milk the cows and ski back up again. Dad was tougher than nails; he stopped ski jumping when he was 59.

Tell you when I didn’t enjoy it. When I was forced as a kid my dad said you’re entered in a ski race, which we figured to do anyways. I was about 10 or 11, something like that, raced like hell as if my life depended on it. I raced so hard I threw up when came in. Beat the pants off everybody in Smithers because nobody skied. I figured because my dad’s a great skier I gotta race.

But some of my races in Burns Lake, when I was 15 or 16, I guess I enjoyed too because I had good skis and I knew I could ski pretty fast, but I would say that I probably enjoy the loppet racing today more overall (than the early racing). I think I was too anxious sometimes as a kid- my dad being- he never said much about this- but for example he was 41 he won the Western Canada combined against guys like Mobraaten and Kaldahl and Sotvedt and he had jumped at Holmenkollen when he was a young man. And you don’t get to Holmenkollen in Oslo unless you do well in your district. So that was part of the, you could say, burden or pressure.

In the old days we had races of about 15 k. We didn’t do 30 k in those days (though the men did 50 k races). Some of the times for the 50 k in those days were 4.5 hrs but you should see the trails and the conditions. No tracks, windfalls, you’d have to jump over those, it would be snowing you could be up to your waist.

The Lake Louise Loppet (of today), I’ve done it just once, that’s bush wacking, the old style like we used to do in Smithers. There’s not much room between the trees and you’re zigzagging and you got to make this sharp turn. I saw more people over the side. They can’t clear it ‘cause its a park.

In the old days in Smithers my dad was a skier and I was 10, 11 years old we used to go up the lakes and we’d skate across them on home-made skis we had in those days so skating is not new. Its only new in racing. When we were jumping we’d have our big long jumping skis and we’d skate from the back of the outrun of the hill back to the hill. We did that as a matter of course.

My dad made birch skis for me. He hand ripped a birch tree and had a plane. The best racing skis I had for cross country were a pair of birch skis that he made. I can still remember that Burns Lake ski race I was in with those birch skis; faster than hell. That was a different era the skis were heavy, the boots were terrible, harness was not worth much. We had the rottefella and the one they called the Bergendahl which was the one with the clamps and it had prongs in it and of course you got into those you couldn’t get out of them .

But there was a Kongsberg skier up there (Smithers), he was actually a timber cruiser, name of Harold Orm. He was a cousin of Mobraaten. He set up a small ski factory in Smithers. He turned out down hill and cross country and jumping skis. In the tip of ‘em and the back side there’d be H Orm Smithers burned into them. He must have produced 1000 skis. My dad worked for him. Everybody skied on Harold Orm skis. He imported the hickory from Vermont and the bamboo poles from China and they’d make bamboos with those big rings on. When you picked those poles up they weighed as much as two pairs of skis to day. Then you think about the guys doing 50 k in 4.5 hours. It’s a miracle they even came in.

In the early days I was only down in Vancouver from Smithers a couple of times. Once in ‘57 I think. The old bucket lift was still in effect. (I was here) for a ski tournament and we walked up here to the Jack Spratt Memorial Ski Jump about late April, about 14 feet of snow and 75 F, warmer than hell. A bunch of us jumped different classes and I came down in ‘52 for the Dominion Championships on Grouse Mountain. It was foolish, in those days I skied slalom, cross country and jumping (laughing). It was crazy we did things like that- we did 4 way in those days, we didn’t think anything of it. There was guys like Niilo Itkonen he won the 15 k that year. It was a matter of course we’d enter everything. Even my dad, he was actually a pretty good skier in his day (Jorgen modesty)- he passed away some years back now- but he went to Wells for the Provincial Championships in 1933. He skied slalom, downhill, cross country and combined. We grew up with that you see.

I recognize the names from children of people I used to ski with in some of the loppet competitions today. Smithers (is and was) a real hotbed of cross country. They’ve done fantastic in cross country up there. They’ve had some of the top Dominion and junior people winning. My nephew, Brant Dahlie, is up there; he’s not a competitive skier, but his wife is a masters skier. He’s responsible for building that fancy ski lodge up in Smithers. He lives on my dad’s homestead. My mother still lives in Smithers.

I was in Smithers after I got married (he’s been married to Shirley for 55 years). My wife was a teacher. I was in the oil business for 14 yrs. Then I sold out and went back to school to UBC and eventually to Washington State and did my doctorate in history. Ended up at UBC as a prof. for 20 yrs. Have skied here since ‘68 in these mountains. I have written several articles on the nordic thing in the ‘30s and ‘40s the people like Mobraaten, Sotvedt, Kaldahl- I call them the Kongsberg trio who domintated the ski jumping tournaments. Mobraaten won prizes in slalom downhill, cross country, combined- (he was) twice member of the olympic team. These guys nobody knows about them. (References to two articles are included below. This was part of his historical research work at UBC to document the development of skiing in BC)

When I first came here we skied up an old trail from the highway up Cypress Creek. We used to ski around a couple of lakes down the valley. We skied up some sidehill. I forget when I first skied here.

