Talisman - The Lost Resorts, Episode 7

Located around an hour's drive north of the Greater Toronto Area, the Talisman Mountain Resort was a major player in the Ontario ski market during its years of operation. This video will take you through the long history of Talisman ski resort (not so much the hotel and golf course), it's rise, peak and downfall.
Information:
Years of Operation: 1965-2011
Ski Runs: 21
Lifts: 2 Quad Chairs (BM Lifts), 1 Triple Chair (Poma) 2 Doubles (Hall), 1 J-Bar (Skyway), 1 Carpet, 1 Rope Tow
Removed Lifts: 1 Hall Double chair, 1 Hall T-Bar
Music by Lakey Inspired

[@FlightData101]

We were members at Talisman for several years from 1998 to 2005, driving up every weekend from Guelph. We have many fond memories of skiing with family and friends and were sad when it closed its doors. There are some familiar friendly faces in these pictures. Thanks!

[@Skier72]

Thanks for your comment!

[@markclaypole1573]

Great memories of going there for elementary school ski trips in the mid 90s!

[@johndegaris4673]

Nice job compiling the information on this video. We skied there in the 90's. I remember the runs being quite flat, except for the very top of them. Most of the vertical was probably the first 25% or so of the runs. There are a few 90's resorts from my youth that have since closed sadly. Loretto & Cedar Highlands to name two others.

[@Skier72]

Yeah, it did look rather flat. Kind of crazy that it was only 1 of 2 resorts that were never private clubs (with Blue being the other). I want to do Loretto at some point. Cedar Highlands is also an interesting one, they had a Poma quad at some point.

[@johndegaris4673]

@@Skier72 Loretto was a great hill to learn to ski at. Most runs were quite tame. Although they only had a rope tow and T-bars which were not so forgiving for newbies.

[@julianhudson7811]

Finally a video on Talisman! I've visited the ruins of the resort a few times and its a nice place to walk around. Wish I could have gotten to ski there.

[@Skier72]

Absolutely! By the way, do you know if the two double chairlifts and j-bar are still there? I couldn't really see off Google Earth

[@julianhudson7811]

@@Skier72 Last time I visited both were still there.

[@abigllama]

Hey we tried to hike on it last summer, there's a trail that runs through it. But got spooked off by the numerous "no trespassing" "your car will be towed" signs everywhere Is there a good way to go about it?

[@DasWauto]

Talisman was one of the places we went skiing with our high school, it really is a bummer that it closed down. I went a few times after that but it was in the death throes with unfinished work on one of the slopes that made for a fun but risky out of bounds run. I nearly ate it narrowly avoiding skiing straight into a gulley of some sort when my brother and I explored the closed section. Turns out it was closed for more than just the work they had been doing, I guess.

[@Skier72]

It definitely seems to have tapered off during it's last years of operations. I believe the year they closed, they didn't run the triple or north double.

[@DasWauto]

@@Skier72 that sounds correct. The closed section I referenced above would have been around the north triple and I remember the gulley being just downslope to the right side of the disembark point of the double. IIRC terrain to the left of said double was open and groomed but not worth running the chair for as it only went halfway up. It was fun doing a rare bit of untouched powder skiing in Ontario on that closed area, right up until the near-bad crash where we decided it may have been a bad idea. Obviously we didn’t know it at the time but that must’ve been the last time we skied there.

[@Turtlefarm]

I worked there as an instructor from 2007-2010 Was a great place to grow up

[@ytzpilot]

We used to ski Beaver Valley next to this one never got the chance to ski Talisman

[@owen_som]

It’s too bad this place closed down, it would be great to have a second public skiing option in the collingwood area!

[@julianhudson7811]

Fine as Blue is, the place can get slammed with crowds despite having five high capacity six passenger chairlifts and two beginner fixed grips.

[@OntarioAtOrion]

We had a chalet on Talisman Mountain rd right next to the ski hills. I could ski down a path across from the chalet and the path took me right out onto the ski hill just below the small black diamond run that was called Jacob's Ladder This would have been 1987 to 1992 There was another path that you had to sneak off the side of Jacob's Ladder higher up that took right back to my house. The paths were awesome little secrets only locals and employees knew I used to explore that mountains forest with my dog and drink the stream that came outta the top.

[@OntarioAtOrion]

There was an abandoned part next to the street I lived on. It had an abandoned lift and huge chalet. All abandoned. We used to sneak Into it. There was a huge antique cash register on the bar and ski instructors from Talisman were squatting in the abandoned chalet! Awesome memories

[@fayecox9401]

As brit watch this I think it's a shame you loose these resorts

[@Skier72]

They all close for various reasons, but it is a shame as they all served a unique purpose in their respective markets.