Revelstoke's Rebel: Isabel Coursier's Defiant Flight

How a teenage girl from British Columbia launched women's ski jumping into the future

Feb 25, 2025

*Image attribution:* *Community Stories / Revelstoke Museum and Archives, Public Domain*

February 7, 1922. The air above Revelstoke BC’s Big Hill hung heavy and still, each breath visible as people waited for soaring skiers to start slicing through it. Snow creaked underfoot as spectators stamped their boots and rubbed mittened hands together, their murmurs rising into the clear mountain sky. They'd come to see boys soar—young daredevils launching themselves off what was then the biggest natural ski jump in Canada.

What they hadn't expected was the slender figure now positioning herself at the top of the intimidating slope.

Fifteen-year-old Isabel "Pat" Coursier adjusted her wool toque and gripped her handmade wooden skis. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she gazed down the steep incline that had launched men into record books. The crowd below had fallen unusually quiet. Women weren't supposed to be here—not alone, anyway. A girl might be permitted to jump if she clutched a man's hand, but never unassisted, never competing alongside boys.

Isabel took a deep breath of the sharp winter air. The vast white expanse of the jump stretched before her, leading to nothing but empty space and then, somewhere far below, a landing. She'd watched the boys do this a hundred times. She'd practiced when nobody was looking.

She pushed off.

The harsh scrape of skis against packed snow gave way to an eerie silence as Isabel left the ground behind. For a frozen moment, she was suspended between earth and sky, floating above the British Columbia wilderness. Then gravity claimed her, and she landed with a confident whoosh, skis cutting clean tracks into the snow as she glided to a perfect stop—people’s jaws dropping at such a strange yet wonderful sight.

The distance: 25.6 meters. The accomplishment: monumental. On that winter day in 1922, Isabel Patricia Coursier didn't just set a North American women's ski jumping record—she shattered the notion of what a young woman could do, in a time when many still questioned whether women belonged in sports at all.

This is her story.

Isabel Patricia Coursier, known to her friends and family simply as “Pat,” was born in 1906, and hailed from Revelstoke, British Columbia. If you’ve ever been to Revelstoke, you know it’s a breathtakingly beautiful mountain town that takes winter sports seriously. It was here that Isabel’s passion for skiing took shape at an early age.

Isabel’s father, Henry Noble Coursier, was a well-respected businessman, and her mother, Isabella Steed Coursier, was a painter and the first woman to serve on Revelstoke’s school board. Both parents encouraged their children to explore the outdoors.

From the time Isabel was born, she was out in the snow, sliding around on pans, shovels, or even bits of linoleum. By the age of eight, she had her first real pair of skis—handmade by a neighbour and she discovered that she wasn’t didn’t just like having fun on the slopes, she was also talented, fearless, and craved and conquered bigger and bigger challenges.

Today, skiing is probably best known for its downhill and slalom events but in the early 1900s ski jumping was the main emphasis of the sport. Revelstoke just happened to be the epicentre of Canadian ski jumping, featuring the biggest natural ski jump hill in Canada which also gained it international recognition as one of the best in North America.

It was a hill where world record ski jumps were set in 1916 and 1921, and at that time, the local Revelstoke ski club was led by the likes of Sigmund Halverson and Nels Nelson (world record holder). Ski jumping was the talk of the town and captured the imagination of many Revelstoke kids who dreamed of one day soaring into the record books.

Isabel was one of those kids who had her eye on the sky. So, as a teenager, she began entering local ski competitions. On February 7, 1922, right before her 16th birthday, she stepped up to compete in the Revelstoke Ski Tournament. That day, she joined the boys’ Class D jump—an event usually reserved for young male competitors.

Many spectators thought it was unusual to see a girl in that category. Women were typically expected to jump only if they held hands with a male partner, and most were even discouraged from competing at all. But Isabel ignored convention, put her head down and jumped on her own—and it was a stunning success.

She soared 25.6 meters (84 feet) off the Big Hill, placing third amongst the boys in her category. Most spectators didn’t realize it at the time, but this distance happened to be a record for female jumpers, making Coursier the first North American woman to achieve that kind of leap.

In some newspapers, she was named the “women’s world champion ski jumper.” Her unassisted jump did more than set a record, it challenged attitudes about what women could (and couldn’t) do in sports.

