On October 30, 2014

Preston Leete Smith to be honored

KILLINGTON—On Saturday, Nov. 1, Killington founder Preston Leete Smith will be recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to the development of alpine skiing in New England and nationally at the resort he created from a trackless mountain. As the guest of honor at the New England Ski Museum’s annual meeting and Spirit of Skiing Award dinner, Smith will join ski luminaries like Stein Eriksen, Tyler Palmer, Penny Pitou and Tom Corcoran, who share the Museum’s distinctive citation, presented each fall to a person who embodies the celebrated and still-resonant phrase, “Skiing is not just a sport, it is a way of life.”
“When I was four years old, I was totally intrigued by winter,” Smith told the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in 2011. “Anything that was frozen or glittered in the sun in the winter was a turn-on to me. My uncle got me on skis about age four, little short skis, down in southern Connecticut where there was not much snow. I took it up again when I was 16 years old at Mohawk Mountain and I was hooked from then on…  Skiing is certainly one of the healthiest sports you can do in the winter. It involves strenuous exercise and is good for the mind exercising control over your body. It is by nature rhythmical. It is something you can do with friends and you can do with your family. How many points can you have about one sport? Everybody should have the opportunity to do it.”
Smith’s career was devoted to enhancing the opportunity for everyone to learn to ski through advances he personally pioneered or which his area innovated through his direction and support. They included teaching techniques like the Graduated Length Method; innovations in snowmaking systems which he shared with areas across the country; objective snow reports that replaced the subjective excellent-good-fair-poor judgments of 1950s condition reports; a guide for beginning skiers that succinctly introduced them to the sport; free skiing arrangements for local children; and the lengthy seasons for which the area is best known.
“He had one of the best management teams in the country, many of whom stayed with him for years,” noted Cal Conniff, former executive director of the National Ski Areas Association. “He instilled a strong sense of his philosophy in his employees, encouraging them to be creative and innovative in seeking ways to enhance the ski experience and introduce better ways to serve the public.”
The selection of Preston Smith as the Spirit of Skiing honoree comes in the year when the New England Ski Museum features, as its annual exhibit, “Green Mountains, White Gold: Origins of Vermont Skiing” in its Franconia Notch headquarters.
The annual meeting awards dinner will be held at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel. The event begins with a reception at 5 p.m. and is open to the public, with tickets available for $80 per person or by table. Reservations may be made by calling the New England Ski Museum at 800-639-4181 or visiting www.newenglandskimuseum.com/37th-annual-meeting-spirit-of-skiing-award-to-preston-smith/.
All proceeds of the dinner support the mission of the non-profit organization to preserve skiing’s past in New England and elsewhere. The New England Ski Museum is located at Exit 34B, Interstate 93 next to the Cannon Mountain aerial tramway in Franconia Notch State Park.
The museum also maintains satellite exhibits at the Intervale Scenic Vista in Intervale, in the lobby of the Eastern Slope Inn in North Conway, and at the base lodge at Bretton Woods Mountain Resort in Bretton Woods. The museum is open daily 10 to 5 through the end of the 2015 ski season.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Killington’s new owners group to invest $30m in on-mountain capital improvements

October 2, 2024
Sale to local owners closed without debt Friday, Sept. 27 Killington Resort finalized its sale from Powdr to local, independent ownership on Friday, Sept. 27. The new ownership group, led by Phill Gross and Michael Ferri, is committed to reinvesting all profits into capital improvements “for the foreseeable future” and announced $30 million in on-mountain…

Water woes in Woodstock

October 2, 2024
Town to hold two votes to acquire Woodstock Aqueduct Company By Katy Savage  After more than a year of discussion and negotiation, Woodstock has a plan to acquire the Woodstock Aqueduct Company, which has been a private utility since the late 1800s.  Town Manager Eric Duffy presented the plan on Sept. 23. He said the…

Walmart Supercenter planned at former Diamond Run Mall in Rutland

October 2, 2024
New store plans to open in 2027 Staff report This past Tuesday, Sept. 24, Walmart told the Town of Rutland Select Board that plans will be submitted to relocate the existing Walmart store at 90 Shopping Plaza Road in Rutland City to the site of the former Diamond Run Mall, south of the city just…

New Killington ownership group to invest $30 million in on-mountain capital improvements

September 30, 2024
Sale to local owners closed without debt Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, announced the closure of its sale to local, independent ownership, Monday, Sept. 30. The closing ocurred on Friday, Sept. 27. The new ownership group, led by Phill Gross and Michael Ferri, is committed to reinvesting…