Family of championship skier pays visit to Whitefish

Olympian and world championship ski racer George Macomber won the downhill and combined championship when Big Mountain hosted the U.S. National Ski Championships in 1949.

Last week his daughter Grace Macomber Bird and her husband Jerry Bird paid a visit to Whitefish Mountain Resort to hit the same slopes as they tour the country this winter “chasing powder” and visiting some of the ski hills where George Macomber raced during his career. They also made a stop at the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Ski Heritage Center Museum of Skiing where they found a photo on display of Macomber from the 1949 championships.

George Macomber passed away at age 88 in 2015. He was named to the U.S. Ski Team for the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, and for the 1950 World Championships at Aspen. He was part of the team that built Wildcat Mountain in New Hampshire in the 1950s.

Jerry Bird remembers his late father-in-law when he was in his 80s sharing memories of his ski racing days at the Christmas dinner table, while looking through a box of medals he had earned.

“He remembered coming to Big Mountain and competing in the slalom open against a French-Canadian,” Bird said. “We wanted to come visit where it happened.”

Racing at Big Mountain in the 1949 championships was important to Macomber, his daughter explained, because although he made the Olympic team the year before he never actually competed because he was injured while training. He also missed the 1952 Olympics due to an injury.

“1949 became important to him because he missed the ski season before,” Macomber Bird said. “He and his friends drove out here in a station wagon.”

“They hit a horse while driving,” she said. “The horse was OK and ran off, but they had to pick horse hair out of their wood skis by taking the screws out.”

Beyond competition, Macomber went on to make significant contributions to the sport and in 1973 was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. Macomber had a successful racing career at MIT, while Macomber Bird and her two brothers, John and Jory, all served as Dartmouth College Ski Team captains.

The couple resides in Andover, Massachusetts, but are traveling to ski hills this winter. They’re looking to enjoy the powder, but also raise awareness for the Kelly Brush Foundation named for a competitive skier who was left in a wheelchair after an accident caused her to strike an unprotected lift tower. The foundation assists with adaptive sports equipment, but also safety equipment aimed at preventing injuries.

This was their first trip to Whitefish, and though they are visiting several ski resorts, they also plan to stop at Sun Valley Ski Resort where George was part of setting up the womens ski racing training.

“It’s really cool,” Macomber Bird said to ski the same slopes her father did decades ago.

“Ski racing is so important to my family,” she added.