FREESTYLE SKIING
HALL OF FAME
AT WATERVILLE VALLEY RESORT - HOME OF FREESTYLE SKIING
Discover the full Professional Freestyle Skiing Hall of Fame exhibit located on the 3rd floor of the Waterville Valley Ski Resort Base Lodge outside the Freestyle Lounge.
Photos & stories taken and written by renowned photojournalist, David H. Lyman. Learn more about David and his work here - DHLyman.com
All historical photos displayed are copyrighted by David H. Lyman. All rights reserved. Please contact David for permission for the use of his images & writings.
COMPETITION OR PERFORMANCE?
In the beginning, freestyle skiing was . . . free. You were free to show off who you were as a skier. That not only meant how you skied, but who you were on the hill. Hairstyles (this was before helmets), sunglasses, goggles, hair bands, sweaters, and jumpsuits all played a role. Each skier had a distinct personality on the hill.
After all, this was as much a show as a competition, and for some athletes, competition was not where their head was at—back then. Winning, it appears, is not all there is to freestyle skiing.
“When I'm out there skiing," said three-time world champion freestyle skier Genia Fuller, "I'm thinking about the crowd, not about beating anyone or even about winning." Other professional skiers, Mike Lund, Marion Post, and John Clendenin, all enjoy the "show" aspects of this new ski sport, more than the competition.
"I never did get a kick out of beating my friends," said Mike Lund, a top freestyle skier from Seattle. "It sort of puts a damper on the thrill of winning, knowing that my joy at winning is the direct cause of disappointment for those I've beaten. Competition is just not where my head is at.”
John Clendenin, two-time world champion freestyle skier, put it this way: "Sure, I compete; that’s for the money. But I’m not trying to beat anyone when I leave the gate. I’m out here, on the course, just trying to fulfill my own level of excellence, getting better . . . and having fun doing it.”
After a few weeks on the tour, I could tell who was on the course—by the way they skied. Each skier had a unique style, and they were free to express it. That’s why it’s called free . . . style.
Ask around, and you'll hear skiers discuss style, which encompasses creativity, innovation, imagination, improvisation, and daring to venture beyond their comfort zone and embrace the edge.
They describe the mogul hill as an empty canvas. You get to paint your own picture as you work your way down the hill, through the bumps, getting some air, throwing in a wiggle here, a split there.
"We're just showing how much fun we have out there on the hill."
To win, skiers must evidence athleticism, grace, strength, technique, and the willingness to embrace the edge, to do something amazing—a maneuver that not only wows the crowd, but themselves as well. That’s when performance reaches the level of art.
The crowds help, they tell me. One skier told me, "We love the cheers from those along the course, but we ski for each other. My fellow competitors understand more than the spectators what I am doing out there and how close I come to disaster on each run.
Falls were not counted, if followed by a spectacular recovery.
David H. Lyman | The Student Skier magazine, 1975.
AFTER ALL, AREn’T WE ALL FREESTYLE SKIERS?
A SHORT HISTORY OF COMPETITIVE FREESTYLE SKIING
1969 TO 1977
Freestyle skiing had been around for years; people just didn’t know what to call it. Young, high-spirited hot doggers, yearning for greater freedom, abandoned the confines of the racecourse and began skiing in the woods, leaping into the air off cliffs, ignoring the rules, showing off, and testing the limits of having fun on skis.
In the late 60s, this underground movement came out of the woods and into the ski films of Dick Barrymore, Warren Miller, Willy Bogner, and Brown and Corbert from Summit Films. American Tom LeRoy and Swiss skier Hermann Goellner were inventing intricate aerial acrobatics on skis while Suzy Chaffee, a US Olympic skier, was perfecting her ski-dancing moves. Norwegian Stein Erikson had been doing somersaults on skis for years. Freestyle was around, just not yet as a competitive sport.
That all changed in the fall of 1970. Skiing Magazine’s editor, Doug Pfeiffer, and Waterville Valley founder, Tommy Corcoran, were at the Boston Ski Show. The pair got into a serious discussion one evening over who were the best skiers on the hill.
“Obvious, it’s the racers,” said Tommy, a former member of the US Alpine Olympic Team.
Doug Pfeiffer, one of the founders of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA), responded, "Tommy, I respectfully disagree." As the editor of a major ski magazine, Pfeiffer took a broader view of things. "What about the skiers who are performing aerial acrobatics and speeding down the mogul runs?"
When Corcoran scoffed at the notion, Pfeiffer threw down a challenge.
"Tommy, okay, let's find out who really is the best skier on the mountain. You’ve got a brand-new ski area up there in New Hampshire. Here’s an opportunity to showcase Waterville Valley. Let’s have a competition.” Corcoran accepted Pfeiffer’s challenge, and as they say, the game was on.
David H. Lyman, Sports Photojournalist
TOM CORCORAN
Developer of the Waterville Valley Ski Resort, two-time Olympic ski racer, and member of the U.S. National Ski Team. Host of 1st & 2nd professional freestyle competitions.
DOUGH PFEIFFER
The Father of Freestyle Skiing - Ski Magazine’s Editor, founder of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA), and freestyle skiing advocate.
BERNIE WEICHSEL
Everyone in skiing knows Bernie. At only 26 years old, Bernie took on the job as the Tour Director for the 1975 IFSA season, then again for the 1976 AFSA tour.
HARRY LEONARD
International Ski Show Producer - Harry stepped up to help organize and produce the 1976 Chevy Freestyle Tour.
J.D. NELSON
An ardent skier and Boston banker, J.D. cam eon in 1976 to represent the new freestyle competition’s organization, AFSA.
THE FIRST SEASON OF FREESTYLE SKIING
1971
That winter of 1971, Waterville Valley held the first professional freestyle competition on the True Grit Trail. Chevrolet sponsored the event, naming it The National Championship of Exhibition Skiing, without any reference to freestyle. But there was cash money and a Chevrolet Corvette to win, so skiers from across the US and Canada showed up to show off and see what others were doing.
A week later, Barrymore filmed an unofficial and informal King of The Mountain contest on Aspen's Ridge of Bell. Hot doggers from around the west came to show their stuff and eye their competition. There were no cars or prize money for the winners, just a free pair of skis and an evening of free drinking, and of course bragging rights.
With built-in spectator appeal, television and sponsors became interested. That first season (1971) at Waterville Valley, Chevrolet and Diet Pepsi provided cash prizes and Swiss skier Herman Goellner drove away in a Chevrolet Corvette for first place in the Combine.
The game was now indeed on!
Freestyle or hot dog tournaments took place across the US and Canada in those first years.
Chevrolet and Skiing Magazine staged a second event in Vail later that same winter, 1971. Other contests were held in Steamboat Springs, Vail, and Aspen, and back east at Stratton and Mount Snow. Beconta, the sports equipment dealer, and SKI (the other ski magazine) established a new circuit, the Super Hot Dog Open, featuring three competitions in 1973. Olympia Beer sponsored several smaller meets on the West Coast with a total purse of $10,000. It was the annual contest at the Waterville event, with $10,000 in prize money and a Chevrolet car, that established itself as the principal event.
Two serious accidents in 1973, one at Steamboat and another at Vail, had the organizers rethinking the model. They wanted to continue sponsoring the events, but without the liability. The International Freestyle Skiers Association, a new non-profit organization, was formed to take over the events. The skiers themselves were now in charge of their own sport. They drafted rules, established judging criteria, and hired a staff to organize and run a series of events with Bernie Weichsel, a youthful New Yorker, as tour director.
David H. Lyman, Sports Photojournalist
THE 1976 CHEVY TOUR
In the fall of 1975, ski show producer Harry Leonard got involved. He and his team, again with Bernie as tour director, organized a series of competitions for the 1976 season. This led to the formation of a new skiers' association, AFSA (The American Freestyle Skiers Association), and a new 1976 Chevy Tour was on the road. But the PFA promoters, who had their own series, objected to AFS's use of the term "championship" and filed a lawsuit. AFSA just changed the name of their tour to "The Freestyle Open." The competition was indeed open, enabling new competitors to join and advance.
The 1976 season began again at Waterville Valley and then moved to Boyne Mountain, Michigan, for the ContiTS Classic—the car tire company. Next was the Chicken of the Sea tuna competition at Keystone, Colorado. The 1976 finals were again at Heavenly Valley overlooking Lake Tahoe. Of the original 1974 competitors, only Wayne Wong joined this new AFSA tour.
The PFA continued in 1977 with three events—then it all came to an end. Politics, egos, and the threat of accidents led to the end of professional freestyle competition in the US. It continued in Europe and in the US as an amateur sport.
In the early 1980s, FIS became involved in freestyle and organized the World Cup of Freestyle. In 1988, Freestyle was a demonstration event at the Olympics in Calgary, Canada. In 1992, freestyle debuted as a medal event at the Olympics in Albertville, France.
In 2024 and 2025, the FIS World Cup in Freestyle skiing came to Waterville Valley—50 years from the sport’s inception at this New Hampshire ski resort.
What started out as a bunch of skiers trying to outdo each other, within seven years, had become a major competitive sport, and it was born here at Waterville Valley.
David H. Lyman, Sports Photojournalist
THE 1974 SEASON OF FREESTYLE
With a full season of events, freestyle was now a professional sport, like pro ski racing and Formula One. Chevy and Pepsi sponsored four competitions that year, while Beconta sponsored one event at Pack City, providing $35,000 in prize money.
Each event featured three distinct disciplines: moguls, aerials, and ballet, each on a specially designed course. There was prize money for the winners in each discipline, and the skier in first place in the Combined drove away in a new Chevy car.
The 1974 tournament season got underway with a three-day meet at Waterville Valley in March, followed closely by the Beconta Cup in Park City. Frank Gifford and ABC Television's Wide World of Sports covered this event. The tour's next event was at Sun Valley, Idaho, then on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The tour wound up the season with the finals at Heavenly Valley, California.
More than 80 competitors joined the tour—it was like a traveling circus.
As the 1974 season ended, Colgate toothpaste announced it would provide $90,000 for the 1975 women’s freestyle events. With nearly $250,000 prize money on the table, some of the top competitors and an attorney from Salt Lake City maneuvered themselves into control of the 1975 competitive season, forming the PFA (Professional Freestyle Skiers Association). The new organization was an invitation-only roadshow with six competitions.
David H. Lyman, Sports Photojournalist
