Jim Bombard - Collegiate four-way racer and ski-manufacturer sales rep

Collegiate ski racer and sales rep James W. Bombard, 77, died on October 20, 2017, in Fitchfield, Massachusetts of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Bombard grew up in Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He earned his undergraduate degree from Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York and a master’s degree in English from Western State University in Colorado. As a member of the Western State ski team in the early 1960s, he competed in the national four-way “Skimeister” championship—downhill, jumping, cross country and slalom—and won several other nordic titles.

Bombard started his ski career with Head, where he worked as a sales rep and collaborated closely with Jean-Claude Killy on product development. Later, from his home base in Sun Valley, he was involved in the development of Scott poles and worked as the K2 rep for Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. 

Jim was the brother of ISHA founding member Natalie Bombard Leduc, who survives him.—Adirondack Daily Enterprise