About 200 people gathered in Elk Camp on Snowmass Mountain Friday to celebrate Aspen skiing legend Stein Eriksen, who passed away in December. Aspen Public Radio’s Barbara Platts has more.
The room was filled with friends and family of the man who passed away in late December. Many were clothed in colorful Norwegian sweaters, in honor of the skiing legend’s heritage.Some attendees traveled in for his celebration of life, however several had lived in the area since Eriksen convinced them to come here from Norway in the mid-1900s. Many people got up and spoke, including Stein Eriksen’s son, Bjørn, who talked about his father’s contribution to the ski industry.
“He was just built for the job,” Bjørn Eriksen said. “I don’t think you could put a pen to paper and create a better individual than him to push skiing to where it’s become today.”
Stein’s biographer Halvor Kleppen spoke of Eriksen’s loving personality.
“It’s so much fun to talk about Stein because everything he did came from the heart,” Kleppen said.
