Oslo, Norway, native Alf Engen served as ski school director at Alta Ski Area for 40 years, starting in 1949. During this tenure he taught thousands the enjoyment of skiing. Because of his skiing prowess in Utah's acclaimed powder snow, he became known as "The Father of the Powder Skiing Technique." Another of his major teaching contributions was serving as director of the popular Deseret News Ski School, which was founded by the newspaper in 1948 and has introduced thousands to the sport.

Corey (Kaare) Engen was born on March 30, 1916, the youngest of the three Engen brothers.  Over his competitive career, Corey won more than 500 medals and trophies in all skiing disciplines (jumping, cross-country, downhill, slalom, and giant slalom).  He was captain of the 1948 U.S. Olympic ski jumping team and placed third in the jumping portion of the Olympic classic combined event, involving both jumping and cross-country.

Gretchen Kunigk Fraser was often referred to as Americas Lady of Skiing. And for very good reason: she was the first United States skier to win an Olympic gold medal, turning the feat in slalom competition in St Moritz, Switzerland in 1948.

Junior Bounous has been called the quintessential teacher, possessing the skill, instinct and personality for helping people find joy and excitement in skiing. With a mild disposition that belied his competitive spirit, he started his professional skiing career in 1947.

S. Joseph Joe Quinney is often referred to as the father of Utahs ski industry. His contributions to skiing are legion. Foremost among them is being an original incorporator of the Salt Lake Winter Sports Association in 1938, which later became the Alta Ski Lifts Company.

Sverre Engen was born in Mjondallen, Norway in January, 1911.  He is one of the most colorful of the early ski pioneers.  During his illustrious eight-decade career, he was among the best ski jumpers in America; a well-known ski instructor; a ski school director at Alta, Utah; an author of two books and many articles on skiing; an accomplished musician and actor; owner of a ski area in California; manager of several ski lodges; the first snow ranger in America, establishing snow-safety procedures that are still being followed; and a highly successful ski movie producer. 

Averell Harriman, born in Arden, New York, was a man of great influence on the worlds diplomatic scene and of great vision on the nations recreational scene. Befitting those attributes is his primary legacy: Sun Valley, Idaho, the first ski area in the world to offer lift-served skiing.

Zane A. Doyle is recognized for his significant contributions as a ski sport builder. Resolute yet compassionate, the Ogden, Utah native painted his spot on Utahs recreational canvas by guiding the development of Brighton from 1943 to 1987.

Axel Andresen is recognized for pioneering the sport of ski jumping in Utah. He immigrated to Salt Lake City from Norway in 1912 and in 1914 organized a group of ski jumping enthusiasts in the Salt Lake Valley who held the first amateur ski jumping tournament in 1915.

Bill Briggs has been recognized as the Father of Extreme Skiing after accomplishing the first ski descent of the Grand Teton on June 16, 1971. He also recorded first descents in the Bugaboos, Middle Teton, Mt. Moran and Mt. Owen. He pioneered a 100-mile ski traverse from the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass, establishing him as one of the greats of ski mountaineering.

Stein Eriksen is recognized as the father of freestyle skiing for performing some of the earliest somersaults on skis. After winning gold and silver medals in the 1952 Olympic Winter Games and 3 gold medals in the 1954 World Championships, this native Norwegian moved to Boyne Mountain, Michigan as its ski school director.

George Watson was a native of Michigan, born in 1883, who came to Utah in 1902 in search of a fortune mining silver ore in the gloves-off mining camps of the American West. His colorful, often zany, exploits as a miner, stock promoter and early-day ski aficionado led to the establishment of one of the world’s premier ski areas: Alta, Utah.

The efforts and expertise of Bill Lash are at the core of ski instruction in the United States. Quite literally, he wrote the book on ski instruction. In 1952 he wrote the plan for national certification and for a national ski instructor’s association for the National Ski Association.

Bill Spencer mastered the dual-disciplines of shooting and skiing on all levels of competition. His credentials bare that out: 1959 Collegiate Biathlon All-American for the University of Utah; U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team in 1964 and 1968; U.S. Biathlon Champion in 1965-1966-1967; Canadian National Biathlon Champion in 1966-1967.

