Klaus Obermeyer is in his fourth hall of fame. The iconic Aspenite and ski wear entrepreneur was recently inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame, for his decades long contributions to the ski industry. He is the founder of Sport Obermeyer. It informally started when Obermeyer moved to Aspen in 1947, and as he started finding ways to make skiing more comfortable. He came up with the first quilted down parka and made headway with high altitude sunscreen and a variety of other innovations. But Obermeyer’s tinkering with ski-related gear had begun long before.
“I made my own skis when I was three years old. My father used to buy oranges from Italy in crates, and those crates were made from very thin chestnut boards. And I nailed my best pair of buckle haus shows onto two of those boards.”
And a pair of skis were born. Obermeyer, an enthusiastic 95 years old, spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Elise Thatcher. They talked about ski wear for people hiking uphill and what people wore skiing back in the late 1940s.
