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Ski industry takes Aspen by storm next week

Scott Condon
The Aspen Times
Chris Klug (right) shares a laugh with Chris Davenport last October when it was announced that Klug would be inducted in 2016 to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. The induction is April 9.
Aspen Times file photo |

if you go

For a schedule of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame’s Skiing History Week events in Aspen April 6-10 and to buy tickets to events, visit http://skihall.com.

To register for the International Skiing History Association’s 24th Annual Awards Banquet at the Hotel Jerome on April 7, go to http://www.skiinghistory.org/events and click on the link “register here.”

Aspen will take center stage next week for movers and shakers in the ski industry and those who chronicle their efforts.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame will hold its Skiing History Week and induction ceremony April 6 through 10 in Aspen. The International Ski History Association will piggyback onto the event by holding its annual awards ceremony April 7 at the Hotel Jerome.

Two hometowns boys will get recognition during Skiing History Week. Chris Klug will be inducted into the hall of fame. The snowboarder was a three-time Olympian, in 1998, 2002 and 2006. He received a liver transplant in 2000 and was back on the slopes and in top form soon enough to win a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. He started the Chris Klug Foundation to promote organ and tissue donation.



The hall of fame inducts between five and 10 ski-industry figures per year. This year, seven nominees earned enough votes for induction, according to spokeswoman Stacey Worley.

“Klug, of course, is our hometown honey,” she said.




Klug couldn’t be reached before deadline for comment on his induction.

The International Skiing History Association will honor Aspen-based broadcaster Greg Lewis at its 24th annual awards banquet during Skiing History Week. He will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lewis started announcing World Pro Skiing races and went on to cover international ski racing for NBC, CBS, ESPN, HBO and Turner Broadcasting.

He will show a short video that recreates the vibrant world of ski racing in the 1970s and ’80s during the awards banquet.

The organization also will honor four-time Haknenkamm winner Anderl Molterer of Austria and ski historian Karin Berg of the Holmenkollen Museum at the banquet, which is open to the public.

“If anybody is interested in skiing history, this would be a fun event to attend,” said Kathleen James, operations director of the International Skiing History Association.

The event will have another Aspen connection. Former Aspen Daily News editor Andy Bigford will accept an award for Warren Miller, who is being recognized for his memoir “Freedom Found.” Bigford edited the book, which includes many of Miller’s essays from years past.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame’s Skiing History Week will feature ski films, cocktail parties, a legacy lecture series and ski dates.

A “huge following” of freestyle skiing enthusiasts will attend and will be treated to the world premiere of the Willy Bogner film “A Tribute to Freestyle,” Worley said.

For the Legacy Lecture series, Dick Durrance Jr. and Dave Durrance will honor their father, Dick Durrance, who was critical to nurturing skiing in Aspen. Dick Durrance Jr. said he and his brother will use pictures and film their dad created from 1934-35 into the 1980s “to share with participants the extraordinary range of his vision and contributions to the ski world.”

The elder Durrance was a top ski racer of his era. He designed and cut some of the original ski trails on Aspen Mountain and Sun Valley, and was co-developer of Alta. He was a general manager of the Aspen Ski Corp. and proposed that the town apply to host the 1950 World Championships, then directed many of the efforts to make it become reality. He also served as chief of race, and then he documented it in pictures and film.

“I don’t know how he did it all,” Dick Durrance Jr. said, then noted his dad was only 35 years old at the time and had lots of energy.

The lecture, “The Man on the Medal,” named after Durrance’s book, will be 6 to 7 p.m. April 8 at the Limelight Hotel.

The hall of fame induction ceremony will highlight the week. More than 500 people are expected to attend the ceremony April 9 at the St. Regis Hotel, Worley said.

The other inductees include the late Edgar Stern, who developed the exclusive Starwood subdivision in 1968, then moved to focus on development of Deer Valley Resort. Also being inducted are Genia Fuller Crews, David Ingemie, Henry Kaiser, Jim Marthinson and Bob Salerno.

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