Chic Scott was born in Calgary in 1945 and is a fourth generation Albertan and a third generation Calgarian. The Scott family has been very active organizing amateur sport over the years. Charles F. Scott (Chic’s father) was Calgary Sportsman of the Year in 1971 and was elected to the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1974.

Chic was very active as a golfer in his youth and represented Alberta at the Canadian Junior Golf Championship in 1961. However, in 1962 he took up mountain climbing and skiing and these two passions have dominated his life ever since. He was part of the first wave of homegrown Canadian climbers who were to earn their place in this British and European dominated sport.

The following pages illustrate some
highlights and accomplishments of his career:

1992

Wrote ‘Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies’ a guidebook to Nordic backcountry skiing.

Ran unsuccessfully for Canmore town council.

Founded the Company of Canadian Mountain Guides Ltd. a cooperative venture by members of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides for the purpose of marketing mountain guiding.

1994

Guided the Canadian Rockies Hut-to-Hut Ski Traverse, from Lake O’Hara to Spray Lake.

Wrote ‘Summits and Icefields’ a ski mountaineer's guidebook to the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains.

1995

Elected an honorary member of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.

1996

Was one of the founders of the John Lauchlan award.

1997

Elected an honorary member of the Calgary Mountain Club.

1995-2000

Wrote ‘Pushing the Limits, the Story of Canadian Mountaineering’.

2000

Elected an honorary member of The Alpine Club of Canada.

"Pushing the Limits" received the J. Monroe Thorington Award for the best recent book on mountain history and the Canadian Rockies Award for the best book on the Rocky Mountains at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

Received the Bill March Summit of Excellence Award at the Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival for lifetime contribution to the mountain community.

Toured the United Kingdom presenting slide shows on Canadian mountaineering at the Bretton Hall International Mountain Book Festival, the Dundee Mountain Film Festival and the Kendal Mountain Film Festival.

2001

At the Alberta Book Awards ‘Pushing the Limits’ received the Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non fiction and the Trade Book of the Year Award.

2002

Toured the United Kingdom for a second time presenting lectures on Canadian climbing and skiing at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival and The Alpine Club in London.

2003

Co-authored The Yam, 50 Years of Climbing on Yamnuska with Dave Dornian and Ben Gadd. The book won the award for the best work on the Rocky Mountains at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

Toured the United Kingdom for a third time presenting lectures on Canadian climbing and skiing at The Alpine Club Canada Symposium and at the World Ski Mountaineering Symposium organized by The Eagles Ski Club.

2004

Served on the jury at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

Toured western USA presenting lectures for Neptune Mountaineering (Boulder CO), the American Alpine Club (Bishop CA), The Mountaineers (Seattle WA) and (Tacoma (WA).

2005

Gave a presentation on Canadian climbing and backcountry skiing for the Canadian Tourism Commission at the Adventure Travel and Sports Show in London, England.

Powder Pioneers, Ski Stories from the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains was published.

Gave a presentation on ‘Filming the Eiger Sanction’ at the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

2006

Gave a presentation on ‘Extreme Ski Adventure in Western Canada’ at the Whistler World Backcountry Freeride Jam.

Gave presentations on ‘Filming the Eiger Sanction’ at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival and the Dundee Mountain Film Festival. Also gave four presentations on Canadian mountain climbing history to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dunfermline and Edinburgh).

2007

Gave a presentation on ‘Filming the Eiger Sanction’ at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival.

Won the award for the best short slide show at the annual Night of Lies gathering.

2009

Wrote and published Deep Powder and Steep Rock, the Life of Mountain Guide Hans Gmoser.

Deep Powder and Steep Rock was short listed for the Boardman Tasker Mountain Writing Award.

2010

Gave a presentation titled “Filming the Eiger Sanction” at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

With three friends (Margaret Gmoser, Faye Atkinson and Tony Hoare) skied 300 km from Jasper to Lake Louise following the valleys and passes to the east of the Icefields Parkway. This trip took 20 days, camping all the way.

Received the Skade Award from the International Skiing History Association for Deep Powder and Steep Rock.

Directed and participated in “The Best of the Calgary Mountain Club”, a presentation honouring the 50th anniversary of The Calgary Mountain Club.

