News Ski School marks 60 years

It wasn't easy being a skier 60 years ago. Skis were long, boots were thin, bindings didn't release, under any circumstances, and only a few people knew what it took to put skis on.

Let alone trying to explain how you went about turning them. Most people didn't own skis or boots and had no idea how to make the first step toward starting in the sport.

Wilby Durham, then promotion director of the Deseret News, and Alf Engen, then director of the Alf Engen Ski School, were keenly aware of all of this. They talked about it. Both avid skiers, they wanted to create a program that would break down these barriers.

In the fall of 1948 they unveiled their answer: The Deseret News Ski School.

Neither could have guessed back then that the Deseret News would be celebrating the 60th year of the ski school when it begins Nov. 17. Or that the ski school would endure to become the longest continuously held ski instruction program in the country. Or that learning to ski would be just as popular now as it was then.

In fact, when the invitation to learn to ski went out 60 years ago, neither man was ready for the more than 2,000 students who would line the slopes of Bonneville Golf Course — site of the first-ever class. Their best guess had been perhaps a few hundred.

But, Engen would fondly boast — in his Norwegian accent — with only a handful of instructors, "By golly, we taught them all."

In their eagerness to learn skiing in those days, students showed up in every imaginable ski outfit. Nothing ever surprised Engen. Skiing wasn't a fashion statement then, and those first students wore everything from Dad's overcoat for a parka to his galoshes, stuffed with newspapers to fill up space, for ski boots.

There was so much interest the first year that Engen took his show on the road for what he called "America's unique classroom on skis." Starting in December, Engen traveled to Snow Basin, Beaver Mountain, Timp Haven (Sundance) and even to Magic Mountain in Twin Falls, Idaho. His traveling ski school wrapped up in mid-March.

Engen was there for 49 of those years. He passed away in 1997 at the age of 88. Durham pass away in 2000 at the age of 87.

Through the 49 years, Engen always stayed with the objective he set in the beginning, which was to find a way of introducing more people to a sport he so loved. Young and old alike were invited to learn. He felt that once they tried it and had fun, they'd be addicted — just like him.

From the beginning, the intent of the program has been to get people through the most awkward stages of skiing the easiest way possible. Ideally, when students graduate, they are able to comfortably make linked wedge turns on a gentle slope and have some experience with the lift.

Through the years, Engen was continually refining the school. He also incorporated fun ways to teach some of the movements and body positions used in skiing.

Realizing the growing popularity of snowboarding, the program expanded and joined with Snowbird to offer classes.