From Brian Todd:

The idea started in 1987 when I was skiing in Whistler with one of my windsurfing athletes, Richard Myerscough. We were trying to speak with someone in skiing to get some insight into fundraising for Richard’s Olympic sailing campaign. I met with Dave Murray, we skied together and he suggested that I might be interested in running a masters program in Atlantic Canada.

In 1988, Jim Kirby and Francois Jodoin came to Wentworth  where we had our first Masters Camp and it grew from there.

The first few years were pretty good in numbers but in the early 90's Masters Camps really blossomed in Wentworth, we were doing a camp of 72 on Wed, Thursday and Friday, a weekend of Masters Ski Series races and then another camp of 72 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

This was the period when we brought in many National  team alumni, We had Lisa Savajarvi of course, Karen Stemmle, Jim Kirby, Francois Jodoin, "Jungle" Jim Hunter, Dave Irwin, in later years we had Brian Stemmle, Lucy Laroche,  Gen Simard, Larisa Yurkiw, Andrea Bedard and many more.

Then there was a group of the best coaches in the country like Mike DesBrisay, Richard Potter, Dave Todd, Nick Pratt, Dave Green, Chris Robinson, Ben Surette to name a few.

At some point every ski area wanted to have a Masters Camp so we branched out, we had a camp in PEI where there was a torrential rain storm but Lisa, Karen and Francois and the Masters team donned their life jackets and still had a fun time. We had a few Masters Camps at Marble in Neuf, they were great fun with plenty of good parties. Masters traveled to Crabbe for races but only 1 camp was able to generate enough people to make it viable. We also had a few camps at Martock when Joey O'Brien owned the hill and it was always a fun place to race. We also had a camp at Ben Eoin where the keenest Masters in Canada resided. The likes of Norm Gentile, Vince Cunningham, Gerry Boutilier, John Ling and Les Elworthy were regulars at all Masters events.

One highlight Masters Camp was at Wentworth when the lift had broken down, not to be deterred, Dave Wilson, encouraged by Mike Byrne and Harold Giddens said "lets go ahead" so we used ropes behind the groomers to haul us up the hill, there was plenty of powder and great times at that camp.

Another highlight were the parties at Dave Wilson’s place, where, not only Masters Campers but many "hangeroners" came by for the fun, quite often I thought the floor was going to collapse from all the people dancing! Dave was always such a gracious host and enjoyed the parties, although the cleanup crew was probably less enthusiastic as the parties went on till very late! 

Why was the Masters program started in the first place? We wanted to create an outlet for the skiers beyond the race program ages and give them a special level of coaching where they would have fun and stay engaged with the sport after their kids had left their race programs and for that I think Masters was very successful.

From Ben Surette:

I was free skiing with Brian Todd in the spring of 2016, and he was telling that the next year was the 30th year of the Masters Camp. He was pondering the camps future. 

“Would you have an interest in keeping the ball rolling?” he asked.  One thing led to another and we struck a deal to change ownership in 2018. After 30 years of Brian’s vision and passion to offer ski training to adults in Atlantic Canada, Masters Ski Camps had a new owner and a new name, Masters Maritimes Ski Camps.

From there we remained focused on delivering Brian’s vision to keep the Atlantic region’s skiers well-tuned with top notch ski coaching.  The camps have consistently grown in participation over the past few years, even with our first Covid-friendly camp in 2021.

2021 brought on another important milestone for the company.  With the forecasted market growth for our offering, I decided to add a business partner - Nathan Reese.  Nathan is a local CSIA Level IV and owner of Turnstyle, a brand agency that markets and sells outdoor sports products.  Nathan’s business acumen and dedication to the ski teaching profession is a definite asset.

In 2022 we embarked on the first phase of our expansion efforts.  Masters Maritimes Ski Camps now offer various local camps around Atlantic Canada as well as a late session ski vacation/camp to Sun Peaks Resort, BC.

The entire Masters Maritimes Team looks forward to skiing with you in the future.