Columbia Falls native Spencer inducted into skiing HOF
<p>Steve Spencer, as seen in this historic photo.</p>
Columbia Falls native Steve Spencer was recently inducted into the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation’s hall of fame.
His first ski trips were to mom-and-pop ski tows around the valley that are only a distant memory today, and then to Big Mountain on the ski bus in junior high school.
Spencer started his full-time ski career in 1967 when he signed on as a ski patroller at Big Mountain. The following year he set off to join the ski patrol at Aspen, Colorado. Then his ski career was interrupted when he was drafted into the Army where he served as a medic in a septic surgery unit based in Okinawa, Japan.
After his discharge in 1971, Spencer returned to work on the Big Mountain ski patrol.
In 1972, he began spending his summers as a commercial fisherman, first in Washington’s Puget Sound and ultimately in Bristol Bay, Alaska. He would spend winters ski patrolling and summers alternating between fishing and building new lifts at Big Mountain, including Chair 3 in 1975, Chair 4 in 1978, Chair 5 in 1982 and Chair 7 in 1985. Spencer’s winter carrier included advancements to Ski Patrol Supervisor in 1974 and Mountain Operations Manager in 1981.
In 1995 he left Big Mountain and started the approval process for the development of the Blacktail Mountain ski area above Lakeside. After three years of hard work bringing the dream to reality, Blacktail opened Dec. 10, 1998. It was the first new ski area in the U.S. to open on public land in more than two decades. Blacktail has operated continuously since opening, providing a popular ski alternative to skiers from throughout the Flathead Valley and beyond.
Today, Spencer continues to oversee the operation at Blacktail, along with his wife, Peggy, and daughter, Jessi.