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authority records
Skier

Raine, Al

  • CA-BC-RA001
  • Person
  • b. October 22, 1941

Al Raine was one of the original Whistler aldermen and played an instrumental role in the creation of Whistler Village and the opening of Blackcomb Mountain. Born in Vancouver, he started skiing in his late teens and spent three years (1962-1965) in Europe honing his skills. After returning to Canada, he worked at the Red Mountain Ski Area in Rossland, B.C. and coached the Ski Hawks in Montreal before being hired by the Southern Ontario Ski Zone to organize and lead a junior program in the area. Raine's success in this task led to his appointment as Head Coach and Program Director for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in 1968. The Canadian team rose to new heights in the late 60s and early 70s due in part to Raine's drive, innovation, and management skills.

Al Raine and his wife, ski champion Nancy Greene, built a cabin in Whistler in 1970. This served as their summer home while Nancy coached at the Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp on Whistler Glacier. The same year saw the birth of the couple's twin sons, Charlie and Willy.

In 1973, Raine quit his position with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and moved to Whistler full-time. The BC government was seeking someone with the skills and experience to oversee the development of Whistler as a tourist resort and promote the expansion of skiing in the province. Raine fit the description perfectly. He was chosen as Ski Area Coordinator of British Columbia in 1974. The following year, when Whistler was made an official Resort Municipality, Raine became one of the first aldermen under Mayor Pat Carleton. He acted as a liaison between the municipality and the provincial government, assisted in the building of a sewer plant for the valley, and helped plan and coordinate the development of Whistler Village. In the face of opposition from large property owners, he accompanied Carleton to Victoria to get provincial approval for the creation of the Village and came back successful. He was the first to propose developing Blackcomb Mountain as a ski hill (in 1976) and received a joint bid from the Aspen Ski Corporation of Canada and the Canadian Federal Business Development Bank. Raine led the negotiation of a 50-year lease and land use contract, resulting in the opening of Blackcomb in 1980.

Raine's duties as Ski Area Coordinator took him beyond Whistler, assessing 45 different areas throughout British Columbia for their potential as ski sites. At this time he also worked as a consultant for the A.R. Resort Planning Group. His projects included carrying out studies for the BC heli-ski industry, devising a master plan for Hudson Bay Mountain, and evaluating the ski potential of areas such as Big White, Shames Creek, Tod Mountain (now Sun Peaks Resort) and Snow Basin (in Utah).

In 1980, Raine stepped down from his positions and became General Manager of the Whistler Resort Association. He was responsible for scheduling events, taking reservations, promoting tourism, and providing information about Whistler to guests. He resigned from this position in 1982 for health reasons and spent two years teaching skiing in Switzerland. During this time he also assisted Crans Montana in its successful bid to host the 1987 World Alpine Ski Championships. In 1984 he moved back to Whistler to help with the development of Nancy Greene's Olympic Lodge. He was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1988.

The Raines moved to Sun Peaks in the B.C. interior during the 1990s and continue to operate Nancy Greene's Cahilty Lodge there. Al Raine was elected Mayor of this resort town in 2010.

Sailer, Toni

  • AT-ST001
  • Person
  • November 17, 1935 - August 24, 2009

Toni Sailer was one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, and for many years he was the head coach of Whistler's Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp. He was born Anton Englebert Sailer in Kitzbühel in 1935, where he was trained as a glazier and tin smith.

Sailer won more than 170 major ski races and helped to shape Austria's image as a skiing nation. At the 1956 Olympics in Cortina, Italy, Sailer became the first skier to win all three alpine gold medals at a Winter Olympics. In addition to these Olympic victories, he also collected seven world championship gold medals and one silver.

At the age of 23 he retired from competition and went on to become a film and singing star, playing the leading role in more than 20 movies. In the later 1960s Sailer was recruited by Roy Ferris and Allan White, owners of the Cheakamus Inn, to lead the summer ski camp they organized on Whistler Mountain.

For more than a decade Sailer spent his summers in Whistler, coaching young ski racers. Members of the camp's coaching staff included Nancy Greene Raine, French innovator Patrick Russel, Greg Lee and freestyle legend Wayne Wong.

Sailer married his first wife, Gaby Rummeny, in Vancouver in 1976. They had a son together named Florian. Years after Rummeny passed away Sailer got remarried to a woman named Hedwig Fischer.

Sailer also produced Toni Sailer skis in Canada during the early 1970s and served as technical director of the Austrian Ski Federation between 1972 and 1976. As well, for many years Sailer was the race director of the prestigious Hahnenkamm downhill in his hometown of Kitzbühel.

In 1985, Sailer was awarded the Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and in 1999 he was awarded Austria's sportsman of the century.

He died of cancer in Innsbruck, Austria in 2009 at the age of 73.

Rey, Denis

  • FR-RD001
  • Person
  • b. February 9, 1966

Denis Rey is a retired French alpine skier who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1993 Labatt Blue World Men's Downhill at Whistler Mountain.

Taylor, B.

  • CA-TB001
  • Person
  • fl. 1993

B. Taylor is a Canadian skier who served as a forerunner during the 1993 Labatt Blue World Men's Downhill at Whistler Mountain.

Thorsen, C.

  • CA-TC001
  • Person
  • fl. 1993

C. Thorsen is a Canadian skier who served as a forerunner during the 1993 Labatt Blue World Men's Downhill at Whistler Mountain.

Oldfield, Graydon

  • CA-ON-OG001
  • Person
  • b. 1973

Graydon Oldfield is a former member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team who competed in the Alpine World Cup Ski Tour and the 1993 Labatt Blue Downhill at Whistler Mountain. He was crowned Canadian Champion in 1997 and received an Alumni of the Year Award in 2004. Oldfield retired from skiing in 1999 and joined ScotiaMcLeod, for which he is currently Senior Wealth Advisor and Associate Director of Wealth Management. He is also president of the Barrie Cycling Club, former Chair of Gilda's Club Simcoe Muskoka, and a mentor to business students at Georgian College. He lives in Barrie, Ontario.

Steele, David

  • PR-SD001
  • Person
  • fl. 1993

David Steele is a Puerto Rican skier who participated in the 1993 Labatt Blue Men's Downhill at Whistler Mountain.

Mealey, John

  • CA-ON-MJ001
  • Person
  • b. 1968

John Mealey is a former member of the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, he started skiing at the age of two and later joined the Soo Ski Runners team, which was coached by his father. Mealey won the slalom race at the 1983 Canadian Juvenile Ski Championships. He went on to have a number of podium finishes in the Europa Cup and Nor-Am Cup Races in the late 1980s and early 1990s and sixteen Top 20 finishes in World Cup races between 1990 and 1994. Among the races he competed in were the 1993 Labatt Blue Men's Downhill and Super G at Whistler Mountain. He won the title of Canadian Downhill Champion at Lake Louise in 1994. He has also participated three times in the "24 hours of Aspen" race, an international endurance contest in which racers raise money for charity. In 2004 he was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame. As of that same year, he was the chairman of Alpine Ontario.

Wirth, Patrick

  • AT-WP002
  • Person
  • b. September 17, 1971

Patrick Wirth is a retired Austrian alpine skier who competed in the 1993 Labatt Blue Men's Downhill and Super G at Whistler Mountain.

Oppliger, Paulo

  • CL-OP001
  • Person
  • b. November 16, 1971

Paulo Oppliger is a Chilean former alpine skier who competed in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1993 Labatt Blue Men's Downhill and Super G at Whistler Mountain.

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