Lives

Pioneering Ski Mountaineer

Hilaree Nelson
Passing Date: September 26, 2022

Hilaree Nelson, an extreme skier and barrier-breaking ski mountaineer, died on September 26. She was 49. Nelson, with her life and climbing partner Jim Morrison, was skiing from the summit of Manaslu, the world’s eighth-highest peak, when they triggered an avalanche that swept her over a cliff....

Olympic Jumper, Coach, 10th Mountain Veteran

Crosby Perry-Smith
Passing Date: September 23, 2022

Crosby Perry-Smith, ski jumper, coach and 10th Mountain Division veteran, died on September 23 at age 98. Perry-Smith graduated from Lake Placid High School. At age 14, he won the U.S. Ski Jumping Championships in the 18-year-old class. At 17, he won the Maine State Championships, setting the hill...

Olympic Photographer

Carl Yarbrough
Passing Date: September 14, 2022

Carl Yarbrough, veteran Olympic photographer, died on September 14 due to complications caused by sepsis. He was 65. Yarbrough grew up in Arlington, Texas. A skilled skier, Yarbrough specialized in outdoor winter shoots. During his 35-year career as a photographer, he covered nine Winter Olympics....

Taos Legend

Dadou Mayer
Passing Date: August 16, 2022

Bernard “Dadou” Mayer, Taos ski instructor and hotelier, died August 16 at age 82. Mayer, with his older brother Jean, grew up racing in the southern Alps north of Nice, and was a regional junior champion. He trained as a chef and hotelier, and taught skiing at Club Med in Leysin, Switzerland. In...

Stowe skiing legend

Marvin Moriarty
Passing Date: April 20, 2022

Vermont skiing legend Marvin Moriarty died suddenly on April 20, 2022 in West Palm Beach, Florida, victim of a hit-and-run accident. He was 85. Photo above by Paul Ryan: Marv training on Spruce Peak, 1961. Moriarty grew up in Stowe, Vermont, living in a boarding house owned by his parents, who...

Grooming Innovator, Alta Assistant General Manager

Russ Harmer
Passing Date: March 22, 2022

Snowcat innovator and grooming pioneer Russ Harmer passed away on March 22, 2022, in Salt Lake City, at age 74. Harmer grew up on a farm in Mapleton, Utah. In 1966, with the seasonal farm operations slowing down, Harmer found work supervising Alta’s fleet of three small snowcats. He befriended...

Instructor, Industry Rep

Jan Gulliksen
Passing Date: March 21, 2022

Jan Erling Gulliksen, a 60-year veteran of the U.S. ski industry, died  March 21, 2022, in Montrose, Colorado. He was 87 years old. Gulliksen grew up in Norway and was six years old when the German army invaded his country. In 1949, at age 15, he went to sea, first on a whaling ship bound for...

Instructor, climber, resort manager

Jon Reveal
Passing Date: February 24, 2022

Jon Reveal, a longtime Aspen Skiing Company executive, died unexpectedly on February 24, 2022, at the end of a workday at Tamarack Resort in Idaho. He was 77. Reveal grew up in California and started skiing at age three. He raced throughout the West and graduated from the University of California–...

Quebec resort visionary

Louis Dufour
Passing Date: February 19, 2022

Quebec ski industry leader Louis Dufour died February 19, 2022. He was 81. A former member of the Canadian Ski Team, in 1972 Dufour joined the marketing department at Saint-Saveur resort. In1978, with the acquisition of Jay Peak, Vermont, he worked with Jacques Hébert to launch Mont Saint-Sauveur...

Retailer, diversity activist

Yosh Nakagawa
Passing Date: January 29, 2022

Yoshitada Nakagawa, retired president/CEO of Seattle’s Osborn & Ulland Sporting Goods chain and a lifelong activist for diversity in sports, passed away peacefully at age 89 on January 29, following a third bout of cancer. Yosh was born to immigrant parents in Seattle’s multi-ethnic Central...