CO Ski Museum

What: Colorado Ski Museum / Ski Hall of Fame
Where: Vail Village Transportation Center
When: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM
    Closed May & October, and on major holidays

Are you interested in skiing? Well, of course you are -- you're in Colorado, aren't you?

This fascinating museum offers a trip through time as you view exhibits of skiers and ski equipment dating back to the gold fever days of the late 1890s. That's right: our state's earliest ski experts were miners.

Did you realize that, starting in the 1860s, people signed on as mail carriers where they had to teach themselves to ski on huge, heavy runners to deliver mail to places in our high country? No lifts, no avalanche reports, no GPS units, no Ski Patrol to help with a rescue...and they often traveled 50 miles over mountain passes to reach the mining towns they served.

Skipping ahead quite a few years, Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division are well-documented as we revisit their training during the WWII era. When some of the skiers returned from duty to Colorado after the war, their expertise helped develop Aspen, Arapahoe Basin, Vail, and of course, the 10th Mountain Division Trail and Hut system.

The museum also highlights skiing achievements in the Olympic Games and the World Cup. For more on the history of skiing in Colorado, visit the Ski Museum's History page.

In addition, learn about the accomplishments of inductees to the Ski Hall of Fame. Members include famous names such as ski pioneer "Father" Dyer, early skiing greats Frank Ashley and Dick Durrance, and even filmmaker Warren Miller and President Gerald Ford. A complete list of inductees can be found here.

For more information, contact:
Colorado Ski Museum
231 S. Frontage Rd. E.
Vail, CO 81657

970-476-1876