Three generations ago, John Monod arrived in Banff from Switzerland with five dollars in his pocket, a watch and nothing else.
He traded the watch for accommodation and worked to allow him to partake of his love of skiing. He began raising a family, taking his boys to ski in winter while picking rocks and boulders off the runs at Norquay in summer.
Sixty years later, operators of the hill that meant so much to the Monods have honoured the family, renaming a run after the long-time Banff residents. Peter, Nick and Philip Monod and their families can now ski Monod’s Legacy run on Mystic Ridge. The family was recognized for their contributions on April 17 at Norquay.
The Monods have been actively involved with the ski community through their long-standing outdoor shop on Banff Avenue. Their original store was located at Sunshine in 1949, but was moved to the downtown area in the 1950s.
Crazy Canuck Ken Read was on hand to praise the Monod family, noting their contribution to the ‘human heritage’ of skiing in the national park.
For Peter, having a run named for his family, “is very, very special to us. As a kid growing up, I would have never thought in a billion years they’d name a run after us. I think it’s named after our father, but it’s nice to see a generational carry-over. That’s very rare to see in Banff today.”
“Our dad would be very honoured,” Nick said, noting the hill is an integral part of Banff. “It’s critical this place survives. It’s such a big part of skiing in Banff and Alberta.”
Philip said it’s great to see family tradition celebrated at Norquay, as he recalled the days when he and his brothers would get rides from local parents up the hill, skiing all the way down to the village at the end of the day.
“I remember all the kids came up here and if you had a car you were obligated to pick up the kids at the bottom. Everyone would pile into the car and everyone skied to the bottom to the timberline. Sometimes we’d have to walk down the highway to the store after skiing,” Philip said.
Today, their children ski at Norquay and the family watched Tatum tear it up at the Bozo Cup.
“All the kids will be back here and they’ll bring their kids here. Norquay has always been a spot for family,” Philip said.
“Tatum is skiing and having fun. It’s just what we do. For our entire life, it’s just been what we do,” Peter said.
While the number of ski families in Banff is changing, and there are no longer gaggles of local kids hitchhiking up to the hill, the Monods said there is still a core group of ski enthusiasts contributing to the ski culture that stretched from Calgary to Banff.
“Calgary skiers built the Banff ski community. We see that every day in the shop,” Nick said. “We see the same core of people.”
“Look at the icons from the national team. This is where the hub was. This is where they skied,” Philip said.
Andre Quenneville, general manager of Ski Norquay said naming runs after skiers and ski families is a great way of strengthening community ties.
“Norquay is the local, family Banff resort. A lot of kids grow up skiing here. It’s great to be part of the community. The community supports us and we want to make sure we support the community,” Quenneville said.
Norquay has named runs after Thomas Grandi and Rob Bosinger and will continue naming runs in the future.
“It’s a model we want to do. The owners were keen on re-naming runs. The names will live on for a long time,” Quenneville said.
The brothers agree it’s something their father would approve of.
“He (John) was a man of few words ,but he would have been truly, truly honoured,” Nick said.
