The City of Sherbrooke celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Mont-Bellevue ski hill on Saturday afternoon with a short ceremony at the base of the hill. Officially opened on January 17, 1960, Mont Bellevue is now thought to be the oldest continuously-operating municipal ski hill in the province. “How many cities can boast a mountain like this right in their centre? Not many,” said Sherbrooke Mayor Steve Lussier, calling the hill a jewel of the city that residents are lucky to be able to take advantage of. Lussier described Mont Bellevue as a great resource for a population looking to stay fit year round, noting that the mountain provides space for a wide range of four-season physical activities including skiing, mountain biking, snowshoeing, and archery. Arnold Ross, President of the Regroupement du parc du Mont-Bellevue, the group that oversees the park and its operation, pointed out that the hill has a history of being a site for fitness activities dating back more than 100 years. “At the end of the 19th century it was mainly snowshoe clubs that took advantage of the mountain,” Ross said. “It was in the first part of the 20th century that a few trailblazers in the region started getting around on what they called “Norwegian snowshoes,” which were seven foot-long planks of wood.” See full story in the Monday, Jan. 20 edition of The Record
