Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame Announces Annual Award Recipients – Tickets on Sale Now
An Evening of Inspiration: Join the 45th Annual Celebration on August 21 to Welcome Five New Members of the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame & Seven Annual Award Recipients.
VAIL, Colo. – June 23, 2022 – The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame is excited to announce the Class of 2022, revealed last month as: John Dakin, Ron LeMaster, Peter Rietz, Jeannie Thoren, and Chester R. “Chet” Upham, Jr. In addition, the Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the Annual Award Recipients.
The Hall of Fame’s annual honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals that have made outstanding contributions to the Museum; Top of the Hill Award, which recognizes entities that have contributed to the development of skiing in Colorado; the Competitor of the Year Award, the Collegiate Athlete of the Year Awards, and the Adaptive Athlete of the Year Award. The following individuals and organizations will be recognized along with our five inductees on Sunday, August 21, 2022, for an evening of inspiration and celebration. Tickets on sale now at www.snowsportsmuseum.org/shop/2022celebrationtix.
Lifetime Achievement: Chan & Melitta Bergen
The Bergens are the embodiment of the Colorado Snowsports Museum and its mission. The priceless artifacts in our permanent collection tell the story of the birth, rise, and explosion of snow sports in Colorado. Throughout the last few decades, the Bergens recognized and generously embraced the institution’s cultural importance. Through an endowment set up by Chan and Melitta in 2021, the Colorado Snowsports Museum has been given an opportunity to develop meaningful exhibits, preserve our collection, and continue to honor those that have pioneered within the snow sports industry. For years to come, their generosity will allow us to celebrate the stories and people of our great state and the sports that have given us all so much. Their contribution ensures that we can continue to protect the foundation of the Museum, which is our growing 15,000 artifact collection.
Photo credit: Aspen Snowmass
Top of the Hill: The National Brotherhood of Skiers
The National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) is a nonprofit group that represents Black skiers, riders and snow sport enthusiasts across the nation. The NBS is comprised of dozens of clubs in the United States – including the Slippers-N-Sliders Ski Club of Denver, Ski Noir 5280, BIPOC Mountain Collective, and the Ski Ambassadors of Colorado Springs. At a time when African Americans on the slopes were a rarity and Black ski clubs were an exception, the founders Ben Finley and Art Clay met in 1972 and were not deterred from their vision to create a national Black Summit for skiers. One year later, the historic first Black Ski Summit gathering took place in Aspen in 1973 and was attended by over 350 skiers from all over the country. The overall sense of camaraderie and connection that pervaded the event then still holds true today, with their 50th Anniversary Summit slated for Vail, Colorado for the 2022/23 season. The NBS mission is “to identify, develop and support athletes of color who will win international and Olympic winter sports competitions representing the United States and to increase participation in winter sports.” After decades of bringing together and empowering thousands of Black snow sport enthusiasts across the country, the groundbreaking organization continues to promote positive change in the outdoor industry and change perspectives about who belongs on the slopes.
Competitor of the Year: Mikaela Shiffrin
Competitor of the Year: Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin, out of the Vail Valley, is one of the greatest U.S. alpine skiers of all time. A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and a four-time overall World Cup winner, she has also captured six World Championship gold medals including four straight slalom golds. Her 11 World Championship medals make her the most decorated U.S. alpine skier in history. As the only alpine skier in the history of the sport with wins in all six World Cup disciples, Mikaela is truly the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).
Collegiate Athlete of the Year: Filip Forejtek
Filip is a senior alpine skier with the University of Colorado. In 2022, he was the NCAA Champion in giant slalom, National Men’s Collegiate Skier of the Year, 3-time First Team All American, and Giant Slalom MVP in the RMISA. Competing in both slalom and GS, he has skied in 35 of a possible 39 races in his career, finishing 25 with 24 top 20, 20 top 10, and 18 top 5 finishes. Equally strong in both disciplines, of his 13 podium appearances, seven are in GS and six slalom, while his one race win was a slalom race. Filip competed for the Czech Republic at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Collegiate Athlete of the Year: Katie Hensien
As a senior, Katie was recognized as one of the University of Denver’s Team MVPs in 2022. She was named National Women's Alpine Skier of the Year by the U.S. Collegiate Ski Coaches Association after placing on the podium in six-of-eight races that she participated in and in the top five in all seven events she finished. In addition, she was 2022 First-Team All-American in both women's slalom and giant slalom, 2022 NCAA National Champion in women's slalom, 2022 All-RMISA First Team in women's alpine, and the RMISA Skier of the Meet for Women's Alpine at the 2022 RMISA Invitational. Katie made her first U.S. Olympic Team for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, becoming the first DU student-athlete to represent Team USA in alpine skiing since Eric Poulsen at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo and the first woman to do so since Gladys Werner in the 1956 Olympics in Cortina. She finished 26th overall with a total time of 1:49.31.
Adaptive Athlete of the Year: Thomas Walsh
Thomas Walsh is an eight-year member of the U.S. Paralympic Alpine Skiing National Team and competes in the disciplines of slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and super combined. Born and raised in Vail, Colorado, he began racing with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail at the age of five. A diagnosis of metastatic Ewing Sarcoma at age fourteen propelled him to continue his dream of skiing as a cancer survivor. Thomas is a two-time Paralympian (2018, 2022) and one-time Paralympic medalist, winning silver at the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games. This was Thomas’ first Paralympic medal as well as Team USA's only Paralympic alpine skiing medal of the 2022 Games. In Beijing, he also placed 4th in super combined, 6th in slalom, and 15th in super-G. He is a six-time National Champion. On the World Cup Circuit, he has twenty podiums, three wins, and a slalom crystal globe. He has competed in three World Championships (2017, 2019, 2022) where he has collected two bronze medals, one in giant slalom and one in super combined. In conjunction with his professional athletic career, Thomas earned a BFA in performing arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MBA in marketing from the Keller Graduate School of Management. With the 2026 Winter Paralympics in his sights, he will continue to train and race as a top American standing athlete.
The Hall of Fame Celebration will once again take place at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, on Sunday, August 21st, with ticket prices starting at just $50 for adults. All proceeds support the Colorado Snowsports Museum, a non-profit organization, and the State of Colorado’s official snow sports museum.
About the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame:
Founded in 1975 and located in Vail, Colorado, our mission is to celebrate Colorado snow sports by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. The priceless artifacts we collect and display tell the story of the birth, rise and explosion of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado. The Museum features displays including Climb to Glory about the 10th Mountain Division, Vail’s DNA, The Colorado Snowboard Archive, and The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame, among many others. Learn more and consider supporting the Museum by becoming a member: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org.
Media Contact:
Jen Mason | Dana Mathios
jen@snowsportsmuseum.org | dana@snowsportsmuseum.org
(970) 476-1876