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Olaus Jeldness: The man who created the Carnival
Thursday, June 14th, 2007 by GetawayBC.com
Perhaps there would be no Winter Carnival in Rossland, if not for the efforts of one of the earliest residents of the Alpine City.
Olaus Jeldness was a Norwegian mining engineer who had set up successful mining operations in the United States and his native Norway before emigrating to Rossland in 1896.
Upon arriving, Jeldness immediately became known for his eccentric personality and his skill and love for skiing.
One such example occured on Feb. 15, 1896, when Jeldness challenged Rossland resident John Peterson to a race from the top of Red Mountain to the Catholic Church on Columbia Avenue. Jeldness won the two kilometre, 2000-foot drop in less than eight minutes.
Jeldness was well-known as an excellent skier, from the time he set a ski jump world record of 92 feet at the age of 15 to the day he retired in 1898. During his skiing years, he won the first downhill race on Red Mountain on March 6, 1897, created the first ski club in Canada, and won three consecutive Canadian Ski Jump Championships.
Jeldness has since been inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, and is called the “Father of competitive skiing in Canada” for his efforts to introduce skiing to Canadians.
No story of Jeldness would be complete without the tale of his legendary tea party.
The Jeldness Tea Party was thrown by Jeldness to celebrate an important $75,000 mining deal he had recently put through with Velvet Mine.
To commemorate the deal, Jeldness invited 25 guests to the top of Red Mountain for a party. The guests, who were supplied with guides and liquid refreshments, went through chest deep snow to reach the top of Red.
Upon reaching the peak, the guests found Jeldness preparing food and cooking a course fit for a king over a roaring fire.
The guests and Jeldness spent the better part of the evening eating, drinking, and celebrating until the wee hours of the morning.
As was expected, most of the guests were drunk and would not be able to trek back down the mountain. Jeldness had planned for this.
He outfitted all of his drunken guests with skis and pointed them down the hill towards Rossland.
Anticipating the many injuries that would occur with drunk guests flying down the mountain on skis, Jeldness had Dr. Bowes’ ambulance waiting at the bottom. A smart precaution considering the number of injuries reported that night. Several guests in fact carried the scars of that night for the rest of their lives. Jeldness on the other hand, as reported by witnesses, skied to the bottom in perfect control despite the amount of alcohol he had drank.
Jeldness eventually left Rossland and retired to Spokane in 1909, however he would always make his way back to the city for the Carnival and other skiing events. Upon his death, Jeldness willed that his ashes be scattered on top of Red Mountain.;