A. Sidney Dawes

Sidney Dawes lifelong involvement with skiing began on the slopes of Mount Royal, Montreal, Quebec, in the years before the First World War (1914-1918) and in the 1920s in the Laurentian Mountains, Quebec. He is best known, however, not for his skiing prowess but for his contribution over many years to the organizational development of skiing in Canada.

Following the Olympic Games held in Squaw Valley, U.S.A., in 1960, he was invited by the late Premier of British Columbia to search for a site in British Columbia to support a Canadian bid to host the 1968 winter Olympic Games. Rejecting the original suggestion, Diamond Head, as a possible contender, Sidney Dawes inspected what was then London Mountain and renamed later, Whistler Mountain, and advised the Premier that the site was one of the best in North America. In July 1990, representatives from three decades of provincial politics and sport gathered at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club to pay tribute to the two men instrumental in the building of Whistler Mountain and commemorating that fact with a plaque in honour of Premier W A C Bennet and A Sidney Dawes.

Career Highlights

1928
Became an early member of the Red Birds Ski Club, Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1928 to keep “…together a group of McGill Ski Team friends who loved to ski and compete.” (from the introduction by Dick Meyer to The Trail Breakers, Red Birds Ski Club, 1928 – 2000.)

1932
Was a competitor in the First Quebec Kandahar race.

1944
President of the Canadian Amateur Ski Association.

1946
President of the Canadian Olympic Association.

1947
Member of the International Olympic Association (IOC) and Canadian representative to the International Olympic Committee in the 1950s and 1960s.

Please Note: The ski information gathered here is compiled from a number of sources; it may not be inclusive of all accomplishments.
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