Willoughby: Percy Rideout 

As time goes by, some of the important contributors to the beginning of skiing in Aspen are forgotten — Percy Rideout is one of them. While he was only in Aspen for a few years, they were at a critical time.

Rideout attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1940. He was on the ski team and was elected captain his senior year. At that time, Dartmouth was the center of American skiing, and nearly all national team members were connected to it.

After college, he wandered the West, had an interest in gold mining, had a short career as an actor in Hollywood, and worked as a ski instructor in Sun Valley working for Friedl Pfeifer. He was drafted in 1942 and was in the 10^thMountain Division at Camp Hale. Like many other 10^th Mountain Division soldiers, he discovered Aspen and its begging ski operation.

He rose to Captain in the 10^th Mountain and was sent to the front in the Italian Alps, where he was wounded in the Battle of Riva Ridge.

Pfeifer, in 1946, recruited Rideout and John Litchfield, who had also worked as a Sun Valley instructor and was in the 10^th Mountain, to be co-directors of his new enterprise: a ski school in Aspen. Pfeifer had formed a partnership with the Aspen Ski Club for that purpose. Since Aspen had a head start among towns promoting skiing and had a national reputation through hosting the 1941 National Championships, they had confidence it would be successful.

Most literature on the forming of the Aspen Skiing Company tell the story of Pfeifer’s idea of expanding the Aspen Ski Club’s operations adding lifts and his meeting with Walter Paepcke to convince him to help raise the capital to form a company for that purpose. What is often left out is that Rideout and Litchfield were with him at that meeting. Pfeifer was an outgoing witty person and good at making promotions, but as you will see from Rideout’s later life, he too had similar talents.

The Aspen Ski Company was formed, and Rideout and Litchfield were assigned the task of cutting more ski runs and to clear or the lifelines. That added 22 more miles of trails.

Rideout had developed a relationship with Jean Kelly who lived in Omaha during those years. He made trips back and forth to see her. On one trip, he fell asleep at the wheel. His car rolled over three times, totally destroying it, but he survived. They were married in 1946.

Jean was tasked with being the coordinator of the events for the grand opening of the Ski Corporation. As you might expect from the photo, Rideout was as at ease in the air as on a racecourse. In those days, jumping was one of the events that was included in determining the overall winner. The Aspen Ski Club had its 55-meter jump, so it was one of the largest at the time. One of the grand opening events was a jumping exhibition that included Rideout and other jumping-racing legends, Barney McClain and Gorden Wren.

That same year, Rideout helped form and headed The Pitkin Players to provide live stage productions. Their first play was Maria Wells-Or Murder In The Old Red Barn. He also helped form the Aspen Gun Club that organized trap shooting.

Rideout and his wife left Aspen in 1948. He returned for the 1950 FIS races, but skiing was replaced with buying and running a peach, prune, and walnut farm in California. He embedded himself in the promotion of those products and moved to Europe for a while, where he represented California peach growers. After returning, they lived in San Francisco doing similar work, creating contracts for California exports, and then returned to their farm in Marysville.

Rideout, on a personal level, was revered by his peers for his optimism, spunk, and charm. He contributed to Aspen and Aspen contributed to his after-skiing life.

Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching at Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.