Mystery Glimpse: This Isn’t Easy

Bombing Down

What is going on here? Party? Race? One thing we will tell you is that this looks like (and was) a very tricky maneuver on skis. One resort made these famous.  Name it? The inventor?  Thanks again to the Colorado Snowsports Museum at Vail.

Last Week

Indeed, this is Alf and Alan Engen doing some father and son ski jumping at Alta circa 1952. Alf was an early ski jumper who mastered Alpine skiing and helped start the ski school at Alta. He and his two brothers helped popularize skiing in the West, especially Utah and Idaho. Alf’s son, Alan, carries on the family tradition today at Alta.

The Alf Engen Museum at Park City contributed this photo.

The photo came from the Museum’s Ray Atkeson collection. Atkeson (1907-1990) was a photographer best known for his landscape pictures, particularly in the American West. His black and white ski photos are considered some of the finest ever captured.

The museum contains more than 300 trophies, medals, uniforms, scrapbooks, skis, boots, photos, films and other collectables that span some 70 years in the career of the Engen family. The museum’s educational component gives school children a skiing-based foundation to study subjects such as the water cycle, physics and Utah’s colorful history.

The Museum recently added a fully functional virtual ski experience designed and built by Utah-based company Unrivaled. The ride takes you through an amazing downhill ski experience and even gives the authentic feeling of skiing by adding wind and even snow to the overall downhill experience.