Peter Werner Seibert (August 7, 1924 – July 15, 2002) was an American skier and the founder of
Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located near the town of Vail in Eagle County, Colorado. At , it is the third-largest single-mountain ski resort in the U.S., behind Big Sky and Park City, featuring seven bowls and i ...
in Colorado. He was inducted into the Colorado Ski (and Snowboard) Hall of Fame in 1980.
A
native, Seibert graduated from the
New Hampton School
New Hampton School is an independent college preparatory high school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, United States. It has 305 students from over 30 states and 22 countries. The average class size is eleven, and the student-faculty ratio is five ...
in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and served in the
10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...
of the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, training as an elite ski trooper at
Camp Hale
Camp Hale was a U.S. Army training facility in the western United States, constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. Located in central Colorado between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley, it was named for ...
in Colorado. Wounded in the leg by a mortar shell blast in the
Battle of Riva Ridge in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in February 1945, he returned to the United States to begin recuperation. Like other ski soldiers who had trained at Camp Hale, Seibert returned to Colorado, where he became a
ski patrol
Ski patrols are organizations that provide medical, rescue, and hazard prevention services to the injured in ski area boundaries, or sometimes beyond into backcountry settings. Many have technical-medical certifications, such as Outdoor Emergen ...
man at the
Aspen Mountain. He qualified for the 1950
U.S. Ski Team
The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and ...
, which hosted the
1950 World Championships at Aspen, although his injury prevented him from competing.
In 1957, Seibert and rancher Earl Eaton climbed Vail Mountain where, as trainees from Camp Hale (Earl did not train at Camp Hale but he did help build it), they had learned winter
bivouacking
A bivouac shelter is any of a variety of improvised camp site, or shelter that is usually of a temporary nature, used especially by soldiers, or people engaged in backpacking, bikepacking, scouting, or mountain climbing. It may often refer t ...
, and decided to build "the most beautiful ski resort in the world". They raised funds from a group of Denver investors, bought a ranch at the base of Vail mountain and, to distract competitors, called it the "Trans Montane Rod and Gun Club".
The resort was built in 1962 at the base of Vail mountain, opening on December 15 with two
chairlift
An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...
s and one
gondola
The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...
; lift tickets were five
dollars
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
.
In seven years, Vail grew to become the most popular ski resort in Colorado. Seibert hoped that Vail (and the future
Beaver Creek) would host the skiing portions of the
1976 Winter Olympics
The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...
, which had been awarded to
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
in 1970. In early 1972, the venues for the skiing events were changed to established areas west of the
continental divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
, approved by the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) in February.
Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
events were moved to Vail from the undeveloped
Mount Sniktau
Mount Sniktau is a high mountain summit in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The thirteener is located in Arapaho National Forest, northeast ( bearing 48°) of Loveland Pass in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States ...
(and
Loveland Ski Area
Loveland Ski Area is a ski area in the western United States, located near the town of Georgetown, Colorado. Located at the eastern portal of the Eisenhower Tunnel, Loveland is within the Arapahoe National Forest. It is one of the closest ski ar ...
) east of
Loveland Pass
Loveland Pass is a high mountain pass in north-central Colorado, at an elevation of above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States.
Background
It is located on the Continental Divide in the Front Range, west of Denver on U. ...
, and the
Nordic events moved from
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
to
Steamboat Springs.
[ The original sites submitted in the 1970 bid satisfied a requirement of proximity to the Olympic Village (at the ]University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...
). In November 1972, Colorado voters rejected a referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
to publicly fund the Winter Olympics, and within three months the games were transferred to Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
, Austria, which had recently hosted in 1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
.
Seibert led a partnership which bought Snow Basin, near Ogden, Utah
Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...
, in 1978, but ran into financial difficulty in 1984. The area was sold that October to Earl Holding
Robert Earl Holding (November 29, 1926 – April 19, 2013) was an American businessman who owned Sinclair Oil Corporation, the Grand America Hotels & Resorts, the Grand America Hotel, the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, California (directed by ...
, owner of Sun Valley in 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 Wyom ...
. Snowbasin was the venue for the alpine speed events of the 2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
. Pete's Bowl in Vail's Blue Sky Basin
Blue Sky Basin is the most recent expansion to Vail Ski Resort in Colorado in the United States. It is the most debated and controversial ski area expansion in Colorado history. It opened to skiers in 2000 despite conflict about whether the expansi ...
, and the Pete's Express lift, was named for Seibert when the second phase of the expansion area opened in December 2000.
Seibert died at his home in nearby Edwards Edwards may refer to:
People
* Edwards (surname)
* Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile
* Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate
* Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...
age 77 on July 15, 2002, following a nine-month battle with esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voice ...
, and was buried in Vail Memorial Park. A small plaza, built in the 1970s, at the top of Bridge Street in Vail is named Seibert Circle in his honor. While Pete was best known for founding Vail, Pete's life was dedicated to the passion that skiing should be accessible to everyone.
Works
* ''Vail: Triumph of a Dream'' (2000)
References
External links
Skiing History.org
– 2002 obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seibert, Pete
1924 births
2002 deaths
Eagle County, Colorado
People from Sharon, Massachusetts
Vail Resorts