Women's History Month - Women of the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame
MARCH 1, 2023 — The month of March is dedicated to commemorating and encouraging the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. For Women’s History Month, we wanted to shine a spotlight on five women enshrined in the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame. These women contributed to and improved the snow sports industry as athletes, resort builders, promotors, and fashion icons. Join us in celebrating these stories and the inspiring women of our great state that have given us so much through their achievements. Here, we shine a spotlight on Kiki Cutter, Marnie Jump, Sarah Will, Georgie Lodders, and Renie Gorsuch.
Christina “Kiki” Cutter – Class of 2000
Christina “Kiki” Cutter, a native of Bend, Oregon, is the first American skier, male or female, to win a World Cup title (in the slalom at Oslo, Norway in 1968). A member of the U.S. National Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame, she has been called one of America’s greatest women athletes, and is acknowledged by ski coaches to be among the finest skiers ever produced by the United States. For two decades, she held the American record for most World Cup victories by a U.S. skier.
Kiki joined the U.S. Ski Team after winning the U.S. National Downhill Championship at age 16 in 1967. She remained a member of the Team in 1968-1970; as well as America’s F.I.S. Team for the World Championships in 1970; and the U.S. Olympic Team in 1968 at Grenoble, France.
Born into a family of skiers, Kiki’s early successes as a junior racer foretold her achievements on the national team. In 1968, at the Grenoble Olympics, she was the only American female to ski in all three disciplines, slalom, giant slalom and downhill. Though only 18, Kiki achieved the highest placing of any American woman.
According to SKI Magazine, Kiki was “by far the most successful U.S. racer on the early World Cup circuit,” and in 1968, won America’s first World Cup title in the slalom at Oslo, Norway, where the young American was congratulated by King Olaf. In 1968, she was ninth in the overall World Cup standings.
In the 1969 season, Kiki won the World Cup giant slalom at Oberstaufen, Germany, and took slalom titles at Mount St. Anne, Quebec and Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, placing her fourth in the world in overall points and second in slalom.
The French, whose alpine team dominated early world Cup racing, called Kiki “La Dangerousse Americaine,” as she posed a strong threat to their racing superiority. Indeed, until Phil Mahre came along, Kiki’s five World Cup titles made her the United States’ top winner.
In 1970, Kiki won another World Cup championship at St. Gervais, France, before turning professional racing on the early Women’s Pro Tour. In addition, she placed fourth and third in two nationally televised Women Superstars Competition. An accomplished all-around athlete, she was cited by James A. Michener, in his book “Sports in America,” as “the best American ski racers of that period.” In 1995, she was featured on the cover of Vail Beaver Creek Magazine in a tribute to the Legends of Skiing Races.
In 1993 Kiki with her sponsors and friends created the Kiki Cutter World Cup Ski Racing Scholarship to assist young ski racers in the development of their careers.
For thirty-plus years, Kiki has represented Rossignol skis and boots, and presented, along with Christin Cooper and Tamara McKinney, the nationwide series of Rossignol Skiing for Women Seminars.
In January 1996, Kiki created “Aspen – The Spirit of Skiing” a new concept in celebrity fundraising events. Held in Aspen at The Ritz-Carlton as a benefit for Gilda’s Club, the event was sponsored by PEOPLE Magazine, Revlon, Coca-Cola, Aspen Skiing Company, The Ritz-Carlton, and many others to bring together ski champions, business executives, and celebrities in a celebration of the true spirit of Aspen skiing. The event was proclaimed a success by attendees and the media.
Marjorie “Marine” Jump – Class of 2000
Marnie Jump’s long association with skiing in Colorado dates to 1947 when she headed west to become a ski bum. She had learned to ski in Bennington College in Vermont before World War II (During the war she served as an officer in the United States Navy).
She ended up at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area looking for work. The struggling new area had managed to install one rope tow halfway up the mountain but was $45,000 in debt and had only $117 in the bank. Larry Jump, co-founder of the ski area, explained that unless they could acquire much needed dollars, the area could not open for the 1947-1948 season.
Marnie used her connections to help raise the needed money and instead of becoming a ski bum, became Vice President of Arapahoe Basin Corporation. She also married Larry Jump. She remained an active board member until 1972 when Arapahoe Basin was sold.
During those many years she was involved in every facet of the area’s development and operation.
The first Veterans Race sanctioned by the U.S. Ski Association was organized by Marnie Jump and was held on the Pali in 1953. This program evolved into the Masters Racing Series, which Marnie participated in until her late seventies.
In 1959 Marnie organized the first Ski Ball for the benefit of the United States Ski Team and served as Chair of succeeding balls. In 1968, she conducted the first disabled skiing program in Colorado – an amputee program for individuals from Children’s Hospital and the Vietnam War Veterans from Fitzsimmons Hospital. The program later moved to Winter Park. Marnie received the Army’s “Certificate of Appreciation” for her work. Another “first” was the popular Ski Bus, which Marnie initiated from Cherry Hills to A-Basin, setting a precedent for other ski areas to follow.