That same winter, Isabel proved her all-around versatility by also winning the Ladies’ Ski Run and a pony-ski race, known as “skijoring.” In that race, a skier was pulled by a horse, racing at high speeds around a snow-covered track. Coursier relished any sport where she could push the limits on her skis to go faster and further than she’d ever gone before.

Soon afterward, skijoring was deemed too risky and was banned from local events. Which helps paint a picture of how fearless Isabel was. While most people were closing their eyes and cringing and the thought of how fast skiers were going, Isabel was quietly and confidently flying over any hill or track she stepped onto.

In 1923, Isabel entered the Revelstoke Ski Tournament as the reigning women’s champion. Her performance earned her a gold medal from the Revelstoke Ski Club for her “skill and daring” as the only female ski jumper in North America. That year, she continued competing in places like Nakusp, British Columbia, and Mount Rainier National Park in the United States.

At the Mount Rainer tournament, she got to jump in front of a massive crowd that included then-U.S. President Warren G. Harding. Her jump was magnificent and landed her another trophy. Imagine being a Canadian teen and receiving a trophy in front of a U.S. president. It was clear Coursier was making waves in the world of skiing, yet she constantly had to fight an uphill battle as the sport’s governing bodies tried to figure out how to treat women in ski jumping.

During those early years, it wasn’t easy for female jumpers. Many people believed it wasn’t “proper” or “ladylike” for a young woman to fling herself off a steep incline. Some male ski jumpers refused to train with women, which created a culture where those like Isabel had to rely on their own perseverance. But, Isabel had enough determination to learn on her own, practicing in near isolation. She brushed off skepticism as she found ways to perfect her form.

While making a name for herself in skiing circles, Isabel continued broadening her skills and interests in other areas. In 1925, she enrolled at McGill University in Montréal, where she studied physical and health education. At McGill, there existed a whole slew of sports that caught Coursier’s interest. It wasn’t unusual for her to try out as many sports as possible, and while at McGill, she excelled in track and field, hockey, basketball, and tennis.

While ski jumping demands explosive power and precise landings, her other sports instilled endurance, strategic thinking, and teamwork. Combined with her natural athleticism, strong work ethic, and fearlessness, these well-rounded abilities helped make her a truly remarkable athlete.

At McGill, she also discovered a passion for sharing physical activity with others. For some time, she had been dreaming of a profession where she could teach the fundamentals of sports, giving young people—especially girls—the opportunity to learn how to compete. Soon, she would put that dream into practice in a real classroom as she moved closer to becoming a physical education teacher.

But even while she was studying and participating in university athletics, Isabel continued to make time for occasional exhibition jumps. In December 1926, a Montréal winter sports club invited her to jump on the Cote des Neiges hill, and she became the first known woman to clear that jump on her own. There seemed to be no stopping her willingness to break barriers, whether at Mount Revelstoke, down in the U.S., or on a hill overlooking the city lights of Montréal.

During these years Isabel Coursier showed the world that was much more than just a novelty act. She had proven she could keep up with—and sometimes surpass—the men on the ski jump. And she wasn’t just shining in ski jumping. She poured her energy into all kinds of athletic pursuits, adding javelin throwing and basketball to her resume.

That unstoppable attitude opened doors to bigger platforms and turned her into a symbol of female resilience in a male-dominated domain.

In February 1928, Isabel travelled back to Mount Revelstoke’s Big Hill, the very spot where she had first claimed her “women’s world champion” title in 1922. She hadn’t practiced much leading up to the event, but you’d never have guessed it. With onlookers holding their breath, she soared 31.4 metres (103 feet). This jump shattered her old record and it would stand as the top distance for female jumpers until 1931.

Coursier’s skis would have paled in comparison to modern ski technology, yet she sailed the same distance as the height of a 10-story building or 3 buses lined end-to-end.

In the weeks following the event, folks near Revelstoke excitedly recounted the story of how Coursier strolled confidently onto the Big Hill, took a moment to gather herself, and then delivered what many considered the jump of her life. She was becoming a local celebrity, gradually shifting attitudes as people across the country began embracing what she was accomplishing on her skis.

