Lives

Merrill Ford, Aspen

Merrill Ford
Passing Date: October 24, 2010

Aspen arts and culture advocate One of the strongest links to the Paepcke era in Aspen ended  with the death of Merrill Ford on October 24, 2010. A close friend of Elizabeth and Walter Paepcke, Merrill was involved in all of the institutions they started here. She participated on committees for the...

Georges Salomon, Legendary equipment manufacturer

Georges Salomon
Passing Date: October 5, 2010

Legendary equipment manufacturer Georges Salomon, arguably the most influential figure in the ski manufacturing world during the second half of the 20th century, passed away October 5, 2010, at his lakeside home in Annecy, France. He was 85. The company that still bears his family name began in...

Martie Sterling, Aspen lodge owner, author

Martie Sterling
Passing Date: September 29, 2010

Lodge Owner, Ski Humorist Martie Sterling, owner and operator (with husband Ken) of the Heatherbed Lodge in Aspen, Colorado, and one of skiing’s most prolific writers and humorists, died September 29, 2010, at her home in Aspen. She was 85. Born Martha Whitcomb, Martie was the daughter of a...

Erwin Stricker, Italian Ski Racer

Erwin Stricker
Passing Date: September 28, 2010

Erwin Stricker, a former member of the Italian ski team known for his aggressive style and bigger than life persona, died September 28, 2010, in Bolzano, Italy, at the age of 60. Born August 15, 1950, Stricker raced on the Italian team from 1969 to 1977 and was known as the ”Crazy Horse.” After...

Ivar Halvorsen, Nordic wooden ski maker

Ivar Halvorsen
Passing Date: August 25, 2010

Nordic wooden ski maker Ivar Halvorsen, the last of the Nordic wooden ski makers, died at age 93 on August 25, 2010, in Nittedal, Norway. He was born July 17, 1917, to his calling. As a boy, athletic and strong from having worked with his carpenter father, he began cross-country ski racing. But his...

Sepp Kober, southeast U.S. ski pioneer

Sepp Kober
Passing Date: August 3, 2010

Sepp Kober, who built Southeastern skiing from the ground up and was a 2010 U.S. Ski Hall of Fame inductee, died August 3, 2010, at Bath Community Hospital in Hot Springs, Virginia. He was 88. Born outside of Igls, Austria, near Innsbruck, Kober had already established himself as an Austrian...

Dick Reuter, Kirkwood’s original mountain manager

Dick Reuter
Passing Date: July 4, 2010

Dick Reuter, Kirkwood’s original mountain manager, died July 4, at Kirkwood, at age 88. A World War II veteran, Reuter worked with Monty Atwater on avalanche control at Squaw Valley in the years leading up to the 1960 Olympics. He became Squaw’s mountain manager in the late ‘60s, then moved his...

Dick Reuter, Kirkwood’s original mountain manager

Dick Reuter
Passing Date: July 4, 2010

Dick Reuter, Kirkwood’s original mountain manager, died July 4, 2009, at Kirkwood, at age 88. A World War II veteran, Reuter worked with Monty Atwater on avalanche control at Squaw Valley in the years leading up to the 1960 Olympics. He became Squaw’s mountain manager in the late ‘60s, then moved...

Kirkwood,Calif.lost two founders this summer

Bud Klien
Passing Date: May 5, 2010

Kirkwood, Calif.lost two founders this summer. Bud Klein, 83, died May 5 inStockton, Calif. Klein was a football and baseball star at University of the Pacific and Stanford. In 1950, because his father had had a heart attack, Klein declined a minor-league berth with a Boston Red Sox farm team and...

Jimmie Heuga, Olympic slalom medalist, MS healing pioneer

Jimmie Heuga
Passing Date: February 8, 2010

In 1949, the 1937 World Alpine Champion Emile Allais arrived at the newly-opened Squaw Valley to be ski school director. Allais spoke little English, and was happy to relax with another Frenchman on site, the lift operator Pascal Heuga. Heuga had a six-year-old son in tow. Little Jimmie followed...