Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Announces 2010 Inductees

Vail, CO - The Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the newest members of the Hall of Fame.

The six inductees – Horst Abraham, Jake Burton Carpenter, Ernst Constam, Harry Frampton, Trygve Myhren, and Sandy Treat – will join a prestigious group of Hall of Fame snow sports visionaries who have made significant contributions to snow sports in Colorado. They will be honored during the 34th annual Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Induction Gala on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at the Westin Westminster in Westminster, Colo.

Horst Abraham, Sport Builder & Inspirational Individual

Horst Abraham was born in Vienna, Austria in the winter of 1941. At age five, Horst received his first part of skis, crafted by Horst’s older brother out of scrap wood from a cabinet builder’s workshop. He learned to ski by the motto: “Hurt, didn’t it?”

After returning to Vienna after the war, Horst’s bond with skiing was irreversibly formed. Along with earning his Masters in Education and the Physical Sciences, he began to re-write the script for ski-teaching. In 1964, Horst immigrated to the U.S. and followed his future wife to Aspen, where he met Curt Chase, then the director of the Aspen Ski School. Curt offered Horst many opportunities as an instructor, trainer and supervisor, while also challenging him.

During the late 1960’s, Horst’s work in the domain of ski methodology and technical thinking was beginning to be nationally recognized. Shortly after, he became Education Vice-President of PSIA and assembled a group of experts to build the National Education Committee. With the support of Vail and Aspen Ski Schools, the American Teaching Method (ATM) began to take shape, which emphasized the relationship between the learning process and the skills.

The ATM was recognized as a major breakthrough in the field of ski instruction and was enthusiastically accepted in the early 1980’s. Since then, Horst has written “Skiing Right,” the official PSIA handbook and founded Paragon Consulting to help leaders and organizations realize their goals.

Jake Burton Carpenter, Sport Builder

Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of Burton Snowboards, has a rich history in the creation and development of snowboarding as a leading force in the Colorado snow industry. He was first introduced to the Colorado ski industry when he attended the University of Colorado in the early 1970’s, as an aspiring ski team member, but soon broke his collarbone and was unable to race.

Shortly afterwards, Jake opened up a shop in Vermont, building snowboards by hand, as an improvement on the Snurfer. In 1981, a breakthrough came for the sport of snowboarding when a Boulder surf shop organized the first snowboard competition at Ski Cooper. Jake became a part of the contest to introduce snowboarding on a much broader scale to Colorado. Throughout the 1980’s, Jake continued to campaign to have local ski resorts open lifts to snowboarders. He became very involved in the original Snowboard World Championships at Breckenridge in the late 1980’s, helping to solidify Colorado’s place as an early Mecca of snowboarding.

Throughout the 1990’s, Jake and Burton Snowboards continued to expand, pushing snowboarding to the forefront of winter sports. Resorts were finally allowing snowboarding, and the sport secured its place on the global stage at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic games with its true spirit and identity intact with many thanks to Jake and Burton Snowboards. At the Olympics, many Burton sponsored riders were among the first medal winners in snowboarding history, including Colorado native Shannon Dunn.

Today Jake and Burton Snowboards continues to contribute to Colorado snowboarding in many ways, which has lent countless benefits to the entire industry, beyond just the sport he helped create.

Ernst Constam (1888-1965), Pioneer

Ernst Constam is credited as the inventor of the overhead cable ski tow, beginning with his J-bar installed in Davos, Switzerland in about 1933. The development of ski tows and lifts had a huge impact on the future course of skiing. Ski tows based on Ernst’s design, without observing his patents, were installed in many budding resorts.

When the 10th Mountain Division needed training to become skiers, the U.S. Army contact Ernst and he installed a T-bar on Cooper Hill, near Leadville. Through the 1960’s, American skiing launched its early boom and during this time there were more than 80 Constam designs installed at resorts nationwide. As a resident of Denver from the 1940’s onward, Ernst carried on his lift manufacturing business until his death in 1965.
When the sport of skiing was developing worldwide in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Ernst Constam and his T-bar helped promote the success of the sport in Colorado, helping to make the state the skiing capital of North America.

Harry Frampton, Sport Builder

As a current managing partner of East West Partners and Chairman of the Vail Valley Foundation, Harry Frampton is deeply involved in the Colorado snow industry. East West Partners specializes in real estate development and is currently developing resort properties in Vail, Beaver Creek, Summit County, and Denver in Colorado; Lake Tahoe, California; and Deer Valley, Utah. He began his real estate career in South Carolina and is currently a principal of Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate.

