Louise could have been one of Colorado’s first Olympic Champions, but because her ski career stretched from 1932 through 1940 (when the Olympics were canceled because of war), she simply became one of Colorado’s finest women skiers.

A native of Ft. Collins, Louise concentrated on academic excellence in her high school and college years, but fell in love with skiing while teaching at Idledale, in the foothills of the Rockies, in 1931. Without ever having taken a lesson, she began competing in 1932.

With the construction of rope tows at Berthoud, Genesee and Glen Cove, skiing became more widespread. At the same time, Louise rapidly began to make her mark in the ski world. In 1937, Louise won a first in the downhill, slalom and combined, at the US Amateur Ski Association Championship at Berthoud, and for the next three years continued to win almost every ski race she entered.

Louise became an event organizer as well, and together with other enthusiastic women skiers founded the first women’s ski association, the Colorado Skiing Association. Formed to promote skiing among women, the Association conducted skiing events, raised funds and worked toward the development of new ski areas in Colorado. At the time of her retirement, Louise was as close to being a sports celebrity as a woman could get, in the 1940s.