Cantley's 1889 Articles in The Echo of Cantley
Cantley 1889’s volunteers write monthly articles of local historical interest for publication in The Echo of Cantley, a non-profit bilingual organization that produces Cantley's only community newspaper.
This article is reprinted here with permission from in The Echo of Cantley, Volume 37 no 8, March 2026.
John Clifford, founder of Mont Cascades Ski Resort
John Almstedt
When Cantley’s Mont Cascades Ski Resort opened in 1973-4 it represented the sixth hill that John Clifford either managed or owned in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. It is why Cantley’s Mont Cascades-Mont Lorne area is now zoned Tourism/Recreation.
John Clifford’s love of sports began on the trails of Camp Fortune as a child where he became a successful international alpine and cross-country skier. This is where he learned how to develop and manage ski trails. His involvement with Mont Cascades began in the early 1970s when Milton Cross, a Chelsea farmer and lumberman, owned most of the area. Milton was logging in Mont Cascades at the time when the province denied him permission to construct a new logging road to Route 307. Milton asked John to assess the skiing potential of the mountain which, of course, would need a new road. John liked the idea. When he requested a road to access his new skill hill, permission was granted and Chemin Mont-des-Cascades was built. John moved here and became partner in the alpine and cross-country ski development that included Mont Cascades and Mont Lorne. He hired workers from Cantley, like the young Raymond Poirier who later became councillor for District des Parcs for 12 years.
John was well-known across Canada as an expert on ski lift construction. He had built a 5,200-foot double chair lift and trail on the north side of Mont Tremblant in 1948. In the mid-1960s he opened Mont Ste Marie with the financial help of Camp Fortune skiers. They followed him to Mont Cascades and became prominent property owners in the village. The skiing community recognized John’s expertise in snowmaking and grooming, night skiing and ski instruction, so Mont Cascades soon became the most popular skiing destination in the Outaouais. All went well until John was unable to meet his financial obligations and was forced to sell. He could not generate enough funds from village property sales or from income he had expected to make from his wheel-driven summer slide venture which was forced to close.
John’s love of nature and cross-country skiing motivated him to make a trail connecting Edelweiss and Hogan valley. From there, the trail extended to the Mont Cascade golf course then downriver along the shoreline to today's Chemin Panoramique valley before returning to Hogan valley and the ski lodge. Although it never opened, there was also exploration for a trail connecting Edelweiss to Mont Ste Marie.
Although it seemed money was always a problem, John was driven by a positive outlook of hoping everyone could experience the joys of skiing. He employed well-known professional ski instructor, Bob Gratton, to provide a variety of ski programs at a time when skiing was becoming a popular sport. In the 1970s, Mont Cascades produced Canada's first successful free style skier Mike Nemesvary. John Clifford is remembered for providing schools with free equipment and ski passes to encourage a love of for the sport. Because of John Clifford, Cantley became known as a skiing and recreation destination.
John Clifford was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1982 for “Alpine, Downhill, Slalom, Builder”, and is remembered as the father of popular skiing in the Outaouais. He spent seven decades in the sport, as a racer, ski area developer, instructor and ski resort owner. He brought snow-making technology to Canada which added almost two months to the alpine ski season. He was instrumental in developing six ski hills in the National Capital Area: Camp Fortune, Mont Ste Marie, Mont Cascades, Carlington Park, Calabogie Peaks and Mount Pakenham. Although he never saw the completion of his dream of what Cascades and Lorne mountains could become, he left a legacy. Cantley was now a ski destination capable of becoming a hub for a variety of cross-country trails radiating out onto the countryside.
