The Laurentian Ski Zone has a colourful and rich history which can be traced back to the formation of the Montreal Ski Club. The club, the first ski club in North America, gave birth to the Laurentian Ski Zone in September 1904. When it was inducted, this organization was regrouping more than 1,000 competitors in […]
Jean-Paul “Eddy” Fortier loved snowmobile and crosscountry: the impossible combo. In 1970, he made his choice: it was the cross-country skiing. He converted his family to crosscountry by selling his “ski-doos”. Actively involved in clearing and opening crosscountry trails, his first trail that ran from Mont-Rolland to Piedmont was built between 1972 and 1979. He […]
Lucien Lachapelle was a journalist and ski historian he worked for The Canadian Press for 47 years, from 1930 to 1977. In January 1946, he covered his first ski race for The Canadian Press, the Red Birds’ downhill at Saint-Sauveur. In 1949, he was a driving force behind the creation and formation of ski clubs […]
Son of Canadian Olympic skier Rhoda Wurtele, John Eaves was born in Montreal in 1953. He started skiing at age 2 and raced in the Laurentian Zone until age 13. He competed professionally in freestyleskiing from 1973 to 1982 and won 42 World Cup events. He won three World Aerial Skiing titles and three World Combined […]
Born in Trois-Rivières in 1930, Jacques Charland was a remarkable ski-jumping skier. He was the Canada junior champion in 1947. He also was the Senior champion of Eastern Canada in 1951. He was the record holder for the longest jump for a North American jumper in 1958. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic […]
Georges Vigeant was born in 1926. He became a certified instructor from the Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance (CSIA) in 1959. He was a CSIA level IV instructor in 1960. He was a national examiner for CSIA between 1960 and 1980. He was a member of the Canadian Interski Demonstration Team in 1965 and in 1968. […]
Alex Kerr-Gillespie was born in Montréal in 1919 and moved after in the Laurentians with his family. Along with his brothers and sisters, he was going to school. That trail was later known as the “Gillespie Trail”. In 1936, he finished first in the Junior Tachereau at Mont-Tremblant. In 1940, he is the Provincial cross-country […]
Fernand Lessard was born in 1924. He as the Junior Championship of the Université de Montréal in 1941. He won the Taschereau at Mont-Tremblant in 1942. He won the double slalom and the downhill at Saint-Sauveur in 1944. He was nicknamed the “Flying Frenchman” at the Giant Slalom of Mont-Gabriel. He won the Downhill Red Bird […]
Born in 1918, Peggy Johannsen was the daughter of the famous Jackrabbit Johannsen. She won many competitions during her ski carreer. She won the downhill of Red Birds Ski Club at Saint-Sauveur in 1933. She won the downhill of the Club Ski-To in 1935. She also won the combined Championship of the Penguins at Saint-Sauveur […]
Sons of John Basler, a Swiss immigrant settled in Morin-Heights in 1919, George « Bunny » Basler and Albert Basler builted the first rope tow at Morin-Heights and the first hotel for skiers in the Laurentians. Bunny and Albert won several ski competitions in the Laurentians. After the Second World War, Albert manages the family […]
