If it can be said of anyone that he’s the “right man for the job,” then Steve Knowlton was right for the job of first director of Colorado, Ski Country, USA (CSCUSA). [See obituary, page 16.] In the spring of 1963, when “Ski Country” was created by the Rocky Mountain Ski Area Operators Association, Knowlton’s credentials made him the first and obvious choice to head the new publicity and marketing group. The Colorado ski area operators thought they had the perfect candidate. And he would not disappoint them.
Photo by Bruce Benedict
Steve’s first task was to create a national awareness of the quality and variety of Colorado’s skiing resources. At the time, only Aspen was fairly well known, a result of the 1950 FIS world championships having been held there. As airline pilots remember, “We used to fly over all those beautiful Colorado mountains carrying skiers to Utah and Sun Valley, Idaho.”
But Steve intended to change that. First, he enlisted the noted illustrator and cartographer, Hal Shelton, to produce a startlingly beautiful and accurate poster painting of Colorado’s vast ski terrain—the same terrain the airline pilots described. Shelton’s poster was a big hit with skiers, and is still selling in vintage poster shops.
Next, with his Aspen friend, the Bauhaus-trained designer, Herbert Bayer, Steve created the CSCUSA logo, an audacious concept that visually placed Colorado at the center of U.S. skiing. Used in pins and souvenirs, and on all “Ski Country” publications, the logo reinforced the almost overpowering image the poster projected.
One should remember that Knowlton was blazing a totally new trail through the forests of U.S. tourism in the 1960s. His job was to place little known Colorado alongside famous winter destinations like California, the Caribbean, Florida, Hawaii, Mexico and Switzerland. And he quickly succeeded in imprinting Colorado, writ large, on the consciousness of the American skiing and traveling public.
Knowlton devised many innovations for Colorado skiing: the first inclusive color ski guide to Colorado ski facilities, airport ski information locations, modernized snow reporting, TV and radio ski shows. He initiated cooperative ski travel programs with airlines, especially United and Continental out of the Midwest. His Colorado Gold Ski Pass program, sold to supporting community businesses and individuals, still provides the lion’s share of operating revenues for Ski Country. All so routine today, but at one time, each a breakthrough.
It was at the Harry Leonard/Jerry Simon ski shows of the 60s and 70s that Knowlton’s impresarial skills paid dividends for Colorado. Heading a veritable variety show of Colorado ski stars, pretty girls and colorful exhibits, Knowlton became the P.T. Barnum of skiing. M.C.-ing the live aspects of the shows, Steve presided over ski acrobats, ski deck acts and Austrian oompah bands with worldly aplomb. Always dressed in colorful pants, jackets and bow ties, he injected the words Colorado and Ski Country at every opportunity in his carnival barker-style patter. At those ski shows, no one was allowed to go away without hearing about Colorado skiing.
Very soon after the early successes of “Ski Country,” other states and regions followed suit—Ski Utah, Ski New England, Ski the Sierras and Ski New Mexico were formed to tout the advantages of their resorts. But Colorado, Ski Country, U.S.A. was the first and, arguably, the most successful of the state and regional associations of ski resorts.
Truly a ski renaissance figure, Steve Knowlton—skier, showman, entrepreneur and bon vivant—was the man who launched Colorado skiing into the big time. Among his many friends and associates in the international ski world, Steve will be sorely missed.
Bob Parker, later to become senior VP of Vail as well as chairman of Colorado Ski Country USA, was involved with the association from its earliest days, working closely with Knowlton throughout.
