Sadly, our previous Ancient Skier President, Leader and main organizer for many years passed away this last Fall. Here is more about John, we will miss him so much.
John Martin Hansen 1926- 2021
John’s interest in skiing began at age 10: He bought his first pair of skis and poles for $3 in Minneapolis with money earned shoveling snow.
When he moved to Seattle with his parents in 1939, he witnessed real skiing at Snoqualmie Pass (with one rope tow- a clearing in the woods 300 feet wide and 1000 ft. long,) skis with metal edges, bear trap bindings, (no more leather strap over the toe of his galoshes), and ski classes. He was a member of the Sahalie Ski Club during high school. He remembers evening arguments about the Arlberg Ski technique, does one start a turn by stemming the uphill ski or the downhill ski?
Later he skied at the Husky Winter Sports Lodge at Martin (Stampede Pass) where he taught his first classes in skiing, at the Mountaineers’s Meany Ski Lodge, and at Stevens Pass. At Stevens Pass, he ran rope tows for the area, established the District 15 Ski School in 1956 with Jim Whittaker, and then formed his own school in 1958, the Ski Laufer Ski School. He directed and taught at the school for 28 years, producing some of the finest skiers in the Pacific Northwest, instructors, freestylers, and all-around crud-busters. He was also a long-time member of The Mountaineers Stevens Lodge operating committee, helping build the original lodge in 1948, leading the expansion to its current size in 1954, and working on its maintenance and improvements until 1986.
Upon retiring, He and his wife, Helen, began spending winters in Sun Valley. When the Ancient Skiers visited in 1986, he became a member and in January 1987, organized the first Reunion Dinner party with 30 attendees. Working with Irv Pratt, John became the leader of the Sun Valley Reunions, cocktail parties at Ancient Skier condos, visits to the Ketchum Ski Heritage Museum, fun ski races on Dollar Mt, cross country trips to Trail Creek Cabin for lunch, and more Reunion banquets with dancing to the tunes of the 1940’s and 1950’s led by Ancient Skier Pete Smith’s band. These events encouraged membership and participation at the Sun Valley Reunions.
In 2004, John was asked to become a member of the Ancient Skiers Board of Directors. He was President of the Board for 10 yrs. It was rewarding for him that during this period, Ancient Skiers membership had increased from 400 to over 1000 members.
In 2010, John was inducted into the Northwest Ski Hall of Fame which he deeply appreciated.
He skied 31 winters at Sun Valley until age 91 in 2017. Most of those winters, he skied over 100 days per year, racking up over 1.5 million vertical feet. In the last 3 years, he was much more picky about which days he skied, choosing one of the abundant bluebird days with minimal crowds, still making crisp carved turns.
When people learned of his long skiing history, he would be asked, “Don’t you get tired of skiing?” He answered always, “I’m trying to.”