FAR WEST SKI ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES

75^TH ANNIVERSARY AT ANNUAL CONVENTION

Contact:  Elaine Cobos, FWSA VP Communications

Phone:  602-955-5550

Email: 

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA:  The Far West Ski Association celebrated its 75^th Anniversary at its 73rd Annual Convention and Meeting June 9-12, 2005 at The Long Beach Westin Hotel.  The annual event was hosted by Los Angeles Ski Club Council.  The Far West Ski Association, founded in 1930, is a non-profit organization representing 165 affiliated ski clubs located throughout ten regional councils in the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.  The Association conducts active programs in public affairs, skier safety, ski history, athletics, racing, communications, travel, council development, ski industry, and community outreach.  In addition to over 250 ski club delegates attending the annual meeting, about 150 ski and sports industry representatives participated in the weekend’s events.

The 20^th Annual Silent Auction on Friday evening raised over $50,000 to support FWSA programs.  The highest bidders purchased ski trips, golf and adventure trips, sports and recreational equipment.  Saturday morning’s Travel Expo enabled industry representatives to meet with travel decision makers from the Association’s clubs and councils.  Bids were presented to the FWSA Travel Committee for selection of the 2007 FWSA Ski Week with the result to be announced at the FWSA board meeting in July.  The 2006 FWSA Ski Week will be held February 4-11 at Telluride, Colorado. The Far West Racing Association held their annual meeting on Saturday.  The 2006 FWRA Championships will be held in March, 2006 at Kirkwood.  The site for the 2007 annual FWRA Championships will be determined at a meeting of the FWRA board of directors and race league chairmen this summer.

Dr. Michael Adams, son of Ansel Adams, gave a presentation on his father’s photographs at the Saturday luncheon. Other celebrity guests included Billy Kidd, 1964 Innsbruck Olympic Silver Medalist; Jimmie Heuga, 1964 Olympic Bronze Medalist; Deb Armstrong, 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Gold Medalist; Doug Pringle, Disabled Sports USA; Marlene Finley, Winter Sports Program Manager, USFS; Laura Menozzi, Director of Finance, NSAA; Richard Kun, President of Snow Summit Ski Corp. and Joe Jay Jalbert, filmmaker; plus freestyle and extreme skiers Glen Plake, Bob Salerno and Chris Davenport. 

 The 75^th Anniversary activities included an exhibition of history displays created by FWSA councils, clubs, ski museums, ski resorts and affiliated organizations.   A reception was held to honor the legends of skiing on Saturday afternoon followed by a multi-media presentation of videos highlighting exciting moments in skiing.   The celebrity guests participated in several panel forums on Early Development of Ski Resorts, World of Free Skiing, and Challenges of Disabled Skiers to conclude the Saturday afternoon activities.

Annual recognition awards were presented at the Awards Banquet to members of the ski industry, media, volunteers, racing leagues, councils, and ski clubs.  Industry Awards were presented to (1) the Tommi Tyndall Award for Outstanding Ski Industry Contribution, to Breckenridge Ski Resort; (2) the Bill Mackey Award for Outstanding Ski Industry Employee, to Mark Thoreson of Sun Valley; (3) the Jimmie Heuga Award for Outstanding Humanitarian, to Muffy Davis of Sun Valley; and (4) President’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to FWSA, to Catherine Ohl of Los Angeles Ski Club Council and Tammie Anstedt of Vail Resorts.   The Bill Berry Awards were presented to Richard Kun of Snow Summit Ski Resort for Feature Articles and to Walter Roessing for Hard News.  The Warren Miller Modern Media Award was presented to Joe Jay Jalbert, of Jalbert Productions.

Nancy Kelly of Bay Area Council received the Hans Georg Award for long-term contribution to skiing.  Other individuals receiving recognition awards included: (1) the Elizabeth “Schatzi” Wood Award to Helen Harris of San Diego Council; (2) the J. Stanley Mullin Award to Donn Bryant of Sierra Council; (3) the Jordan-Reily Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Affairs, to Mark Udall, Representative in U.S. Congress from Colorado;  (4) the Councils’ Woman of the Year Award to Barbara Bryant of Sierrra Council;  the Councils’ Man of the Year Award to Steve Coxen, Northwest Ski Club Council.  Top honors in racing included the Terry Smith Award to Barbara Bryant of Sierra Council.

Tollakson Outstanding Club first place winners were Bergfreunde Ski Club, Portland OR (Class AAAA); Pacific Rim Alliance, Los Angeles CA (Class AAA); Mountain High Snow Sports Club, Portland OR (Class AA).  The Wentworth Outstanding Club Publications Awards for first place were presented to: Unrecables (Class A); to Mountain High Snow Sports Club (Class AA); to Orange County Ski & Snowboard Club (Class AAA); and to North Island Snowdrifters (Class AAAA).  Website Awards for first place were given to:  Mountain High Snow Sports Club (Class AA); Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club (Class AAA); and Bergfreunde (Class AAAA).  Council award winners were Los Angeles Council for best newsletter and Northwest Ski Club Council for best website.

Special presentations were made to TJ Barnes with the Safety Person of the Year Award, sponsored by Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen Square Hotel, and The Stonebridge Inn.  The Western Ski Heritage Award was presented by Billy Kidd, member of National Ski Hall of Fame and Director of Skiing at Steamboat Ski Resort, sponsor of the award, to Ingrid Wicken.

Elections were held at Sunday’s General Session.  FWSA Officers for 2005-2006 are:  President, Mike Sanford (San Diego CA);  Past President, Steve Coxen (West Linn OR);  Secretary, Mary Azevedo (Walnut Creek CA);  Treasurer, Nancy Kelly (Lodi CA);  Chairman Board of Trustees, Randy Lew (Wilsonville OR); VP Communications, Elaine Cobos (Phoenix AZ);  VP Council Services, Michael German (San Diego CA);  VP Marketing, Debbi Kor (Wilsonville OR);  VP Membership, Barbara Bryant (Truckee CA);  VP Public Affairs, Scott Bowker (Sunnyvale CA);  VP North American Travel, Lynnell Calkins (Redondo Beach CA);  VP International Travel, Tucker Hoffmann (San Leandro CA);  VP Racing, Bob Ellis (Truckee CA);  Trustees, Ken Calkins (Redondo Beach CA);  Linda Westlund (Scottsdale AZ),  and Robb Margrave (Novato CA).

The Far West Ski Association is appreciative of the many sponsors who are a big part of the success of the FWSA Annual Convention.  Sponsors included Aspen Skiing Company, CO;  Big Mountain Ski & Summer Resort, MT;  Big White Ski Resort, BC, Canada;  Finlandia Vodka;  Firestone Walker Brewing Company;  Grouse Mountain Lodge, MT;  Intrawest Destination Resorts;  Mammoth Mountain, CA;  Mountain Chalet, FL;  Penfolds Wine, Australia;  PRW Sports Luggage, OH;  Silver Star Mountain Resort, BC, Canada;  SkiBig3 – Banff, Lake Louise and Sunshine, Alberta, Canada;  Snowbasin, UT;  and  Vail Resorts – Vail, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone, CO and Heavenly, CA; Los Angeles Ski Club Council and Single Ski Club.

The 74th Annual Far West Ski Association Convention is scheduled for June 8-11, 2006 at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort in Chandler, Arizona.   For additional information regarding the Far West Ski Association, please visit www.fwsa.org.

Note:  Pictures are available upon request.