Ski Hall of Fame honors the sport’s pioneers

The U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame held its 2008 induction ceremony April 4 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. The event marked the first time the ceremony has ever been held at a ski resort, and Utah’s famous lake effect powder did not disappoint. Nearly a foot of fresh snow welcomed honorees Cary Adgate, Bill Briggs, Nelson Carmichael and Liz McIntyre and their guests with a fresh blanket of of white stuff on which they revisited their glory days.

After a day of skiing at Deer Valley, the inductees and 190 guests sat down to honor some of modern skiing’s founding parents at a banquet conducted by hall of fame aerialist Trace Worthington.

Adgate, now a masters racer, reminisced about his early years growing up at Thunder Mountain, the ski hill is parents founded near Boyne Michigan. He also thanked early influences Martin Burger and Hank Tauber.

The U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame held its 2008 induction ceremony April 4 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. The event marked the first time the ceremony has ever been held at a ski resort, and Utah’s famous lake effect powder did not disappoint. Nearly a foot of fresh snow welcomed honorees Cary Adgate, Bill Briggs, Nelson Carmichael and Liz McIntyre and their guests with a fresh blanket of of white stuff on which they revisited their glory days.

After a day of skiing at Deer Valley, the inductees and 190 guests sat down to honor some of modern skiing’s founding parents at a banquet conducted by hall of fame aerialist Trace Worthington.

Adgate, now a masters racer, reminisced about his early years growing up at Thunder Mountain, the ski hill is parents founded near Boyne Michigan. He also thanked early influences Martin Burger and Hank Tauber.

At age 17, Adgate won the U.S. Junior National Championship. In 1973, he joined the U.S. Ski Team and won the Can-Am overall and giant slalom championships, as well as the Roch Cup downhill/overall championship. He won six U.S. Alpine Championship titles and was an Olympian in 1976 and 1980. He became a professional skier in 1981, going on to win 25 races and the 1984 U.S. Pro Championships. In 2005 he was Ski Racing’s Master Racer of the Year. He is currently a snowsports ambassador for Boyne USA Resorts, where he continues his support of ski racing.

U.S. freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke introduced McIntyre, her former coach, and shared some of her favorite memories, telling how she spent hours watching videos of McIntyre as a young bumper. “She let our individual style shine,” said Bahrke of what she called the best coach she ever had.

McIntyre’s U.S. Ski Team career spanned 20 years, first as an athlete (1986–98), then as a moguls coach (1999–2006). As an athlete, she claimed an Olympic silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, tallied four World Cup podiums and earned 18 World Cup top-10 finishes. As a coach, McIntyre mentored Olympic medalists Bahrke, Toby Dawson and Travis Mayer; she also led the team into new territory as inverted maneuvers were made competition-legal.
 
Carmichael told the group of his early years in the sport after a family move to Steamboat, Colo deprived him of his first love – hockey. He said his skiing career, including an Olympic medal “just kind of happened.”

 Carmichael joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1984 straight out of high school; four years later, he won back-to-back World Cup mogul championships in 1988 and 1989. He was on the first ever freestyle Olympic podium in 1992, winning the bronze. After winning six U.S. Championships and 12 World Cup events and conducting several professional tours, he retired from competition and put down roots at Steamboat Ski Resort.

Briggs, who was introduced as the father of big-mountain skiing, shared his enduring sense of humor by recounting an outing when an unknowing journalist told him he couldn’t ski a particular chute because he was no Bill Briggs. He was honored for his contributions to ski instructing and his dedication to “the most important skier of all,” the beginner. He later brought the house down, serenading attendees with his autoharp.  He yodeled the crowed into a standing ovation.

American ski mountaineering pioneer Briggs began as a certified instructor in 1955. Three years later, he founded the Bill Briggs Ski School at Suicide Six Ski Area in Vermont. In 1958, Briggs was part of a team that made the first 100-mile traverse from the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass, B.C. He notched a number of first descents by skiing down Mount Rainer, Middle and South Teton, Mount Moran and the Grand Teton, all with a congenital hip defect. As the founder of the Great American Ski School, Briggs established the Certainty Training Method (CTM) for ski instructors. He continues as director of the Snow King Ski School in Jackson, Wyoming.

The honorees were selected by an independent committee of ski professionals, historians, and writers chaired by Paul Bousquet and elected by a national panel. Following the Park City event an enshrinement will take place at the hall in Ishpeming, Michigan in September, 2009.

For more information go to www.skihall.com.