I still remember the way the cold bit at my cheeks as I stepped off the bus.
I was in high school, and winter in Alberta meant darkness clinging to the morning and the crunch of snow under every boot.
Our high school had organized a ski day, and most of us had been buzzing about it for weeks. I had never skied before but couldn’t wait to hit the slopes at Rabbit Hill Snow Resort south of Edmonton.
The hill wasn’t huge like the mountain resorts in British Columbia we saw in brochures, but to us it felt big enough and after figuring out the towrope and the bunny hill, I thought I was good enough to hit more difficult runs.
I rode up on the chairlift, my legs dangling as the lift hummed overhead.
From the top, I could see the North Saskatchewan River valley stretching white and flat in the distance.
Then I quickly practiced…French fries and pizza with my skis, looked down at the lodge one hundred metres below me and fearlessly took off.
The feeling of the wind in my hair was exhilarating.
This was the 1990s, so helmets were completely optional.
I thought I was hot stuff on the ski hill.
Then I hit a bad patch of snow and slammed face first into the ground.
That night, my parents kept me awake and asked me random questions like “What is the day of the week?”, “What is your name?”
Thankfully, I didn’t have a concussion, but it was the end of my skiing career.
I’m not a thrill seeker on the hill, after all…. I’m not a Crazy Canuck…I’m Craig Baird
But today on Canadian History Ehx I am joined by one.
He is one of Canada’s greatest skiers,
His name? Ken Read!
This story begins far from the spotlight and very far from the Alps.
It begins on Nov 6, 1955, in Ann Arbor, Michigan where Ken Read was born and skiing had been imprinted in his DNA.
After all, Ken said his mother Dee had been the Canadian downhill and combined champion in 1948.
Ken Read (01:44.416)
His father, John, was doing a postgraduate in pediatrics.
By the time Ken was three, he was skiing down the hills outside the city on hiss first pair of skis which were from Woodward’s Department store.
The price of Ken’s journey into Olympic history?
A mere $5.95.
In 1958, the family moved to Vancouver, where the North Shore Mountains stood like a promise on the horizon.
His father became an assistant professor of public health and pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and Ken was within driving distance, of places like Mount Seymour Ski Area where the family went every winter weekend.
After four years in Vancouver, John became the head of the Department of Preventative Medicine at Queen’s University.
Once again, the Reads packed up and moved.
This time across the country and far away from the big hills near The Rockies.
In their new home the family joined the Ottawa Ski Club at Camp Fortune.
The club was the largest in the region and had been around for decades as the most popular choice for alpine racing, and for producing Olympians.
Ken Read (05:25.62)
Sharing the same slopes as people he looked up to help make Camp Fortune a second home.
For five years he pushed the limits, inspired by other skiers, but by 1967 his thrill seeking came at a cost when he went over a homemade jump and broke his right leg in two places.
A year later, the family was on the move again.
This time they settled in Calgary and Ken wasted no time in joining the Lake Louise Ski Club in Banff National Park.
By now he was obsessed with the sport and wanted to find a way to ski all year.
When the resorts closed from April to September, Ken just went up higher to the mountain glaciers to ski.
But Ken knew that in Canada in the 1960s and early ’70s, alpine skiing wasn’t exactly a guaranteed path to glory.
The Europeans were the ones that dominated downhill racing, but one woman was carving out a spot for Canadians internationally and today she’s recognized as the nation’s most decorated female skier of the 20th century.
Ken Read (05:56.462)
Seeing Canadians performing so well inspired Ken to keep pushing the limits, but again he took it too far in 1969, when he once again broke a leg during a training run.
That wasn’t going to keep him from the slopes because once he was healed, he was back on the skis pushing for better lines and better times. But his world was about to be rocked by a move across the pond.
In 1972, Ken’s father took a position with the World Health Organization.
That meant the whole family was moving once more, but this time to Switzerland.
Ken Read (09:16.356)
By the early ’70s, Switzerland was already one of the dominant forces in international alpine skiing.
The country had hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, and Swiss racers were household names.
Ski heroes like Bernhard Russi who was Olympic downhill champion that year, symbolized technical precision and controlled aggression.
