The founding father of cross-country skiing in the Yukon died Monday. Father Jean-Marie Mouchet was 96.

Less than a week after being named Skier of the Year by the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club for being the club's "best example of skiing for life,” Mouchet died surrounded by a small group of friends and family.

Mouchet had spent the last few months in hospital battling injuries he suffered during a fall in his Whitehorse apartment in August.

"He was a legend,” Cross Country Yukon head coach Alain Masson told the Star yesterday. "I always admired his determination and his passion for skiing. He will be missed greatly, but his legacy will live on through so many of the people he touched.”

Mouchet is widely recognized for his contributions to cross-country skiing in the North, after founding the Territorial Experimental Ski Training (TEST) program in 1955.

Born in Malbuisson, France, Mouchet was a French Resistance fighter and concentration camp survivor before making the move to northern Canada in 1946 as an Oblate missionary priest. He served in a variety of communities, including Telegraph Creek, B.C., Old Crow, Inuvik, Whitehorse and Ross River.

Rather than preaching to the people, Mouchet instead spent most of his life instructing while holding ski poles, encouraging his pupils to rediscover their link to the land.

Mouchet is best known for his skiing program, which saw many young First Nations athletes glide to impressive results. Thanks to his tutelage, Old Crow skier Martha Benjamin won the Canadian Championships in 1963 and Inuvik twins Sharon and Shirley Firth competed in four consecutive Olympic Winter Games.

His contributions to skiing did not go unnoticed, and the awards began piling up, beginning with an induction into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and highlighted by the Order of Canada in 1993.

Yet despite his impressive resumé, which includes a book detailing his history in two Yukon communities, it was the personal and lasting effect he had on his pupils' lives that continues to resonate.

Gary Bailie was just eight years old when he joined Mouchet's TEST program, but that moment changed him forever.

"He really had a big hand in shaping the person that I am today,” Bailie said. "He's touched a lot of people's lives. I'm just one of many. Through skiing, he helped people realize their potential ... He really put us through the paces and built a lot of character in us. It made us hardy.”

Now 55, Bailie works as a recreational ski coach with the Kwanlin Koyotes, an effort he describes as paying Mouchet's teachings forward. Each of the ski trails in the Kwanlin Dun First Nation are named in Mouchet's honour.

Bailie paid homage to his late mentor yesterday by going for a long ski down those trails.

"I loved the man and I really tried hard to gain his approval,” he said. "When he would come up to you and say ‘You've done well,' I mean, I would just glow. Also, when you did well, he would give you skis. Everything he did had a lot of meaning to it. He really thought things out. He was very inspiring.”

Mouchet's longtime friend Rudy Sudrich was with him when he died. He spent the past few months spoon-feeding and massaging Mouchet, who was alert to the end.

"We were old training partners,” Sudrich said. "We had a very close relationship, very personal.”

Mouchet was still a regular on the ski trails up to last winter.

"That was really nice,” Sudrich said. "He was active and in full life right through the hospital stay. The only medication he took was Tylenol for his headache.”

Sudrich's 27-year-old daughter Pavlina said Mouchet was a regular fixture around her house when she was growing up, and she also benefitted from his coaching.

"He was always a close family friend,” said Pavlina, now the head coach of Ontario's cross-country ski program.

She said those who knew Mouchet realized "there was no Father off skis,” noting his pursuit of skiing perfection could be likened to a second religion.

"Skiing was his medium,” Pavlina explained. "Mostly he engaged people in a passionate pursuit of excellence through skiing (and) I'm a product of that. He believed in it so fully that it was who he was.”

Pavlina Sudrich and recent territorial male athlete of the year recipient Knute Johnsgaard were two of the last skiers the TEST program would ever produce.

The 20-year-old Johnsgaard honoured Mouchet during his thank-you speech at the Sport Yukon Awards Night Thursday.

"Father Mouchet has always been a huge inspiration to me,” Johnsgaard said from Vernon, B.C., where he is preparing to compete in NorAms. "His whole story is so unbelievable. You can't help but admire the guy.”

Johnsgaard recalled his first introduction to Mouchet during a dryland TEST program camp at Teslin Lake when he was just 12 years old.

The stories of success stemming from the TEST program had the youngster spellbound from the start.

"He saw those First Nations people and he knew right away they had something special,” Johnsgaard recalled of Mouchet's 25 years in Old Crow. "People wondered: ‘Who are these people?' He believed in them and made them champions.

"He always said, that's how these people prayed was through skiing ... That's how they got close to God,” Johnsgaard added. "I'm not religious by any means, but it was always cool to hear that.”

Mouchet's impact on Old Crow continues to be felt today, Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Joe Linklater said this morning.

"I think people feel good to have known him and that he was such an important part of their life,” he said. "His legacy will certainly carry on. It was more than just skiing, it was the philosophy in life that he taught through physical fitness.

"He also brought a lot of Northerners together in this little isolated community,” Linklater added. "He never saw any limitations in Old Crow. He saw possibilities. I think that's really insightful of him.”

Mouchet's grand nephew Philippe Mouchet, the priest's only relative living locally, said while skiing was his vehicle, the message was the most memorable.

"You can apply his philosophy to anything,” Philippe said. "He was passionate about humans, and studying them, and he knew so much about the world. The values he put forward of commitment and working hard to achieve your goals inspired and really saved the lives of many.”

A funeral ceremony will be held early next week, followed by a celebration of Mouchet's life at the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club.