People

: Peter Shelton; "Bend author recalls his life on skis Ski writer Peter Shelton merged his passions and his career" By Kim Himstreet The Bulletin Nov 16, 2017: "Bend author Peter Shelton is one of the lucky few able to make a living doing what he loves: skiing. He was working as a ski instructor in Keystone, Colorado, in the early 1970s, when he met his future wife, Ellen. The two moved to Telluride in 1976 and were among the small handful of full-time instructors in a virtually undiscovered town that would later become one of the premier winter resorts in the United States. When he and Ellen had children a few years later, Shelton realized teaching skiing wasn’t enough to support a family. So he applied his English degree to a job as a writer for the local weekly paper. “That was a great journalism apprenticeship because we all wore a lot of hats, and everyone had to do a bit of everything: photography, editing, layout — you name it,” Shelton said. He soon parlayed his journalism experience into freelance work for several snow and sports magazines, including Powder, Outside Magazine, SKI, Skiing and more. Shelton’s writing successfully combined his technical knowledge of skiing with a literary writing style that captured the romance of the sport and the beauty of his surrounding. He was named North American Ski Writer of the Year four times. “The magazines in those days were relatively flush, so there was a lot of work for freelancers,” Shelton recalled. “For about 20 years, it was quite a lovely way to live.” Shelton’s writing assignments and his own adventurous spirit took him to ski destinations around the world. From his first time on skis at the age of 7 at California’s Mammoth Mountain, to his participation in Le Raid Blanc — a week-long ski race nicknamed “the Dakar of the snow” in the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. For “Tracks in the Snow: stories from a life on skis,” Shelton selected 50 articles, stories and essays from more than 500 pieces he’d written over the years. Together, they form a nonlinear memoir. He’ll read from the book and sign copies during an event at Dudley’s Bookshop Cafe in Bend on Nov. 25. Shelton, who has authored six previous books and ski guides, had the idea for “Tracks in the Snow” in the back of his mind for several years. But it wasn’t until he and Ellen moved to Bend four years ago to be closer to one of their daughters and their grandchildren that he finally found the time to move forward with the project. “It was fun to time-travel,” Shelton said of revisiting so many of his former stories and recalling his various adventures. Shelton likened the process of determining the order of the pieces to a game of chess. He spent most of last winter rearranging, adding and discarding pieces and then editing and modifying the final selections to avoid repetition. The end result takes readers on a thrilling, vicarious ride down some of the world’s most exciting mountains and trails. It also conveys the human element of Shelton’s own journey and progress as a skier, husband and father. Such deeply personal narratives are interwoven with humorous pieces such as “Gear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” a 1984 article written in the style of — you guessed it — Hunter S. Thompson, in which Shelton shares his experience at a ski and snow sports trade show in sin city. Shelton is now helping teach his grandchildren to ski and exploring the wealth of groomed and off-piste runs at Mt. Bachelor ski area. He hopes even nonskiers can enjoy “Tracks in the Snow.” Part of the author’s motivation in writing the book was to help his nonskiing family in California, including his 92-year-old mother, understand what he did for a living and his enduring love for skiing. “There’s an element of reaching out, I think,” Shelton said. The book serves one other purpose for Shelton. “It’s something my kids and grandkids can have on the shelves if they ever want to refresh their memories about what Grandpa was like,” he said. --Taken 7/26/21 from: https://www.bendbulletin.com/lifestyle/bend-author-recalls-his-life-on-skis/article_305a9cf3-d734-5f3d-978b-7dcb1f1f5a58.html