I would say one reason I left UBC a couple of years early I’m going to take some time out. I don’t want to stay too late. I’m going to do some cross country running. I’m going to run a 50 k for the first time in my life. I’d never done a 50 k till I was 62 then I did the Caribou four times. First time was in ‘82. Ken Leighton was in my age group. My time was not much to brag about I got it down to may be 5 hours one time.

ON HIS TRAINING TODAY

In the summer time I play a lot of golf; took up golf 5 yrs ago but I come up here (Cypress on Hollyburn Mountain) when the ski season starts and I start out easy. I may come up here and do 5 loops of Sitzmark just fairly hard. Next time, after 2 or 3 weeks I might do 10 of that and I’ll go out to the top and do a couple of loops on top. So I do maybe 16 or 18 km. Get a pretty good workout and I usually go down and jump in the hot tub and relax.

But I try and may be ski a little harder in loppets, but I don’t want to start roller skiing in summertime. Nor do I want to get fanatical about this. I’ve got a couple of good friends up country who are just about losing their wives because they’ve become fanatics on this training summer and winter. They’re running like crazy; they never stop. I can see why their wives don’t like it. Shirley skis a lot with me all winter. So I’m always competitive, but I’m not really gung ho for training.

I do the Manning Park Loppet as a matter of course. I’ve only missed once in the last 12 years. Sovereign lake is another one and I’ve done the Apple Loppet a few times. I’ve gone to 100 Mile House a lot of times. I did the 50 at four different times and I might want to do it again, but I’ve done the 30 (at 100 Mile House) quite a few times. I’ve done the Keski Salmi a few times, but I want to switch and try to do a couple of different ones. Whistler, which I’ve always missed for some reason is one. I’ll go classic there.

Best I’ve ever done on the 30k is 2:34 and I’m usually up about 3rd (place). So 5 min either way doesn’t make much difference in my class.

And then of course I want to do the Black Jack again some time. One time at Black Jack, I guess it was when the Western Canada was there, it was so bloody fast and I think there was Olve Punsvik and one or two just like myself. God those hills were just so icy I wonder I never got killed. But usually when it’s icy I don’t want to break- I stay in the track damn the consequences ‘cause if you fall out you’re going to be black and blue all over. That’s happened at Manning once. It was lightning fast. We must have been going 60 k down the thing, but I hung in there through those turns- I like speed, but the thing is even if I’m in good shape I don’t want to get silly. I don’t want to go head over heels and crack a few bones.

Touch wood but I’ve never broken anything. I’ve done a lot of (ski) jumping, taken a lot of spills in downhill and so on, but I try to ski all winter without falling. My wife ribs me about that. Its a thing I learned from my dad. He’d ski all winter he’d never fall. We took it as a personal challenge.

I think Loppets should be easy finishes almost like you’re coasting in. I don’t like the steep hills at the finish.

As far as World Masters I’ve been to Grindelwald and Canmore and the Nationals in Sovereign Lake. Enjoyed Grindelwald. It was a bit difficult to wax for, but really an experience and I had a lot of fun. Sovereign Lakes (Nationals of last spring) that was actually the best I’ve felt for a race, the closest I’ve come to Otterstrom. I came within 6 min of (Curt) Otterstrom. He’s tough. I can’t catch him; he’s just too good. He’s got lots of aerobic capacity.

I’ll be 76 in Jan. He turns 76 just ahead of me. Roar (Sanderud) is a tough guy too- I’ve beaten him on a couple of occasions, but when he’s going he’s tough. He’s long legged; my legs are too short.

I like to enjoy the thing so I can finish a 30 k and be up and at ‘em two hours later after a beer. A lot of people kill themselves- they go so damn hard that they collapse at the end and it takes ‘em hours and hours to be back over it.

I got to run a couple of longer ones. I want to do the Birkebeiner in Norway some time. My wife says I got to do it before I turn 80 so I better hurry up and get over there. As we get older we get more competitive (because the competition thins out)- you’d be surprised even between 70 and 80 how many drop off . At Sovereign Lake and Apple Loppet get down to 4 or 5 people at the most (in my age group). Did the Apple Loppet 2 or 3 times. I’ve done Sovereign Lakes the most number of times- I’ve skated it twice I think, but when I look at my times on Sovereign Lakes over the 7 times I’ve done it I’ve been as fast classical as skating- I like to skate if its reasonably flat, not too much uphill, but it kills me on the steep grades. See if you can’t skate (up the hills) you have to herringbone- so I sold all my skating gear last year and bought another classic outfit. The thing is with the classic I can still skate on the flatter stretches with my classic skis.

For anyone with more than a passing interest in the evolution of skiing in BC and the Northwest here are two must-read references. Jorgen drew my attention to them and I’m glad he did. This is also a great starting point to read more as there are lots of references.

Skiing for Identity and Tradition:Scandinavian Venture and Adventure in the Pacific Northwest," by Jorgen Dahlie in Winter Sports in the West,edited bt Elise Corbet and A.W. Rasporich.Calgary: Historical Society of Alberta [1990 ]pp.112-123. " From Kongsberg to the Pacific Northwest:Norwegian Immigrants and the Development of Skiing,1920-1950 " by Jorgen Dahlie in Scandinavian-Canadian Studies vol.4 [1991 ],pp 15-26.

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