In 1924, his father made Ed Scott’s first pair of skis, based on a plan in Boys Mechanic magazine. Forty years later, his company was selling 100,000 pair per season of the storied Scott Ski Poles. The remarkable success story of Ed Scott, started in 1949 by a ski repair business in a one-room cabin at Ketchum, Idaho, is attributed to his innovation and his penchant for “something different, something better.”

Pepi Stiegler is recognized for his skiing prowess as well as for his dedication to ski instruction. He started skiing at the age of six and by the age of 15 he was the Austrian Junior Champion in slalom. In the 1960 Olympic Winter Games at Squaw Valley, CA, Pepi won a silver medal in giant slalom.

Suzy Harris Rytting cut an incredible swath in the regional and national competitive ski scenes in the 1940’s. That swath started on a pair of borrowed boots and a last-place finish in her first major race. It reached its zenith when she was named a member of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team in 1952 that was to compete in Oslo, Norway.

Edgar Stern is an extraordinary visionary, and the ski industry—particularly in Utah—is the beneficiary. In 1971, with his usual foresight, he acquired 7,000 acres in Park City, Utah, that included what was then Treasure Mountain Resort (later Park City ski area), as well as other properties.

James R. (Jim) Gaddis ranks among the few skiers in the Intermountain Area who earned elite status on and off the competitive scene. His skiing prowess won him Intermountain Division Ski Racer of the Year honors in 1957, 1958, 1962 and 1963. In 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1963 he was the division’s slalom, downhill and giant slalom champion.

Keith Lange personifies the ski instructor’s ski instructor. His multi-faceted accomplishments and contributions to the sport began in 1950 and range from coaching to competition to clinics and from national demonstration teams to the designation as a Master Ski Instructor.

Lou Lorenz was an innovator, motivator and administrator in the art and science of ski instruction for 48 years. Whether addressing a group of beginners at slope-side or chairing a ski instructor certification committee, Lou’s quiet leadership was relevant and respected. He started skiing in 1946 and first taught skiing in 1950 with the Deseret News Ski School.

M. Earl Miller willingly shared his passion for skiing on two fronts – teaching the recreational skier to enjoy the sport and teaching racers to excel. He was extraordinary in both arenas. His impressive credentials include serving as ski school director at Snow Basin Ski Area for 35 years

When Neil Rafferty arrived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1930, his financial resources consisted of 10 cents. With an equal amount of technical knowledge and a lot of trial-and-error (“more error than trial,” he often admitted), he founded the Snow King Ski Area on the north side of Snow King Mountain in 1939.

The lifelong accomplishments of Cal McPhie run deep – literally.  They range from serving as a submariner in the Pacific and East China Seas during World War II to spearheading two Utah ski areas that served as nurturing grounds for developing the love of the sport among thousands of enthusiasts.

Dick Movitz personifies a winner.  His give-it-all-you’ve-got competitive spirit brought him many exceptional accomplishments on and off the ski hill. In 1946, he won the U.S. Slalom Championships and the National Collegiate Slalom Championships.

From winning races on barrel staves to racing on the U.S. Olympic Team, Dev Jennings’ skiing exploits are exemplary. Carving his first turns on the gully off the first tee at Salt Lake City’s Bonneville Golf Course, Dev used his natural talents and grace on skis to win trophies in the Harriman Cup, Reno’s Silver Belt and national championships.

The 1940s were the “Decade of the Reddish” on the American ski scene and in some venues in Europe.  Jack’s exploits on skis during that period are considered among the greatest in the history of the sport in North America. 

Marthinius (Mark or M.A.) Strand has been recognized as the “father of organized skiing”.  He established the first ski club in the Intermountain Region – the Norwegian Young Folks Society in 1915, the same year he staged the first ski jumping tournament in the region.

The competitive spirit of Salt Lake City native Marv Melville ran deep during an impressive ski racing and coaching career that spanned more than 50 years.  His accomplishments were far-reaching: winning the 1952 Knudsen Cup giant slalom, the premier high school race of the period

The ski pioneering exploits of K Smith are various and numerous. But one is paramount: Brighton Ski Area in Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon. In 1936 the man with only an initial for a first name added alpine skiing to Brighton’s recreational offerings when he installed a T-bar tow to serve skiers. K began skiing in 1924.

