Trailblazer: Nancy Greene Raine - Mountain Life - GWC Mag

A new video celebrates the life & legacy of a Canadian ski and sport icon.
Article sponsored by Sun Peaks Resort.
Words :: Feet Banks.

Here’s a badass stat: Nancy Greene Raine is the winningest ski racer in Canadian history.

Skiing fast and aggressive, in 1967 she won seven of 16 races (four giant slaloms, two slaloms, and a downhill) taking the inaugural World Cup title. The next year she took the title again, as well as capturing two Olympic medals—including the gold in giant slalom by a margin of more than two seconds over the closest competitor. Nancy was the Canadian champ nine times (and the American champ three times). She’s been awarded the Order of Canada, was featured on a postage stamp and, in 1999, journalists and broadcasters voted her Canada’s Female Athlete of the Century.

And that’s just the skiing. She’s also a mother of two boys, laid down a stint in government as a Senator, and along with husband Al Raine, played an important role in the early development of Whistler Village and was integral in creating another skier’s paradise at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops, BC. Not to mention the Nancy Greene Ski League, a nation-wide entry-level ski racing program to teach kids how to tap into their own love for skiing, racing, and going fast.

Having just turned 80, and with a new biographical mini-documentary dropping this winter, we caught up with Nancy (and Al) at their home in Sun Peaks, where Nancy still skis almost every day of the season.

Mountain Life: Nancy, the video turned out great. How does it feel to see so much of your life summed up into a ten-minute movie? Is it weird?

Nancy Greene Raine: No. It was kind of a fun exercise. It was really fun to film it, we had a great crew, very talented.

ML: You’ve been in Sun Peaks for a while now, you both really helped build it into what it is today, but you played a role in Whistler’s growth as well, and of course you’ve skied all over the world…what do you think makes a great ski town?

Al Raine: The people.

Nancy: Yes.

Al: With ski town people…their motivation is the lifestyle. And generally they’ve travelled a lot, are well educated, appreciate the importance of physical and mental fitness, or the value in raising a family in an environment where the children are stimulated on a regular basis. And at the same time, each ski town has its own unique attraction and personality.

Nancy: I grew up in a town that became a ski town—Rossland, B.C. It was a very old mining town but as the mines closed and the town was on the verge of dying, you might say skiing saved it. Skiing attracted new people to that area to live. Now that people can work from home, I think ski towns will get even more interesting.

ML: Whistler was more of a purpose-built ski town. What first drew you there back in the late 1970s?

Nancy: When Al was head coach of the National Ski Team, I was based out of Burnaby, BC. So Whistler was kind of a no-brainer. But the people interested in developing the area were more looking to sell as many lots as they could and move on. There was no concept of a village or a community in a lot of those plans. Al, you should talk about that a bit.

Al: After I left working for the ski team, I put a new ski policy together for the British Columbia government and convinced them to draft new land-use policies and eventually that is what allowed Blackcomb to be developed and for the Whistler Village to be built on the old “Olympic” site. Things stalled in the early 80’s with skyrocketing interest rates, so we took a sabbatical and moved the family to Switzerland for a few years. When we came back, we built a hotel in the new village.

ML: I remember it. The Nancy Greene Lodge! Nancy, you told all the kids in the elementary school we could come use the pool whenever we wanted. What spurred the decision to jump over to Sun Peaks and start the process, kind of again from the start?

Al: We had sold the hotel and were actually looking at an early retirement but then we heard the Okubo family had bought the old Tod Mountain ski hill and wanted to build a village over there. We thought we should come over and take a look. We met the Okubo family, and they invited us to come and be part of the new project. I knew Sun Peaks had great potential, the interior has drier snow, a better climate…we said, “Why not?”

Nancy: I had skied there once. They hosted the National Championships at Tod Mountain in ’64 or ’65. But it was Al who really understood the full potential of the area because it wasn’t just Tod Mountain, there were other mountains around that would make for great skiing. Plus they had a great plan and solid financial backing.

ML: Those mountains are all in play now. Nancy, from a skier’s perspective what do you still love about Sun Peaks after 30 years there?

Nancy: I like the long fall-line runs with all kinds of different terrain. There is a lot of really challenging skiing—originally Tod Mountain was too tough for a lot of people. But Sun Peaks added all kinds of intermediate skiing so now you see wee little kids, grandparents and great-grandparents all skiing together. But there is still plenty for the hardcore, black diamond and double black diamond skiers too.

ML: And since a ski town is only as good as its people, what’s the community like up there?

Nancy: We get a lot of visitors from Eastern Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Some have retired here, and young people come here and fall in love with it and settle in. So far the community has been able to grow without any “us and them” attitude against the lift company that you can find in some places. I think that’s a credit to Sun Peaks Resort but also to the community. The masterplan is good and most of the small businesses in the Sun Peaks Village own their premises which is very good for the future, and most people understand we are able to live here thanks to tourism. We all sing from the same song sheet.

ML: What’s been the biggest challenge in growing the resort?

Al: The summer. Skiing will bring a lot of people in winter but there is no one thing that brings that many people in the summer. So you need a lot of things. You need mountain biking, golf, hiking trails, tennis courts, parks, lakes. Mountain biking has been a big one recently.

ML: Well it is winter right now, so let’s get back to skiing. I wanted to ask Nancy, after such a storied career and seven decades on skis, you still get out and ski pretty much every day. What do you love about it? What keeps you skiing?

Nancy: It’s fun! I mean I really enjoy the physical sensations of skiing. And the fact that you can challenge yourself if you want, or just cruise. I like being with people on the slopes, helping them out. I think skiing is something you can do your whole life and it enriches your life and it’s very social. Where else can you get on a chairlift with three strangers and have a conversation for ten minutes? It’s great.

Al: And it’s just starting to snow outside too so that’s always good.

ML: It is indeed! Thanks Nancy, thanks Al. We’ll see you on the slopes.