From 1982 to 1986, Harry was President of Vail Associates, during which time he brought a new sense of style and service to the mountains, installing four high speed quad lifts and creating an unsurpassed lift network to transform Vail. He was also instrumental in bringing both the 1989 and 1999 World Championships to Vail and Beaver Creek.

Harry has been recognized as the Citizen of the Year in both Vail and Beaver Creek, and was recognized as the outstanding real estate developer in Colorado by the University of Colorado in 2004 and University of Denver in 2005. Harry’s vision and fortitude have contributed much to the development of the sport of skiing in Colorado.

Trygve Myhren, Sport Builder

Trygve Myhren has had an extraordinary impact on the U.S. Disabled Ski Team over the past fifteen years. His leadership, advocacy, and influence helped secure the future of competitive disabled skiing and the international success of U.S. disabled athletes. In the process, he has also enhanced Colorado’s reputation as the national center for disabled athletes to work, train, and play.

Prior to 1995, the U.S. Disabled Ski Team was challenged by uncertain and limited financial support, sponsorship, and recognition. Trygve was instrumental in making Paralympic skiing the first adaptive sport to be fully integrated into the programs of the Olympics. He also helped to launch “SkiTAM” in 1995, which continues to be a fundraising powerhouse and has been a source of substantial support to the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.

In recognition of his USSA, USOC, and SkiTAM contributions, Trygve was named Chef de Mission by the U.S. Olympic Committee for the U.S. delegation to the 2006 Paralympic Games in Torino, Italy. His leadership in Torino distinguished skiing and Colorado. Throughout past fifteen years, Trygve has continually supported disabled athletes, from average citizens to Olympians.

Sandy Treat, Sport Builder & Inspirational Individual

Long before Sandy Treat moved with his family to Colorado, he became part of the storied history of skiing in the state, along with that of this country. Sandy volunteered for the 10th Mountain Division, and trained at Camp Hale. Not only did Sandy train, but as an experienced skier, he also instructed fellow troops.

More than 40 years after his service to the country, Sandy returned to Colorado in 1986 to live, and since then, has been one of the most dominant male Master skiers of his class in the Rocky Mountain region. Along with his on-snow accomplishments, Sandy has been a major part of the skiing community through his work to help others in the sport and promote skiing for the Vail Valley and State of Colorado.

Sandy has held many board and volunteer positions at local organizations, including assisting at the 1989 World Ski Championships, chairman of the Jimmie Heuga Center, board member of the Vail Rotary Club, and Colorado Masters Ski Racing. Currently, Sandy speaks weekly at the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum about his Camp Hale experiences and funds the Rocky Mountain Masters races

Top of the Hill Award: Ski & Snowboard Club Vail
Recognizes institutions or entities that have contributed to the development of skiing in Colorado. This year, the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) was honored as both the USSA Club of the Year and USSA Alpine Club of the Year because of the huge successes they experienced because of their early season start due to snowmaking improvements, incredible coaching staff, as well as producing multiple Olympic skiers (Lindsey Vonn), snowboarders, boardercross, and Paralympian athletes.

Competitor of the Year: Johnny Spillane
Recognizes athletes with Colorado ties who have distinguished themselves in international competitive snowsports.
Johnny Spillane was raised in Steamboat Springs and began skiing at age two, but did not try ski jumping until age 11. He was a member of the 1998, 2002, & 2006 U.S. Olympic Ski Teams, and has regularly competed at the World Championships since 1999, winning first place in the 7.5 km sprint event in 2003. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Johnny won silver medals in the 10 km individual normal hill event, 4x5 team relay, and the 10 km individual large hill event.

Collegiate Skiers of the Year
Female
Antje Maempel, University of Denver, Stuelzerbach, Germany. In the NCAA's, for the second straight year, she swept both Nordic events, the 5 km Classic (winning by 47 seconds) and the 15 km Freestyle. Her wins were key to DU winning the NCAA title for the third straight year. Antje also dominated the two events in meets during the season.

Male
Matt Gelso, University of Colorado, Truckee, California. He placed first in the men's 10 km Classic race and finished third in the 20 km Freestyle at this year’s NCAA Championships, which proved to the world that Americans could keep contest for NCAA titles. His season record was 7 firsts, 4 seconds and 11 thirds.

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