Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
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F ront Runners The 1959 USA Ski Team in Aspen, just weeks before they participated in the 1960 Olympic Games. Medal Heads T he sound—or lack of it—draws you in first. The faint whistling glide of a body cuts through the wind at breakneck pace, making the skier in transit seem like speed personified. Here, the US Ski Team—18 of the world's greatest athletes—assembled in Aspen mere weeks before the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley. The team wears Olympian smiles—wind-whipped, reddened masks of glee at the thought of representing the Stars and Stripes on the greatest of world stages. The group, which included veteran risk-taker Bud Werner, slalom specialist Linda Meyers, and Aspen native Max Marolt—a 23-year-old carpenter whom Sports Illustrated's Roy Terrell would call a "homesick dive bomber" on the mountain—had high hopes for the upcoming games. But Werner was eventually laid up with a broken leg, and the 135-pound, 21-year-old Penelope "Penny" Pitou became the team's great powdered hope. "The day will come when nobody in the world is going to beat Penny Pitou," Terrell wrote. Ultimately, Pitou would fall just short of gold—instead settling for striking silver in the women's downhill (the first American to medal in this event) and giant slalom. She would go on to teach another famous blonde—Hillary Clinton—how to strap on a pair of boards. But on this day more than 50 years ago—much as it will be when the latest crop of American Olympians travel to Russia this winter—it was all about the team, with blue jackets, red faces, and white snow. What could be more American? AP photography bytony gauba/aspen historical society As the nation anticipates the 2014 Winter Olympics, we look back at Aspen's legacy as a gold mine for the fastest ski racers in history. by john vilanova 14 aspenpeak-magazine.com 014_AP_FOB_FR_WIN13_SPR_14.indd 14 10/29/13 4:57 PM