Swiss skiers were known for their smooth, efficient style compared to the more flamboyant Austrians but for both countries racing mattered deeply.
World Cup events in places like Wengen and St. Moritz were more than a competition… they were national showcases, a place where the two countries could battle for ski supremacy.
(11:04.993)
The family returned to Canada in 1973, and by then Ken had a new perspective on skiing and his future within the sport.
He wanted to make the national team.
Ken had raced in Europe, and he sent those results to Scott Henderson, who was head coach of the team.
Ken Read (15:03.931)
Scott was impressed by this brash fearless skier and invited him to a preliminary ski camp at Sunshine Village in Banff and that led to a Can-Am team tryout in Rossland, British Columbia.
The Canadian American Racing Series had been founded during the 1970-71 ski season as a training ground for young racers.
The best racers would then be selected for the national team.
Ken Read (11:42.642)
Ken joined a group of Canadian skiers that at best were considered plucky outsiders.
But that was about to change.
By the mid-1970s, Ken was part of a bold, fearless group of Canadian downhill racers who would come to be known collectively as the Crazy Canucks. You’ll remember from my episode in February 2026, that they had shocked the ski world by taking the toughest, iciest lines down the slopes in the hopes of making the best times. And Ken might have been the best of them.
Ken Read (18:07.581)
On Jan. 19, 1975, all that hard work began to pay off.
Ken came in ninth in the combined at Kitzbuehel, Austria, followed by eighth in the downhill two weeks later on Feb. 2 in Megeve, France.
Ken Read (18:29.579)
The Canadians had been exposed to European racing and began to see results.
In 1975, Ken won his first of six consecutive downhill Canadian Alpine Ski Championships
Ken Read (16:52.006)
On Dec. 7, 1975, at Val d’Isere, France, Ken skied the first race of t his sophomore season.
His time was 2:04.97.
As the first skier down the hill, he then had to wait for every other racer to come down and see if his time had been good enough.
Skier after skier crossed the finish line.
Ken’s time held and by the end of the event his time was the fastest.
Ken was the first Canadian man to win a World Cup ski event.
It wasn’t a fluke either.
He did it on the back of aggressive, technical, fearless skiing.
Not to be outdone, his fellow Crazy Canucks, Dave Irwin, Jungle Jim Hunter, Steve Podborski, and Dave Murray finished fourth, ninth, tenth and 13th respectively.
Ken’s victory had shattered a psychological barrier.
Canada was no longer just participating.
Canada was winning.
He was looking to repeat his previous feat a month later on Jan. 9, 1976, in Wengen, Switzerland.
But it wasn’t meant to be because Ken took a bad corner and didn’t make it down the course.
While he was unharmed, his teammate Dave Irwin had a terrible fall and rolled into the protective netting.
Ken went up to his friend expecting him to be okay but instead saw blood everywhere.
Irwin was starting to turn blue because he had suffered a severe concussion, several broken ribs and facial cuts from his glasses shattering into him.
His skis, helmet and poles were all destroyed.
Today, the spot where Dave and Ken wiped out is called Canadian Corner.
And at the time the Canucks didn’t have much time to dwell on the accident.
They had their sights set on the Olympic games.
And all eyes would be on the Crazy Canucks in Innsbruck.
In the downhill, Ken Read took fifth place, only .4 seconds away from the podium. It was the best-ever result for a Canadian on the downhill at the Olympics to that point.
Ken Read (23:25.803)
The Olympics may have been frustrating, but the Canadian team had the building blocks for excellence.
It was too bad that after a stellar ski season, the most difficult season of Ken’s career was about to begin.
From the beginning of the 76-77 season something was off.
Ken didn’t finish anywhere near the top 20 in his first race, or the next one.
In fact, all of the Crazy Canucks failed to finish on the podium.
The previous season Ken had finished ninth in the rankings for the downhill at the end of the year now he wasn’t even in the top 20.
Ken Read (26:14.73)
After the season, the team tried to figure out where to improve.
They thought at first it was the wax the Europeans used on their skis.
In the end, through wind tunnel tests at the National Research Council in Ottawa, it was discovered the European suits gave them an advantage.
