Pete Seibert
Pete Seibert | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 7, 1924 |
| Died | July 15, 2002 |
| Spouse | Elizabeth (divorced c. 1971) |
| Children | Pete Jr., Brant, Calvin [1] |
Peter W. Seibert (August 7, 1924-July 15, 2002) was the founder of Vail Ski Resort[2] and what would eventually become Vail Resorts in Colorado. He was a 1980 inductee into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.[3]
Biography
Early life
Seibert graduated from the New Hampton School and served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II. He was gravely wounded by a mortar shell blast in Italy and was told he would never again ski.
He returned to Colorado after the war, where he got back into skiing with the help of a homemade knee brace and dozens of other members of the 10th Mountain Division who had also returned to Colorado. Seibert joined Aspen's ski patrol and later qualified for the 1950 United States Ski Team. He learned his trade of choice, operating a ski area, by working at various ski resorts and began looking for a mountain to make into a ski area.
Vail
In 1957, Seibert and longtime friend Earl Eaton first climbed the future Vail Mountain and, as the legend goes, decided to build "the most beautiful ski resort in the world." The pair publicly expressed their interest in the area for a rod and gun club, acquiring land for the "Trans Montane Rod and Gun Club" with the help of four partners they invited to buy an interest into the club. The club decided to find 20 investors from around the country to buy in, yet be geographically diverse enough that each could raise larger sums of money when it was needed in the future. This idea became known as the Vail formula.[4]
In 1962, construction on the resort began on the land between the town of Eagle and Vail Pass. It opened December 15, 1962 with two chairlifts, one gondola and a $5 lift ticket.[5]
In just seven years, Vail had grown to become the most popular ski resort in Colorado, and a village had started forming at the base. Seibert hoped that Vail and Beaver Creek could host the skiing portions of the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. However, the voters of Colorado shot down the idea, and that year's Winter Games went to Innsbruck, Austria.
Pete's Bowl in Vail's Blue Sky Basin was named for Seibert when the second phase of the expansion area opened in December 2000.[5]
Death and afterward
Seibert died on July 15, 2002 after a nine-month battle with esophageal cancer.[1] A plaza at the top of Bridge Street in the town of Vail is named Seibert Circle in his honor.
Works
- Vail: Triumph of a Dream (2000)
References
- ^ a b Whitney, Veronica (2002-07-18). "Seibert family says farewell". The Vail Daily News. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
- ^ Pennington, Bill (2006-03-10). "The Legacy of the Soldiers on Skis". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
The 10th Mountain Division connections are everywhere in American skiing, whether it's at Vail Mountain, founded by Sgt. Pete Seibert of the 10th Mountain Division, or in Vermont. . . .
- ^ Colorado Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame - Peter W. Seibert.
- ^ Hauserman, Richard (2000). The Inventors of Vail. Edwards, Colorado: Golden Peak. ISBN 0970443803.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b History. Vail Resorts Corporate Website.
External links
- Skiing History.org - 2002 obituary
- Vail resort site
- Vail's corporate parent site
- Founder of Vail: A Photo Retrospective from the Vail Daily News