(Big) Bob’s Story
As an alpine ski competitor, coach, instructor, director of a ski organization, and person involved in the ski distribution business, Bob Gilmour has a long and illustrious history with the sport.
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January 1, 1935
Bob Gilmour was born on January 1, 1935, in Rosemere, Québec. His parents, Kenneth and Elsie, owned a dairy farm where they produced buttermilk. Their property was located at the ninth hole of the Rosemere golf course by Hwy 117. The family had no tradition of sports: the children went to school and helped their parents.
Kenneth discovered skiing and decided that the whole family would practise this sport. He installed a rope tow on a small hill on the family land and that’s where Bob first skied at the age of three.
While the “train du nord” was already taking skiers to the Laurentians, it was rare to see whole families head for the slopes by car. And yet that’s what Kenneth did with his children on winter weekends. They went to the Lower Lawrentians, skiing in the Saint-Sauveur valley where Mont-Habitant and Avila later appeared.
Accompanied by his youngest brother Gerry, Bob sought out steeper and steeper slopes to make his turns on. In 1946, 11-year-old Bob registered for a first race on Mont Royal. It was an open class race for juniors 17 and under and for seniors 18 and over.
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Competitive Career Begins, 1952
As a Junior competitor, he was awarded the Colonial Airline Trophy in 1951 and 1952, and won again in the Senior division in 1956.
1952
1st place, Quebec Provincial Championships1953
1st place Combined events, Canadian Junior Championships
1st place Taschereau Downhill race, Quebec, Junior division
1st place Laurentian Zone (Quebec) Downhill Championship1955
3rd place Quebec Kandahar races, Combined events1956
3rd place Slalom events, Quebec Provincial Championships, Senior division
3rd place Combined events, Quebec Provincial Championships, Senior division
1st place Quebec Kandahar races, Combined events1958
2nd place Quebec Kandahar races, Slalom event, Senior division
3rd place Ryan Cup Giant Slalom (Quebec)
1st place Laurentian Zone (Quebec) Downhill Championship
Discover More About Bob’s Legacy
1959
Becomes member of the Canadian National Alpine Team.
1st place Canadian Championships, Slalom and Downhill events, Senior division
1st place Jay Peak (Vermont, USA) Giant Slalom Championship
1960
Selected to the 1960 Men’s Olympic Ski Team as
a substitute role
1st place Mount Baldy Downhill
Roche Cup event (Aspen, Colorado USA)
Sun Valley Downhill (Sun Valley, Idaho USA)
Alta Downhill (Alta, Utah USA)
1961-1962
Canadian International Olympic Committee
1980-1993
Canadian Sports Credits Association
1961-1970
Laurentian Ski Zone (Quebec)
1994
Canadian Ski Museum, Ottawa Ontario
1994-1996
As an instructor, he was named Instructor of the Year in 1994 and 1995 at the prestigious Mont Tremblant Ski School (Quebec) and coached 150 aspiring young racers as Head Coach for Mont Tremblant Club Performance (Nancy Greene League) in 1994 to 1996.
He was also Coach of the Mont Tremblant Ski Club’s “Gate Bashers” from 1994 to 1996. Many of his racers placed in major events and some were selected for the Canadian National A and B teams.
For approximately 20-years he was a Director of the National Ski Industry Association and from 1993 to 1999 participated in the Canadian Ski Industry Association’s Demonstration Days at Mont Tremblant prior to the National Ski Associations Trade Show.
Upon Retiring
When he retired from racing, he continued his association with the sport through a long and successful career in the ski industry initially with the Harvey Dodds Company from 1962 to 1981 where from 1971 to 1981, he was General Manager and later as founder and owner of Gilmour Sports which he operated from 1981 to 1993.
Upon his retirement he returned to Mont Tremblant and its Ski School where he continued to instruct and introduce skiers to the sport which defined his life.
