This 87-year-old skier still races and has a basement packed full of every pair of skis he's owned
George Raham still feels joy when he looks out from the top of a skill hill.
For 82 years, he's been skiing — and collecting more than 60 pairs of skis along the way. He's never thrown a pair out, so they're all gathered in what he calls his "ski basement."
"I've just never lost my interest in it," Raham said.
He lives in the perfect place to keep it up, too. His home, which he shares with his wife, is in Harvie Heights, a hamlet on the outskirts of Canmore in Alberta's Rocky Mountains.
"I'm still strong on my skis. I feel a lot younger. You know, I'm better on my skis than I am on my feet walking around," he said. "It still gives me the thrill I got 80 years ago."
The avid skier, now aged 87, has maintained his love of the sport his entire life. He now competes regularly, with two races planned for this season, and he hits the slopes upward of 50 times each winter.
The whooshing of the wind and sliding of the skis brings a feeling of freedom he remembers from the first time he spotted a skier.
In North Toronto as a five-year-old boy on a toboggan, he came across an athlete standing on a pair of boards and sliding downhill. The concept immediately caught his imagination.
Each of his more than 60 pairs skis holds a memory, but none more than his first pair.
The little red boards are well-worn and no longer have the simple straps that once wrapped over his toes and around the heels of his rubber boots.
Teaching his son
When Raham became a father, one of sons asked to learn the sport, too. Raham taught David with the red skis.
"It was wonderful for me to see how he took to it, and he took to it beautifully. He had a natural grace on his skis," Raham said.
For years, the two skied together and took part in the annual Bruno Engler Memorial Race, albeit in different age categories. But David was killed two years ago in a work-related accident, a loss the family feels acutely today.
"It's something that I miss when I'm out skiing, not having him with me," Raham said.
Raham's wife, Marian Raham, said she fondly remembers the two skiing in the Torchlight Parade at Mount Norquay, and having family ski days with both their sons.
"It was just a good family thing. You could go out together and have the day together," she said. "It was good for everyone, kids included."
Raham still trains at Norquay with a group called the Rut Runners. His coaches push him to work on his technique, though as the years go by, competition has gotten slimmer.
In the 85-90 age group, there might be two competitors in a given race. Instead, Raham compares his times with those in younger age categories. Sometimes he's found he tops the 75-80 range.
This year, he plans to compete in the master series at Nakiska and at the Bruno Engler Memorial Race at Mount Norquay.
"My skiing has taught me that if I'm willing to pay the price, I can continue to ski because I do enjoy my skiing a great deal. It's kept me young, it kept me on my feet," Raham said. "I feel a sense of vigor from my skiing and it helps me stay young, think young and be young."
And things have changed since those early years. His skis used to have no edges or base. They had to be waxed so frequently, he'd bring a bar of soap to the top of the hill. Before flying down the hill, he'd have to soap up the boards.
"By the time you got down to the bottom, all the soap was gone but the ski ran beautifully," Raham said.
Once he clocked 93 km/h in downhill, but in practice, he aims to learn to be safe rather than fast.
His wife stopped skiing about 20 years ago, she said, after a few close calls with snowboarders.
Still, her husband puts in anywhere from 30 to 50 days, mostly during weekdays to beat the crowds.
And in the summer, he still finds a way to enjoy in the beautiful mountain landscape.
"There's nothing like riding a motorcycle for giving you a sense of freedom," Raham said. "I get that same sense of freedom on my skis when I'm carving a hill."
Listen to the Calgary Eyeopener's visit to Raham's ski basement:
With files from Monty Kruger, Paul Karchut and the Calgary Eyeopener.
