A Final Fireside Chat - Chic Scott Reflects on a Legacy
- whytemuseum
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 13 hours ago
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By Tera Swanson, Marketing and Communications Manager
It's a crisp winter day when I sit down with local historian and writer Chic Scott in the Reading Room at The Whyte, situated outside the doors of the Archives and Special Collections Library, just days after his Final Fireside Chat was hosted at the museum in January 2026 alongside Geoff Powter.
With historic photographs adorning the walls, shelves lined with archival books and resource binders, and expansive windows framing the Rundle Range, it's a place Chic has spent thousands of hours since moving back to Banff to stay in 2006. The Archives have served as research and inspiration for many of the projects he has worked on, from the early days of working on Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering, regarded by many as the Bible of Canadian mountaineering history, to his most recent work on the history of the Alpine Club of Canada, and all of the projects in between - including the Fireside Chat series.
Chic Scott and Kathy Madill-Scott at the final Fireside Chat at The Whyte, January 15, 2026.
Chic Scott with his book Pushing the Limits, in the Reading Room at The Whyte, 2012.
Over the years, Chic's name has become synonymous with Canadian Rockies storytelling. He's familiar to many in the Bow Valley and beyond, whether a newcomer to Banff for their very first ski season, picking up their soon to be well-read copy of Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies, a family whose history in Banff spans generations and is likely featured in many of Chic's books, or a visitor spending time in one of Banff National Park's backcountry lodges reading one of his books over a cozy afternoon tea. Even the story of our founders, Peter Whyte and Catharine Robb Whyte, and their families, is recounted in his book, Mountain Romantics: The Whytes of Banff.
The Stories Beneath the Surface
As we settled into our conversation, which stretched well into late morning, Chic reflected on his personal history in Banff, his time researching with The Whyte, and the Fireside Chat series that just recently wrapped up. Through it all, he's come to learn that the lesser-known stories are just as intriguing as the popular tales we've come to love and associate with mountain history.
“The aim (for the Fireside Chats) pretty quickly became to find the people we don't hear about as often. We all know about the people climbing Everest, but there are so many good stories beneath the surface.”
And stories like these are often discovered by future generations exactly where we’re sitting: in the Archives. Chic lights up talking about that feeling; the quiet thrill of sifting through paper and photographs until something remarkable turns up, and suddenly the past is brought into clearer focus. Gems of information and small details that can open a whole door.
It was this very notion that sparked the Fireside Chat series back in 2012. But it began serendipitously and not as a series at all. It began as an open house for the Abegweit.
A historic home on The Whyte’s grounds, the Abegweit had been sitting unused until Nathalie Fedrau, an employee at the time with Visitor Services, quietly began bringing it back to life. When the community was invited in that October afternoon, Chic remembers the house filling past capacity, with dozens of people crowding into the living room. Rob Crosby, who grew up in Abegweit, was also in attendance. In that moment, Chic realized what an opportunity it would be for Rob to tell the Crosby family stories in that living room, and he realized that those stories needed to be captured. So he ran home, grabbed his camera and tripod, set it up in the corner of the living room, and hit record.
"Despite the very amateur nature of this recording, it turned out pretty well," Chic explains. "Later, I had Will Schmidt work on it a bit to make it flow a bit better."
From there, the concept took off. The first voices featured Rob Crosby, Dorothy Carleton, Ralphine Locke, Don Mickle, Bridget Jones, and Fran Drummond. These intimate chats were immediately popular and were even "catered" with tea and fresh cookies, thanks to friends Anita Battrum and Kathy Madill (now Kathy Madill-Scott after she and Chic married in 2016). They were initially filmed by Will Schmidt after the first point-and-shoot interview with Rob Crosby. The warmth of those early events wasn’t just about the storytelling, but the community coming together to connect, reminisce, and learn something new.
A Gift to Future Generations
Fourteen years later, this feeling has held strong and is what Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron, Director of Archives and Special Collections, describes when she looks out at a Fireside Chat audience. For Elizabeth, the Fireside Chats have always felt like something more than an event.
At Chic's Final Fireside Chat hosted at The Whyte in January 2026, she explained,
“I look in the audience and I see so many familiar faces that have been coming year after year. It’s emotional for me, as I am sure it is for many of you, as the Fireside Chat series has been such a warm, community gathering.
