Member Type: Pioneer

Before his days of working for Colorado ski resorts, Sigurd was an accomplished ski racer winning three Norwegian Championships, starting first in the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel, ranked in the FIS top 15, and was named to the Norwegian ski team for the 1956 Olympics. While he never raced due to a compound tibial fracture right before the Olympics, after recovery, he still raced. Then, Sigurd received a letter from an old teammate, Stein Eriksen, to please come work for him as a ski instructor for Aspen Highland's first year of opening. Sigurd landed in America on December 5, 1958, and was a ski instructor for Stein for three years. Sigurd, however, was famous for being one of the founders of the Breckenridge Ski Resort, which opened on December 16, 1961. He was intimately involved with laying out where the runs would be and the lifts to service them. He was an early ambassador and promoter of Breckenridge. Sigurd undoubtedly contributed to the early growth of skiing in Colorado and helped create and run one of our state's most popular world-class resorts, even to this day.

Richard and his friend Clark Blickensderfer founded The Ski Shop in 1937. It was Denver’s first store specializing in the new sport of skiing. He was a member of the Colorado Ski Team, one of the founders of the Zipfelberger Club, and an active promoter of Colorado skiing. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, he and his family moved to Mexico City and began a career in the film industry.

Charles Smith has been an advocate of the black ski community for the past 40 years since first joining the Slippers and Sliders Ski Club. Charles was the Program Director for the club’s Ski for Kids program that brought 1500 kids to participate in skiing activities. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) bringing awareness and arranging trips for the club to Colorado resorts. A strong advocate of minority ski racing, he helped established the ski racing programs at Loveland and Crested Butte.

Pitcher and his family acquired property and moved to Aspen in 1951, where he joined Friedl Pfeifer and Fred Iselin as a ski instructor. He later became ski school supervisor and was one of the first certified instructors in the Rocky Mountain Ski Instructors Association. In 1957, Pitcher was informally commissioned to look into a location for a major new ski resort in Colorado and was involved in the planning of Snowmass from 1958 to 1960. Pitcher acquired an interest in Buttermilk Mountain and he was involved in the planning and development of Arrowhead. Pitcher purchased Wolf Creek ski area in the late 1970s, an iconic southern Colorado resort still owned by the Pitcher family.

Pam of Telluride, blazed a trail in the promotion and media relations arenas for the Colorado ski industry, with stints at Vail and Telluride, in addition to being a ski industry lobbyist, accomplished public relations consultant and freelance ski writer. Pam joined Vail Associates in 1973, the beginning of a period of impressive growth of the Colorado ski areas. Also, she served as Director of Public Affairs of the Colorado Ski Country USA. Some of Pam’s favorite memories and a highlight of her career, was working with President Gerald Ford when he visited Vail.

Moe co-founded the Over the Hill Gang Ski Club in 1976, along with two friends, developing it into one of this nation’s most successful senior skiing organizations. Based in Copper Mountain, the Over the Hill Gang is a year-round activity program created for skiers over the age of 50. The club offers members the opportunity to share in lasting friendships and camaraderie, while participating in skiing, summer sport activities and social events.

Jake Hoeschler revolutionized the ski retail industry with his exclusive ski liability insurance program, which now includes millions of dollars of coverages. While racing on the World Cup and Pro Race Circuits throughout the 60’s and 70’s Jake noticed how ski shops were struggling to stay in business because of their liability exposure to the threat of frivolous lawsuits. In 1988 Hoeschler founded the National Ski Insurance Program to make skiing a safer sport while also protecting the retailer from an onslaught of unsubstantiated insurance claims. Many shops owners say they would not be in business today if it weren’t for this program. Most every shop in the U.S. is part of this program.

In 1920, Jack learned to ski at Grand Mesa on skis that he made himself. He went on to become active in the National Ski Patrol and well educated in mountain safety and avalanche rescue. During the 1940s, he worked at the Climax Molybdenum Mine on Fremont Pass. There, at Chalk Mountain, he started a ski club and saw to the construction of a 1,200 foot rope tow in 1941.

From 1936 to 1944, Charles was the driving force behind an incredible growth and interest in skiing in the San Luis Valley region. He helped introduce skiing to Wolf Creek and helped reestablish the Ski Patrol in the area. In November 2013, Charles skied Wolf Creek for his 100th birthday. He has skied every year since 1934 except for the five years he served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.

Craig, who passed away in January of 2015, was a modern Renaissance man and renowned mountain climber, blessed with the vision to become the Chief Operating Officer of the Aspen Institute, as well as co-founding the internationally famous Aspen Center for Physics. Moving to Summit County in the mid-70s, he was given the opportunity to launch the Keystone Center. The Keystone Center has gone on to become the premier conflict resolution enterprise and field science school for children in the U.S.