Dave Gorsuch embodied the mountain life
It was a gorgeous winter evening as a young boy joined his father on the T-bar at Chalk Mountain outside Climax, Colo. When they reached the top at around 12,000 feet, a full moon was creeping up over the ridgeline. They looked back down at the majestic floodlit slope. After a moment, dad skied over to the lift shack and flipped a switch, turning off the lights and flipping on the moonlight for a father-son cruise down the backside of the mountain to their home.
Such was life for young David Gorsuch. His father, Jack, was one of those ski area pioneers who bootstrapped lifts onto mountains and introduced a passionate generation to the sport of skiing. Young David would go on to become one of America’s great ski racers and forge a lifelong relationship with the love of his life, skier Renie Cox, as icons of the retail ski industry with the Gorsuch brand.
David Gorsuch passed away at home, surrounded by family, on June 26, 2021, in Vail, Colorado. He was 82 years old.
David was born in Climax, Colorado, on Sept. 22, 1938, 11,360 feet above sea level. The allure of mountain summits never lost its hold on him.
David, a promising young racer, competed in the 1954 Junior Nationals in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There, he met Renie Cox, a young woman from the Northeast and a top competitor. They shared the podium that year as medal winners. David competed in the 1958 Alpine World Championships in Bad Gastein, Austria. The pair competed internationally and were members of the 1960 U.S. Ski Team that competed in the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.
Vicki and Tryg Myhren
For more than 30 years, students and programs across the University of Denver have felt the impact of Trygve (Tryg) and Vicki Myhren’s leadership and philanthropy. From women’s and men’s athletic teams, to the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, to the Vicki Myhren Gallery at the School of Art & Art History and more, their giving has touched virtually every area of campus. The Myhrens’ most recent gift carries forward that legacy, investing $1 million in mission-centered priorities spanning the campus and benefiting students well into the future.
”The University of Denver is deeply grateful to Tryg and Vicki Myhren,” said Chancellor Jeremy Haefner. “With the leadership, generosity and support like the Myhrens’, DU’s students are better able to pursue lives of purpose and meaningful careers; they are better able to become the leaders the world needs.”
Well-known surf photographer Bo Bridges took a break from the surf to hang out in Colorado, enjoying some turns Friday with Chris Anthony. Follow Bridges on Instagram at @bobridges. (Bo Bridges, Special to the Daily)
Chris Anthony a Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame member, world extreme skiing veteran, Warren Miller featured athlete and leader of the Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project enjoyed some turns Friday in China Bowl with friends and photographers Richie Graham and Bo Bridges.
“The grooming team has done an amazing job this season of creating fresh carpet all over the mountain,” Anthony told the Vail Daily in an email ahead of this weekend’s snow storm that left multiple inches at Vail and Beaver Creek.
David E. Stapleton stands atop Aspen Mountain in 2019. (Courtesy photo)
As a native of Aspen and from a family whose ancestors were some of the first miners to come over Independence Pass, David E. Stapleton had a legacy to follow. He had no trouble doing that, and even elevated it for generations to come.
Stapleton died Thursday afternoon from complications due to COVID-19, his sons said. He was 86.
After decades of service to the Aspen community, the country with his time in the Army and for local and World Cup ski racers, Stapleton was honored through the years with inductions to halls of fame for his tireless work and the ways he helped shape Aspen and the international ski scene.