Plans are firm for Skiing History Week in Sun Valley, March 23-27, 2022. Tickets are on sale now for ISHA’s 30th Annual Awards Banquet at the Sun Valley Lodge. ISHA’s schedule includes the John Fry Lecture evening on Wednesday, March 23; a Retro Ski Day and Roundhouse Luncheon on Thursday, March 24, follow by a reception and Awards Banquet that evening; and an Historians’ Colloquium on Friday morning, March 25. In addition, ISHA will host a ski film festival at the Sun Valley Opera House. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame holds its Induction Gala on Saturday, March 26 (an earlier Hall of Fame Induction will be held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, on March 5).
For schedule details, discount room and lift rates, and to purchase tickets to the ISHA Banquet, go to skiinghistory.org/events. Find tickets to all Hall of Fame events at skihall.com/induction/.
Sun Valley requires that masks be worn indoors. In addition, both ISHA and the Hall of Fame will require proof of Covid19 vaccination for admission to banquets and other indoor events.
ISHA Fundraising: Year-end Giving and Tax Planning
At the end of October, ISHA’s generous donors had reached 52 percent of our fundraising goal for 2021—typical for this point in our annual year-end campaign. Member dues provide about 20 percent of the revenue needed to produce, print and mail Skiing History magazine, conduct the annual Awards Program and maintain the website skiinghistory.org. The balance of revenue comes from tax-deductible individual donations, corporate sponsorships and income from endowment-fund investments. Contributions may be tax deductible regardless of whether you itemize or take standard deductions, and gifts of appreciated stock may incur tax advantages. Please consult your tax adviser.
Check Your Mailing Label!
If the mailing label on your copy of Skiing History magazine bears the word AUTO, it means that you are enrolled in ISHA’s Auto-Renew Program. If that’s the case, you need take no action regarding membership renewal—that will happen automatically, and we will NOT send a membership renewal reminder. If your mailing label does NOT show the word AUTO, it means that your membership will expire on the date shown on the label, and we’ll send a renewal notice with the magazine one issue ahead of expiration.
Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685)
(1) Publication title: Skiing History. (2) Publication number: 016-201. (3) Filing date: October 1, 2021. (4) Issue frequency: Bimonthly. (5) Number of issues published annually: 6 (6) Annual subscription price: $0. (7) Complete mailing address of known office of publication: P.O. Box 1064, Manchester Center VT 05255. Contact: Laurie Glover. Telephone (802) 375-1105. (8) Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: P.O. Box 1064, Manchester Center VT 05255. (9) Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor and managing editor. Publisher: International Skiing History Association, P.O. Box 1064, Manchester Center VT 05255. Editor: Seth Masia, 39978 Panorama Rd, Paonia CO 81428. Managing Editor: Greg Ditrinco, 3076 Red Deer Trail, Lafayette, CO 80026-9322. (10) Owner: International Skiing History Association, P.O. Box 1064, Manchester Center VT 05255. (11) Known bondholders, mortgages, and other security holders owning or holding one percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None. (12) Tax status: 501( c )(3) public charity. (13) Publication title: Skiing History. (14) Issue date for circulation data below: September/October 2021. (15) Extent and nature of circulation: Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, no. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date. (a) Total number of copies: 2497 (average), 2300 (single issue). (b) Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail): (1) mailed outside county paid subscription stated on PS Form 3541: 1337 (average), 1275 (single issue). (2) Mailed in county paid subscriptions stated on Form 3541: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (3) Paid distribution outside the mail including sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales and other paid distribution outside USPS: 380 (average), 252 (single issue). (4) Paid distribution by other classes of mail through the USPS: 414 (average), 414 (single issue). (c) Total paid distribution: 2131 (average), 1941 (single issue). (d) Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside the mail): (1) free or nominal rate outside-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (2) free or nominal rate in-county copies included on PS Form 3541: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (3) Free or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS (e.g., first-class mail): 0 (average), 0(single issue). (4) Free or nominal rate distribution outside the mail (carriers or other means): 310 (average), 270 (single issue). (e) Total free or nominal rate distribution: 310 (average), 270 (single issue). (f) Total distribution: 2440 (average), 2211 (single issue). (g) Copies not distributed: 57 (average), 89 (single issue). (h) Total: 2497 (average), 2300 (single issue). (i) Percent paid: 87.32% (average, 87.79% (single issue). (16) Electronic Copy Circulation (a) Paid electronic copies: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (b) Total paid print copies: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (c) Total paid distribution: 0 (average), 0 (single issue). (d) Percent paid: 0 (average), 0 (single issue).
