Dick Bass, owner and Chairman of Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, and one of my personal heroes, was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame during the fifth annual Utah Tourism Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The award recognizes individuals whose personal efforts have contributed substantially to shaping the world’s perspective of the state of Utah. Bass received the honor for a career in the ski industry that began in 1962 and culminated with building Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort into an internationally known mountain resort.

Bass began work on Snowbird in October 1969 and had the first lifts turning by December 1971. He has since overseen the continued growth of Snowbird into a world-renowned, year-round destination mountain resort. SKIING Magazine has ranked Snowbird, along with Little Cottonwood Canyon neighbor Alta, the No. 1 ski resort in the United States five years in a row.

In April 1985, at age 55, Bass became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest and the first to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents. He is often given the credit of being the first to conceive the idea of climbing all 7 Summits. His adventures are chronicled in the book he authored, “Seven Summits.”

Snowbird

• Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort Photos
• Skiing Snowbird

_{Photo of Snowbird, