Congratulations Bill Briggs! U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame!

27 Responses to “Congratulations Bill Briggs! U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame!”

1. Stewart October 22nd, 2008 11:07 pm

   Bill Briggs has been an inspiration since I first read of his pioneering exploits and triumph over adversity – Bugaboos to Rogers without maps, soloing the grand at 40 with a fused hip – what can’t I do. You’ve written a great summary, but it leaves me curious and wanting more. There seems more than enough substance for a book length account of this fascinating life.

2. Tom West October 23rd, 2008 6:57 am

   Congratulations to Bill Briggs. We are very pleased that a voting panel of nearly 100 electors, which includes many Hall of Fame Honored Members elected him to the Honor Roll. His election could open the doors to many other great skiers of his genre.

   I am looking forward to meeting him in Vail the first week-end of April for his induction.

   Tom West
   President
   US National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
   Ishpeming, MI

3. Halsted October 23rd, 2008 8:48 am

   It’s about time…

4. Lou October 23rd, 2008 9:02 am

   You guys, make sure you check out the bio. Been digging through my archives since early yesterday to put it together.

   Tom West, thanks so much for including Bill in the Hall, he does truly deserve the honor, and not only for his ski mountaineering but also as a lifelong devotee of the sport who’s shared it with thousands of people.

5. Pocono Resorts October 23rd, 2008 9:04 am

   That was a great post. I will have to bookmark this site so I can read more later.

6. Josh October 23rd, 2008 1:04 pm

   Very interesting, not being a ski buff myself I hadn’t heard of him, but I want to learn more about his adventures.

7. Peter October 27th, 2008 1:24 am

   Wow

8. Jonesin' for snow October 27th, 2008 4:13 am

   I have been looking all over the internet and also in Jackson for several years for the poster “that continues to be a best seller” without success. Where can I purchase it? Pretty cool that one of the skiers that I would identify as my hero is now in the skiing hall of fame.

9. Lou October 27th, 2008 7:55 am

   Jones, that statement about the poster is probably a legacy from the period when I did most of the writing of the profile. I should probably edit it.

   I’ve heard you can get them from Teton Mountaineering, (307) 733-3595 and may be able to get them direct from Bill Briggs in Jackson. I’ll provide info about that as soon as I know how Bill wants people to contact him.

10. Greg Petrics November 6th, 2008 7:15 pm

    I am so glad this finally happened. I hope to some day meet this astonishing man. Amazing to think of the men who have skied their way through Dartmouth before me…

11. charles 'bud' bergmann December 12th, 2008 10:31 am

    in june 1966 hermine visser and i traveled from new york to the tetons to get get married in the most beautiful spot i could think of. there we met bill briggs and his then wife julie who became our witnesses at our outdoor wedding near jenny lake. the next day bill took hermine and i climbing and we had a great time. at the time hermine had done some rock climbing in the gunks and i had spent some time in the white mountain and alaska. we were on our way to alaska, followed by switzerland and seattle, returning a few times to the tetons. on one return, following a fall off the dyke pinnacle, i bumped into bill who was coming up through garnet canyon. being a great guy bill asked me to join him on a climb of the exam ridge and along the way i learned of his great ski descent but also when i said: “bill, you could have killed yourself”, he explained scientology and it would only be his body that “died”. we lost touch but around 1990 our son jonathan, on a solo cross-country bike trip camped in bill’s yard. bill was very gracious, as he always was and always will be.a wonderful person. bud bergmann.

12. Mark Morrissey April 13th, 2009 6:00 pm

    I was in Teton Mountaineering a couple days ago and had the chance to visit with Bill, shake his hand and get an autographed poster of his descent of the Grand for my five year old son. Thanks for the bio, I’ll print this up and put it away for him to read. Amazing individual, athlete and instructor. I find his traverses in Canada just as impressive as his steep skiing. Great article, thanks for writing it.

    Mark

13. Lou April 14th, 2009 5:29 am

    Thanks Mark, and congrats again to Bill as the official induction was just recently celebrated!

14. Rob Wales April 28th, 2009 11:19 am

    Thanks for a great write-up of a true pioneer…what an inspirational figure and truly deserving of Hall of Fame honors!

15. Bill Murphy May 4th, 2009 7:32 pm

    Congralations to Bill Briggs he has been an inspriation to me for many years. I still have a black and white poster of his ski decent on my wall. I was very happy to read the article on his life it was great. Happy turns!

