Unnamed woman skiing at Mount Seymour in 1950. The onlookers suggest she may be in a race.

With no crowds to compete with and high above the clouds, how was this skier at Mount Seymour enjoying their day?

It is slow progress without a chairlift or tow rope. Step by step, the only way to ski down is to hike up first, as this skier is doing on Mount Seymour in the 1930s.

The Hiker & Skier was a twice-monthly magazine that covered hiking, winter sports and outdoor life in the North Shore Mountains. Updates from ski clubs, ads for businesses selling clothing or equipment, and tales from ski trips further afield are all to be found in these pages. Without web pages or social media, magazines like this were the way to find out what was going on in the world of outdoor adventure.

This photo is aptly named "Summit Solitude - Seymour". It is not known who the lucky person is surveying the view from the cairn at the main peak, but hopefully they enjoyed what they saw.

A winter wonderland in the Seymour range.

A winter wonderland in the Seymour range.

A winter wonderland in the Seymour range.

A winter wonderland in the Seymour range.

This skier looks to be traversing and even climbing the slope, not skiing down it. Without chairlifts or tow ropes, the only way up a slope was the hard way — muscle power. This photo from Rose Bowl on Mount Seymour in the 1930s could be a skier doing that.

Who would not want to pause for a while and take in the view while skiing above Mystery Lake in Seymour Park?

The Vancouver skiers of the 1930s and 1940s were a "hardy bunch." With no road or gondola, it was a hike — with skis — for around six hundred metres (~2000 feet) to get to the slopes. The fortunate ones had cabins and could extend their stay, getting the most from that gruelling hike. For the rest, they hiked up, skied, then had to hike out again.

Here, James Adam Craig recalls his winter memories, of Whistler, Grouse Mountain, Hollyburn, and in Washington, learning the Christiania ski turn, and the equipment that took him onto the slopes.

While terrain parks offer excitement on the slopes today, in years gone by there were ski jumps to give a rush of adrenaline.

This photo shows the ski jump at Mount Seymour.

Ski champion Gertie Beaton (nee Wepsala) often wrote in Vancouver newspapers, sharing the goings-on on the local slopes as well as elsewhere. From racing updates to details on lessons or recent ski club activities, she was a good source of information. Her articles shared the types of information that might be shared on social media today.

In this article, she gives a glimpse of a time when there was excitement at Mount Seymour's first chairlift opening. Year unspecified but believed to be the 1950s.

Work parties building cabins on the North Shore Mountains were a common occurrence during the first half of the twentieth century. Mount Seymour was no exception.

In this article from the 1931 Canadian Alpine Journal, Don Munday describes the building of the “Seymour Hut” of the Vancouver section of the Alpine Club of Canada.

Here, Jerry Butler, Rob Holly and Mr. Duplissie of North Shore Rescue carry an injured hiker on a stretcher in winter. Thought to be on Seymour Mountain circa 1980.

Mount Jarrett is a peak near Mount Bishop, in the Seymour Range. Being so close to Vancouver, this group was probably on a day hike and enjoying a get away from the hustle and bustle of early city life.

John Rollete, Randy Gomm, Al Danks, [unknown], Ross Montgomery, Heinz Schimple, and Greg Bjornson all pose beside a warning sign that was installed to prevent hikers becoming lost in Suicide Gully near Seymour Valley. Year unknown.

Said on the photo caption to be skiers Edith Munday, Don Munday and Dave Gorie at Mount Seymour in 1931.

Edith, daughter of Phyllis and Don would have been ten years old in 1931, giving her a view most Vancouver children at that time would never have seen.

Peggy East — maybe looking a little chilly — on the Peak of Mount Bishop during a BC Mountaineering Club trip in 1924.

Skis stood in the snow while their owners are in the lodge...waiting for friends on a spring-like day...setting off or coming in at the end of a run...while the clothing and equipment may be different from today, this scene is perhaps familiar to many who enjoy the slopes now.

A lucky skier enjoying fresh tracks. Taken on Mount Seymour.

A year before the Province created Mount Seymour Provincial Park, the BC Mountaineering Club wrote to the Minster of Lands advocating for its “reservation” as a public park, mainly to set it aside for skiers.

In 1935 (item F205-S12(12-9)-i1), the BC Mountaineering Club wrote to the Minster of Lands advocating for the “reservation” of land at Mount Seymour to set it aside for skiers. This letter is the reply from the Province to the Club, explaining that the matter was already under “advisement.”

In 1936, Mount Seymour Provincial Park was created.

