Dick Bass, the co-founder of Snowbird, unstopable outdoor enthusiast, and the first person to climb the highest point on each of the seven continents was post-humously awarded the S. J. Quinney Award for his contributions to the ski industry. "He had a life long love affair with Mother Nature," said his son who accepted the award at the gala Ski Archives fund raiser event which preserves Utah's ski history.

Also earning an award was Ski Utah that for 40 years has been promoting Utah's fabulous snow that pumps $1.3 billion annually into the state's economy. It markets come-to-Utah tourism worldwide and it fosters winter recreation for in-staters. Its accomplishments are as long as your arm.

For being a major mover and shaker, Ski Utah just earned the state's top ski industry award – the J. Willard Marriott Library History-Maker Award – that's presented for extraordinary accomplishments in winter sports.

"The most important thing that Ski Utah does is to foster the relationships between the resorts and all the businesses in the ski industry" said Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty as he accepted the award at the gala event Nov. 5 at the Grand America Hotel.

In a nutshell, Ski Utah promotes the ski industry and the Ski Archives preserves the history of it.

As background about Ski Utah, it's a non-profit trade organization that promotes Utah's ski and snowboard industry. Its membership consists of the 14 ski resorts and 250 lodging, transportation, retail, restaurant and other snow-related services. Its goal has always been to promote brand awareness and the demand for Utah's winter sports.

The Ski Archives was founded about two decades ago by ski enthusiasts and visionaries who realized that historic ski photos and manuscripts should be collected to assure they wouldn’t be lost in dusty attics and that old albums wouldn’t be tossed out. The resulting collection is housed on the University of Utah campus in the J. Willard Marriott Library, and it’s called the Ski Archives. It has grown to be the largest cache of skiing and snow sports history in the country, it’s a prime research collection, and it’s open to the public. It holds an annual gala evening and silent auction fund raiser that helps support its mission.

photo: Harriet Wallis