A 15 percent advantage thanks to less wind resistance in fact.
The Europeans had put everything into figuring out how to beat the Canadians and had succeeded with better technology.
Ken Read (28:17.829)
The next ski season was completely different for Ken.
He kicked things off with a fourth-place finish in France on Dec. 11, 1977, and a ninth-place finish at Cortina d’Ampezzo 11 days later.
On Feb. 11, 1978, at Les Houches, France, he won the downhill event and was joined on the podium by his Canadian teammate Dave Murray who finished second.
That was followed by two more top ten finishes to close out the season.
At the end of the year, Ken ranked 11th overall in the World Cup, and fourth overall in the downhill.
For his heroics on the ski slopes, Ken earned the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year and the Lou Marsh Trophy as the Canadian Athlete of the Year.
He was the first skier since Nancy Greene in 1967 and 1968 to win the Lou Marsh Trophy.
Ken never knew how much media coverage they were getting back in Canada but winning the trophy changed that for him.
Ken Read (33:33.88)
That impact was on the rise as was his stock because the next season was even better.
Ken Read (28:57.03)
He won at Schladming, Austria on Dec. 10, 1978, and came in third a week later at Val Gardena.
A month after that, he had another third-place finish at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
But with the highs came the lows when on Jan. 6, 1979, Ken came in first and was followed by his teammate Steve Podborski in the downhill.
Immediately after the race the Italian team protested.
They said Ken’s ski suit gave him an advantage.
There didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the suit, and it was the same suit the Swiss, Australians and Japanese were wearing.
Regardless the suit was tested and when it failed to pass permeability requirements, Ken was disqualified.
However, Podborski remained in the competition and moved to the top of the podium in the downhill
Most felt that the suit did not give Ken an advantage, and that he deserved to win.
Charlie Kahr, the Austrian ski coach, said that Ken would have won that race wearing a business suit.
The suit controversy also cost Ken 25 points in the World Cup standings which caused him to finish fourth at the end of the season.
Had he not been penalized he could’ve been second.
Despite the disappointment, the team and Ken in particular had a new goal in mind.
Olympic gold.
In the hyper-competitive world of alpine racing, the Canadians were now legitimate contenders on the sport’s biggest stage. Heading into the 1980 Winter Olympics, Ken’s form in the 1979–80 World Cup season was solid but not dominant.
He continued to post top ten finishes in downhill, demonstrating consistency and experience,
After placing 14th at Pra Loup, France on Jan. 6, 1980, Ken went on to win back-to-back races l at Kitzbuehel, Austria and Wengen, Switzerland on Jan. 12 and 18. Expectations were high as he prepared for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games.
Then… he received the highest honour for an athlete.
Ken Read would be Canada’s flag bearer for the Opening Ceremonies.
Ken Read (39:31.604)
The 1980 Winter Olympics were already becoming one of the most dramatic Winter Games in history.
Ken Read (21:20.083)
Most might remember it for the “Miracle on Ice” but Ken would remember it for what happened on Whiteface Mountain, at 120 kilometres per hour.
The Olympic downhill was held on the upper slopes, a course that felt different from the classic European venues.
It was steep, exposed, and weather-sensitive and training run that week had been tense.
For Ken, this wasn’t foreign territory.
But the pressure? It was immense.
Canada was no longer a novelty act, and expectations now followed The Crazy Canucks.
Ken was somehow a veteran on the team even though he was in his twenties.
He had already experienced Olympic heartbreak in 1976 with a fifth-place finish.
And now he was at the top of the course on Valentines Day ready to leave it all on the line.
But visibility was poor, there was a deep fog that made seeing anything almost impossible.
He would have to trust his instincts and his years of training.
Ken skied to the starting gate and stared down at the hill below.
He heard the beep and burst out of the gate.
But…15 seconds into his race, after only three turns, his left binding pre-released and Ken fell.
His Olympic dream had been dashed, and, in that moment, he thought of one of his heroes.
Nancy Greene Raine
Ken Read (08:02.975)
CUT TO
Ken Read (40:21.797)
The disappointment was personal but possibly short lived because Ken then had a front row view to Canadian history being made.