Is this skier looking down his run? The windblown snow/ice on those narrow trees suggests he is at an exposed and high elevation. Described as "January on Mount Seymour", he is perhaps looking down towards Indian Arm or Vancouver. Either way, it would likely have been an impressive view.

In the 1930s, Fred Williams would not let a lack of ski equipment or money beat him. Keen to get onto the snow, he crafted his own skis from a maple tree, and his own bamboo poles. When he was finally able to upgrade his skis a few years later, he made his old skis into a pack board. This initiative and creativity was a sign of the times for the Great Depression in which he lived.

Ski patrollers today are recognizable by their red jackets and white, first aid crosses. The Hollyburn Ski Patrol team here look more casual, but likely took the role just as seriously.

The Hiker & Skier was a twice-monthly magazine that covered hiking, winter sports and outdoor life in the North Shore Mountains. Updates from ski clubs, ads for businesses selling clothing or equipment, and tales from ski trips further afield are all to be found in these pages. Without web pages or social media, magazines like this were the way to find out what was going on in the world of outdoor adventure.

The Hiker & Skier was a twice-monthly magazine that covered hiking, winter sports and outdoor life in the North Shore Mountains. Updates from ski clubs, ads for businesses selling clothing or equipment, and tales from ski trips further afield are all to be found in these pages. Without web pages or social media, magazines like this were the way to find out what was going on in the world of outdoor adventure.

Today, Mount Seymour is a half day's hike from the parking lot at the Seymour Ski Resort. Popular with families, it is a very different experience from the first recorded ascent by Charles Chapman in 1908.

On the way, Charles and his climbing buddies spotted a tree stump that looked like a water pump. Nicknaming it Pump Peak, the name stuck. Over a century later, this summit on the way to Mount Seymour is still called Pump Peak.

This short video follows Charles' grandchildren as they make the journey to the summit in honour of that 1908 ascent.

For those who know the fun of skiing or tobogganing today, watching this footage from decades ago will be very familiar. Families and friends out enjoying the slopes on a sunny day. Even the queue for the rope tow to get back upslope might be familiar to some.

This video also lets us see what winter fun on Mount Seymour in the earlier years was like. It even includes footage of a ski jump competition. What is interesting, or perhaps terrifying, is that the ski jump ramp seems to have no barriers to stop a competitor flying off in the wrong direction.

As part of the strategy to prevent rescues in the first place, the North Shore Rescue team was responsible for trail management. This included marking and cutting trails.

Here, the team marks the trail from Seymour Mountain to Elsey Lake. This route was important to work on as Elsey Lake had a hut that hikers would try to reach but get into difficulty on the way.

Joyce Coates pauses while skiing in 1956 on Mount Seymour. No doubt she was enjoying the view. As a skier who had a cabin on Mount Seymour, she had more time to enjoy such ski outings than those who had to trek up the mountain each day.

Taken in 1956 on Mount Seymour, Joyce Coates stands in front of the cabin she built with her husband George. A home-from-home, the cabin gave them more time to ski in winter, and a place to relax in summer — that was after they finished building it. They had spent the summer of 1956 living on the mountain during its construction.

When the snow came deep in winter, their sense of accomplishment must have been great.

A home-from-home on the mountain — or as homely as it could be, given that everything had to be carried in by muscle power.

In this photo, Joyce Coates relaxes in the cabin she and husband George had built. The size of the kettle on the stove is huge. It would have done a good job in making tea for a party of skiers or filling a sink with hot water for washing dishes to make up for a lack of running water.

A year after this photo was taken in 1959, she and George moved to Montreal and donated the cabin to the Boy Scouts of Canada.

Joyce Coats and husband George built a cabin on Mount Seymour between 1953 and 1956. There was a two-year hiatus in the construction while George attended business school.

This photo, probably taken around 1955-1956 shows the partially completed cabin. They collected lumber from trees felled nearby. The steel beams in the roof were dragged by sled up the mountainside during winter. The beams were George’s idea. He was a civil engineer (though not certified at the time) and designed the structure. All the windows and furnishings were taken by foot to the cabin during summer.

Hugh Aikens had many memories of his time in the North Shore Mountains, hiking and skiing around the 1940s and 1950s. This included his time on Seymour Mountain, on the slopes and in the cabins.

He skied on Seymour at the time that Vancouverites were building many of the cabins, giving insight into cabin life in the middle of the twentieth century.

Here, the North Shore Rescue group conduct avalanche probe training on Seymour Mountain, circa 1983. Training such as this was important for the group given the popularity of back country adventures in winter.