One of the things I love about my job is I get to talk to living legends. So I just got off the phone with Bill Briggs. (If you’ve been living in a glacier crevasse all these years, he’s the guy who’s famous for first skiing down Wyoming’s Grand Teton.) The idea was to speak with “Brigger” and give him personal congratulations on his induction into National Ski Hall of Fame. He’s always a trip to interview:
Lou: “When did you hear about you induction, and were you expecting it?”
Briggs: “I knew I’d been nominated, but hadn’t heard anything about it for a while. I got THE letter a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been walking about four feet off the ground ever since.”
Lou: Any other feelings about it?
Briggs: “It’s all just part of having fun!'”
Lou: “Yeah, and you’ve been having some notorious fun around Jackson for about forty years, right?”
Briggs: “If you can’t live it down you might as well live it up!”
If you want to live it up with Bill, the official induction of the four members of the National Skiing Hall of Fame, Class of 2008, will take place at Park City, Utah at April 2009 with an enshrinement in Ishpeming, Michigan in September, 2009. More information.
Check out our Wildsnow profile of Bill Briggs. And if you want his famous poster showing his first ever descent tracks on the Grand Teton, just email him at billbriggs8aspamnoo@aol.com (remove the letters “aspamnoo” from the email address.)
Previous post about Bill Briggs induction.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
