Lives

Photograper

Doug Pensinger
Passing Date: June 10, 2016

Photographer Doug Pensinger, well known for his coverage of World Cup races among other sports, died of cardiac arrest in his sleep on June 10, 2016, at his home in Golden, Colorado. He was 51. Born in Pennsylvania, Pensinger began selling photos to local newspapers at age 15. After working at...

Veteran ski coach

Greg Needell
Passing Date: June 7, 2016

Greg Needell, former U.S. Ski Team coach, died on June 7 on a Mammoth Mountain chairlift, of an apparent heart problem. He was 52. It was the first day of a training camp for his Team Summit squad. Born in Vermont, Needell raced for Stratton Mountain School and St. Lawrence University, specializing...

NCAA racer, Olympian

Frank Brown
Passing Date: June 4, 2016

University of Colorado three-time All-American Frank Elliott Brown, 79, died on June 4, 2016 in his hometown of McCall, Idaho.  After skiing and jumping as a teenager, Frank joined the University of Colorado ski team and was named All-American in both alpine and Nordic in 1957, ’58 and ’59—the...

Dartmouth racer, ski industry sales rep

Sabin Abell
Passing Date: June 1, 2016

Sabin “Sabe” Clark Abell, Jr. died unexpectedly while driving on June 1, at age 88. A fifth generation Vermonter, Sabe was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Dartmouth College (1954), and was a member of their lacrosse and ski teams at the time when Darmouth dominated the ski scene...

Skiing Magazine sales exec

Dana Andersen
Passing Date: June 1, 2016

Dana William "Shines" Andersen passed away on June 1, at home in Boulder, Colorado, at age 87, from heart failure. Born in Swampscott, Massachusetts, Dana graduated from Salem High School, enlisted in the U.S. Navy for two years, and then graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, in 1955...

Racer, 10th Mountain officer, A&T president

John Woodward
Passing Date: May 25, 2016

Photo: Lt. John Woodward, 1941. Major John Woodward, who commanded the training unit of the 10th Mountain Division, and became one of the owners of Anderson & Thompson (A&T) Ski Company, died May 25, at age 101. Born in Iowa, Woodward grew up in Seattle, and began skiing, at age 15, in 1930...

Longtime Stratton instructor

Otto Egger
Passing Date: May 23, 2016

Veteran Stratton Mountain ski instructor Otto Egger died at his home in Bondville, Vermont, on May 23, 2016, at the age of 83. Born in Zell am See, Austria, in 1933, Egger came to America in 1960 to teach the new, standardized Austrian ski technique at Mad River Glen. He then joined the Stratton...

Resort manager, NSAA official, author

John Christie
Passing Date: May 7, 2016

John M. Christie, former general manager of Sugarloaf and Mount Snow, died on May 7. He was 79. Christie grew up in Camden, Maine and learned to ski at Camden Snow Bowl. As a member of the Bowdoin College ski team, he won the state downhill championship in 1958, and graduated with a degree in...

Influential Austrian ski instructor and author

Hans Zehetmayer
Passing Date: April 28, 2016

Hans Zehetmayer, an influential Austrian ski instructor and author, died on April 28, 2016 at age 89. Skiing, ski teaching, and music were his life’s joys until his death; in December 2015, he gave a talk at the International Ski Congress in St. Christof and played Broadway tunes on the piano that...

Innovative trainer and physical therapist to U.S. Ski Team.

Tage Pedersen
Passing Date: April 26, 2016

Innovative U.S. Ski Team trainer and physical therapist Tage Pedersen, 90, died on April 26, 2016, in Ashland, Oregon.  Born in Denmark in 1926, Pedersen studied physical therapy there and moved his young family to Aspen in 1956, to work as assistant director and later director of the Aspen...