Edward F. Taylor was active in all phases of skiing but he focused much of his energy on ski safety. He joined a volunteer ski patrol at a Colorado ski area in 1937, progressed through the National Ski Patrol system ranks and was named NAPA Director in 1950.

Edward F. Taylor was born in Colorado in 1914 and lived in the Denver area most of his life. Until his death on November 9, 1970, he was active in all phases of organized skiing.

As a student of the Colorado School of Mines in 1934, he co-captained that school’s ski team and organized the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association.

In 1937 Ed Taylor joined the volunteer ski patrol at Berthoud Pass and became a senior patroller in 1938. In 1940 he was a patrol leader at Loveland Pass and became National Ski Patrol Division Chairman in 1941. He served as National Director of the National Ski Patrol System from 1949 to 1956.

Taylor was a civilian officer with the United States Army as a specialist in search and rescue operations and research. He was also a construction engineer for the Army Airforce Technical Command for the establishment of Camp Echo Lake of Buckley Field, Denver and cooperated with the United States Army Air Force Proving Ground Command at Elgin Airfield, Florida on Arctic search and rescue techniques. He later served in Fairbanks, Alaska on ground search techniques, air search and rescue and designing equipment for rescue operations. Taylor was a member of General Mark Clark’s advisory committee on mountain and winter warfare and was one of the ski leaders responsible for persuading the war department to organize a ski troop training program prior to the United States entry into World War II.

After the War Taylor served as executive vice-president of the American Snoblast Corporation and carried his ski enthusiasm far beyond NSPS activity. The corporation’s mobile machinery sales program involved him in a national, continental and world-wide program as a consultant in snow removal techniques, avalanche control and highway and airport layouts. There is probably no snow area in the world that did not consult him on avalanche control or snow removal problems.

Taylor served on two winter Olympic committees in 1948. In 1950 he was director of Alpine events at the FIS World Championships in Aspen, Colorado. Some of his awards include the NSPS Trophy (1943), outstanding Zipfelberger (1943) and the Halstead Trophy (1950).

Edward Taylor’s main interest was the National Ski Patrol. The forward in the National Ski Patrol Manual of 1956 states “A patrolman who stuck to his patrol ideas despite oral and written barrages and personal sacrifices, and in doing so, promoted and wrote the first edition of this manual, expanded the patrol system into Alaska and Europe, and to their mutual benefit, integrated the National Ski Association and the National Ski Patrol System. To a rugged guy, Edward F. Taylor.’ He was the manual’s editor for many years and his influence and dedication to the system made skiing much safer to the benefit to all who ski. To many he was known as “Mr. Ski Patrol”.

Edward F. Taylor was elected into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1956.