Bill Lash

Born in 1928, Bill Lash’s efforts and expertise are at the core of ski instruction in the United States. Quite literally, he wrote the book on ski instruction. In 1952, he wrote the plan for national certification for the National Ski Association. In 1958, he wrote the first ski-teaching manual: An Outline of Ski Teaching Methods.

In 1961, Bill was a founder of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) and served as its first president, a post he held for nine years. Introduced to skiing in 1940 as a Boy Scout in Sun Valley, ID, he was a co-founder of Magic Mountain Ski Area in Idaho and served as its ski school director from 1947-1949. He certified with the Intermountain Ski Instructors Association in 1950 and served as its second president from 1951-1953, and again from 1955-1962. He also taught skiing at the University of Utah, Alta, Little Mountain, and Solitude Ski Areas.

He was inducted into the United States Ski Hall of Fame in 1983 and in the PSIA-Intermountain Hall of Fame in 1989. He is the co-founder of the Veterans Ski Instructor Alliance.