I certify that all information furnished in this form is true and complete.
Signature and title of editor, publisher, business manager or owner: Seth Masia, editor.
Because of Covid-19-related event cancellations, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2021 in the spring of 2023 at Big Sky, Montana. The Classes of 2019 and 2020 will be inducted at Sun Valley on March 27.
The Class of 2021:
Sven Coomer
Sven Coomer made plastic boots comfortable and skiable. At age 16, Sven was the youngest Olympian at the 1956 Summer Games. He studied product engineering in Sweden and consulted on athletic shoe design for Puma. He became an influential ski instructor before joining Nordica in 1968, where he drove boot design and created the pattern for race boots still in production after 50 years.
Herman Dupré
Herman Dupré grew up at Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania, founded by his parents in 1937. After building his own rope tows and chairlifts, and after much experimentation, in 1960 he built the resort’s first snowmaking system. Eventually he held 34 patents for his HKD snowmaking products, including innovative low-pressure systems that were widely adopted across the resort industry. Herman died in April 2020.
John Eaves
John Eaves stunt-doubled as James Bond in “A View to a Kill” and starred in the classic Willy Bogner film “Fire and Ice,” then went on to a career as a cameraman. On the pro freestyle circuit of the 1970s he scored dozens of victories in aerials, ballet and moguls and was three-time aerial and overall World Freestyle Champion; in 1980, the first year of the FIS Freestyle World Cup, he was aerials champion.
Dave and Renie
Gorsuch
Dave and Renie Gorsuch competed at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics and, after marrying, established leading ski retail stores-first in Gunnison and Crested Butte, then in Vail, Aspen, Snowmass, Beaver Creek and Park City, serving a worldwide customer base. The couple have been effective leaders and philanthropists in their communities, helping to develop hospitals, schools, museums and other institutions. Dave died in June, 2021.
Peter Graves
Peter Graves is an American television sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Olympic, lifestyle and action sports. He covered 11 Olympic Games and become the voice of Nordic skiing at U.S. World Cup events and the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race from 1977 to 1985.
Mike Hattrup
Mike Hattrup was named to the U.S. Freestyle Mogul Team in 1987, missing a chance to ski on the World Cup due to injury. He skied in numerous ski films, including the most important ski movie of his generation, Greg Stump’s The Blizzard of Aahhhs. Mike was named by Powder magazine in 1998 as one of the “50 Best Skiers in North America” and in 2006 as one of the “48 Most Influential Skiers of Our Time.”
Jan Reynolds
Jan Reynolds elevated extreme ski mountaineering as a sport worldwide. In 1980 she skied from the summit of Mustagata in the Pamirs, setting a high-altitude skiing record for women that held for a decade. Esquire Magazine selected Jan as “Athlete of the Decade” for her grueling first descents in winter during the Everest Grand Circle expedition of 1981-82, and her performance as a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team during the inaugural seasons of the women’s biathlon World Cup (1983-84).
Alan Schoenberger
Pro freestyler Alan Schoenberger won the world ballet championship and 14 first or second place freestyle podiums. To bring skiing to live theater, he created SkiBed, enabling skiing on stage. Beginning in 1978 he launched seven touring productions, with 1,250 performances, including appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, at the 1994 World Cup Finals in Vail and 75 performances during the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
Dick Bohr (above, left), founder of the Ski Haus in Cleveland, CFO of the original Vail Associates and a FIS Nordic official, died in 2018 at age 97. With his wife, Georgette (above, right), Dick was a long-time member and promoter of ISHA. Georgette died in 2019. The couple left a generous unrestricted bequest to ISHA via the Richard and Georgette Bohr Trust. The Bohr fund and the revenue it produces will support ISHA’s mission: publishing Skiing History magazine and skiinghistory.org, the annual ISHA Awards, and future archiving, research and outreach initiatives.
On a personal note, Dick hired me at the Ski Haus in 1970. It was my first job in skiing. I learned to fit boots, adjust bindings, repair skis, write advertising copy and sell, sell, sell. Dick was a generous mentor, and I treasure his memory. –Seth Masia
Fundraiser kickoff
On behalf of the staff and board, I want to thank ISHA’s members for your generous support through this difficult past year. At this time a year ago, we had no idea how the Covid-19 pandemic would affect our lives, let alone the 2020-21 ski season. We did know that many of our sponsors and donors had not yet recovered from the shutdowns of March 2020. When we asked for support to continue publishing the magazine, you responded wholeheartedly. Individual donations from readers like you kept ISHA solvent. We were able to operate on our normal schedule, aside from live events.
