Colorado Snowsports Museum’s ‘Skiing in Colorado’ to debut on Oct. 30
New book tells the story of state's ski history through the museum's rich photo archives
Cover Photo Skiing in Colorado
When Arcadia Press pitched the idea of a Colorado ski history book to Dana Mathios, the curator and director of collections at the Colorado Snowsports Museum, there was really only one problem: where to start.
“I was like, oh goodness,” Mathios chuckled recalling her initial reaction. “It was so hard. One of the hardest things I’ve done aside from maybe my thesis.”
The end product was worth it.
In putting together ‘Skiing in Colorado’ — a 128-page, 160-photo volume that will be available for purchase on Oct. 30 — Mathios set out to “mirror the museum’s exhibits in a book format,” utilizing its vast photo collection, preserved by hard-working volunteers since 1975.
“It’s really kind of a group effort to get this book to where it was,” she said. “I couldn’t have done it without everybody else because I really was using some of that older content and just kind of refurbishing it for the book.”
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Mathios, who arrived at the museum from the Chicago-area eight years ago, pointed specifically to the writing of John Dakon and the efforts of Pat Pfeiffer, a longtime Vail volunteer who passed away in 2010.
“He did so much writing for the museum (and) she did so much work just collecting these newspaper clippings,” Mathios said. “She’d scanned them, she’d type them up.”
With such a vast topic, knowing what to leave on the cutting room floor was difficult.
“It’s essentially like an adult picture book,” Mathios described. “So, it was very challenging to get all this information in.”
She broke the book into pre and post-World War II sections, allowing archival photos to drive the story. A narrative naturally emerged, bridging the gold rush era — when skis were mostly transportation tools — to the 10th Mountain division-led resort boom in the 50s and 60s, when recreational uses ruled.
“We have advancements in lifts — and the story kind of just led itself from there,” she said. The substantial snowsports industry impacts made by Colorado Ski Hall of Fame members in the post-10th Mountain era drove the project forward. Mathios wrote chapters on lost ski resorts, the National Ski Patrol and the history of adaptive skiing. She also had a goal of including as many women as possible, particularly some of the lesser-known individuals.
Mathios brought up Aspen’s Elli Iselin.
“She opened basically one of the first retail stores that was fashion-oriented but all about mountain living. And then you have the Gorsuch family that kind of follows suit with Renie doing things like that as well,” Mathios said. “Kind of just using fashion to bring appeal to Colorado’s mountains.”
Vail locals Diane Boyer, who started women’s winter sportswear brand SKEA Limited, and Jeannie Thoren, who created the first female-specific ski, also receive mention.
In diving into the museum’s off-site storage facility in Wheat Ridge, Mathios uncovered more than a few surprising anecdotes and hidden gems. In researching for the chapter on early adaptive pioneers, she dug up photos even she’d never seen.
“If I haven’t, I imagine the public probably hasn’t either,” she said of shots showing blind skiing instruction at various resorts throughout Colorado.
“It’s just kind of interesting to see what those early days look like, and that we actually have that documentation.”
When asked whether the text is more likely to satisfy the palate of a newbie or longtime enthusiast, Mathios said it could be both — and probably everyone in between as well.
“It fits well in a collection in that it covers so much ground in a very digestable amount of space,” she said of the book she labeled “small, but mighty.” Considering its unique threads on mining camp and World War II history, engineering developments and brand and clothing company information, there seems to be something for everyone.
“There’s kind of a lot,” Mathios summarized. “It’s not just about skiing.”
Mathios’ research has convinced her that other book projects could be a possibility down the road.
“Yeah absolutely,” she said. “When we worked with Arcadia Press from the beginning, they were like, ‘can this be a step one?'”
“And then maybe we would dive into like, ‘let’s expand chapter 1 or 2,'” she continued, adding that one topic she’d love to is snowboarding.
“I just think there’s so much important history there as well that really hasn’t been written,” she said.
Interestingly, Mathios herself only tried snowsports once growing up in the Midwest. Her on-snow story really started once she moved to Denver and joined the museum staff.
“After working here, I was like, ‘I’ve got to get into this,'” the now regular snowboarder said.
“I didn’t come to the museum as a skier or snowboarder; it turned me into one — it inspired me to go down that path.”
It’s something she undoubtedly hopes the new book will do, too.
“That would be a win-win.”
To purchase copies of the book, stop by the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail or visit their website at http://www.snowsportsmuseum.org. The book will also be available in stores like Barnes & Noble, Costco, Walgreens, and more. To purchase copies to sell, please contact Ashley Childers at achilders@arcadiapublishing.com.