From 1957 to 1967 the name Margo Walters perennially appeared high on the result sheets that spanned the spectrum of ski racing: the Intermountain Championships, the Intermountain Junior and Senior National Championships, the Western Regional Championships, the storied Snow Cup, Roche Cup, and Harriman Cup events, the U.S. National Championships and the Olympic Winter Games.

Following a successful career operating a California-based radio advertising company, Paul McCollister used his creative genius to envision, and ultimately build, the world-renowned Jackson Hole Ski Area in Northwestern Wyoming.

Pete Karns carved an impressive legacy of accomplishment at every level of skiing competition – juniors, collegiate, Olympic, Masters and coaching. A native of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Karns was a dominant competitor in slalom, downhill, cross-country and jumping in the region’s junior ranks starting in 1955.

As the visionary and founder behind Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Ted Johnson forever altered the recreational landscape of Utah. The one-time beach enthusiast in his native California and later a do-it-all employee at Alta Ski Area

Woody Anderson is a Renaissance Man of Skiing in the Intermountain Region. His heralded accomplishments cover the spectrum of skiing. Woody began teaching skiing in 1947 in Salt Lake City, Utah with the Deseret News Ski School.

Albert F. “Sunny” Korfanta personifies a ski-area pioneer. His foresight, hands-on hard work, tenacity, and gentle, unselfish manner are the building blocks of White Pine Ski Area near Pinedale, Wyoming. Those attributes were paramount in June, 1930, when the U.S. Forest Service partnered with the Pinedale Commercial Club to start planning Surveyor Park Ski Area.

Powder Mountain Ski Area near Eden, Utah, owes its existence to a one-time sheep rancher-turned radio and television engineer-turned earth moving contractor-turned medical doctor-turned ski area founder. That is the incredibly diverse career path of Alvin Cobabe, who as a youngster ski jumped off the sloping roofline of the family barn. That daring-do spirit forged Cobabe’s multifaceted career that eventually led to his establishing the popular ski area east of Ogden.

In the annals of ski coaching, Pat Miller’s accomplishments would fill volumes. The primary chapters would tell of his remarkable accomplishments while coaching the University of Utah Ski Team from 1974 to 2000.

An inherent love of skiing defines Alan K. Engen. A native of Salt Lake City, he started skiing at age two and was a skiing competitor by age nine. Alan was a five-time Intermountain junior ski champion and a five-time senior champion involving both Nordic and Alpine events. He was an All American skier for the University of Utah, member of the U.S. military ski team which participated at the highest level of international skiing competition in Europe and was a perennial winner in U.S. Masters Series ski events.

Mike used the written word to leave his imprint on the annals of skiing. For more than 50 years his writing and photographs enlightened readers of periodicals worldwide about winter sports in the Intermountain West.

His way with words was instrumental in Salt Lake City’s successful quest to host the Olympic Winter Games 2002 and had him serve as communications director for the organizing committee of those games.

Persistent dreamer, extroverted optimist, adventurous mountaineer and energized entrepreneur. Richard D. (Dick) Bass personifies each trait with nonstop verbosity and flair.

A man of insatiable curiosity and determination, Dick’s accomplishments are mountainous, literally and figuratively. They range from being the first to reach the summit of the highest mountain in each of the world’s continents to nurturing Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort into a world-class, year-round destination. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but since the age of three has made Dallas, Texas, his home.

A stylish competitor and inspirational ski instructor, Siegfried (Sigi) Engl carved an indelible swath of accomplishments on the slopes of Europe and the Intermountain West.

A native of Kitzbuhel, Austria, he was a ski instructor by age 15, won the Italian downhill and slalom championships in 1931, the Hahnenkahm combined and the famous Marmolata downhill in 1935. He won the Austrian slalom and downhill championships twice and was a member of the Austrian FIS World Championship Team for two years. In 1937 Sigi became an instructor at Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park, California and two years later joined the ski school at Sun Valley, Idaho, where he won the prestigious Harriman Cup in 1941.

