Charles “Chuck” Ferries was the first American to win the Hahnenkamn in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Charles T. Ferries was born in Houghton, Michigan in 1939. He began skiing at age four on Mt. Ripley, a 400-foot hill owned by Michigan Technological University. It was there that Michigan Tech University Ski Coach, Fred Lonsdorf, took him “under his wings” and coached him well enough to win every event in his age group in the Central Ski Division.

Outgrowing Mt. Ripley, Ferries moved to Aspen, Colorado for a year to finish high school and polish his racing skills. The year was 1958 and he was racing at both the junior and senior levels. Ferries was also a second alternate to the American team at the F.I.S. World Championships that year.

Ferries won the first of three National Slalom titles in 1958. He was named to the National Teams in 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. Ferries was on the U.S. Olympic Team at Squaw Valley in 1960 and at Innsbruck, Austria in 1964. He was a member of the F.I.S. World Championship Team in 1962 at Charmonix, France.

He graduated from Denver University in 1964, went on to work for the Head Ski Company and helped design the K2 ski – eventually becoming the president of K2. Before he left in 1976, the company expanded its sales from 20,000 to 250,000 pair of skis annually.

In 1981, Ferries acquired Scott USA and turned it from a failure to a successful company. He also became part-owner of Diordora USA, a sport shoe distributing company in Seattle.

He has been on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Ski Team for several years and continues to put much time and effort into the sport.

Charles T. Ferries was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1989.