Lives

Racer, coach, Rossignol exec, baker

Gérard Rubaud
Passing Date: October 8, 2018

Gérard Rubaud, the artisanal baker who helped steer Rossignol to a dominant position in ski racing and in the North American ski market, died October 8 following a long illness. He was 77 years old. Born in Aix-les-Bains in Savoie, Rubaud dropped out of school at age 16 to ski full time. He took an...

Swiss journalist, Olympic official

Karl Erb
Passing Date: September 5, 2018

Karl Erb, the leading sports commentator on Swiss television for two decades, died September 5 at age 92. Erb grew up in Zurich and began writing about sports for a variety of newspapers beginning in 1946. He covered Formula 1 racing, soccer and equestrian events, but became best known for...

Wolf Creek Pass pioneer

Charles Elliott
Passing Date: August 19, 2018

Charles Elliott, who helped to launch skiing at Wolf Creek Pass, died August 19 at age 104. Elliott grew up in the San Luis Valley and taught himself to ski, on homemade boards, at age 21, hiking up Wolf Creek Pass in 1934. With the help of four separate ski clubs on both sides of the pass – in San...

Nordic official, Vail pioneer, retailer

Dick Bohr
Passing Date: August 5, 2018

Richard H. Bohr, who set up Vail’s original financial systems and, as a successful ski shop entrepreneur, helped to found one of the first buying groups, died August 5 following a brief illness. He was 97 years old. Dick grew up in Boston, skiing cross country on the neighboring golf course. He...

Craftsbury Outdoor Center founder

Russell Spring
Passing Date: July 30, 2018

Russell Mason Spring Jr. passed away July 30 at age 92. With his wife Janet, Spring founded the Craftsbury (Vermont) Outdoor Center, one of the most successful Nordic training facilities in North America. Sparky Spring grew up skiing in Wellesley, Massachusetts and graduated from Lenox High School...

Head Ski Company VP/Engineering

John Howe
Passing Date: June 15, 2018

John G. Howe, the chief engineer at Head skis during its transition from Timonium, Maryland to Boulder and Kennelbach, died June 15, 2018, at age 83. A native of the Berkshire Mountains, John learned to ski as soon as he could walk and spent his early years skiing in the western shadow of Mount...

New Jersey ski resort pioneer

Peg Kurlander
Passing Date: June 6, 2018

Margaret Mary Kurlander, 84, passed away on June 6 in Salt Lake City, with her children John, Jamie and Judy at her side.  Peg grew up in North Arlington, New Jersey, earned a bachelor’s degree from New Jersey State Teachers College and became an elementary school teacher.  After joining the Twin...

10th Mountain Division veteran, U.S. Ski Team and prep-school coach

Donald Henderson
Passing Date: May 24, 2018

10th Mountain Division veteran Don Henderson, 94, who succeeded Bob Beattie as head coach of the U.S. Ski Team in 1970, died peacefully at home in Fairlee, Vermont on May 24, 2018.   Born on May 6, 1924, in Berlin, New Hampshire, Don graduated from Berlin High School in 1942. As a ski trooper in...

SKI, Skiing magazine editor

John Henry Auran
Passing Date: April 22, 2018

An editor at SKI and Skiing magazines for 25 years until 1985, and author of the first American ski encyclopedia, John Henry Auran, 90, died April 22, 2018 at the Mountainside Residential Care Center, Margaretville, in New York’s Catskill Mountain region where he’d lived for the past 30 years. ...

Co-founder of Appalachian Ski Mountain

D. Grady Moretz, Jr.
Passing Date: April 8, 2018

Grady Moretz, the co-founder, owner and operator of Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, passed away April 8, 2018 at his home in Boone. He was 88 years old. In 1968, Moretz and five partners bought Blowing Rock Ski Lodge in foreclosure, and over the years invested millions of...