2012

Gave the Powder Paradise presentation in Anchorage Alaska as a fundraiser for the Friends of the Chugach Avalanche Center.

Organized the first Banff Public Library Gala

Initiated ‘Old time Story Telling’ sessions at the Banff Mountain Book and Film Festival.

Initiated ‘Fireside Chats at the Whyte Museum’.

Wrote ‘Young at Heart’ a book about the inspirational lives of Richard and Louise Guy

In partnership with mountain guide Mark Klassen produced new editions of both volumes of Summits and Icefields.

2013

Received a Shine Award from the Banff Community Foundation, the Town of Banff and the Banff Ideas Bank for service to the community of Banff.

With Fred Wah, Canada's Poet Laureate, Chic discussed the idea of the Mountains as Muse, at the Cave and Basin, the birthplace of Canada's National Parks.

2014

Working in partnership with Marg Saul, Will Schmidt, Michael Hintringer and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, produced the Hans Gmoser Film Collection

Published 'Mountain Romantics, The White/Whytes of Banff'.

Gave 'The Grand Traverses' presentation for the International Snow Science Workshop in Banff.

Published 'The Book of Mortimer' for The Alpine Club of Canada.

Was awarded honorary membership in the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

2016

A new edition of Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies, jointly authored with Darren Farley, was released in January 2016.

Chic Scott and Kathy Madill were married in Banff on April 9, 2016. A reception for 250 people followed at the Lodge of the Ten Peaks at the Lake Louise Ski Resort.

On October 22, Chic was honoured as Patron of 27th Annual Mountain Guides Ball held at the Chateau Lake Louise.

2017

Working with filmmaker Glen Crawford and historian Zac Robinson, Chic produced a 40 minute film titled "Expedition Yukon - 50 Years Later", about the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition organized in 1967 by The Alpine Club of Canada.

2018

Was awarded the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

2019

Wrote “A Life in the Wild”, a book about legendary ski mountaineer, John Baldwin.

2021

“Mount Assiniboine — The Story” is published”

In partnership with film maker Glen Crawford, Chic produces “A Fireside Chat with Lloyd Gallagher” for the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

In partnership with film maker Glen Crawford, Chic produces “A Fireside Chat with Glen Boles” for the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

Working with film maker Glen Crawford, Chic produces “Climbing Pioneers of Yamnuska” for the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

2022

Working with film maker Glen Crawford, Chic begins the series “Pushing the Limits — The Legacy”, enhanced interviews with some of Canada’s leading mountain climbers. These interviews were originally recorded in 1996 and 1997 when Chic was researching his climbing history book, “Pushing the Limits”.

Chic receives the John Fry Award for Excellence, from the International Skiing History Association at a ceremony in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Was inducted into the Bow Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

Was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.

Working with film maker Glen Crawford, Chic produces “Pioneers of Waterfall Ice Climbing” for the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

2023

Wrote “Dan Verral: Big Smile Big Heart” for the Alpine Club of Canada.

The team that produced the Hans Gmoser Film Collection
(left to right) Michael Hintringer, Emilia Schmidt, Will Schmidt, Chic Scott, Michelle Todd, Eva Zidek and Marg Saul


Mark Klassen and Chic Scott,
the authors of Summits and Icefields.


Chic Scott and Kathy Madill
were married in Banff on April 9, 2016.



Gavin Fitch, President of the Royal Canadian Geographical
Society, presents the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for
Exploration to Chic Scott at a ceremony in Ottawa.
Photo Mike Schmidt.



Chic and Kathy at the International Skiing History Association awards dinner in Sun Valley Idaho



The John Fry Award for Excellence

Chic has two university degrees, a BSc (Zoology and Chemistry, 1969) and a BEd (1981). After many years of living and climbing in France and Switzerland he is bilingual.

Although he has worked at a number of jobs over the years to maintain his adventurous lifestyle, he made a major committment between 1975 and 1988 when he worked as a lab instructor and technician in the Biology Department at the University of Calgary.

Chic has written extensively of his adventures and has published about 100 magazine articles during his career. During almost 50 years of skiing, climbing and guiding he has an almost perfect safety record having been involved in only one avalanche and one climbing accident (a broken leg).

Chic now lives in Banff, Alberta, where he makes his living writing mountain books and articles and giving presentations.