John Eaves

The son of Canadian Olympic skier Rhoda Wurtele, John Eaves was born in Montreal in 1953 and started skiing at age two and quickly moved into ski racing in the Laurentian Zone until his mid-teen years.

John went on to compete then competed professionally in freestyle skiing from 1973 to 1982 and won 42 World Cup events, as well as three world aerial skiing titles and three world combined titles.

In international competition, John Eaves was one of the most successful skiers to represent Canada in the freestyle disciplines. He won six world championships (combined in 1977, aerials and combined in 1978, aerials and combined in 1979 and aerials in 1980).

In 39 events during the period between 1980-1982, he placed in the top 15 on 30 occasions, showing no decline in his abilities to compete with the worlds best.

Following retirement, John entertained audiences worldwide with his spectacular stunt skiing in, most notably, the 1981 film, ”For Your Eyes Only” when, as a double for actor Roger Moore playing the famous 007 spy hero James Bond, he skied down the iced bobsled run at Cortina, Italy at speeds of nearly 120 kilometre per hour.

In the film, White Magic, his talent was put to the test when he was required to ski icebergs in Iceland, skiing down 50 degree faces of 200 to 300 feet of sheer ice on skis modified with special “sawtooth” edges to allow them to grip. In 1988 John also produced and skied in his own film ”Skiers Dream” and in 1995, he doubled for Jackie Chan in a film called First Strike. This time his stunts were performed on a snowboard. One of the dangerous stunts saw John jumping from a cliff and grabbing the skids of a hovering helicopter.

You will know John Eaves’ unique jump in front of a wall of fire in “Fire and Ice” – but John Eaves did a lot more great stunts for Willy Bogner’s movies. See below the video of the best of the best.

Career Highlights

• 1977: Combined freestyle overall title
• 1978: Aerials and combined freestyle overall title
• 1979: Aerials and combined freestyle overall title
• 1980: Aerials freestyle overall title

Note: The information gathered here is compiled from a number of sources; it may not be inclusive of all accomplishments. Copyright © 2023, Canadian Ski Museum. For personal and/or educational use only. All Rights Reserved.