December 21, 2022 |
Tim Niklas loves to ski. He loves to write about it, too.
The director the Grand Encampment Museum just published his second book on the subject. It’s title Copper Mountain Resort: 50 Years of Fortitude. Published in 2014, his first non-fiction book focused on another ski town. Winter Park Resort: 75 Years of Imagining More was recognized by the International Skiing History Association with a Skade award.
Nicklas said he was hired by a boutique publishing firm to write a history of the town of Winter Park and the resort located there. Nicklas said his familiarity with the resort town made him uniquely qualified to write his first book.
Pictured above: Photo courtesy Copper Mountain.
Even with access to the town’s archives, and help from other historians, Nicklas said it still took him two and a half years to write his Winter Park history book. The GEM director gave some information about the founding of the town.
Nicklas said the resort attracted skiers to the area. In the 1940’s the US Forest Service was exploring new sites for ski resorts to ease the congestion of places like Berthoud Pass. The GEM director explained how the Forest Service and Denver, Colorado, officials teamed up to found the town of Winter Park.
Nicklas’ new book covers the history of another Colorado resort town, Copper Mountain. Located 80 miles West of Denver, Copper Mountain was founded in 1972 as the future site for the downhill skiing events of the 1976 Olympic Games. The GEM Director said, after the town was established, the Denver Winter Olympics were canceled.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Copper Mountain Resort. With funding provided by the resort, Nicklas’ book needed to be finished in time to correspond with its half-century celebration. The GEM Director said he had far less time to put his newest book together.
Nicklas split his time between running the Grand Encampment Museum and researching and writing the book. As well as sifting through decades of archived photographs, Nicklas conducted interviews. The GEM Director said he spoke to the former and current owners of the resort, but didn’t focus entirely on people in high up positions.
Nicklas’ second ski history book, Copper Mountain: 50 Years of Fortitude was released on November 14th. It has been nominated for another International Skiing History Association award. The book is only available to purchase at the Copper Mountain Resort, but the GEM rector said he would like to have copies in his museum’s gift shop.Nicklas said he wasn’t done writing about the history of skiing. He said he would like to widen his focus to cover the entire county where he was raised.
The Grand Encampment Museum Director said he is fascinated by pictures of old skiers because they are always smiling. In a time when no one smiled in photographs, Nicklas said skiing brought joy to people back then just like it does today.
