95-Year-Old Junior Bounous Of Snowbird Attempts To Set Helicopter Skiing Record
Under brilliant blue spring skies surrounded by family, 95-year-old Junior Bounous, who previously worked at Snowbird as its first Mountain School Director and then Director of Skiing, is believed to have set the world record as the oldest person to helicopter ski.
Skiing with Powderbird Helicopter Skiing, Bounous skied four runs in the Wasatch Mountains near Snowbird, Utah on Monday, April 5, 2021 with his son Steve Bounous, daughter-in-law Suzanne Bounous and granddaughters Ajya and Tyndall Bounous along with other friends. Bounous was born Aug. 24, 1925 in Provo, Utah and is considered one of the legends in American skiing. Monday was Bounous’s 60th day skiing in the 2020-21 season.
“It was beyond belief to have a day like this,” Bounous said of his record-breaking ski day. “I stand here and I feel so sentimental that it’s almost hard to talk about. It was such a special day that was never anticipated or expected.”
The Bounous family was informed by Guinness World Record that the previous helicopter skiing age record holder was 94 and 306 days old. Bounous was aged 95 years and 224 days on Monday. The record information has been submitted and is now under review for official certification by Guinness World Records.
Junior Bounous contributed greatly to the growth and development of skiing in the United States. He built a solid reputation as an innovative and progressive teacher of skiing with the instinctive quality of helping people realize the joy and excitement of skiing.
When he was 11 years old, his mother bought Bounous his first pair of real skis. When he was still in his teens, Junior became friends with Ray Stewart. Also a skier, Stewart's wealthy family had bought a large plot of land in Provo Canyon, and Stewart wanted help setting up a rope tow. At the age of 18, Junior helped him set one up, and played a role in scouting for a place to put it and finding an adequate run that skiers of all abilities would be use.
In 1939, the second chairlift in the nation and the first in Utah opened in Alta Ski Resort. Junior moved down from Sun Valley to work with Alf Engen and his brother Sverre to get the ski resort going. Junior at the time was mainly interested in competing in cross-country skiing, and because Alf Engen was the best cross-country skier in the nation at the time, Junior went to him for lessons around 1945.The reasons for the lessons changed quickly as Junior realized that was more interested in the techniques of teaching people to ski instead of competing.
Alf Engen taught him his philosophy on ski instructing, one that highlighted the enjoyment of skiing in contrast to the strict ways of the Austrians that had been used before. In 1948 Alf Engen encouraged Junior to apply for certification of ski instructing. Bounous passed, and at the young age of 23 got his Forest Service Certification, being one of the first to achieve it. Alf Engen hired him as a full time instructor at Alta, and from 1948 to 1958 worked as Engen's professional assistant.
In 1958 Junior was offered a job at California's Sugar Bowl Ski Resort as their Ski School Director. He accepted, becoming one of the first American born Ski School Directors ever. While under him, the ski school staff grew from 5 to 15 in seven years. He created Sugar Bowl's first children's program before moving back to Utah in the 1960s to go back to the now popular Timp Haven Ski Resort, where he became a part time owner until Robert Redford bought the resort in 1969. Though the name was changed to Sundance, Redford kept Junior there as Ski School Director for a few more years, during which Bounous helped expand the resort.
In 1970 a new opportunity arrived. Ted Johnson and Dick Bass came to Junior, asking him to help them map out the area for a new ski resort that they wanted to open up next to Alta Ski Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Bounous was hired to do the entire layout of ski runs for the resort and directed the cutting crews and bulldozer work. Once the new Snowbird ski resort opened up in 1971, Junior Bounous became the first Ski School Director. Under him, Snowbird's ski school became ranked as one of the top in the nation, a position it still holds to this today.
As Ski School Director, Junior created a children's program as well as a program for the disabled. In 1991, Bounous accepted the position of Director of Skiing, and created his most famous program, one meant for senior citizens called "Silver Wings". Over his life he was also filmed in well over 10 Warren Miller films. "I went out of my way to put him in the films for a long time because he was so much better than anyone else," Warren Miller said in an interview for the Documentary film "Bounousabuse: 80 Junior Years." In one Warren Miller film, Junior puts his skis on backwards and skis down the hill with his back facing down, becoming one of the first to do so.
Junior’s love of skiing has led to his involvement in different national organizations. He joined the Ski Patrol (1944-1958), obtained the National Forest Service Ski Instructor Certification in 1948, served as a member of the NSA Certification Committee during the years of 1952 and 1956-1958, was a member of the board of directors of the FWSIA (Far West Ski Instructor’s Association) in 1960 and was a founding member of the PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) in 1961.
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