This past week, I received an invitation to the annual U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and was delighted to see Kirsten Clark as one of this year’s honorees. Kirsten will be the eighth Maine skier inducted into this Hall of Fame when the ceremony takes place in Vail, Colo., on Saturday, April 13. Joining her in this year’s class will be ski area developer Hans Geier, freestylers Wayne Wong and Jeremy Bloom, leading ski instructor Horst Abraham and snowboard star, the late Craig Kelly.

“Clarkie,” as she was known to her teammates for 13 years on the U.S. Ski Team, started racing at Sugarloaf at the age of 7 at Sugarloaf. During those 13 years, the Raymond native won 12 U.S. titles, including five straight Downhill crowns. Eight times she stood on World Cup Podiums, one time on the top step with a downhill gold medal around her neck in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She competed in three Winter Olympics and six World Alpine Championships, winning a Silver Medal in Super-G in 2003 at St. Moritz.

Kirsten was inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame in 2010 not long after her retirement from the U.S. Ski Team. She now lives in Squaw Valley, Calif., with her husband Andres Rickenbach and their child.

She joins an impressive list of Maine skiers in the National Ski Hall of Fame. Two are from Auburn. John Bower was the first and I believe still the only American to win Homenkollen, the biggest Nordic Combined championship in Europe. The trophy, which is always presented by the King of Norway at the huge jump that rises above a mountain top in Oslo, is as prestigious as anything a skier could win, and in 1968, Bower brought it home to Auburn.

The other Auburn skier in the National Hall of Fame is more recent and better known to today’s skiers, Julie Parisien. Julie skied in three Olympics, won four World Cup Races and four U.S. titles. Rumford’s Chummy Broomhall was Maine’s first Olympic skier in 1948 and has a long history of officiating cross country events from national championships to Olympics and is still active with the Chisholm Ski Club in his home town.

Mort Lund, an Augusta native, is one of America’s best known ski writers. Al Merrill, from Andover, was a longtime ski coach and athletic director at Dartmouth and a ski coach in the 1956 Olympics. Doc DesRoches, also from Rumford, was a true pioneer in skiing on a national and international level. After his retirement as executive director of Snowsports Industries of America, he, along with Tom Reynolds, founded the UMF Ski Industries Program. All of these skiers have been inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.

Bill Briggs from Augusta made his name out west and is little known to Maine skiers. He was a pioneer of big mountain ski climbing for a number of first descents, his most famous, first ski descent of the Grand Teton in Jackson Hole. I need to do a little more research to tell his story. But that can wait. You get the message that Kirsten joins not only a long list of national and international skiers but some important Maine skiers as well. Her record in national and international competition is more than enough to earn this honor. We can all take pride in her elevation to the U. S. Ski Hall of Fame.

If you want to be on hand to congratulate Kirsten in person, go to www.skihall.com. It’s not inexpensive. Hey, it’s Vail. That being said, the room rate is good for Vail. And if you go for the gold, it’s a full week as it’s also the Skiing Heritage Week, a gathering of the members of the International Skiing History Association along with the induction banquet. The full week starts Monday, April 8 and runs through Sunday the 14th. It is possible to attend fewer days with rates by the night and special event rates by the day or an all-inclusive rate. You can find it all on the web site. Lift tickets are the good news. If you stay at the Vail Marriot, you can ski for $12.50 per day. You will never ski Vail for less, and it will take a week to ski it all.

This is Vail’s 50th Anniversary celebration so that will add to the festivities. The night of the induction banquet will also feature another Maine connection. Ed Rogers, who longtime Sugarloafers remember from the Red Stallion is putting together a special presentation, a tribute to the “Pioneers of Professional Ski Racing”.

A lot of Maine skiers may be unaware that Ed (he also coached high school basketball in Canton and Dixfield) owned and operated North American Pro Ski, a successful pro ski racing tour in the 80s and 90s.

I have only attended one of these events, but I can say they are first rate, well organized by Bernie Weichsel of the Boston Ski Show, and worth every penny. As much as I would like to congratulate Kirsten in person, this one doesn’t fit the budget and the schedule this year. Of course, I would also be delighted to return to Vail, one of the world’s great ski resorts. I’ll just have to settle for the email I sent to one of the nicest young ski racers I ever met. See you on the slopes.

Dave Irons is a freelance writer who lives in Westbrook.