Excellence on the Escarpment Small vertical, big results: A 750-f00t-high ridge in Ontario has spawned many of Canada’s Olympic and World Cup champions. BY LORI KNOWLES reative Canadian of Canada’s top competitors spent carried them to the runs. With names marketers call it the their formative winters along this like Wearie, Gib, Nipper and Hans, Blue Mountains but ridge: riding tows, dancing through these pioneers persevered. They trans- locals know it as the gates, schussing icy chutes. formed farm houses into clubhouses, escarpment—a rim It started in the early 20th century, used old Buick motors to power Coverlooking Georgian Bay, a geo- as it always does, with an intrepid tows. In 1935 they hired Fritz Loosli, logical landmark of Southern On- group of men and women wearing a Swiss immigrant, to head the show. tario with a vertical drop of 750 feet laced boots and gabardine suits. Rec- His inventive sleigh/cable contraption and a 2.5-mile-long strip of steep ognizing the ski potential of a snowy carried nine people and their skis up ski runs that have produced some escarpment 100 miles (160 kilometers) the escarpment at a time. Five years of the world’s greatest ski racers: north of Toronto near Collingwood, later, Jackrabbit Johannsen was paid 1980 Olympic bronze medalist Steve the Toronto and Blue Mountain ski the princely sum of $100 to survey the Podborski; four-time Olympian Bri- clubs made their mark. Through the escarpment’s terrain and create a de- an Stemmle; three-time World Cup 1920s and ’30s they built ski jumps velopment plan. downhill winner Todd Brooker; and cut runs. History books say a Then, in 1940, the Canadian and six-time World Cup ace Laurie fox-hunting trumpet called skiers to National Railway (CNR) caught the Graham. An impressive number the slopes; horses hitched to sleighs bug. A special train was commis- 28 | September-October 2019 SKIING HISTORY Excellence on the Escarpment GEORGIAN PEAKS GEORGIAN Above: An alpine racer flies down a course at Georgian Peaks. Established by Toronto lawyer Ian Rogers in 1960, just one year later the resort hosted the world’s top racers at an event sponsored by Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup. Left: View from the slopes of Blue Mountain, with a long view toward the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. M PHOTOS / ISTOCK sioned to leave Toronto’s Union Sta- LAURENTIAN SKI MUSEUM tion every winter Sunday, reaching Left: Slovakian immigrant Jozo Weider Collingwood by 11 a.m.. Maurice arrived in 1941 to build Blue Mountain Margesson set up a ski shop in a into a thriving resort. Above: In 1940, the baggage car to show off the lat- MOUNTAIN BLUE legendary Jackrabbit Johannsen was paid est fashion: lederhosen, snowflake $100 to survey the escarpment terrain. ski sweaters, tapered tweeds. Ski racing flourished, of course. Sticks gathered from the Canadian “bush” served as slalom poles, and down- and private facility. downhill. The Canadian Junior Ski hills snaked perilously through It’s little wonder that from this Championships were held at Osler naked hardwoods. Jozo Weider elbow-grease generation, a next Bluff Ski Club in 1959. Its winner arrived in 1941, a Slovakian skier generation of impressive ski rac- was Elizabeth Greene from Ross- with determination, ingenuity and ers emerged. Weaned on wartime land, BC. Her sister Nancy, 15—who charm. His perseverance in building innovation and unafraid of hard would go on to win the first overall Blue Mountain paid off. Through work, their parents pushed up their women’s World Cup in 1967—placed the next two decades the escarp- sleeves and got to it: cutting sla- eighth even though she dislocated ment was lined with lucrative ski lom poles, sewing flags, becoming her shoulder on the piste. areas, one public: Blue Mountain; gatekeepers, bootpacking courses Perhaps it was inspiration from three private: Osler Bluff, Craigleith, so kids could race. To keep things pro races such as The Bee Hive and Alpine, plus Georgian Peaks, interesting on small hills that lacked Giant Slalom (see the March-April which was established in 1960 by powder, extended pitches and 2014 issue of Skiing History) that Toronto lawyer Ian “Buck” Rogers, glades, through the 1950s club rac- spurred future champions on—a and has operated as both a public ing grew strong: slalom, GS, even major sports event at Georgian www.skiinghistory.org September-October 2019 | 29 GEORGIAN PEAKS ARCHIVES PEAKS GEORGIAN Stein Eriksen (center) won the first Bee Hive slalom in February 1961 on boiler- plate conditions, with Anderl Molterer in second and Christian Pravda in third. COURTESY TODD BROOKER TODD COURTESY Todd Brooker came up through the Toronto Ski Club ranks at Blue Mountain. A member of the famed “Crazy Canucks” men’s alpine squad, his 1983 downhill victory on Kitzbühel’s fearsome Hahnenkamm is his most memorable win. Peaks in February 1961 with a National Alpine Championships in cash prize of $1,500 for first place. 