New owners of 300-pair ski fence on Vancouver Island carry on joyful legacy

Highlands, B.C. –

When Jodi Allsopp and her husband first drove up to the wooded property they were hoping to buy, he felt like he’d arrived home. She did not.

“It’s kind of one of those sitting in the passenger seats of the vehicle going, ‘It’s weird!’” Jodi recalls.

The property was perfect, Jodi soon realized, except for the fence surrounding it.

“There are a lot of skis here,” Jodi recalls thinking with a laugh.

The fence was made from more than 250 pairs of skis, pointing into the air, with bindings still attached.

Jodi planned to remove them sooner than later, until three weeks after they bought the place, when her daughter discovered an old news story about the ski fence online. 

“She came running up to the back of the property and said, ‘You’ve got to see this,’” Jodi recalls.

The video featured a man named Norm Bucsis, who said the fence started with a few of his old skis propped up beside the driveway. It inspired neighbours and friends to offer theirs.

“People just drop them off now,” Norm smiled, pointing to the bottom of his driveway.

He started placing the strangers’ skis on the fence after he stopped pursuing his passion for the slopes because of multiple health issues.

Although the skis were designed for going down mountains, Norm discovered they could be used for lifting up the spirits of the countless people who started visiting the fence. Norm said tourists from Australia, Japan, and Germany took pictures posing beside the fence.

“It makes me feel good,” Norm smiled, adding that although he retired from a career at the hospital, he was still being a caregiver of sorts.

“I hope (I’m making people happy) in my small way.”

“When I saw that video, my heart melted,” Jodi says. “And the ski fence became something totally different to me. I fell in love with it.”

Although Norm died before Jodi could let him know that, she eventually connected with his daughter Val Bucsis and expressed her appreciation for the fence.

“(I had) tears of joy for my dad,” Val says. “It was like, ‘Wow!’”

Val says the fence was her dad’s pride and joy.

“It’s the first thing he would tell people!” Val starts laughing, saying he wouldn’t even mention his children at first.

“He’d pull out these pictures of his ski fence!”

And when they heard the story behind the fence, they’d find themselves feeling unexpectedly better, like Jodi did.

“As long as we own this property, which we intend to for the rest of our lives, we will continue to add to the ski fence and Norm’s legacy,” Jodi says, adding it’s grown to include more than 300 pairs, and still attracts visitors around the world.

“It brings a smile to my face everyday!”

“(Dad) would love to know his ski fence was still going on and being talked about,” Val says.

And the fence is still doing its job — instead of keeping people out, inspiring joy that can’t be contained.