Toronto Ski Club’s 100th Anniversary
One hundred years ago, on October 20th, 1924, the Toronto Ski Club (TSC) was formed. Originally founded with six members as the Telemark Ski Club in 1908, before changing its name 16 years later, the TSC went on to become the largest local ski club in the world by 1940 with over 7,000 members.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Ski Club
Fast forward to today, and the TSC is one of the oldest ski clubs in Canada, boasting over 1,500 snow-loving members and a private and cozy clubhouse at the base of one of the most popular ski resorts in the country, Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, Ontario.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Ski Club
Thanks to its storied history, to say that the TSC played an outsized role in the inception of skiing in Ontario would be putting it lightly. After gathering together to schuss down the gentle slopes of Toronto’s High Park in the club’s earliest days, its members eventually leased farmland in Caledon for winter usage and the Summit Golf Club in Richmond Hill—where its original clubhouse was built—before establishing the Dagmar Ski Area in Uxbridge, while initiating what would turn out to be fruitful investments in the Collingwood area in the mid-1930s.
Over the course of the next 10 years, the TSC worked with the newly established Collingwood Ski Club to merge its local properties and build a series of makeshift tow lifts (one of which was the first ski lift in the province) on what would eventually become Blue Mountain Resort. The club then agreed to lease its real estate interests in the area in 1948 to Jozo Weider—who would later found the resort—in exchange for cash, shares and other considerations, along with loaning Weider additional funds for future development of the resort.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Archives
From there, while continuing to increase its investments in the Dagmar Ski Area and completing construction on its current clubhouse at the base of Blue in 1960, various TSC members would go on to help form the Beaver Valley, Osler Bluff, Craigleith and Georgian Peaks Ski Clubs, ushering in the private ski club culture that peppers the hillsides and base areas of Ontario’s plethora of beloved ski resorts. In Canada, skis clubs are relatively unique to the country’s second largest province. They’re perhaps best described a place where everyone knows your name, and somewhat reminiscent of a large, multi-generational family spending a ski vacation in the same house.
In addition to the TSC’s aforementioned achievements, 12 of its past and present members have been inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, including notable figures like Weider and the co-founders of the Canadian Ski Patrol System, Douglas Firth and Ross Larway (who have runs named after them at Blue—Dr. Doug and Larway), plus former Canadian National Alpine Ski Team alumni Todd Brooker (one of the legendary Crazy Canucks), Lisa Savijarvi, and Rob Crossan, who competed in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics after coming up through the TSC’s highly-regarded instruction and racing programs, which, coming full circle, he now runs as the club’s head coach.
Photo courtesy of CLLiK Photography
Since its pioneering days, the TSC has evolved and grown into an entity that provides these types of alpine programs to help beginner to advanced recreational and competitive skiers and snowboarders hone their skills (whether they’re current or prospective members), and a family-friendly, camaraderie-focused and fun-filled environment where children can safely frolic on and off the slopes while their parents spend quality time socializing with new and lifelong friends.
And in the spirit of its humble and trailblazing beginnings, the TSC has above all else successfully continued its primary mission: to foster the growth and development of winter sports while providing a welcoming environment for all. And one could easily say that they’re just getting started.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Ski Club
Happy Anniversary Toronto Ski Club. Here’s to another 100 years.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Ski Club
For more on the Toronto Ski Club, visit torontoskiclub.on.ca.