Mountain maverick
As he prepares for his 100th birthday, skiing icon Klaus Obermeyer reflects on century of innovations
Spend a day with Klaus Obermeyer, and you’ll be convinced that the secret to eternal youth involves yodeling, fresh-picked apples and a daily dose of exercise. At 99, the ski icon still has a twinkle in his eye and wears a megawatt grin. His outlook on life: Treat every day with the enthusiasm of a powder day.
By now, the founder of Sport Obermeyer has retold his story hundreds of times, but that doesn’t seem to dampen his storytelling gusto. Even he seems to marvel at the extraordinary life he’s lived. Born in the Bavarian Alps, he was on the slopes by age 3, carving turns in a makeshift set of skis fashioned from chestnut boards of orange crates that his father imported from Italy.
After earning a degree in aeronautical engineering, he came to the U.S. in search of work. Jobs were scarce, so at 27, he hitchhiked to Sun Valley, Idaho, and spent a winter roadtripping across the West with ski-film legend Warren Miller, selling Bavarian “Koogie” neckties and ski-boot laces from Miller’s Ford coupe. In a piece he penned for SKI Magazine, Miller recounts how Obermeyer’s English wasn’t very good, but he was a charmer, and his now signature yodel would get their tab picked up at restaurants.
Obermeyer made his way to Aspen, Colo., where his friend Friedl Pfeiffer hired him as a ski instructor with the Aspen Ski School. “Back then, a ski instructor was part god,” he says with a chuckle. “We worked a lot, but we had a lot of fun, too.”
Obermeyer spent nearly every waking moment on the slopes, but he wasn’t your typical ski bum. A technician by training, Obermeyer applied his science background to the sport, inventing everything from highaltitude suntan lotion to mirrored ski sunglasses and the dual-layer ski boot. “I ended up being a different kind of engineer,” he jokes. “I engineered ways to have more fun on the mountain.”
His tinkering inspired him to start his business from the attic of his home in 1947. He humbly shrugs off his accomplishments. “Back then, people skied in everyday clothes, so it was easy to make it better,” he rationalizes. In addition to being an athlete, entrepreneur and innovator, Obermeyer was a bit of a fashion icon, famously crafting the first down parka in 1948 from a comforter his mother had sent with him from Germany, then following up with turtlenecks, nylon windshirts and side-zip warmup pants. Sport Obermeyer uniquely melded function with style, scouting models including Carol Alt for fashion ads in SKI magazine.
“He’s a true maverick,” says Anthony Lahout, of Lahout’s Ski Shops in New Hampshire. “He wasn’t predictable. He was an incredible skier, businessman, fashion designer and inventor and because of that, he is almost like an enigma of himself.”
These days, Obermeyer still reports to work daily, his offices part design lab, part ski-history museum. Posters of sexy ski models and images of Obermeyer skiing in lederhosen and hotdogging on the mountain, pulling tricks like his signature umpsrung maneuver, line the walls, and lifetime achievement awards adorn the shelves. He’s respected in the ski industry not only for his innovations but his business practices.
“The Obermeyer brand reflects Klaus’ values and his passion for life, sports and the outdoors,” shares Lori Underwood, of Peter Glenn Ski and Sports. “He always tries his best to do what is right, making for a winwin situation, which we all have learned from and should emulate.”
Sitting behind his large wooden desk, he waves in visitors, offering them apples plucked from the orchard of his ranch and preferring to chat about his love of Maui and kitesurfing than his ski legacy. His positivity, energy and infatuation with life is remarkable. “You have the choice of perception,” he says. “If there are problems, get to know them because they are really our teacher in life. I believe most problems can be turned into something positive.”
Even at 99, Obermeyer remains in constant motion, delighted by the world around him. “I think we’re so lucky to be here on the planet now,” he says genuinely. "The world is a beautiful miracle, and sports give us such a great life. Why wouldn’t you want to stay fit at my age? You can have more fun.”
He swims a half-mile every day. “In one year, that gets me all the way to Denver in distance, and then the next year I swim back because I like it better here,” he quips. He’s also a student of akido, a “peaceful” martial art where one learns to defend oneself while also protecting the attacker from injury. His instructor, Tom Crum, still recalls the first day Obermeyer stepped foot on the mat. “I threw him on the ground, and he bounced up more vibrant,” he says. “Most beginners get frustrated, but he had this curiosity and desire to learn. Akido in its essence is about harnessing your energy or life force, and at his age, it’s incredible that he can still express it in movement, whether he’s skiing, tending to his orchard, kitesurfing or swimming.”
Despite having a metal rod in each femur, Obermeyer is still a fixture on Aspen Mountain, easily recognizable, flying down the mountain, his silver hair flying in the wind, smiling ear to ear. On Dec. 2, he’ll turn 100. I ask if he plans to ski on his birthday.
“The question is not if, but how fast,” he says with a grin. “When I was 84, I skied 84 miles per hour, but as you get older that gets more difficult. But I hope to ski fast.”