It is probable that the first skiers in Canada were the NORSE, who established several East Coast settlements about 1000 AD. Although no direct proof has been found, it would be remarkable if they had not brought their then 4000-year-old tradition of winter travel on long wooden sticks (skath) with them.

The birth of modern skiing in North America, nearly 1000 years later, can be credited to their direct descendants. Scandinavian prospectors and miners participating in the gold rushes of the mid-1800s used wooden "snowshoes" or "gliding shoes" up to 4 m long as a means of travel as well as for highly competitive professional downhill racing competitions. From 1856 to 1869, the Norwegian John "Snowshoe" Thompson provided the only winter overland mail service from the East to California. He was famous throughout the American West for his 300 km round trips, accomplished in 5 days with up to 50 kg of mail. Many of Canada's Scandinavian prospectors and railway builders were probably inspired by Thompson to polish the skiing skills developed in their homelands.

While westerners were out skiing unobserved in the wilderness, the first recorded Canadian ski outing was a trip by "Mr. A. Birch, a Norwegian gentleman of Montreal," who skied from Montréal to Québec in 1879 on a 3 m pair of "patent Norwegian snowshoes" using a single pole. In 1883 the Montréal Daily Star published a major article, "New Winter Sport in Norway," describing in detail the use of 2.5 m wooden "snowskates" plus a single 1.5 m staff. In 1887 Frederick Hamilton, the governor general's aide-de-camp, introduced skiing to Ottawa "amidst universal derision."