Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame: 6 picked for Class of 2007

Each year, now, since 2002, the year of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, names have been taken and votes cast for inductees into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame.

Six were chosen for the class of 2007.

In ceremonies tonight at the Utah Olympic Park, Ted Johnson, Paul McCollister, Woody Anderson, K Smith, Pete Karns and Margo Walters-McDonald will be made official members.

Voting is based on outstanding achievements in the areas of skiing competition, skiing innovation, ski sport development and significant contributions to the overall promotion of skiing.

This will bring the total number of Hall of Famers to 29.

Johnson was the man who saw a mountain and envisioned a ski resort at Snowbird. He came to Utah from California to work at Alta. He saw in the land to the west the makings of a world-class ski area.

In 1965, he purchased the Blackjack mining claim, which abutted Wasatch National Forest land next door to Alta.

After five years of planning and studies, he partnered with Dick Bass and built Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The resort opened in December of 1971.

For several years, the Snowbird/Alta union of lifts has been ranked as the No. 1 destination area in North America by SKIING Magazine.

Anderson began his ski-teaching career with the Deseret News Ski School back in 1947. The following year he joined the teaching staff at Brighton and was assistant director from 1954 to 1962.

From 1956 to 1963, he owned the Woodhaus Ski and Sports Shop in Brighton. In 1964, he became general manager and ski school director at the new Park City Mountain Resort.

He became owner-president of Pomerelle Ski Resort in Albion, Idaho, in 1973, and from 1977 to 1984 he was owner-president of Magic Mountain Ski Resort near Twin Falls, Idaho. He was also one of the founders of the Intermountain Ski Instructors Association.

Karns was one of the top competitors in the early days of skiing in all four disciplines: slalom, downhill, cross country and jumping. He was a member of the University of Utah Ski Team between 1964 and 1967 and earned NCAA All-American honors in 1966. In 1967 he won the cross-country title in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Championships.

He became a member of the U.S. Biathlon team in 1970, and was on the team that placed 6th in the Sapporo, Japan, Winter Games. In 1980, he came in second in the U.S. Biathlon National Championships.

McCollister came from California to Wyoming to build and open the Jackson Hole Ski Area in 1966.