InFocus Magazine

Hay’s current pastimes include surfing, swimming and a number of other outdoor pursuits, and he has, at various times in his life, been a member of the Alberta whitewater paddling team and the leader of adventurous bike tours through the Rockies.  Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that his entire life has revolved around skiing.

Hay spent his childhood in Kelowna, making his first turns in the on the slopes of Big White in the ’60s.  By the mid-’70s, he was travelling across Canada training and evaluating ski instructors with the Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance, and around the world as a member of the Alliance’s Canadian demonstration team that showcased the best skiers in the country.

That experience eventually rolled into an eclectic assortment of other skiing gigs.  He was the director of marketing for a heli-skiing company, he ran three ski schools for a handful of years and he also ran Alberta’s Master racing series for two years.  He even did a stint on a couple of pro racing circuits in the United States, and eventually raced on the pro world circuit against the best skiers in the world.

In 1994, while living in Banff, Hay founded Skiing on the Edge as a way to fill what he saw as an absence of professional training geared toward advanced skiers.  Newly married and the father of two young boys, he also wanted a job that would keep him closer to home.  Skiing on the Edge allowed him to use the nearby triumvirate of Nikiska, Norquay and Lake Louise as his primary bases of operation.

Hay’s initial offerings including courses designed to prepare clients for heli-skiing, which eventually evolved into a private clientele as word of mouth spread and Hay’s reputation grew.

Before he knew it, his private clientele had become the driving force of his business and, contrary to his original intentions, Hay once again found himself flying all over the world, this time leading luxurious skiing vacations for clients of seemingly limitless means.

Now 53 years old and with 39 years of professional skiing experience, Hay is able to offer his clients something that is much more valuable than simply coaching.  He’s able to share in his clients’ passion for skiing while offering camaraderie, a sympathetic ear and, perhaps most importantly, friendship.

“Part of the big attraction, and I think what is working for me,” says Hay, “is that these people can treat me as a peer.  I’m about their age, not some young hot shot who’s 23 years old and just trying to show off his muscles.  I try to do that too, but I’m their age and they kind of get it.

“They’re like ‘Oh, that bugger, how can he be so old and still ski like that?’  I can talk at their level too, and I kind of get it because I’ve gone through life as they’ve gone through life.  Very often it ends up being a friendship deal, guys who just want to have someone that they can trust and talk to—and oh yeah, we ski too.

“You’ve got to understand the aging process and a little bit about physiology and how the body works,” he adds, “because these guys are coming with baggage.  They’re coming with buggered-up hips and knees and shoulders, heart issues and eyesight issue and a huge closet of issues that may affect them.”

Hay takes great pride in the close personal connections he’s made through Skiing on the Edge, and they’re connections that he tries to nurture as much as possible.

“I try to bring these people into our lives, so they feel like they’ve got a home away from home,” he says.  “Especially when we’re in Canada, I very often have the clients over so they can meet the kids and see that I’m a real person, not just what they dub me, a ski god.  I’m just a dad who drives his kids to school.”

It’s the transition between his luxurious, jet-setting business lifestyle and regular family life that Hay says is often the hardest part of the job, and he admits that it’s gotten him into trouble in the past when he hasn’t re-adjusted quickly enough.

“I’ve been wined and dined with the best that there is,” he explains.  “Then I come home again and I have to make lunches and take on a dad role once again, and I’ve got to be very conscientious about changing hats.  You can’t sit on the couch and have your meals arrive and someone pour your wine for you; it doesn’t happen like that.  You have to return back to normal life.

“Hopefully I’m getting good at it,” he adds, “because we’re still married and we have happy, healthy kids.”