By Brigid Miller, Museum Community Engagement Manager
When Union Pacific Board Chairman Averell Harriman envisioned Sun Valley, he saw ski competitions as a means to attract athletes and others to this place, as well as a way to promote Sun Valley. These competitions included downhill, slalom, combined, and ski jumping – and Harriman’s vision came true. Sun Valley ski competitions and the famed ski school brought many accomplished athletes, Olympians, and celebrities to the area.
One of those Olympians was Stein Eriksen, an Olympian gold medalist from Norway. Eriksen is pictured here performing a front flip on Dollar Mountain in 1953. Outside of his Olympic and World Championship successes, he was well known for being able to do flips and other tricks on skis, which helped to popularize and inspire freestyle aerial skiing.
Eriksen moved to Sun Valley in 1953 and worked at the Sun Valley Ski School for a year before moving to Boyne Mountain in Michigan to spread his love of skiing there.
As we sit at the start of the 2023-24 ski season, it is inspiring to think of all the skiers, like Stein Eriksen, who skied on these mountains before us and helped to shape this place and this sport.
Note this story was originally published in December of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.
