On Nov. 29, 1984, the Whistler Question published the first “Inside Edge” column by Doug Sack, a new addition to the local paper. Sack came to Whistler from the Yukon where he had been working as a catskinner in the mines. His first job in Whistler was working as a catskinner for Art Den Duyf in gravel pits, which Sack once described as “gold mines without the pipelines and sluice boxes.”
Sack, who also had some experience in sportswriting, was taken on by Question editor Kevin Griffin and owner/publisher Glenda Bartosh to provide dedicated and comprehensive sports coverage for the paper for the winter of 1984-85. Perhaps unexpectedly for a town that had by then successfully hosted two FIS World Cup downhill races, Sack was not a skier.
In his first column, Sack wrote that he intended to “open lines of communication that will facilitate the flow of sports news into the office.” According to Sack, this line of communication also brought him an offer of ski instruction from none other than Nancy Greene. Sack had declared his intent to take up skiing “in a personal quest to bring Skidder and Ego Bowl to their knees.” Greene’s offer was fortuitous as in his next column Sack issued a unique ski race challenge to Dave Murray, at the time the director of skiing for Whistler Mountain.
During a meeting in Murray’s office, Sack reportedly noticed a pair of two-by-four planks with bindings mounted and a hand-painted label that read “Crazy Canuck Demos,” given to Murray when he retired from ski racing. According to Sack, the planks “looked skiable.” On Dec. 6, 1984, Sack used his column to issue this challenge for a spring race: “I get to do whatever I want (or can) and you [Dave Murray] have to wear two-by-fours for skis, carry an anvil and drag an anchor down the course.”
The odds might have been stacked in Sack’s favour, but he wasn’t proposing to race against just any skier. Born in Abbotsford, Murray grew up skiing on Whistler Mountain and started racing as a teenager, even attending the Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp. He joined the national ski team in 1971 and through the 1970s became known as one of the Crazy Canucks, alongside teammates Ken Read, Dave Irwin and Steve Podborski. Murray represented Canada at the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games and in 1979 was ranked third in downhill by the FIS and named British Columbia’s Athlete of the Year. Even though Murray retired from ski racing in 1982, he didn’t exactly stop skiing or racing.
When he was hired as Whistler Mountain’s director of skiing, Murray already had a vision of using race-training techniques to help improve the abilities of recreational skiers, in part through organized recreational races. Murray became the national chair of the Canadian Masters Alpine Series (an adult recreational racing series) and took over the summer ski camps on Whistler Mountain. Two years into retirement, even skiing on wooden planks (the anvil and anchor were dropped as race details were nailed down), Murray was a formidable opponent for a skier who had only just begun learning the sport.
Next week we’ll take a look at how Sack prepared for “The Great 2x4 Race” as he ventured into the world of skiing.
