Among the events hosted there were the annual Tournament of Champions and the 1949 edition of the Western Canada Ski Championships.

As the site was located within the national park, a lease was obtained, which was financed through a $1,200 grant from the chamber of commerce and the municipality.

Revelstoke was the largest town in the British Columbia Interior at the time, and easily accessible due to its location on the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline.

[1] Big Hill was first used for the 1916 Winter Carnival, in which Nelsen in training landed at world record distance at 55.8 meters (183 feet) and wasn't recognized.

That year, Henry Hall set a world length record in the hill, jumping 70 meters (230 feet).

To accommodate the extra spectators, Canadian Pacific Railway stationed sleeping cars at Revelstoke to supplement the hotels.

In 1925, while sick with the flu, Nelsen beat Hall's world record by jumping 73.1 meters (240 feet).

A car was offered to anyone able to beat Nelsen's record jump at the Big Hill, provided that at least three outside jumpers participated in the competition.

The prize was offered by local fur dealer J. H. Munro, who hoped to attract the world's elite ski jumpers to Revelstoke.

Many of the world's best ski jumpers attended that year's tournament, such as Henry Hall, Harry Lien, Ivan Knudsen and Alf Engen.

[1] The record was eventually broken by Adolph Badrut at Tremplin de Bretaye in Switzerland in 1930, who jumped 75 meters (246 ft).

He lost the record to Sigmund Ruud the following year, but by the end of the season, Lymburne reclaimed the title with a jump of 87.5 meters (287 feet).

It was a success for Revelstoke, with "ski trains" being set up from Vancouver to bring people in from the city to watch the events.

It was inaugurated by local ski jumper Art Johnson and the tournament was won by Petter Hugsted of Norway, who jumped 75 meters (246 feet).

That year's event saw a new hill record of 82 meters (269 feet) be set by Norway's Odd Brevik.

Combined, this made it increasingly difficult to recruit new ski jumpers during the 1960s, particularly after a lift was installed on Mount Revelstoke in 1961.

[6] The last major tournaments on Nels Nelson Hill were the Western Canadian Ski Jumping Tournament, the Canadian Junior and Senior Ski Jumping Championship and the International Cross Country Championship, held in February and March 1974.