Moose Barrows - American downhiller, philanthropist

Jim “Moose” Barrows died in his sleep June 28, in hospice in his hometown of Steamboat Springs, seven years after his first surgery for melanoma brain cancer. He was 80 years old.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Barrows moved to Steamboat Springs with his family in 1950 and joined the town’s Winter Sports Club at age five. Coached by local legend Gordy Wren, Barrows became a ski jumper, cross country skier and Alpine racer. He emerged as a top downhiller, earning a berth on the U.S. ski team in 1960, at age 17, and winning every downhill in the Rocky Mountain Division during the 1961-62 season. He arrived at the University of Colorado the following season, where Coach Bob Beattie dubbed him “Moose” for his size – six feet tall and 195 lb. That was massive for a ski racer then, but not unusual today. He won several four-event “skimeister” titles in NCAA competition.

 In March, 1967, at Franconia, New Hampshire, in the first World Cup downhill race ever held in North America, Barrows finished third behind Jean Claude Killy and Guy Périllat (Killy won all five downhills in that inaugural World Cup season). Barrows placed seventh in the downhill standings and qualified for the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team. 

In the Grenoble Olympic downhill, Barrows started 26th after midcourse conditions had become rough. Skiing all out, about two-thirds of the way down he took a wide line to avoid ruts in a fast left-hand sweeper, launched off a roll and landed hard on the front of another roll (the same bump had earlier claimed Canadian Rod Hebron). The ensuing crash was a high-speed, 200-foot eggbeater. Barrows landed hard on the back of his head, and dislocated a hip. Film of the crash became part of the “agony of defeat” segment on ABC-TVs “Wide World of Sports,” along with Vinko Bogataj’s ski-jumping crash.

Barrows recovered to win the North American downhill championship in 1969, but suffered a head injury in training for the 1970 World Championships and retired as an amateur. He competed on the World Pro Skiing circuit in the early ‘70s, finished third in points in 1971. He coached the U.S. men’s downhill squad in 1979-’80, when Pete Patterson finished fifth at the Lake Placid Olympic downhill and Phil Mahre won FIS gold in combined. In 1983, Barrows endured the loss of his two-year-old son Mickey to a congenital heart condition.

Retiring to his ranch in Steamboat Springs, Barrows became an expert fly-fisherman, golfer and aerobatic pilot, flying among other aircraft a Christen Eagle biplane in competition. He supported athletes of the Winter Sports Club with his annual Moose’s Loose Golf Tournaments, and was widely honored for philanthropic projects, including Mickey’s Fund to support hospitalized children.

Moose Barrows, universally loved for his gregarious good humor and generosity, was elected to the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 1992.

Photo courtesy Steamboat Winter Sports Club