Freestyle Legend Wayne Wong Was Up to His Old Tricks at Island Lake Lodge This Month

March 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Fernie, British Columbia, Canada, February 26, 2010 – Wayne Wong, one of the legendary founding fathers of freestyle skiing, recently paid a visit to his friends at Island Lake Lodge, in Fernie B.C., where he proved that his impressive skills remain sharp, even after all these years. For the people who were fortunate enough to be there, it was amazing to see one of the greatest ski legends of all time still landing many of the tricks that made him so famous in the 70s.

Wong, who is a Vancouver born, second generation Canadian of Chinese ancestry, first made a name for himself in the early nineteen seventies, when he and a handful of other talented hot doggers, which included Roger Evans, John Clendenin, Bob Salerno, and Tom Leroy, helped to develop a style of skiing that the world had never seen before. Despite a good deal of opposition from people who felt that it was too dangerous to be included in official sporting events, freestyle skiing, a sport that Wong helped develop, was eventually recognized by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in 1979.

The sport gained more notoriety and credibility as time went on, The first World Cup Series was held in 1980 and the first ever World Championships took place in 1986. Freestyle skiing was eventually included in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and both mogul skiing as well as the aerial competition were subsequently named official medal events in 1992 and 1994, respectively.

Wayne Wong, who first started skiing seriously when he was just a young teenager in the early nineteen sixties, is credited with being one of the inventors of freestyle skiing. He became a ski instructor at the age of sixteen, in order to get a free lift ticket, and got into freestyle skiing when he was twenty one years old. In 2009, Wong was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, in recognition of his enormous contribution to that nation’s ski culture.

This February, Wong spent a few days flaunting his moves at one of British Columbia’s oldest and most well respected catskiing resorts, namely: Island Lake Lodge, near Fernie, British Columbia. With a history that rivals his own, Island Lake, which was one of Canada’s first catskiing operations, dates back to the mid 1980s. This world famous ski lodge , which was the first resort in British Columbia to own its own ski terrain outright, sits on roughly 7000 acres of some of the finest ski country on earth, on the northern end of the Lizard Range portion of the Canadian Rockies, in an area known as the Cedar Valley.

The Island lake property, which originally belonged to the Shell Oil Company, is comprised of a magnificent assortment of deep bowls, classic alpine ridges and spectacular gladed tree runs. The terrain is as diverse as it is vast and several of the resort’s numerous runs can be skied right to the door of the lodge itself.

Since its modest beginnings, Island Lake has grown to include four separate lodging facilities as well as a full service spa. It is known for its luxurious accommodations, excellent cuisine and the friendly service of its warm and pleasant staff. Nevertheless, what Island Lake is most well known for is powder. The resort’s terrain is home to some of the best catskiing in the world, and it has something for skiers of every level to enjoy, from amateur enthusiasts to freestyle legends like the world famous Wayne Wong.

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Island Lake Lodge http://www.islandlakecatskiing.com is a back country resort located on 7,000 acres of mountainous terrain near Fernie B.C. Canada, just beyond the Mount Fernie Provincial Park. Island Lake Resorts consist of Island Lake Catskiing in addition to Powder Cowboy Catskiing and Mica Heliskiing.