SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Sept. 18, 2018—The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame introduced the Class of 2018 last Friday in Ishpeming, Mich. Inductees include resort veteran Bill Jensen, longtime U.S. Ski & Snowboard spokesman Tom Kelly, Olympians Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht, two high-profile women athletes—moguls champion Hilary Engisch-Klein and extreme skier Kristen Ulmer—along with the late Tom Sims, one of the founders of snowboarding, and the late Don Henderson, a pioneer of ski racing.

A formal induction will be held for the star-studded group of 8 on April 6, 2019, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Park City, Utah will host a “Snowsport History Celebration” April 4-6, 2019, with several events to welcome the class of 2018.

About the class members:

Bill Jensen has been involved in every aspect of resort operations during his 45-year career, which spans Mammoth Mountain, Sun Valley, Sunday River, Northstar, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Bear Mountain, Breckenridge, Vail, Intrawest, and currently, Telluride, where he is CEO.

Tom Kelly served U.S. Ski & Snowboard for 32 years as VP, communications. He has been active within the USOC and International Ski Federation, including 14 years as chairman of the FIS PR and Mass Media Committee.

Bode Miller is, by many measures, the most successful U.S. male skier. He participated in five Olympics, winning one gold, three silver, and two bronze medals across four different disciplines (giant slalom, combined,/super combined, downhill, and super-G) and four different Olympics. The two-time overall World Cup champion also won World Cup events in all five disciplines—making him one of only five male racers to accomplish this feat.

Andrew Weibrecht raced for 16 years on the U. S. Ski Team. A speed-event specialist who came up big on the biggest stage, he won bronze in super-G at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and a silver medal in super-G at Sochi in 2014.

Hilary Engisch-Klein was a four-time Women’s World Cup Moguls champion and tallied 35 World Cup victories. Skiing Magazine called her the “greatest female mogul skier alive” in 1982. She is founder of Kids On Top.

Kristen Ulmer was one of the first female extreme skiers and wrote about her adventures in Skiing, Powder, andSkimagazines (among others). In 1997 she became the first female to ski the Grand Teton, and in 2017 she published “The Art of Fear.”

Tom Sims (1950-2012) was a founder of snowboarding. He built his first “skiboard” in 1963, and founded SIMS Snowboards & Skateboards in 1976. He was World Champion in both sports and was instrumental in the inclusion of snowboarding in the Olympics in 1998. 

Don Henderson (1924-2018) was a veteran of WW II and the Tenth Mountain Division, a collegiate star at Middlebury in the late ’40s, and served a stint as head coach for the U.S. Ski Team.