West skiing pioneer Corey Engen dies at 90

Corey Engen, the last surviving brother of a trio of Norwegian immigrants who popularized skiing in the Intermountain West, has died. He was 90.

Engen died Tuesday in his sleep of complications from pneumonia at a nursing home in Provo, said a granddaughter, Deborah Engen Snyder of Louisville, Colo.

Engen, a ski jumper and cross-country skier in Norway, followed his older brothers to Utah in 1933, arriving with their then-widowed mother.

He was captain of the U.S. Olympic Nordic team in 1948. He didn't win any Olympic medals — the U.S. has won only two Nordic medals in Olympic history, in 1924 and 1976 — but collected 22 gold medals in national master's and seniors competitions.

He taught skiing in the early years of Sun Valley Resort in Ketchum, Idaho, and was a partner who in 1961 helped developed and managed Brundage Mountain Ski Area in McCall, Idaho. He also taught skiing at Snowbasin ski area near Ogden, Utah, where he coached the Weber State College ski team.

He was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Association Hall of Fame, in 1973.

His older brothers died before him, also in Utah.

Alf M. Engen, a one-time U.S. Ski Team coach who ran Alta's ski school from 1948-88, died in 1997 at age 88, said Connie Nelson, executive director of the Alf Engen Ski Museum in Park City.

Sverre Engen, another Snowbasin ski instructor who also coached the Weber State team, died in 2001 at age 90, she said.

"These legends, the Engen brothers, have done a tremendous amount for skiing," said four-time U.S. Olympic gold medal winner Stein Eriksen, 78, skiing director at Utah's Deer Valley Resort.

"Their old movies showing powder skiing did nothing but inspire people all over the world. They have been beautiful representatives of a sport that is good for the soul, good for the body and good for family enjoyment," said Eriksen, another immigrant from Norway.

Corey Engen, born March 30, 1916, kept a lower profile than his brothers, who also were inducted into the National Ski Association Hall of Fame.

"Dad was not a rah, rah guy or loud," said his son, David Engen, a slalom national champion in 1962. "He had a quiet, consistent teaching approach, always with encouragement. He would look at us and say, 'You can do it.' He knew we could, and we knew we could because he had helped us do it hundreds of times before."