Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Scotty, Lash make ski shrine

Inductions Thursday in Utah

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In this family photo taken in 1958 on Dollar Mountain, Edward L. ?Ned? Scott poses with his wife of two years, the former Margaret Cooper (left) and her children, from left, Wynne Dei Cooper, Cathy and Craig Cooper. Margaret was pregnant at the time with she and Ned?s daughter Heidi Bynum, who was born in Sun Valley Lodge in 1958 and now makes her home with her family in Hailey. Courtesy photo

The founder of the Scott ski pole and the originator of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) will be honored Thursday night in Utah.

Edward L. Scott and Bill Lash, with longtime ties to Sun Valley and Ketchum, are two of six inductees for the 2004 year into the exclusive membership of the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame based in Park City.

Scott, better known as ?Scotty,? and as ?Ned,? to his oldest friends, developed an entrepreneurial streak that started with his ski repair business housed in a one-room cabin in Ketchum in 1949.

It grew into Scott USA?and Scotty became a pioneer designer and innovator of ski equipment.

He started making ski poles in 1954 because he couldn?t find poles to his liking. Aluminum quickly became his favorite material. His improved grip was a major breakthrough. By 1959, his ski pole business was thriving. Five years later sales surpassed $1 million a year.

Born in Philadelphia in 1914, Scotty served in the U.S. Army during World War II and migrated west in 1946. He came to Sun Valley in the winter of 1947-48. Scotty was an enthusiastic inventor, constantly tinkering. He was also an outspoken growth control advocate.

Scotty died peacefully March 7, 2001 in Boise at the age of 86. He was proud that he spent 53 of those years in his beloved Ketchum. Scotty was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1999.

Lash, 76, a native of Twin Falls, was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1983. Introduced to skiing in 1940 at Sun Valley, Lash was the co-founder of Magic Mountain Ski Area south of Twin Falls, where he served as ski school director from 1947-49.

From these humble beginnings, Lash had the audacity to suggest that the various ski techniques inherited in this country from European antecedents could be combined into an American technique, indeed into a national organization.

He synthesized the ideas of his teachers and wrote ?An Outline of Ski Teaching Methods,? in 1958. The ?American Ski Technique,? developed directly from that publication.

In 1961 during a meeting in Whitefish, Mont., Lash announced the formation of the Professional Ski Instructors of America. He served as its first president for nine years.

Other inductees Thursday:

Pepi Stiegler of Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Suzy Harris Rytting of Salt Lake City; the late George Watson of Alta; and Bill Spencer of Salt Lake City.

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Scotty?s daughter Heidi Bynum of Hailey is driving a van to Park City for the ceremony and would be happy to take passengers. Call her at 788-1212.

The Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame was established in 2002 in partnership with the University of Utah?s J. Willard Marriott Library Ski Archives and the Alf Engen Ski Museum Federation.

Making up the inaugural class in 2002 were Junior Bounous, Zane Doyle, Alf Engen, Sverre Engen, Corey Engen, Gretchen Fraser, W. Averell Harriman and Joe Quinney. Last year?s induction class featured Stein Eriksen, Bill Briggs and Axel Andresen.

Thursday?s invitation-only reception and dinner will be held in the Quinney Sports Center auditorium at Utah Olympic Park near Park City.