Ken Read (41:46.729)
The Canadian Canucks had broken the barrier of what could be achieved.
First, it was that men could win a race in Europe.
Then that men could reach the Olympic podium
And then they set a new goal…A World Cup title.
Ken would get a chance at that new sight three weeks later in Lake Louise, his hometown.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
He came in a disappointing 8th as some in the media unfairly claimed he had choked after the Olympics.
By the end of the 79/80 season Ken finished 11th but second overall in the downhill.
It was his best result to date.
Ken Read and Steve Podborski celebrated by going to Europe where they dined with the King and Queen of Liechtenstein.
Not a bad way to end a ski season.
Ken was sure to quiet his naysayers at the first race of the 1980-81 World Cup season at Val d’Isere, France.
On Dec. 7, 1980, he came in second.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get much of a chance to silence his critics.
About a month later on Jan. 10, 1981, at Garmisch, Germany, Ken hit the final turn of the course just before the finish line when he caught an edge of soft snow.
The crash severely injured the ligaments in his left knee.
He also suffered a broken nose, mild concussion and five stitches above his eye.
For the first time since he broke his leg 12 years earlier, Ken was out of commission due to an injury.
Ken’s fellow Crazy Canuck Steve Podborski won that World Cup event, but before he went to the podium, he went to the ambulance to make sure his friend was okay.
While some in the media wondered if Ken would be back for the 1981-82 season, there was never a doubt in Ken’s mind that he would return.
And he did on Dec. 21, 1981, with a third-place finish in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
He followed that with two more third place finishes at Kitzbuehel, Austria on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16.
Then he raced on home soil in Whistler on Feb. 27, 1982, where Ken was the first Canadian down the hill and finished seventh overall.
Even with the injury he finished 17th overall by the end of the season and sixth in the downhill ranking.
His friend, Steve Podborski, however made history once again.
He became the first Canadian to win the World Cup downhill title that season.
The last goal the Canucks had set for themselves had been achieved.
As the 1982-83 World Cup season came around, Ken knew that his days in competition were numbered.
Though he hadn’t captured Olympic hardware, or peaked at the World Cup, his presence on the team symbolized the maturity of Canadian alpine skiing.
The groundwork they had laid in the mid-’70s had held.
Canada was competitive on the world’s fastest tracks and they were no longer a novelty.
Meanwhile, a new crop of Canadian skiers inspired by Crazy Canucks like Ken were starting to move up the World rankings.
Ken had a second place and third place finish that season and then in March 1983 he announced his retirement.
Ken had competed in 83 World Cup races. He had five first place wins and stood on the podium 11 times.
And by then the lore and legacy of what they had helped build had a lasting impact.
Ken Read (48:52.803)
After Ken retired from competition, he spent the next 14 years working with CBC TV as a ski analyst.
He also launched the Breath of Life Ski Challenge, which raised $3.8 million for cystic fibrosis research.
From 1985 to 1998, he sat as a member of the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission.
From 2002 to 2008, he was the President and CEO of Alpine Canada. The year that Ken took on the position, Canada had one podium result. By the 2006-07 ski season, Canada’s Alpine Ski Team had 15 podium results at the World Cup.
In 2010, he was named the director of Winter Sport for the Own the Podium movement.
Under his leadership, Canada became one of the top winter sport nations in the world. He resigned in 2013.
He has also helped nurture two new skiers to Canada’s Alpine Ski Team. His sons Erik and Jeffrey both compete.
There have been plenty of honours for him as well.
He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, two years later he was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.
In 2002, he received the Order of Canada and along with the rest of the Crazy Canucks, he has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Today, he can often be found on the slopes outside his home in Calgary.
But Ken’s legacy goes beyond skiing.
By the time he stepped away from elite competition, Canada was no longer an outsider in alpine downhill.
Future generations would grow up expecting to contend, not hoping to survive.
The Crazy Canucks changed the psychology of Canadian winter sport.
They made speed a symbol of confidence.
They made risk part of the national narrative.
That’s because Ken and the rest of the Canucks were bold enough to believe, and that ripples down to every time a Canadian racer pushes out of the start gate.
And that may be Ken Read’s most enduring victory of all.