16. Arthur von Boennighausen June 22nd, 2009 3:48 pm

    Friends:

    As an Engineer and Roman Catholic Scholar of Comparative Religion and Philosopy I became interested in the Church of Scientology when I read Lou Dawson’s biography of Bill Briggs about ten years ago.

    I had been on the Grand Teton many times and knew that an ordinary man could not have made the descent that Bill Briggs made especially with one hip locked into a fixed position. I suspected that Bill was one of the “Sons of Man”.

    By the way, I gave my autographed copy of Dawson’s Bible that he calls “Wild Snow” to 80 something year old Himmalayan climber – Duane “Shorty” Lankford who still skii mountaineers in Rocky Mountain National Park on almost a daily basis.

    Shorty is skiing the snowfields adjacent to Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park this time of the year. He drives an old Chevy Suburban with rust spots that hide a new high performance engine and transmission that could beat a Corvette in a drag race.

    Shorty and I laughed when we learned that the President of the United States had given permission to carry guns in the national parks as I have been carrying a Ruger 44 magnum revolver in my backpack for over 20 years as I always enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s movie – “The Eiger Sanction”.

    Before the 44 magnum was invented I carried a 9mm Luger for 10 years into every national park in the United States. You never know when someone might need to be “Sanctioned”………

    Thinking allowed…..

    Arthur von Boennighausen @ The Sierra Mojada Ranch

17. Phil Huff June 25th, 2009 1:11 pm

    Thanks Lou for the great Bio of Bill Briggs and thanks Bill Briggs for such a great ski mountaineering history and long standing accomplishments. I ran into Bill a few times when he was working at Storm King back when I lived around there in 1979. Bill certainly was willing to run up the hill in the middle of the night for some quick foolishness on skis after work. I still think about this amazing courage when my hip hurts after a long day.

18. Lou June 25th, 2009 6:22 pm

    Hi Phil, I’m glad we can provide that! It’s a privilege.

19. John Sidle October 12th, 2009 3:25 pm

    Great bio write up, Lou. Just one correction; “Gross Venture” in the first paragraph should be “Gros Ventre”.

    I am on old friend of Bill’s and first met him at a songfest in January of 1961 in Schenectady, NY. He was in a body cast after his hip operation, propped up in the corner with autoharp, guitar, banjo and mug of Teton Tea within easy reach. I have played with him for years as a member of the Stagecoach Band.

20. Lou October 12th, 2009 3:36 pm

    Wow, thanks for the help John! I’ll correct immediately! It’s those spell checkers, the dang things…

21. Mark W October 12th, 2009 7:23 pm

    I’m late on the edit!

22. Lou October 12th, 2009 8:25 pm

    Who knows how to spell Gros Ventre, let alone how to pronounce it!? Yeah, “grow-vant” as in “grow-want” but when I’m in Wyoming I like to call it gross venture just to see how people react .

23. Mark W October 13th, 2009 12:23 am

    On the contrary, sometimes the local pronunciation doesn’t especially make sense when considering the original language from which the name came. Examples are many, but how about these: Dubois, WY, and Pierre, SD.

24. Kristin November 12th, 2009 11:59 am

    I lived in Jackson for most of 1972. I remember 3-4 Californians came out that spring and “surfed” down some of the lower slopes. There were not that many people living in Jackson then, and many of us went out to watch the surfers trace figure eights. A novelty for most of us! Does anyone else remember this?

    Thanks for the bio. Finding it was a small miracle, reading it brought back so many wonderful memories!

25. joe food February 4th, 2010 3:06 pm

    Bill Briggs continues to inspire me 20 years after my first conversation with him while he was clearing brush one summer day @ Snow King and I was suffering up the summer road on my mountain bike.Bill is like Coombs,Renny Jackson ,John Hunt et all : alpine masters that you would never guess of their accomplishments meeting them out of context.Listening to him yodel at the stagecoach bar bridges the generations from his to mine.Watching him charm my wife and all the other girls proves a ski bum’s inner light never fades.

26. Fred Wright March 8th, 2010 8:06 am

    Re: Bio group photo with Grand Teton in background I believe the person on the far right is Harry Frishman not Robbie Garrett. I knew all these guys and worked with Briggs at Exum’s in the 60’s and with Harry Frishman in the 60’s building houses and the Mangey Moose in Jackson Hole and at the Colorado Outward Bound School in the 70’s where Harry was a course director. In the ski film “Steep” there is a photo of this same group where Harry is more easily identifiable.

27. Lou March 8th, 2010 8:57 am

    Fred, thanks, I fixed. Always up for making things more accurate here on WildSnow, as it’s not going away anytime soon (grin). Lou

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