Snowsports Journalists Honor Fletcher, Sibbach, Marolt, Waara

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16 February 2015

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SAM Magazine—Quebec City, Quebec, Feb. 16, 2015—The North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) honored four distinguished ski industry veterans during its Annual Meeting Feb. 7-11 at the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City.

Among those recognized, Al Fletcher, founder of Nashoba Valley ski area, Mass., received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Jack Sibbach, marketing and public relations director at Sun Valley Resort, Idaho, received the 2015 Bob Gillen Award. Bill Marolt, former CEO of the U.S. Ski Team, received the Carson White Golden Quill Award, and Frida Waara, a television Emmy Award winner and writer, photographer, and videographer from Marquette, Mich., received the Mitch Kaplan Award for Excellence in Snowsports Coverage.

Fletcher, 82, is credited as one of the first ski area owners to employ grooming and snowmaking. Nashoba Valley opened for just three weeks in its inaugural year in 1964. The following year, Fletcher bought a tiller to be pulled behind the area's snowcats. Up until then, slope grooming was done by ski area staff boot-packing trails with their skis.

Fletcher was also an early adopter of snowmaking, ensuring that his ski area would thrive as a popular destination for Boston and Rhode Island skiers. Fletcher's daughter Pam, a champion World Cup and Olympic skier, introduced her father at the awards reception.

Sibbach started his career at Sun Valley in 1978, and he has been marketing the area ever since. In addition to the usual resort responsibilities, he is vice president of the Fly Sun Valley Alliance, a past member of the Idaho Travel Council, and served on the Idaho Olympic Committee from 1998 to 2002, highlighting Idaho skiing during the 2002 Winter Olympics held in neighboring Utah.

As president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) from 1996 to 2014, Marolt led American snowsports teams to unprecedented milestones, including the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where U.S. athletes earned 21 medals, and the 2014 Sochi Games where the U.S. won 28 medals.

Waara is a television Emmy Award winner, a popular lecturer on outdoor adventures, and longtime contributor to a variety of magazines and newspapers. She is a board member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and a long-time NASJA Midwest member; she has served as NASJA vice president and as regional president for more than a decade.