We were forced to cancel the springtime Skiing History Weeks in 2020 and 2021. In both years, we presented the annual ISHA Awards with online ceremonies. Skiing History Week will resume in Sun Valley, with the Awards Banquet to be held March 24, 2022.
As we embark on the 2021 year-end fundraising campaign, please remember that ISHA runs on the passion and commitment of its members, but also on this community’s willingness to offer financial support. In 2020, membership dues covered just 23 percent of ISHA’s costs of publishing the magazine, maintaining the website and conducting the Awards Program. Corporate sponsors contributed 16 percent of operating funds. By far the largest contribution—59 percent—was made by Skiing History readers. Without those generous individual donations, we could not publish six issues of the magazine each year, nor maintain the vast website—which now includes an archive of the magazine’s past issues—nor produce in-person Skiing History events.
During the coming year, ISHA plans more improvements to the website, including online multimedia projects and new outreach programs to diverse audiences around the world. And, of course, we’ll continue to publish our colorful, authoritative and entertaining magazine, Skiing History. With your support, we are looking forward to a grand winter, with many more to come.
Your tax-deductible donation to the International Skiing History Association makes all the difference. Please help us to keep the work going! To give, please use the envelope bound into this magazine or visit skiinghistory.org/donate.
Take Your Tax Deduction!
U.S. taxpayers should be aware of a federal law providing tax benefits when you support the causes you care about, including ISHA. Under the CARES Act, all taxpayers are eligible to deduct up to $300 of charitable giving ($600 for a married couple filing jointly), whether you itemize deductions or take the standard deduction. This is $300 you won’t have to pay taxes on, even if you don’t itemize. For those who do itemize deductions, the new law allows for cash contributions to qualified charities such as ISHA to be deducted up to 100 percent of your adjusted gross income for the 2021 calendar year.
If you are fortunate enough to be traveling through the mountainous region north of Montreal, make a point of visiting the beautiful Laurentian Ski Museum, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022.
Photo above: Organized in thematic zones, the permanent exhibits constitute a stroll through history. LSM photo.
The museum’s story began in the 1960s when historian Bernard Brazeau indulged his passion for collecting ski artifacts. In 1980, with two colleagues, he created a “research group on skiing in the Laurentians.” Bernard teamed with Jacques Beauchamp-Forget, professor, historian and fellow member of the Société d’histoire et de généalogie des Laurentides, and Fernand Trottier, skier, coach and owner of a local ski shop. The Musée du ski des Laurentides (LSM) became a reality two years later.
A few of Jackrabbit's belongings, from
the Johanssen collection. LSM photo.
In 1992, Alice Johannsen merged her Musée Jackrabbit with LSM. Founded in 1987, the collection honors the life and work of her father, Herman Smith-Johannsen (1875–1987).
Since its inception, LSM has held an annual soirée at the Laurentian Ski Hall of Fame, which is part of the museum. The list of inductees, some 178 over the past 39 years, includes such luminaries as Émile Cochand, Sr., creator of North America’s first ski resort, Chalet Cochand (1915); Lucile Wheeler-Vaughan, the first North American to win an Olympic medal in the downhill (Cortina d’Ampezzo, 1956) and the honorary hostess of the Hall of Fame for many years; and Linda Crutchfield, a five-time Olympic competitor in skiing and luge, a ski instructor and a Level IV examiner. More recently, in 2016, LSM honored ISHA’s own John Fry and Doug Pfeiffer.
The museum is proud of its extensive holdings, which include more than 7,500 artifacts and 20 private archive collections. Prominent among these collections are Jackrabbit’s memorabilia and mementoes of the ski-racing careers of Rhona and Rhoda Wurtele; LSM also maintains the website of the Repertoire-des-centres-de-ski-du-Quebec (Directory of Quebec Ski Sites), by Pierre Dumas, which documents and geo-locates more than 600 ski centers, extant and abandoned. The site received the ISHA Cyber Award in 2017.
In 2022 the museum will move from its
long-term home (above) to . . .
. . . the National Bank Building, which
will provide more space for expanded
exhibits. LSM photos.
Since 2016, Nancy Belhumeur has served as the museum’s curator, and Pierre Urquhart as the director general since 1998.
