The Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame will be hosting a special ceremony next month.
The organization will not only celebrate three inductees for 2021, but also the three honorees for 2020.
The ceremonies will be held August 25th at the Alf Engen Ski Museum in the Utah Olympic Park.
Museum Director Connie Nelson reminded KPCW that last year’s induction had to be canceled, like many other events during the pandemic.
The inductees for 2020 all have important connections to Utah skiing. Randy Montgomery was the head of Ski Utah and helped prepare for the 2002 Olympics as the director of the Utah Sports Authority.
Howard Petersen was a major figure behind the development of the Soldier Hollow Olympic cross-country venue near Midway.
And Larry Warren was a Salt Lake TV journalist for over 40 years, has written ski histories, and was a General Manager for KPCW.
The inductees for 2021 include Bruce Tremper, who has directed the Utah Avalanche Center for nearly three years; Leif Odmark, who was a long-time activist for skiing in Sun Valley Idaho; and Wesley “Wes” Deist, who was a ski coach and educator for 50 years in the Idaho Falls area.
The inductees are deceased, except for Tremper and Warren.
Nelson said tickets for the induction ceremony are $100. You can go online to engenmuseum.org/register.
Both Nelson and Larry Warren said they support an effort in Utah to once again host the Winter Olympics.
Warren said it’s a good idea, and we don’t need to do it to boost growth in the area.
“I think Park City is so on the map that hosting Olympics again really isn’t gonna inspire a new round of growth. I could be wrong. I look at it as just an incredibly fun, community-building event that has a long run-up. But the actual inconvenience, as some people would call it, or the actual fun, as most people would call it, only lasts ten days, two weeks, and it goes away again. So I just think the Olympics is such an inspiring event that—sure, I’d love to see it come around again in my lifetime.”
He added that Utah has established a record different from many other Olympic locations. The venues built for 2002 have maintained an ongoing legacy, as training centers for young athletes and as tourist attractions.
“The Olympics, rightly so, have been criticized for the wretched excess of building opulent venues that are used for a couple of weeks and then they have no after-use. But Utah is the shining example of, if you plan it right and you build in the right place, you will have, after use, an Olympic Park and speed-skating oval and Soldier Hollow are all as busy as they were during the Olympics. They’re all successful venues that have managed to sustain themselves.”
Larry Warren—newsman, historian and 2020 inductee to the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame.