1969. Perhaps the greatest achieve- Sponsored by Bee Hive Golden ment of that era on the escarpment Corn Syrup, the race attracted all was by a woman: Georgian Peaks’ the stars: Ernie McCulloch, Stein skier Judy Crawford placed fourth Eriksen, Austrians Anderl Molt- in women’s slalom at the Olympic erer, Christian Pravda, and Othmar Winter Games in Sapporo in 1972. Schneider. They say Toni Sailer, She competed in World Cup events winner of three Olympic golds, from 1969-1973, garnering 23 top 10 ALPINE ONTARIO showed up but didn’t race. On boil- finishes, including a third in Grin- Steve Podborski learned to race at tiny erplate conditions it was Eriksen delwald in 1973. Craigleith and in 1980 became the first who won, with Molterer in second Indeed, 1973 was a memorable North American male to win an Olympic and Pravda in third. The following year for escarpment racers. In mid- medal in downhill (a bronze at the Lake year Pepi Gramshammer entered winter Bob Beattie’s 100s Grand Placid Games). the Bee Hive, along with Tony Prix steamed into Southern Ontar- Spiess, Ernst Hinterseer and Jim io, a pro tour promoted by Benson McConkey, who came from nearby & Hedges that boasted $400,000 in Barrie, Ontario, and went on to prize money and big names such Whistler fame (for more on the Bee as Jean-Claude Killy and Vladimir Hive Giant Slalom, see the March- “Spider” Sabich, who had movie April 2014 issue of Skiing History). star Claudine Longet in tow. With 10,000 spectators and cov- In those days, local Craigleith erage in The New York Times, gigs like racer Steve Podborski was gathering the Bee Hive made ski racing glam. steam as well. As a Crazy Canuck, A slew of Canadian success stories “Pod” joined Ken Read, Dave Irwin, followed: scrappy escarpment kids and Dave Murray as they blazed in tall toques and puffy jackets and across Europe in the late ‘70s and ear- skinny racing pants. Among the ly ‘80s. Podborski was the first North first was Graham Hess, a Craigleith American male to win an Olympic kid who was named to Canada’s medal in downhill, a bronze in 1980 ALPINE ONTARIO national ski team at age 14 in 1964. at Lake Placid; in 1982 he was the Osler Bluff racer Laurie Graham won five Dan Hadley, also from Craigleith, first North American crowned World World Cup downhills during a career that followed Hess to the team in 1965. Cup downhill champion. spanned from 1979 t0 1988. Georgian Peaks’ Diana Gibson fin- “Skiing as a kid on the escarp- ished third (combined) in the U.S. ment,” says Podborski, “and then 30 | September-October 2019 SKIING HISTORY HERMAN KOESLAG / EYE IN THE SKY PHOTOGRAPHY Veronica “Roni” Remme was named the Canadian ski team’s Female Athlete of the Year in May 2019. ALPINE ONTARIO Brian Stemmle competed on Canada’s HERMAN KOESLAG / EYE IN THE SKY PHOTOGRAPHY HERMAN KOESLAG Candace Crawford of Georgian Peaks ruled the Nor-Am circuit in 2014–2015, claiming national team for 14 years in the 1980s four of the five titles (overall, slalom, giant slalom and alpine combined), along with and 1990s, including 93 World Cup races second place overall in super G. In the 2018 Winter Olympics, she placed 25th in GS. and four Olympics. making it to the Olympics is the with the importance of the sport there. It includes Larisa Yurkiw, Erin equivalent of playing soccer with in Europe, the crowds that would Mielzynski, Candace Crawford, Jack a ball made of rags in a barrio and show up to races. I was inspired. I Crawford and Ali Nullmeyer of getting to soccer’s World Cup. It’s wanted to be like Karl Schranz and Georgian Peaks, Declan McCormack unlikely, but it’s also an affirmation Toni Sailer and Jean Claude Killy. I from Osler Bluff, Meg and Kate that the foundation of sport is play, wanted to race in the Olympics and Ryley from Craigleith. Dozens of es- and you can play with the best be a champion!” (For more on the carpment racers have gone on to ski along the escarpment.” Crazy Canucks, see July-August 2011 for Dartmouth, Middlebury, Utah, Pod was joined on the Crazy issue of Skiing History.) Colorado, and beyond. In May 2019, Canuck squad by Todd Brooker, Next, from Osler Bluff came with a swell of support and a slew a neighbor from Blue Mountain’s Laurie Graham, one of the most of World Cup finishes in her stats, Toronto Ski Club (TSC). Brooker’s consistent downhillers Canada has Roni (Veronica) Remme of Alpine list of wins is long, perhaps none ever produced.