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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
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Mission |
History
| |Board
and Officers |
Staff |
Committees |
Resource Center |
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.
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
Ken Bradford | Lynn Linke |
Fred Brewer | Seth Masia |
Ann Eggers | Dick Over |
Thor Groswold | Pat Pfeiffer - Historian |
Pat Kidder | Larry Zimmer |
The Staff
Susie Tjossem -
Executive Director
Justin Henderson -
Curator
Cathy Whiston
-Retail
Sales
Resource Center
Operations -
Jimmie Dunn
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
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 43rd Drive Unit 9, Golden CO 80403-7264. It is located just north of I-70 and 44th 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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