The long-term home of the museum has been on avenue Filion (in the center of St. Sauveur, just off rue Principale) in a renovated fire station. These premises have served admirably for many years, protecting and displaying, in the museum’s first-class fashion, the permanent and revolving collections. But in early 2021 the museum announced that it will move to the more prestigious, and historic, National Bank building nearby and hopes to be installed there, at the corner of rue Principale and rue de la Gare, in 2022.
The museum welcomes visitors from Wednesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. museeduski.com
Regular contributor Bob Soden serves as ISHA’s treasurer and heads the board’s museum committee.
Sun Valley, Idaho, will host the 30th annual ISHA Awards Banquet next March.
Mark these dates: ISHA will hold its 30th annual ISHA Awards Banquet on March 24, 2022, at Sun Valley! We’ll renew our long-standing Skiing History Week collaboration with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, which will hold its induction banquet on March 26. In addition, ISHA will send a contingent to the NESM’s Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race at North Conway, New Hampshire on March 5, followed by the HOF’s Eastern Banquet that evening at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
We were preparing to hold the 2020 Skiing History Week at Sun Valley when the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation. We’re delighted to return now to Ketchum, Sun Valley and Mt. Baldy, which have hosted so many ISHA events in years past.
Janet White
ISHA Hires New Executive Director
ISHA is pleased to announce that Janet White will assume the duties of Executive Director on August 1. Janet’s roots in skiing run deep: after graduating cum laude at the University of New Hampshire, she joined The Ski Market as skiwear manager and eight years later supervised staff training for 500 employees at 30 retail locations. For the next 20 years she worked as vice president for sales, education and business development for companies selling management software to nonprofits, including schools, universities and philanthropic organizations. Janet serves on the board of directors of the New England Ski Museum and has attended a number of ISHA events. “Janet brings us a unique set of skills in personnel and project management, back-end operations, sales and partner development,” said ISHA Chairman Rick Moulton. “And she’s steeped in skiing culture, with long relationships among ISHA’s existing partners. She’s a perfect fit and will step right into professional management of ISHA’s programs.”
Ken Huggesen
Ken Hugessen Elected to ISHA Board
Toronto-based management consultant Ken Hugessen has been elected to ISHA’s Board of Directors. Ken grew up skiing in Montreal and raced both Nordic and Alpine events for the Sedbergh School, Bishop’s College School and Lower Canada College. He holds an Honors B.S. from Sir George Williams University, an M.A. from Dalhousie University and an M.S. from the University of Chicago. In 1974 he joined Mercer Inc. and for three decades managed Mercer practices in Toronto, Calgary, Chicago and New York, rising to managing director. He continued to ski, racing on winning teams at the Canadian Ski Marathon and the Laurentian Loppet. In 2006 he founded Hugessen Consulting, advising boards on executive compensation and related performance, governance and shareholder matters.
ISHA Is a Public Charity
ISHA was founded in 1991 as a private charity by Mason Beekley. After a three-year review, as of March 31, 2021, we are a public charity under IRS rules. A number of family and institutional foundations have already used the new classification to donate in support of the ISHA mission.
The Canadian Ski Hall of Fame has announced its class of 2019. Induction, delayed due to the pandemic, was held in June 2021. New members include:
Athlete category:
Chandra Crawford (photo above), cross-country racer, three-time Olympian (2006, 2010 and 2014) and gold medalist in 2006.
Ashleigh McIvor, ski cross and freestyle competitor, 2010 Olympic gold medalist in ski cross and four-time Winter X Games competitor.
Jennifer Heil, freestyle and moguls, Olympic gold medalist (2006) and silver medalist (2010). Four-time World Champion. Five-time overall World Cup Champion. Canada’s female athlete of the year in 2007 and 2011.
Lauren Woolstencroft, Canada’s most decorated Paralympic athlete, eight gold medals, with a record five won at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
Builder:
Mike Irwin
Mike Irwin, former Canadian Alpine Ski Team member, past chair of board of directors Alpine Canada, Chief of Race for World Cup events.
Réal Boulanger (deceased), founder of Mont Sutton, co-founder of Quebec Ski Area Owner’s Association.
William B. Schreiber, member of the Canadian Ski Patrol for 50 years.
Builder and Coach:
Malcolm Hunter, 1972 Olympian, 25 years of service with Cross-Country Canada, including two-time executive director.
