At 82 years old Germaine McMillan shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
An avid skiier, Germaine tries to make it out to the local ski hill at Mt. Timothy Ski Area at least seven or eight times a year during the season.
Germaine’s only roadblock to skiing more often is not having any friends who can still keep up with her pace down the slopes.
Born and raised in New Brunswick near a makeshift ski hill, Germaine and some of her six brothers and her two sisters passed their childhood days teaching themselves how to ski.
She became a mother later in life with children of her own, and laughs today at the idea of originally thinking she was too old to ski when she was 39.
Germaine was inspired by another woman while at an Ontario ski hill with her three boys.
She took some lessons to renew her skills and has never stopped since.
She even used her first old-age pension cheque to buy her blue ski suit.
Germaine and her husband, Austin, moved to Williams Lake in the late 1970s for work at Gibraltar Mine and have made the Cariboo their home ever since.
Austin doesn’t ski, himself, but is faithfully supportive of Germaine’s hobby by driving her and her ski friends to the mountain.
Germaine counts Jim and Ruth Fraser and Bob Paterson among her ski friends, and credits Jim with teaching her proper technique.
Germaine believes in keeping fit and works out twice a week to have the leg strength necessary to downhill ski.
She also appreciates having a snowy playground as good as Mt. Timothy so close to home.
