Information submitted in a nomination letter to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame by Sigrid Farwell, sponsor.

The ski world has benefited from the steady economic analysis provided over the years by Ted Farwell.

Ted Farwell was born January 1, 1931 in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the first child of Ted and Hitch Farwell. He began a lifelong love affair with skis at age 2. Ted tasted competition and victory at the Hampshire Boy Scout Ski Meet in the early 1940s where he swept the events. Ted organized a ski team in high school and competed in the Berkshire Interscholastic and the Eastern Interscholastic Championships in 1948. He went on to ski at Syracuse University in 1948-1950 and excelled at the Dartmouth Winter Carnival as a sophomore. A fourth place in the 1950 National Nordic Combined – Class “A” motivated international goals. In 1950, Ted dropped out of college and went west to Steamboat Springs to train and try out for the U.S. Winter Olympic Team.

As an athlete, Ted Farwell dominated nordic combined and cross-country skiing during the decade of the 1950s. He won the New Hampshire, Connecticut, U.S. Eastern and National Nordic Combined championships in 1951, capping this season by winning the 1952 Olympic Team tryouts at Rumford, Maine. Ted was also National Cross-Country Champion in 1951. He represented the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and Denver University between 1959 and 1960. He skied on three U.S. Olympic Ski Teams (1952, 1956 and 1960). At age 21, Ted placed 11th in Nordic Combined at the VI Olympic Winter Games in Oslo, Norway.

In these early years, Ted was among the world elite as he went on to place 6th at the Swedish Ski Games in Falun and 11th at Lahti, Finland as part of the first American ski team to visit and race in Finland.

Farwell was a jet and helicopter pilot with the USAF between 1951 and 1957. He was the NCAA Nordic Champion and an All-American at Denver University in 1959. At the completion of his competitive career, Ted served as a race chairman in Franconia, New Hampshire and Steamboat Springs as well as chairman of the Nordic Subcommittee of the Olympic Ski Games Committee for the 1964 team.

As a ski builder, Ted Farwell has devoted his life to the sport he loves. He is a graduate of Denver University and holds an MBA from Stanford. He has been a consultant, planner and appraiser to ski area developers/owners. Ted joined Sel Hannah as a partner in Sno-engineering in 1961 and together with Joe Cushing and Jim Branch; they helped form the alpine ski areas of New England. Ted pioneered skier market research and conducted the first economic study of the ski industry. He developed the procedures and analysis format for the Annual Economic Analysis of North America Ski Areas.

Ted moved to Colorado in 1969 to open up a branch office as Sno-engineering expanded nationwide. In 1971, Ted took a leave to help Denver plan for the 1976 Olympic Winter Games. As technical director, he made plans for the sport venues and organized to run the XII Winter Games, traveling the world over to coordinate with the many international sport bodies.

When the Colorado voters rejected the games, Ted returned to consulting and opened his own company, Ted Farwell & Associates, Inc., in January, 1972. Ted has advised on ski area development in 27 states and has exported his ski industry knowledge to Canada , Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. He is a professional appraiser, holding the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute and has completed valuations on over 120 ski areas in the U.S. and Canada.

Ted has written extensively for Ski Area Management magazine and has been occasional guest lecturer at the ski programs in Leadville, Colorado; Burlington, Vermont and Castlegar, B.C.

Ted Farwell was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1992, the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Denver University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.