Lives

Mike Gallagher, Nordic Icon

Mike Gallagher
Passing Date: October 3, 2013

The Eagle’s flight is over. American nordic icon Mike Gallagher shown here in the red jacket, has died, ironically, on the very day of his 72nd birthday, Oct. 3. A fierce competitor in the ‘60s and a successful coach, Gallagher was also a highly skill bicycle racer. He served as Nordic director at...

Longtime PSIA-E examiner

Joe Wood
Passing Date: August 26, 2013

Joe Wood, 61, a PSIA-E examiner for 42 years, died August 26 in Park City. He taught more than 50,000 people to ski and worked with thousands of ski instructors who took Professional Ski Instructors Association-Eastern Division (PSIA-E) exams. He was the youngest ever to be appointed an examiner at...

Editor and Skiing History editorial board member

Dinah Witchel
Passing Date: August 23, 2013

Dinah Witchel, 76, whose editing skills were employed over much of the last half of the 20th century in fact-correcting and enhancing the work of scores of ski writers, died in New York City, August 23, after a battle with cancer. Dinah started her career in ski publishing in 1963 as managing...

Binding Inventor

Burton Weinstein
Passing Date: August 9, 2013

Burt Weinstein, 87, inventor of the Burt “retractable” binding, died August 9, of cancer. Weinstein’s binding featured a releasable plate containing two spring-loaded capstans, each housing a steel cable. After a release, the cables could reel the ski back and reattach to the binding, automatically...

Ski Innovator

Toni Arnstein
Passing Date: August 1, 2013

Legendary snow sports pioneer and founder of Blizzard skis, Anton “Toni” Arnsteiner here witnessing Franz Klammer sign a contract with Blizzard, passed away at the age of 88. Arnsteiner died in the very town where he built up his ski company, in Mittersill, Austria. After the War, Arnsteiner took...

Norman MacLeod, innovative equipment importer

Norm MacLeod
Passing Date: July 10, 2013

The brave do not live forever, the cautious not at all.  In Bend, Oregon, Norm MacLeod, 83, left this world, no doubt looking for another mountain to ski.  The MacLeod Clan’s motto is “Hold Fast” but cancer held faster.  He was born July 22, 1929 to Gladys (McClure) and Alec MacLeod and grew up...

Earl Holding, Sun Valley Owner

Earl Holding
Passing Date: April 19, 2013

Earl Holding died in April, 2013 at age 86.  Holding earned the accolades of winter sports enthusiasts by restoring Sun Valley, the historic Idaho ski resort, to its original quality and pre-eminence and by transforming Snowbasin from a sleepy local day area to the Utah ski resort that hosted the...

Orville Slutzky, Hunter Mountain co-founder

Orville Slutzky
Passing Date: April 18, 2013

Orville A. Slutzky, age 96, the beloved co-founder of Hunter Mountain, passed away peacefully on April 18, 2013, in the company of loved ones.  Orville was born in Hunter on February 13, 1917 and raised on his parents’ farm in Jewett, N.Y. The son of the late Isaac and Ella (Miller) Slutzky, he is...

Aspen entrepreneur and cultural commentator

Kenneth Moore
Passing Date: April 8, 2013

Kenneth Moore, a longtime Aspenite and entrepreneur with a colorful and complex sense of humor, died on April 8, 2013, at his home in Santa Barbara, California. He was 92. In the mid-1950s, Moore built a three-story structure at the base of Aspen Mountain that became the Tipple Inn, Copper Kettle...

Othmar Schneider, Olympic champion, instructor, Lech hotelier

Othmar Schneider
Passing Date: December 25, 2012

Othmar Schneider died suddenly on Dec. 24, 2012. Raised in Lech on the Arlberg Pass, he won the Lauberhorn downhill and combined in 1951 and 1952, plus gold in slalom and silver in downhill at the Oslo Olympics. Had there been a combined medal at those games, he would have had that gold medal too....