Mount Hood locals Emilio Trampuz, Christopher Van Tilburg, Lee Perry and Shred Hood took home some significant awards this June in recognition of their contributions to the culture of skiing and snowboarding in writing, advocacy, environmental stewardship, historical preservation and service.

The Far West Ski Association‘s 84th annual conference in Bend June 12-15 brought together snow sports clubs from 13 Western states for club business, parties, conversations, golf, pub crawls, and a whole lot of awards, quite a few of which were won by Mount Hood locals.

Far West is the umbrella group encompassing more than 150 clubs from San Diego to Sun Valley, including clubs based on Mount Hood, and each year they gather in June to elect board members, socialize and honor people for their accomplishments. This year’s festivities featured a lively appearance by 1964 silver medalist Billy Kidd and a riveting talk by Freeskiing World Tour champion and film star Jess McMillan. Clubs presented scholarships to support up-and-coming athletes and discussed everything from the rise of backcountry snow accidents to climate change.

Awards were granted on Saturday, June 14 during a jam-packed gathering at the Riverhouse Convention Center. Here is the list of Mount Hood regulars who won awards:

Emilio Trampuz, newsletter editor and webmaster of the Mountain High Snowsports Club, won two awards: the Western Ski Heritage award for preserving and promoting the history of Mt. Hood;  and the J. Stanley Mullin award for “outstanding contribution to the sport of skiing.” Emilio is a prolific writer with an insatiable appetite for anything having to do with the history and culture of Mount Hood, particularly the tradition of “skiing the Glade” and other sidecountry routes on the south side of the mountain.

Emilio’s club, Mountain High, also won three awards from Far West, for outstanding web site, outstanding newsletter, and overall outstanding ski club.

Christopher Van Tilburg, a physician, writer and search-and-rescue expert based in Hood River, won the Bill Berry Award for an outstanding feature for his new book The Adrenaline Junkie’s Bucket List.

Lee Perry, the “Mayor of Government Camp” and a Timberline ski instructor for 55 years, won the Jimmy Heuga Award in honor of his many years of work with adaptive skiing. Jimmy Heuga won an Olympic bronze medal in 1964 for ski racing and continued to ski long after he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Lee Perry is considered one of the godfathers of adaptive skiing for his work dating back to the 1950s to help people with disabilities get out and enjoy the mountains and the freedom of skiing.

Kayla Walker of the Oregon-based Bonneville Environmental Foundation won the Jordan-Reilly Award for helping ski resorts to become more efficient and environmentally sustainable.

Mt. Hood Meadows won the Tommi Tyndall Award for its efforts to reduce their water footprint with low-flow toilets, restore area wetlands, control erosion via storm water and snowmelt runoff management systems, and lower their carbon footprint working with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

Last but not least, the Bill Berry Award for comprehensive coverage of skiing and snowboarding on Mount Hood went to, well, me, editor, publisher and co-founder of shredhood.org. It is quite an honor to earn this recognition and praise in our first year of publication, and it validates our belief that the snow sports scene on Mount Hood absolutely merits a news website of its own, to publish news and stories by and about Emilio Trampuz, Christopher Van Tilburg, Lee Perry, Mt. Hood Meadows and all the other great individuals and institutions contributing to the Mount Hood culture.

Thanks for your support during our first year of publication. If you would like to support us further by purchasing a premium membership (and picking up some sweet Shred Hood merchandise), have a look at our membership options here.

Next year’s 83rd Annual Far West Ski Association Convention is scheduled for June 4-7, 2015 at the Town & Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, California, hosted by the San Diego Council of Ski Clubs.  For additional information regarding the Far West Ski Association, please visit www.fwsa.org.

Last modified: June 23, 2014