Ski Instructor:
Lorne McFadgen (deceased), ski school director at Talisman, instructor at Whistler Blackcomb, first inductee into the Blackcomb Hall of Fame.
Eliasch to step back at Head, pledges to modernize race formats
Billionaire businessman Johan Eliasch was elected president of the International Ski Federation on June 4, pledging to re-energize competitive skiing with possible new race formats and more dynamic broadcasts.
Eliasch, the 25-year CEO of Head and an active environmentalist, was elected on the first ballot, with 65 of the 119 votes. In an online press conference, Eliasch told reporters “I think it shows the FIS family is ready for change. I always said, ‘If you want to keep things the way they are, I am not your candidate.’”
Each candidate made a 10-minute video presentation. Eliasch’s pitch included endorsements from Lindsey Vonn and Aksel Lund Svindal, both of whom raced on Head skis during their championship careers. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry endorsed Eliasch’s candidacy, noting his position on the immediate need to address climate change.
Eliasch, 59, was born in Sweden but has lived in London since joining the private-equity firm Tufton in 1985. From 1999 to 2010 he held a variety of environmental-stewardship positions in the British Government, under both Labour and Conservative prime ministers. He acquired Head out of near-bankruptcy in 1995, at age 33, made it profitable within two years and took it public in 2000. Eliasch holds a master’s degree in engineering and put 3 percent of Head’s revenue into research and development. To back up his climate activism, in 2005 he established the Rainforest Trust and bought 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of Amazon forest, along with the company logging that land. He halted logging and replanted.
Eliasch runs Head out of its London office, but pledged during his campaign to leave his Head role if elected. “I will step down as chief executive of Head,” he said during the press conference. “And if there are any decisions which have potential conflict of interest, I will of course recuse myself.” He declined to say if he would divest his financial position in Head, according to Associated Press reports. “If we have phenomenal success for FIS, it will benefit all stakeholders,” he added.
Just the fifth FIS president in its 97-year history, Eliasch succeeds Gian Franco Kasper, who held the office since 1998 and leaves one year early. The next FIS election is scheduled next year after Eliasch oversees a majority of the medal events at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022.
Rival candidates were former world downhill champion Urs Lehmann of Switzerland, former FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis of Britain (fired by Kasper last year) and FIS vice president Mats Årjes of Sweden, Kasper’s own choice. Lehmann and Årjes won elections for seats on the ruling FIS Council, which Eliasch will chair.
In his initial post-election news conference, Eliasch promised to give FIS’s 135 national associates more voice in decision-making and more opportunities to host events. He pledged to begin work “as soon as possible” on reviewing race formats. He also pledged to modernize FIS media policies by centralizing broadcast rights and expanding broadcasts across new media.
Halston on Netflix: How fashion came to the Olympics
Halston introduces athletic uniforms, 1976
The five-part Netflix series Halston, released in May, follows the American designer as he transforms his name into an international fashion empire. Not mentioned in the biopic is that Halston volunteered to create the U.S. Olympic Team uniforms for both the summer and winter games of Centennial Year 1976. That kicked televised Olympics into a fashion showcase: Levi Strauss signed up to do the uniforms in 1980 and 1984, and Ralph Lauren has done it every year since 2008—and will again for 2022 (in recent years Lauren has done suits for the opening and closing marches, while Nike has provided uniforms for medal ceremonies).
As the website Fashionista notes, the designers “imbued elements of national identity into their uniforms, projecting idealized American aesthetics intended to make an impact on the world stage at crucial moments in the nation’s history.”
It wasn’t always that way. The first international Olympic Games in 1896, in Athens, featured athletes wearing their own clothes or uniforms from their athletic clubs. At the first winter games, at Chamonix in 1924, American skaters wore white pants and sweaters with a stars-and-stripes shield on the chest. Thereafter the winter teams had uniforms composed variously of navy-blue warm-ups, white sweaters and pea coats.
Montgomery Ward produced Halston’s 1976 uniforms, without the official insignia, and sold the Olympic line in its catalog. Halston pocketed a percentage. The uniforms weren’t universally admired. “Opening Ceremony uniforms for the winter games included simple dark navy jackets with hoods worn with plain loose trousers, while podium outfits looked like simple leisure suits with turtleneck tops,” Fashionista reported. A letter in the New York Times called them a “disgrace to the team and affront to the nation.”
“Despite mixed reviews, Halston is definitely worth the binge,” Forbes reports. “It’s fun to travel back in time throughout the 1970s and ’80s.”
