Alf Marinius Engen (May 15, 1909–July 20, 1997) was a Norwegian-American

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

. He set several

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

world records during the 1930s and helped establish numerous

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

s in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

. Engen is best known for his ski school at Alta in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and as the pioneer of powder skiing.

Background

Born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in the town of Mjøndalen, in

Nedre Eiker Nedre Eiker was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mjøndalen. The old municipality of Eiker was divided into ''Nedre Eiker ...

municipality in

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Ha ...

county, Engen was the first son of Trond and Martha Oen Engen. His two younger brothers, Sverre (1911–2001) and

Corey Corey is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a masculine version of name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in a caul ...

(1916–2006), were also accomplished skiers. As the first-born son of a famous skiing father, Engen was naturally reared to ski. After his father died of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

in 1918 when he was nine, Engen's mother moved the family the short distance to the small town of

Steinberg Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH (trading as Steinberg) is a German musical software and hardware company based in Hamburg. It develops music writing, recording, arranging, and editing software, most notably Cubase, Nuendo, and Dorico. It als ...

. In 1929 at age twenty, Alf and his brother Sverre (age 18) emigrated to the United States, first settling in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, then relocating west to Utah in 1931 at

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. Their widowed mother Martha and younger brother Corey (age 17) joined them in 1933.

Career

Engen quickly gained a reputation for his world class skiing skills. Although primarily a

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

when he arrived in the U.S., he quickly mastered alpine skiing and is credited for developing the technique of powder skiing, honed at the

Alta Ski Area Alta is a ski area in the western United States, located in the town of Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, in Salt Lake County. With a skiable area of , Alta's base elevation is and rises to for a vertical gain of . One of the oldest ski ...

. The following years he won numerous American and international titles. In 1940, Engen finished first in the National Four-way, held east of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Engen was also the recipient of numerous awards including the All-American Ski Trophy, 1937, Americanism Award in 1940, Helm's Hall of Fame Award in 1954; and Skier's Hall of Fame Award in 1956. He helped establish the ski school at Alta, and assisted in the creation of thirty other ski resorts in the western United States. The three Engen brothers helped to popularize skiing in the West, primarily in

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. Alf's son Alan carries on the family tradition at Alta. Alf Engen died in Salt Lake City in 1997, at the age of 88; his two younger brothers both lived to the age of 90.

Alf Engen Ski Museum

The Alf Engen Ski Museum is located in the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center at

Utah Olympic Park The Utah Olympic Park is a winter sports park built for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and is located in Summit County ( east of Salt Lake City) northwest of Park City, Utah, United States. During the 2002 games the park hosted the bobsleigh, skele ...

, north of

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

. It contains more than 300 trophies, medals, uniforms, scrapbooks, skis, boots, photos, films, and other collectables that span some 70 years in the career of the Engen family. The museum's educational component gives school children a skiing-based foundation to study subjects such as the water cycle, physics, and Utah's colorful history. The Museum recently added a fully functional virtual ski experience designed and built by Utah-based company Unrivaled. The ride takes you through an amazing downhill ski experience and even gives the authentic feeling of skiing by adding wind and even snow to the overall downhill experience.

Invalid ski jumping world record

Not recognized! He stood at WR, but this record never made it to WR official books.
Not recognized! He stood at WR, but Utah SC wasn't member of Western American Winter Sport Ass..
Not recognized! He stood at world record distance, but set at unofficial competition.
Not recognized! He stood at world record distance, but at practice session.

Video

Vimeo.com
– Alf Engen - The Old Man Of The Mountain - Powder segment

References

External links

Alf Engen Ski Museum

U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
– Alf Engen
KUED.org
– Alf Engen: Utah's athlete of the century
Alf Engen Scrapbooks
– University of Utah's Marriott Library: Special Collections
Alf Engen Paper
a
University of Utah Digital LibraryMarriott Library Special Collections

Alan K Engen Papers
a
University of Utah Digital LibraryMarriott Library Special Collections

Alta Historical Society
– Early history of Alta *
Alf Engen papers, 1915-1972
– Archives West
Alf Engen Ski Museum records, 1993-2007
– Archives West {{DEFAULTSORT:Engen, Alf 1909 births 1997 deaths Norwegian male alpine skiers American male alpine skiers Norwegian emigrants to the United States