Using a pioneering spirit steeped in grit and gumption, one-time auto mechanic Claude Jones established southern Idaho's Magic Mountain Ski Area in 1940.  For the next 33 years, he nurtured the neighborly ski area near Twin Falls, ID by building its tows, plowing its roads, serving its hamburgers and supervising its ski patrol and ski instruction.

The evolution of skiing in the Intermountain West is rich with enterprise and inspiration, rife with innovators and Olympians.  At the helm of the preservation of that priceless record is respected historian, educator and administrator Dr. Gregory C. Thompson.  In 1989, Greg and Sue Raemer were the co-founders of the Ski Archives housed at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library.

Karen Korfanta's impressive exploits span the ski racing spectrum as few others.  They range from learning to ski a small ski area founded by her father and mother near her hometown of Pinedale, WY, to the global stage.  She dominated the region's junior racing circuit, winning the U.S. Junior Nationals Slalom Championship in 1963 and the senior title in 1964.

Peter S. Ecker helped propel Utah's winter sports image to world-class status, quite literally, by leaps and bounds.  Soon after migrating from his native Oslo, Norwy, in 1917, he combined his inherent skiing prowess with his keen business acument to promote ski jumping tournaments at a diving, tree-lined chute east of Parley's Summit near Park City, Utah.

As a ski instructor, Bob Theobald became bored with finished-form parallel skiing and helped turn skiing on its head - literally - when he pioneered exhibition, or freestyle, skiing in the 1970s.  Combining the disciplines of stunt/ballet, moguls and aerial/acrobatic skiing, the daring-do ski form became an international phenomenon.

When Kit DesLauriers successfully skied from the summit of 29,035-ft. Mt. Everest on Oct. 18, 2006, she became the first person to ski from the summit of the highest peak on each continent, a.k.a. the Seven Summits. She has the distinction of being the first person to make a ski descent of the Polish Glacier on Aconcagua and the first female to make a complete ski descent of Vinson Massif in Antarctica. The skiing exploits of the unassuming resident of Teton Village, Wyoming, include winning the Women's 2004 and 2005 United States Freeskiing World Tour Title and 2005 U.S. Freeskiing Nationals.

The legacy of Raymond R. Stewart comes in many forms, and rightly so.  It is capped by his being the dreamer and developer of Timp Haven Ski Area on the north fork of Provo Canyon where his family grazed sheep in the summer.  Today the site is known worldwide as Sundance Resort.  His legacy is also memorialized by his being called the "Father of Skiing in Utah County" and with Ray's Run, a popular sweep of ski slope at the resort.

Passion personifies William (Bill) Levitt.  In his every dealing, enthusiasm prevailed.  When he served as the town of Alta's first mayor from 1972 to 2005, he performed his duties with great fervor and dedication.  As a strong advocate for preserving the pristine environs and watershed of Alta, Bill did it with great passion.

Blending the demands of recreation with the delicacies of nature is a monumental task. To the delight of skiers worldwide, Swiss-born ski racer-turned-ski coach-turned civil/mechanic/environmental engineer, Beat von Allmen is equal to the task. His uncanny mountain resort design talents are enshrined at ski areas throughout the world, including numerous venues in the Intermountain West.

The skiing exploits of Karen Budge Eaton came early and often for this champion ski racer. They spanned the globe and placed her on the podium often at world-class competitions. In 1963 at
age 14, she became the youngest racer from her home town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to join the U.S. Junior National Team. At age 17, she was named to the U.S. Ski Team. In 1965, Karen
won the downhill and combined championships at the Junior Nationals.

The biathlon accomplishments of Lyle Nelson are founded in the sport’s demanding ingredients: discipline, dedication and determination. A native of McCall, Idaho, Lyle was a highly-acclaimed
1971 graduate of the United States Military Academy and later received a Master’s Degree in business from the University of Southern California. His biathlon skills and expertise helped advance the sport to the lofty position it enjoys worldwide.

A lifetime of skiing accomplishments and contributions of Phil Jones is enshrined in a ski run atop Park City Mountain Resort named Jonesy’s. It serves as a lasting tribute to Phil’s 33 years of dedicated employment at the resort, including 16 years as president and general manager during its most expansive years.