ISHA News: Board elects three new members

Genia Fuller-Crews

Considered one of the legends of freestyle skiing, with eight years of professional competition, Genia Fuller was named Skiing magazine’s Skier of the Year three times, beginning in 1973 after she won the first of her several national freestyle championships, at Sun Valley, Idaho. That same year she skied for Willy Bogner in the film W. In 1975, she won the overall women’s freestyle Grand Prix title along with the aerial title.

At the height of her career (in 1976) she signed contracts with Colgate and ABC television, where she competed in made-for-TV events like Women’s Superstars and Battle of the Sexes, and was featured in an ABC special, The Lady Is a Champ.

Fuller was sidelined by illness halfway through the 1976 season, though she had enough points to finish the year fifth overall. She finished fourth overall in 1977, despite competing in just three events. In 1978 she was again on her form, winning the overall world freestyle championship title, along with three out of five individual titles.

Fuller became an innovator in pole-free ballet, touring Europe and Japan to share skills and knowledge with many upcoming young freestyle skiers. She performed in more than 500 days of dryland ski shows.

Today, Genia Fuller-Crews lives in Simi Valley, California. She is still involved in promoting and serving the ski industry, serving on the board of directors for the U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Hall of Fame. Outside skiing, Fuller-Crews is an EMT and a CPR, first aid and an EMT instructor. She is well immersed in disaster teams and disaster/emergency preparedness activities for Ventura County.

Tim Kohl

Tim Kohl grew up in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and east of Minneapolis, where he attended Stillwater Area High School and the University of Minnesota. He became a polymorphous entrepreneur, first managing restaurants in Denver, Colorado, while earning a reputation as the boldest cornice-jumper at Vail. Migrating to Sun Valley, Idaho, he became a freelance consultant, engineering turnarounds for local businesses. Then he took a “real job,” working for Chuck Ferries at Precision (PRE) skis and Scott poles and later partnered with Mike Brunetto at Research Dynamics skis while importing Swany goggles and gloves from Japan.

Kohl served on the board of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and in the late 1990s opened a retail outlet, Yolo Sports, in Boise, Idaho. Today he runs Yolo Sports out of Sandy, Utah, buying overstock merchandise from specialty ski shops and selling it to independent ski resorts. He lists his job as “3rd Assistant Ticket Checker” at Alta Lifts, which is a way of identifying as an underground management consultant.

Juan Jose Lapuerta

Juanjo Lapuerta grew up in Granada, in southern Spain, where he skied bumps at the nearby Sierra Nevada resort and became a ski instructor. He studied civil engineering at the University of Granada and then at the University of Graz in Austria. He went on to earn a master’s degree in ropeway management at Vorlarlberg University and today works as a project engineer and senior manager at Dopplmayr in Wolfurt, Austria. He’s also a professor of engineering at both Vorlarlberg University and the University of Zaragoza. Lapuerta lives with his wife, Elsa, and two kids in Andelsbuch, Austria, in the Vorarlberg. He tours the region on telemark gear and teaches tennis in four languages.

Retiring: Richard Allen

Richard Allen, who has served on the ISHA Board of Directors since 2009, has retired from the board. The owner of Vintage Ski World in Carbondale, Colorado, Allen has been—and continues to be—an invaluable resource for ski historians searching for information and photos of antique and classic sk