Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame Proudly Announces 2024 Annual Awards

Tickets are on sale now for the 2024 Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame Celebration this September 7. The institution proudly announces the Annual Award recipients for the year, representing snow sports advocates and some of our state’s greatest athletes. In addition, the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame welcome the incoming class of inductees announced last month: Ross Anderson, Bjorn Erik Borgen, John McBride, Sigurd Rockne, and Lindsey Vonn. Learn more about them here: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org/blog/hofclass2024

Announced at last year’s celebration, our former “Competitor of the Year” award has changed its name to honor Mikaela Shiffrin, the greatest skier of all time. Mikaela, from this point on, breaks a record when she sets out those gates. We are watching history be made. Mikaela is no longer eligible for this award, with her blessing, from here on out, this award will be called the Mikaela Shiffrin Colorado Competitor of the Year Award. This change allows us to continue to celebrate Mikaela’s record-breaking career, while also recognizing other outstanding athletes from the state of Colorado. If she is available, Mikaela will present the award in person.

The following individuals and organizations will be recognized along with our five inductees on Saturday, September 7, 2024, for an evening of inspiration and celebration. Tickets are on sale now at: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org/shop/2024celebrationtix.

On a typical day in Vail, you’ll find Kent at the Colorado Snowsports Museum. If you find him in the village, he is often talking about the Colorado Snowsports Museum and encourages passersby to come check us out. Kent is our local advocate and in-person promoter, but also one of our most consistent and valued supporters. Kent and his beloved wife Barbara have been Museum Members since 2005, and generously contribute to capital campaigns and exhibition projects. Skiing is a way of life for Kent and Barbara. As avid skiers, they believe in the work that we do at the Museum. Kent moved to Vail in the early days of the area’s development, in 1966, and shortly after met Barbara. Kent worked for Vail Associates as their chief financial officer and helped Telluride Ski Resort during the early days of the resort’s opening, also working as an accountant for Telluride. In addition, Kent is a long-time Board Member for the Colorado Snowsports Museum. Barbara has been a ski instructor at Vail for many years. Over the past several decades, Kent and Barbara have made outstanding contributions to the Museum making some of the unthinkable projects possible, setting us apart as an institution.

In January of 1970 at Winter Park, Hall of Fame inductee Hal O’Leary founded and built a ski program to teach people with disabilities how to ski – developing the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD). Through this program, Hal revolutionized the adaptive ski industry and has broken down the barriers between sports and those living with disabilities. With help from fellow Hall of Famer, Elizabell “Willie” Williams, they trained skiers who eventually became World Champions in adaptive skiing. Today, the NSCD is one of the largest outdoor therapeutic recreation and adaptive sports agencies in the world, based out of Winter Park Resort and the Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Colorado. With specially trained staff and volunteers, and its own adaptive equipment lab, the NSCD teaches a variety of year-round sports and activities to individuals with almost any physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral diagnosis.

River has established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the World Cup stage. He hails from Edwards, Colorado where he learned to ski on the slopes of Vail, alongside his parents who are coaches. River showed promise from an early age, named to the US Alpine Ski Team in 2016. He is a three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medalist; he is the first to achieve this feat. River also won two Junior World Championships gold medals, one in super-G and one in giant slalom. River finished just off the podium at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, in fourth place. He was also part of the team event that won gold at the 2023 World Championships event. River, in 2024, scored his first career podium on home snow at the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup, where he was third. “It’s been a long time coming,” said River. “I’ve wanted to feel what this moment feels like for so long and I’ve just been working and working.” As our Competitor of the Year, we want to recognize all of River’s endless hard work.

Noah, now residing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, learned about Paralympic snowboarding through a camp he attended for children with cancer and was inspired by meeting an adaptive athlete. This helped him start his journey, and he moved from the Midwest to begin training consistently. Throughout his competitive career, Noah has become a two-time Paralympian and a Paralympic Champion, bringing home the banked slalom gold in 2018. At the same games, he also took bronze in the snowboard cross. Noah is a four-time World Champion and has seven World Championship medals to his name. This season, Noah earned a staggering six World Cup wins and two additional podiums. His consistency and speed helped him win the banked slalom and overall Crystal Globes for the 2023-2024 season. Noah takes pride in hard work and dedication and enjoys sharing stories with others and learning new things.

Magdalena will return as a sophomore to the Buffaloes after taking the 2023 season off to focus on competing for Poland on the international circuit, including 11 World Cup starts and three national championships. In her one short season at CU in 2022, she won the individual national championship in giant slalom (GS). Magdalena has been competing on the World Cup circuit prior to the start of the college season and has responded with three top 30 and two top 20 finishes early in the season. She finished 30th in the season opener GS at Soelden in late October and then had her best World Cup finish taking 17th in Killington in November before bringing home another top 20 with 20th place in Lienz. She also won two GS races on the Nor-Am Cup in Tremblant, Quebec, on back-to-back days in mid-December. In 2024, she had 6 podium appearances, including 4 individual wins that included victories in both GS and SL (slalom) at the NCAA Championships. In June 2024, the United States Collegiate Ski Coaches Association named her the National Women’s Skier of the Year.

Junior, Andreas Kirkeng, is DU’s most valuable Nordic skier joining us from Norway. He made 8 podium appearances in 2024, including 6 individual wins. He won the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Classic and was named RMISA MVP. He placed 10th at the NCAA Championships Freestyle and 18th in Classic. In January 2024, the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association named Andreas the Skier of the Meet for the men’s portion of the Westminster Invitational. This was Andreas’ third such Skier of the Meet award of his career, as he also picked up the honor at the 2022 Nanook Invitational and the 2023 Denver Invitational. In 2023, Andreas finished in the top 10 in 11-of-12 races, reaching the podium in seven races and picking up four victories. Three of his victories came in classical, but he was consistent in both disciplines, as five of his nine top-five finishes and three podiums were in Nordic freestyle.

Open to the public, the Hall of Fame Celebration will take place at the beautiful Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, on Saturday, September 7 with the gates opening at 3 PM. This year, we will offer slightly different ticket options, with ticket prices still starting at just $50 for adults (children 18 and under receive complimentary lawn seating). All proceeds support the Colorado Snowsports Museum, a non-profit organization and the State of Colorado’s official snow sports museum. Come mingle with the current and previous snow sports Hall of Famers! Get your tickets today: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org/shop/2024celebrationtix