Keep in mind, this was happening in an era when women were still often warned away from “dangerous” sports. Some doctors claimed that jumping was bad for a woman’s health, while some men argued that the sport required a “heroic male spirit.” Isabel’s leaps—and those of a few other pioneering women—went against those claims. They showed that skill, practice, and guts mattered more than the outdated idea that ski jumping was just for men.

We also shouldn’t forget that women’s ski jumping wasn’t recognized in the Olympic Games until 2014. That’s a huge gap between Isabel’s time in the 1920s and the modern era. When you think about that, it’s clear she was way ahead of her time. She was doing a sport that some people didn’t even believe women could physically do, decades before it was accepted on the world stage.

“In 1929, Isabel made her final competitive jump. She was still only in her early twenties, but after seven years in the public eye, she was ready to close that chapter. She had also immersed herself in teaching physical education to the next generation, instilling in them a love for both outdoor and indoor physical activities—just as her parents had done for her since birth. Her studies at McGill had prepared her well for that goal.”

After graduating in 1927, Coursier had been teaching at the Victoria Normal School in British Columbia. There, she shared her passion for movement with young students—some of whom had never heard of a woman being able to fly off a ski jump.

Even after her ski jumping days ended, Isabel never quite lost that sense of adventure. Throughout her teaching career, she travelled a lot and taught in several other places. In 1938 she moved to the United Kingdom and taught there. In 1952 she worked as a ski instructor in Scotland prior to returning to Canada to teach in Nanaimo.

In 1954, she travelled back to Scotland, where she followed in her mother’s footsteps and studied art at the University of Glasgow until 1959. Following graduating from her art program, she taught in Vancouver for two years. And then in 1961 Isabel moved back to Scotland where she continued teaching until retiring in 1967. After she retired, Coursier settled in Parksville and later Penticton, BC.

At the time, it wasn’t common for women to move around so much for their careers, but Isabel once again ignored the usual limits that others set and blazed her own path. In her retirement, Isabel expressed herself through art and surrounded herself with nature. She passed away on October 15, 1990, at age 84, leaving behind a story that many Canadians didn’t fully appreciate until years later.

Fast-forward to September 24, 2022, one hundred years after Isabel Coursier’s groundbreaking 1922 jump. That’s when Revelstoke unveiled a life-size bronze statue of her in front of City Hall. Sculpted by Ruth Abernethy, this artwork shows Isabel holding her skis with a look of quiet determination. It’s a fitting tribute to a young woman who launched herself into sports history.

During the unveiling, local officials and community members reflected on how her achievements still encourage today’s female athletes to dream big. The statue was also connected to LUNA Fest, a community event celebrating Revelstoke’s culture and heritage. Organizers saw it as more than a memorial: it was a conversation starter about women’s equality in sports.

Beyond the raw excitement of learning about what an incredible athlete Isabel Coursie was, her story reminds us that ordinary people can break barriers just by saying, “Yes, I can.” She opened doors for women who wanted to ski jump without a man’s help and for those who wanted a chance to compete. She also showed that sports are about more than trophies; they’re about pushing yourself to do your best and sharing that love of physical activity with others.

Her path wasn’t smooth, of course. She faced doubts, rejections, and a lack of formal training. But she held on to her love of skiing. Even after her final jump, she stayed active and helped shape countless other people’s athletic journeys. And in the end, her bravery and skill finally brought her the recognition she rightfully deserved.

Whether you’re a sports fan or not, Isabel’s story is a shining part of Canadian history. She’s a reminder that daring pioneers can come from small mountain towns, that everyday folks can change the way we think about what’s possible, and that those quiet leaps of faith can echo for generations.

If you ever visit Revelstoke, I encourage you to stop by City Hall and see Isabel’s statue. Stand there for a moment and picture that teenage girl bravely sailing through the air, refusing to let anyone define her limits.

What Do You Think About Isabel Coursier’s Story?

Have you heard of Isabel Coursier before?

Did you know that women were once told that it was too dangerous for them to compete in ski jumping and that some people actually believed that it was physically impossible for women to ski jump? I can’t imagine being amongst the best in the world at one sport, let alone being able to adapt and excel at multiple sports as Isabel did. What other Canadian athletes does her story remind you of?

Take a sec. to type a comment and share your thoughts and stories. As always, I look forward to reading them all!

Thanks a bunch for reading this story. It’s a pleasure to share Canadian stories like this with you.

Have a rad rest of your day!