About Skmana Ski and Snowshoe Club

Skmana Lakes lie just north of Loakin-Bear Creek Rd., 14 km from the village of Chase or 8 km off the Adams Lake Rd. The two lakes and surrounding area offer a delightful multipurpose recreational area with skiing, snowshoeing and sledding in winter; camping, fishing, hiking, biking and horseback riding in summer. In early logging days, Adams River Lumber Co. diverted the creek, damming the lake to hold logs for a flume that transported logs down to the Adams River. Later, the area was used as a Japanese work camp during WW11 (the old buildings have been bulldozed) and a biathlon training area was set up (although there is no evidence of its actual use) in the 1970’s.

The origins of Skmana Lakes as a winter recreational area began in the early 1980’s, when a group from Chase and Pritchard, including the Spencer, Crema, Clark, Lovlin, McLellan, Hopland, Grube, Hutchings and Boscher families, were searching for a winter recreational area for cross country skiing and a tobogganing hill. The first area they tried was the Neskonlith meadows and they skied and tobogganed there for a few years. Jean Jenks, along with sons, Hamish and Ian, provided ski lessons for children. The area was not satisfactory due to the early disappearing, and sometimes absent, snow. Roger Behn, a teacher from the Chase High School who had been instrumental in planning Biathlon at Skmana Lakes, had some good maps and it was soon discovered that Skmana Lakes lay in a snow belt. An informal recreational area was set up at Skmana Lakes.

To enable the club to track the ski trails, Don and Eileen Boscher supplied a snowmobile. The home fashioned tracking equipment was such that someone had to sit on it to weigh it down, a very precarious perch. When the snowmobile turned out to be inadequate, the Boshers lent the club $5000 for the purchase of a Yamaha snowmobile. The club, through fundraising which included logging and later through assisting at casinos, was able to pay off the debt. An old cabin was donated by Quaaout Lodge, hauled to Skmana and put on the west side of West Skmana Lake near the road to the Forest Service Recreation Site. It made a cozy warm-up hut until 2001, when it was burned down by vandals. A new hut was built down in the meadow where it is not accessible to road traffic. The builders of the cabin were John Thornbury and George Carlin, with the assistance of many club members.

With the money raised from casinos, the club was able to afford better tracking equipment. Ted Kay, who was president at that time, was instrumental in the purchase of a bombardier and trail groomers to track the trails. He did the tracking for many years and looked after the maintenance of the equipment, a position which George Carlin took over. Presently, there is a team of volunteer groomers and track setters who keep our trails in excellent condition. The old Bombardier served the Skmana Ski Club for over 20 years and was replaced by a Ginzugroomer and new tracking equipment in 2010. The fundraising for the new equipment was spearheaded in the capable hands of Brian David, then president of the club.