Living Life Elevated / Powder Mountain founder to be inducted into ski hall of fame
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By DI LEWIS
Standard-Examiner staff
POWDER MOUNTAIN -- In the midst of the controversy surrounding the incorporation of Powder Mountain as a town, the ski resort is being recognized for a different reason: its founder.
Alvin Cobabe, 91, is one of three 2008 inductees into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame, said Connie Nelson, executive director of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation.
Cobabe will be inducted in a Thursday evening ceremony at Park City's Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center, which houses the museum.
"I'm very honored ... to have had this granted to me," Cobabe said.
Selections for the Hall of Fame come from nominations sent to the University of Utah Ski Archives board of advisers, Nelson said.
The inductees were chosen for "outstanding achievements in the areas of skiing competition, skiing innovation, ski-sport development and significant contributions to the overall promotion of skiing in the Intermountain area," with priority given to those who have created significant benefits to the Intermountain area, according to a news release from Nelson.
Aleta Cobabe, Alvin Cobabe's daughter, said her family is pleased with the honor. She, her two living siblings and many of Cobabe's grandchildren will attend the induction ceremony, she said.
"He was the father and developer of Powder Mountain ski resort," Aleta Cobabe said. "He started working on that in the late 1950s and took it from one lift to the resort that it is today."
Nelson said the considerations for nominees are quite rigorous and the award is very prestigious.
Aleta Cobabe said her father's involvement with Powder Mountain has been an uphill battle, but he was a born entrepreneur and loves working on new ventures.
"Skiing was just one of his many passions," she said. "He started the ski resort at the same time he started medical school, so he started both of those projects at the same time, not knowing how either would turn out.
"He always said (Powder Mountain) is his favorite charitable contribution."
Decades later, his development of Powder Mountain and his addition of night skiing, new lifts, mountain restaurants, lodging, backcountry shuttles and helicopter skiing service have earned him a place in Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame, Nelson said.
Alvin Cobabe, who said he still participates in outdoor activities, will share the honor with White Pine Ski Area founder Sunny Korfanta and former University of Utah ski coach Pat Miller, Nelson said.
The induction of the three will bring the number of honorees to 38.
The Hall of Fame began in 2002, but this is the first year that the inductees are all still living, she said, adding that the museum foundation is excited to host them.
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It is so sad that this fine man's great history will be forever tainted by the greedy and corrupt cabal that surrounded him in his last years and very sneakily pushed this horrid Powderville deal that tramples over the rights and happiness of so many in the Valley.
A great man taken over in the end by his sleazy progeny.
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