Lindsey Van, Steven Nyman, Earl A. Miller inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall Of Fame

(L-R) Her Mom Miranda Van, Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame Inductee Lindsey Van, Her Dad Barry Van, and her Brother Brandon Van at the ceremony. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Three stars were inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame on Thursday night at the annual ceremony which was held at the Chateau Deer Valley, Lindsey Van, Steven Nyman, and Earl A. Miller.

Few athletes have transformed their sport more than Van. An unrivaled inspiration and pioneer in her sport, she was the ultimate game changer in women’s ski jumping. Born in 1984, Van’s passion for ski jumping began at the Utah Olympic Park. She won her first World Championship gold medal in Chechia in 2009 and secured 60 FIS podiums and 16 national titles by the end of her career, but not before she set the U.S. women’s distance record in 2004 at 171 meters in Norway. 

Van brought gender equality to women’s ski jumping through a 15 year lobbying quest. She was instrumental in the women’s discipline becoming an Olympic event for the first time at the 2014 Games where she compete, becoming an Olympian. When she jumped in those Olympics and the NBC camera zoomed in on her in the finish are, she looked straight into the lens and simply said, “Thank you.” 

Retiring from competitive jumping in 2015, the Park City resident has served as a ski jumping official and an FIS technical delegate.

On the stage receiving her award in front of such gathered ski industry noteables as Spence Eccles, Alan Engen, and Jim Gaddis, she fought through her emotions to say, “Thank you. Billie Jean King said, ‘pressure is a privilege.’ I don’t like this pressure, it’s super, intense for me, but I felt that pressure every time I stood up for our sport, and it is a privilege, it gave me the opportunity to spread the sport, show the sport to the world, and make changes to the sport, and the pressure was a privilege. It wasn’t always easy, but we did it, and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, I think courage is contagious, so thank you, Jessica Jerome, Alyssa Johnson, and Blair Tompten.”

Steven Nyman, born in Provo in 1982 became the oldest American alpine ski racer on the World Cup tour, racing into his 40s. He donned his first pair of skis at the age of two at the Sundance Mountain Resort where his father was the Ski School director and his mother instructed Steven and his brothers who were present last night. 

Nyman was a discretionary pick for the 2002 U.S. World Junior Team where he won gold in the slalom and silver in the combined.He progressed to win at every level,  becoming a three-time World Cup winner, an 11-time World Cup podium performer, and a three-time Olympian in 2006, 2010, and 2014.

Nyman became the longest tenured alpine skier on the U.S. Ski Team, competing from 2002-2023. He was captain of the U.S. Men’s speed team and in 2016 he set the American downhill record by finishing on the podium four consecutive times.

In his acceptance speech Nyman thanked his wife who was in the audience and spoke to the importance of organizations like the Youth Sports Alliance which exists to ensure that the local young athletes continue to have opportunities to follow their passions. Through watery eyes he explained how ski instructors like his parents don’t make a lot of money thus all the support families-in-need can get throughout the community is invaluable and he thanked people inside and outside of the event for their generous donations over the years.

The third inductee was recognized posthumously. Earl A. Miller had brought his breakthrough ideas in ski and ski binding engineering and design to the masses for production and sales. One of the moments of the night which had the sold out crowd, who’d enjoyed an outside cocktail hour and a sit-down dinner indoors, enjoying some respectful levity and laughter in amazement and admiration was when the video screen showed the reels of Miller’s historic events. He’s pay the most famous skiers in the 1970’s and promise to pay any medical bills if they would ski in front of assembled crowds and show off the safety of intuitively pre-releasing bindings when they’d purposely crash at the ‘Crash Competitions’ illustrating his invention’s intentions.

For that pioneering spirit and his successes therein, a grateful family member of Miller’s accepted the award on his behalf.

The Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame recognizes people from or adventures occurring in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming which had the night’s Chrystal Award given to Norweigan cross country ski racer Steinar Hybertsen, who in recent years has worked tirelessly with the Alf Engen Ski Museum, in creating ski documentaries. He competed on the University of Wyoming Ski Team and mingled last night with friends who had competed on the Boise State Ski Team, neither of which are still in operation. 

On stage, the Foundation’s Executive Director of the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame and the PSIA Ski Instructor Hall of Fame Annie Bommer praised the welcoming work and educational efforts of the George S. Eccles 2002 Winter Olympic Games Museum.

A special part of the ceremony was when a birthday cake was carried out to the entire audience, including his ski partner Sal Riao, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ with three lit candles on top reading 100. That’s how many years Intermountain ski legend Juniour Bounous is celebrating this year and when he blew out the candles, he received a standing ovation.