Lives

Coach, author, mentor

Ron LeMaster
Passing Date: November 30, 2021

Ultimate Skiing, by Ron LeMaster Ron LeMaster, the widely-respected analyst of ski technique, was killed November 30 in a collision with a snowboarder. He was 72 years old. The accident took place on Windmill, an intermediate run at Eldora, near LeMaster’s home in Boulder, Colorado. When patrollers...

Promoter, entrepreneur, publisher

Barry Hollister
Passing Date: November 26, 2021

Joseph “Barry” Hollister, founder of the Ski America promotion company, passed away on November 26 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 80. In the 1960s, Hollister taught skiing at a variety of resorts, including Bousquet, Mt. Tremblant, Heavenly Valley and Palisades Tahoe (Squaw Valley)....

Fleece pioneer, labor-management hero

Aaron Feuerstein
Passing Date: November 4, 2021

Aaron Feuerstein, who helped to develop polyester fleece as a foundation of activewear, and won national praise after he refused to lay off employees after a devasting fire at his Malden Mills plant in 1995, died November 4 in Boston of pneumonia. He was 95. Feuerstein joined Malden Mills after...

Longtime Skiing publisher

Harry Kaiser
Passing Date: October 23, 2021

Harry Kaiser, influential ski-industry publisher, died October 23, at the age of 91. Born in 1930 on Long Island, Kaiser started skiing at 14, which turned into a lifelong passion and profession. After graduating from Fordham University in 1953, he served two years in the Army. In 1956 he got his...

Atomic's chief of racing, R&D

Rupert Huber
Passing Date: August 2, 2021

Rupert “Killy” Huber, chief engineer and head of racing at Atomic until his retirerment in 2013, died August 2 after a long illness. He was 72 years old. Huber grew up racing in Radstadt, Austria, about ten miles from the original Atomic factory in Wagrain. When he was 16, Atomic founder Alois...

Vermont racing promoters

Anne and Joe Jones
Passing Date: July 17, 2021

Joseph Clarence Jones, ski coach and co-founder of the Mid-Vermont Junior Alpine Racing Council and the Vermont Alpine Racing Association died July 17, 2021, in Rutland, Vermont. He was 97. Anne Jones, who together with Joe helped promote skiing and racing throughout the Vermont region, passed...

Heliskiing pioneer

Mike Wiegele
Passing Date: July 15, 2021

Mike Wiegele, founder of the Cariboos-based helicopter skiing operation that bears his name, and of the Canadian Ski Guides Association, died July 15 at age 82. He had been hospitalized for the past 10 months with dementia. Wiegele grew up on a farm in Lading Kärnten , in the rolling hills west of...

Whistler exec, CWSAA president

Peter Alder
Passing Date: July 13, 2021

Peter Alder, resort manager and planner, lift inspector and one of the founders of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, died in July. He was 91. Born in Basel, Switzerland, Alder moved to Canada in 1951, settled in Squamish, British Columbia, and worked building utility power lines. He got his...

FIS chief

Gian-Franco Kasper
Passing Date: July 9, 2021

Gian Franco Kasper, who served 23 years as secretary general and 23 years as president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), died on July 9, after a short illness, and just one month after retiring. He was 77 years old. Kasper was born in St. Moritz, where primary education was (and still is)...

Ski sales executive

Kip Pitou
Passing Date: July 8, 2021

Augustus “Kip” Pitou III died July 8, 2021, in Laconia, New Hampshire, at age 81. He suffered a stroke in the spring of 2020 and was diagnosed with Covid19 on July 4. Pitou, with his big sister Penny, grew up skiing a rope tow in Gilford, New Hampshire, and at nearby Belknap Mountain (now Gunstock...