Marnie Jump has been an integral part of building Colorado into the Ski Country that it is today. Her 50 years of service and quiet efficiency will be long remembered by all those who celebrated the spirit of skiing. It surely lives on today – one can feel the soul of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area.
Sarah Will – Class of 2004
Sarah moved to Aspen in 1987, but after only three months suffered a tragic ski accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. A highly motivated woman, Sarah took on the challenge of rehabilitation. She read the book, “Bold Tracks” by Colorado Snowsports Hall of Famer Hal O'Leary, who was the Head of the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park.
One year later she was making her first turns on a monoski. She moved back to Colorado in 1992 to train at Winter Park, started competing and later that year was named to the U.S. Disabled Ski Team. She later moved to Vail where, with teammate Chris Waddell, she founded the Vail Monoski Camp.
During her competitive career she represented the United States at the Paralympics in 1992, 1994, 1998, and 2002, winning 13 paralympic medals, of which 12 were gold, making her one of the most decorated athletes in U.S. Ski Team history.
Sarah now works as an instructor for the Vail Adaptive Ski Program and is proud to give back to the sport that has given her so much. In addition, her new focus is on lift operation safety for adaptive skiers, because many lift operators have been told nothing about loading adaptive skiers – continuing to make snow sports more accessible.
Georgia Lodders – Class of 1994
It has been said that Georgia has done more for the ski industry in the Rocky Mountain Region than any other individuals during her tenure (1969-1990) with Colorado Ski Country USA, in addition to her work for the Rocky Mountain Division of the United States Ski Association.
Montana native, Georgia first became hooked on skiing during a college ski trip, where she met her future husband, Denny. He pulled her out of a snowbank, and she fell in love with him and the sport.
Denny, a former 10th Mountain Division member, and Georgia ran Diamond Mountain ski area outside of Missoula, Montana for two years. In 1953, they moved to Denver and formed an advertising and public relations agency, which they operated for 15 years. They published the first US Ski Association monthly magazine "Skiview," and handled such clients as Steamboat and Sunlight. They also raised four children.
While at Ski Country, Georgia was the glue that held the organization together with her many projects while incorporating here sixth sense for doing the right thing. She was involved with the programs of risk management and operations, and ran numerous seminars on snow making, grooming, ticket sales, personnel issues, food service, and race and special events.
Georgia realized the value of these seminars when she began working with the Rocky Mountain Lift Association in the early 1970s. She recognized the level of expertise and caring exhibited by this group and saw the need for the public to see all ski area personnel as professionals and not as "ski bums" which was a popular term for ski area personnel at that time.
Georgia worked with the research committees of Colorado Ski Country and coordinated and continued to enhance a comprehensive research library on skiing, including over 1,000 studies and surveys. She watched Colorado skier numbers grow from 440,000 in the early 1960s to over 11 million in the 1990s and is proud to have been a part of that growth.
Renie Gorsuch – Class of 2007
One of the top racers on the U.S. Women’s Ski Team, Renie made her Winter Olympics debut at Squaw Valley, California, in 1960.
While racing for the team, she met her future husband, David Gorsuch, and the two formed their own incredible team that forever changed the face and fashion of Colorado skiing.
Starting a small ski retail store that would go on to define the industry, Renie Gorsuch worked tirelessly to create a sense of fashion for the sport. Bringing mountain elegance and a refined fashion sense to the slopes was no easy task in the formative days of the sport, but Gorsuch LTD soon became a standard for the ski industry with stores throughout the state of Colorado
Under Renie Gorsuch’s direction and using the grandeur of the Colorado Rockies as a visual backdrop, the store catalogue introduced millions of people around the nation to the beauty of Colorado and mountain living.
She embraced both the sport of skiing and the mountain lifestyle and sold countless people on the beauty of Colorado’s ski country.
Please consider making a one-time donation or tribute gift in honor of someone important to you in the snow sports industry HERE. Remember a loved one or mark a special occasion – like Women’s History Month. Your support allows us to continue to celebrate these stories and honor their contributions.
UPCOMING EVENTS CELEBRATING WOMEN:
March 22 - “Celebrating 60 Years of Vail - Women of Vail” welcomes speakers Carolyn Pope & Elaine Kelton. Join us for an evening with two icons of the Valley as they recall their roles in shaping and dealing with the hardships of early Vail.
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: www.snowsportsmuseum.org.
Media Contact:
Jen Mason | Dana Mathios
jen@snowsportsmuseum.org | dana@snowsportsmuseum.org
(970) 476-1876