Three generations of ski instructors at Mont Tremblant

Teaching alpine skiing is a family affair for the Crook family: the grandfather, Robert (Bob), early in the ‘60s; the father, James, starting in 1995; and the sons, Axel-Louis and Benjamyn, starting this season. All at Tremblant.

“Skiing is in our genome…the common thread in our lives for three generations,” says James, age 55, a few minutes prior to donning his Tremblant Snow School uniform one frigid morning in January.

Being aware that the life of a ski pro presents some pretty major challenges in Québec, Bob and his wife Charlotte McAteer steered James in another direction – that of engineer, which he works at full-time with Hydro-Québec. But the passion for skiing never went away.

“I love my profession, but skiing defines me more. The mountain itself, sharing the skills, contact with the students…. It really turns me on and fascinates me,” he explains. It’s not hard to believe when you realize that James, whose weeks are more than full, spends most of his winter weekends and holidays teaching skiing.

The great migration

They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and it’s certainly true of the Crook family.

The patriarch, Bob, started skiing on Mont Farlang in Edmunston, New Brunswick, moving his skis to the Laurentians when he had  completed his education in Montreal.

After being assistant director of the Snow Eagle ski school at Gray Rocks from 1957 to 1961, he then took over the management of sports activities at Manoir Pinoteau. There he met Charlotte when the American, new to skiing, turned up for a ski week.

James made his first turns at the age of two on the Flying Inch run, behind Pinoteau. The family, with five children in all, moved to Labrador City in 1966. Bob had landed the job of general manager and ski school director for the Smokey Mountain ski school, a resort founded in 1961 by the Iron Ore mining company, mainly to facilitate employee recruitment and retention.

The Crook family moved next to Sept-Îles, where Bob took over the reins of Mont Gallix. After that there was Valinouët and Mont Édouard, in Saguenay, as well as Massif du Sud and La Crapaudière, in Bellechasse-Etchemin.

Today aged 85, Bob spends peaceful day in the Saguenay close to his daughters who, surprisingly, don’t teach skiing!

James raced, attaining the Sealtest Cup level prior to becoming a ski patroller during his years of education. He became an instructor in 1990 and tied up the loose ends by returning to Mont-Tremblant to teach in 1995.

Where do you think he met his wife, Sandrine Wettach? At the mountain, of course. And what was she doing? She was spending a year as a ski instructor armed with a brand-new certificate from the École nationale de ski et d’alpinisme of Chamonix, France!

With this kind of parents, it seemed that Axel-Louis (age 18) and Benjamyn (age 15) had their path well laid out. “I’m not sure they needed to actually decide to become Tremblant instructors, it was just such a natural progression,” says James.

His sons had been taking courses here since their earliest days, had competed with the Club de ski Mont-Tremblant, and now proudly wear the Snow School’s red uniform.

And Sandrine? Well, for the past five years she’s been taking off for the Alps for part of the winter, and has been teaching skiing at Morzine for the past two years.