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Here's a fact you may not know: Nelson is the rodel capital of Canada.
Yup. And you probably didn't even know what a rodel is.
“It's the ultimate sports vehicle… it's absolutely beautiful,” says 82-year-old Fidelis Nachbaur, Nelson's biggest rodel advocate and the man behind the effort to put our community on the rodel map.
“The rodel is the sport version of the wooden sleigh. It differs totally from a sleigh because it is made totally angled for the best ability and total quality using the finest of woods. The company that makes this rodel [pointing to his own personal craft] has been making them for 100 years.”
Nachbaur grew up in Oberjoch, Germany where the rodel is as much a part of life as mountain bikes are in the Kootenays. It was there that a lifelong love was cemented.
“My hometown in Germany was on the border of Austria and we lived in the highest village in Southern Germany,” Nachbaur explains. “When I was a kid that was the only thing we had. We used it to go to school. Our school was 300 vertical feet below. We would get up for school, quickly had our mash, ran to the edge of the hill and rodeled down… and we always got to school on time.”
Nachbaur came to Canada in 1952 when he was 24. In 1970 he moved to Nelson with his family that included seven children. The Nachbaurs were an active family, enjoying all the outdoor sports our area provides. And even though he had a deep love for his main childhood winter transport, the rodel was lost in the busy North American shuffle.
Then five years ago — with his focus now on the 23 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren in the Nachbaur brood — Fidelis received a package from his brother in Germany. In the package were some ski magazines from his childhood region. In one of those magazines was a two-page feature on all the rodel runs at Germany/Austria ski hills.
“I had an inspiration that this was beautiful, just beautiful… the rodel came back to mind from childhood,” he says. “I thought of all the people who cannot have good, healthy outside activity.”
He immediately contacted his brother to find out more about modern-day rodels. Nachbaur was on a mission to bring a European flavour to his new country.
“Everytime I see on the news about the problems with obese kids and heart conditions… there are so many Canadian families who cannot get their children off the sidelines. Everyone can use a rodel… that's the beauty of it. It's so simple,” Nachbaur says.
The more he looked into it, the more he was impressed with how far the rodel had come since he left Germany so many years ago.
“It's everywhere in Europe,” he says. “It's coming in so fast that ski hills are competing to put in the rodel run. People start to realize that it is inexpensive and easy to do. If you are not a skier you tag along with an expert skier and just have an outing. You can have as much fun as the expert skier would have in the powder.”
Nachbaur brought his newfound enthusiasm for the rodel to area ski resorts. And to his surprise, he was met with chilly receptions.
As Nachbaur puts it, there is a wall put up when it comes to his idea to incorporate the rodel into the area's ski hill mix. Management throw out many reasons not to give it a shot and it primarily comes down to risk management.
“They do not want it… they won't even get it a chance,” Nachbaur says of resorts like Whitewater and Red Mountain.
Disappointed but undeterred, over the last couple years Nachbaur has helped get rodels into the hands of hundreds of young people in the Nelson area. Though kids are using them on their favourite sliding hills, Nachbaur says it's vital that ski hills come on board.
“It will all come when people see it on the ski hill,” he says. “This is where the action is. If they take a little side hill and give the rodel a chance then people will get the idea. It has to start on the ski hill.”
It only makes sense he says. For a number of reasons, not everybody can ski or snowboard. But the rodel is inexpensive and takes very little actual athletic ability.
“I like to keep families together, I like to keep groups together,” he says. “I want to fill the cars because I want to have green winters. I don't want to see vehicles going up to the ski hill with one or two occupants… I want to see everybody in a seat and going up to have fun.”
Nachbaur says he will continue to write letters to ski hills across British Columbia and continue his lobby with the larger sports organizations in the province. But it's the resort in his own backyard that he is really targeting. He wants Whitewater to designate a small area to rodels and give it a shot.
Nachbaur says the local mountain has given himself and his family a tremendous outlet for winter fun over the years. He sees the rodel as a gift in return.
“Nelson and Whitewater… I owe you one,” he says. “And this is what I want to give back and this is the beautiful gift I can give back. It's the most beautiful gift I can give because I know about it and what it can do… I'm going to hang in there until it's accepted.”
With the Olympic buzz upon us and all kinds of sliding at the elite levels about to happen, Nachbaur says the time is now for the snow vehicle that helped hatch the bobsled, luge and skeleton to make a huge comeback.
“Before the Olympics are over I am going to make sure it's on at least one mountain and I think it's going to be Whitewater,” Nachbaur beams. “That's kind of my Olympic dream… to give everybody a chance to play.”
For more on this story and the interview with Fidelis Nachbaur, head to You Tube and type in key words "Nelson rodel."
Whitewater an Unlikely Rodel Pioneer
Though Fidelis Nachbaur dreams of a future where rodels are part of the Whitewater Winter Resort scene, that time is not now.
Whitewater general manager Brian Cusack says the local resort is busy trying to make the operation viable in its current state. Adding another dimension at this stage is unlikely.
“Our risk management and safety management are all designated towards skiing and snowboarding,” he explains. “To do a risk assessment with rodels at this time doesn't pay. We just can't support it at this point.”
Cusack is familiar with Nachbaur's passion towards making it happen. He is also familiar with the popularity of the pursuit in Europe where he has seen it action.
“In Europe they do it on specified trails,” Cusack says. “We don't have the room to put in specified trails here… we already have enough skier and snowboarder traffic on those runs.”
“There are number ski hills around Canada that do tubing. But it's done in a completely separated area, with a separate lift system. That's expensive and a totally different risk management plan. If we had the space to designate a rodel run it might be something we would consider, but we just don't have it.”
The news is a little more encouraging at the higher levels of the industry.
Jimmie Spencer, the president and CEO of Vernon-based Canada West Ski Areas Association, says he wouldn't rule rodels out of the mix.
“We're always looking for expansion of ideas, particularly as we are encouraging more and more families on holiday rather than just skiers,” says Spencer who grew up in Europe and knows plenty about the rodel.
“I think it's quite possible… everything is possible these days. We're always trying to make a better product.”
