Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame  PEOPLE WHO MADE SKIING and SNOWBOARDING HISTORY | Home |  Alphabetical List |  Year of Induction List | | Athlete | Ski Sport Builder | Inspirational | Museum Information

About the Museum

| Mission | History | |Board and Officers | Staff | Committees | Resource Center |

The Mission

  The Colorado Ski Museum / Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame preserves  and interprets the history of skiing and snowboarding; honors those who have made significant contributions to the sport; and informs the public about Colorado's rich skiing heritage.

Museum History

History of the Colorado Ski Museum/Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

             In 1975, as Colorado’s Centennial and the nation’s Bicentennial approached, a group of Colorado ski pioneers decided to commemorate the dual anniversaries by founding a ski museum committed to the preservation and interpretation of the history of skiing and snowboarding in the state. As John Dobson, Mayor of Vail at that time would later write, “It has been felt for some time that there should be a ski museum somewhere in the state to commemorate Colorado’s fame as “Ski Country, U.S.A.”

            Such pioneers as Dudley Abbott, Robert Parker, Rev. Don Simonton, Pat Finney, Pete Seibert, Bill Lucas, Lloyd Leger, Earl Clark, Lou Livingston, Todd Martin, John Dobson and others were involved in the project. Accordingly, the Centennial/Bicentennial Committee tapped into Bicentennial monies to establish a non-profit  Skiing Museum. Realizing that skiing had strongly impacted the economic, cultural and social development of the entire state, the founders  named their budding enterprise the “Colorado Ski Museum.”

 The first Executive Director of the Museum was Rev. Don Simonton of Vail; J. Dudley Abbott was first President.  Jack Gorsuch was an early Board member as was Tim Tyler.

Several other groups—the U.S. Forest Service, Vail Associates, Colorado Ski Country USA, and the Eagle County Historical Society  voiced their approval of the concept and joined the efforts to develop an authentic and lasting historical record of the state’s vast skiing legacy.

One of the most important tasks was finding a suitable facility to house the artifacts they would be collecting.  Eventually, with the help of the Town of Vail and members of the ski industry, the former Mountain Bell building at Vail and East Meadow Drives was purchased and the Colorado Ski Museum opened in 1977.  The first Ski Hall of Fame induction banquet was held the following July.
 

The site served the Museum well for 15 years, but in the early 1990s, the Town of Vail planned to tear the building down.  Accordingly, the Town presented the Ski Museum with larger and more visible space on the third level of the Vail Transportation Center in the heart of Vail Village.  This 3,000 square foot facility enabled the Museum to expand by adding new exhibits and constructing  a gift shop area.

During the next ten years, donations of artifacts, documents and other historical materials grew exponentially. Ten years later the Museum found itself desperately in need of adequate storage to house its rapidly expanding collection.  With space in Vail scarce and prohibitively expensive, the Board of Directors decided to establish a Colorado Ski Museum Resource Center in Golden where all of the stored artifacts and the library and research facilities would be under one roof.  The Museum in Vail will remain as a world-class Museum Gallery. The Center in Golden is now being organized by a number of volunteers who alternate working on weekdays. The facility was opened to the public in  2004.
 

   Board of Directors and Officers

       

Hart Axley - Vice Chair	Janet Martin
Dara Bassock	John McMurtry
Andy Bigford	Bob Meserve
Diane Boyer	Charles W. Schobinger - Secretary
James L. Duke - Treasurer	David Scott - Chair
Kevin Duncan	Joy Spring
James Dunn	Bill Tomcich
Kent Erickson
Dave Gorsuch
Jerry Groswold
Charlie Kurtz

Honorary Board
       

Dudley Abbott - Founder (Deceased)	Barney McLean (Deceased)
Chan Bergen	Robert Parker - Founder
Melitta Bergen (Deceased)	Peter Seibert - Founder (Deceased)
Earl Clark - Founder	Rev. Don Simonton - Founder
William Lucas - Founder (Deceased)	Sven Wiik
Robert Johnstone
Evelyn Masbruch (Deceased)

Advisory Board

The Staff
Susie Tjossem -  Executive Director
       Justin Henderson - Curator
       Cathy Whiston -Retail Sales
Resource Center Operations - Jimmie Dunn

Museum Committees

Historian - Pat Pfeiffer   

        Accreditation Committee - Pat Pfeiffer
          Collections Committee - Jimmie Dunn
          Compliance Committee - Chuck Schobinger
          Development  - Endowment/Planned Giving -Janet Martin
          Finance Committee - Jamie Duke
          Hall of Fame Golf Tournament - Andy Bigford
        Hall of Fame Nominations Review Committee - John McMurtry
          Hall of Fame Induction Gala - Ann Eggers
         Home Tour - Ann Egers      
        Membership - Joy Spring
        Personnel Committee - Thor Groswold
        Publications Committee - Andy Bigford
        Ski Train - Janet Martin       

 Museum Resource Center

The Museum has plans for an outreach program of several traveling exhibits that will be shown at schools, ski areas and other museums. The Resource Center will continue to develop oral histories of the people that have been influential in the development of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado and to present slide show programs to various organizations and schools.

The  Resource Center  allows the museum to improve the documentation and the preservation of the collection to better serve the public.

 The Colorado Ski Museum Resource Center is located at 13401 West 43^rd Drive Unit 9, Golden CO 80403-7264. It is located just north of I-70 and 44^th Avenue in Golden and consists of  2325 square feet of office and storage. The first floor has 850 square feet of office space and 1025 square feet of storage area. The second floor has 450 square feet containing a library and files for research materials.

The first floor office space is used as a reception area, conference room, computer area, receiving area for new artifacts and for cataloging of artifacts. The storage area has racks and shelving for skis, boots and other artifacts in the Museum’s collection. A workbench is located under the stairs and worktables are available for work on the collection, for exhibit construction and for conservation of the artifacts. The new Resource Center has the space and facilities that are necessary to bring the collection to up museum standards.

The historical files, books, films, photographs, periodicals, videos and other resource items are kept on the second floor. This area has facilities for viewing films and videos and has file cabinets and bookcases for storage. All of the museum's resource materials will be located here for access by researchers and museum staff.

 The Colorado Ski Museum will have its resources available to other museums and organizations around the State to assist them with research, exhibits and displays. A cooperative exchange of information about the history of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado in each locality will result in deeper understanding of the state’s rich skiing heritage.

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