The big stories, and the side stories, that Chic was able to glean from such a wide range of Bow Valley characters, has evoked for me the feeling of being at a family party, when I would listen to my parents and uncles and aunts reminisce about times past. It’s the same feeling here, and I treasure it.”
As the first cohort of the Fireside Chats was starting in 2012/13, Chic spoke with Elizabeth, former Archivist Jennifer Rutkair, and Events Coordinator Nathalie Delbecq about making Fireside Chats an official Whyte program. The answer was immediate: yes. With Chic at the helm, Elizabeth knew it would not just be a great event for the community but a valuable resource for future researchers.
It wasn't long before interest in the Fireside Chats grew into a long-standing series, spanning a 14-year legacy. Will Schmidt remained the videographer until his passing in November 2015, and in 2017, the series resumed under the professional direction of videographer Glen Crawford. Later, the Wim and Nancy Pauw Foundation sponsored the program for five years, support The Whyte remains deeply grateful for.
Originally from Calgary and having spent a significant amount of his time in the Banff area growing up, including summers as a university student and a few ski seasons at Sunshine Village Ski Resort, Chic took up mountain climbing and skiing in his late teens, and these two passions have been a driving force in his life ever since. He was part of the first wave of homegrown Canadian climbers who were to earn their place in what was, at the time, a British- and European-dominated sport, and was part of multiple first ascents and a pioneering high-level ski traverse through the 60s and 70s.
But it's not just Chic's rich knowledge of Canadian Rockies history or his significant background in climbing and skiing that positioned him as the perfect host for a series like this. A natural conversationalist, Chic's genuine interest in the personalities he hosted and his ability to put them at ease are evident in every interview.
Jasper to Lake Louise High Level Ski Traverse. This was the first successful completion of this tour and introduced Nordic equipment into ski mountaineering in Canada (300 km, 21 days). L to R: Don Gardner, Chic Scott, Charlie Locke, and Neil Liske. Photo by Don Gardner.
Fireside Chat with Jerry Johnston and Chic Scott, April 25th, 2024, at The Whyte.
The series evolved over the years, moving from the Abegweit to the "front porch" of Skoki in the Heritage Gallery, growing its audience, and experiencing periods of pause. But many aspects remained consistent: the series was always hosted by Chic in his signature navy-and-white Norwegian ski sweater, featured stories rooted in a sense of place, and resonated deeply with the community, drawing shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. The Fireside Chats were, and remain, some of the most popular events hosted at The Whyte. Chic insists the core spirit of the Fireside Chats remained intact: a comfortable setting, a friendly audience, and stories that might otherwise never have been documented. But beyond being a beloved community gathering, the Fireside Chats became a recorded oral history.
Through Chic’s foresight and commitment, Elizabeth notes, these stories will remain part of The Whyte's collective record, stored in the Archives alongside sound recordings that go back as far as the 1950s. All Fireside Chat interviews from 2012 to 2026 can be watched on The Whyte’s website, but as Elizabeth also reminds us, nothing quite compares to being there in person, together, in the room.
As the series wraps up, there’s gratitude threaded through every mention of the team behind it: Elizabeth and the Archives staff, Glen Crawford, and the late Will Schmidt, and of course, Chic and every individual interviewed. There’s also a sense of transition. Chic will be turning his attention to the final segment of editing, design, and promotion for his new book on the history of the Alpine Club of Canada, planned for release in Spring 2027, and The Whyte will be exploring new directions in the year ahead.
In the end, Chic says the series returned to what it has always been about.
“It’s all about community. The Whyte Museum and Archives are the heart of our community.”
Thanks to this work, those stories will remain, recorded and accessible for future generations, held in the Archives where so many of them began.
Chic Scott with The Whyte, Archives staff Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron, Hannah Yuzwa, Kate Riordon, and Kate Nielsen.
Photos From the Final Fireside Chat
Full List of Fireside Chats
2012
2013
2014
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Barry Blanchard (December 18, 2025) – Whyte Museum
2026
Chic Scott and Geoff Powter (January 15, 2026) – Whyte Museum
Interested in learning more about Canadian Rockies history? Visit our exhibitions or book a research appointment at the Archives and Special Collections Library at The Whyte.
For more information on visiting The Whyte, visit us online at whyte.org/visit. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Archives and Special Collections appointments are available Tuesday – Friday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. To make an appointment or for inquiries email: archives@whyte.org
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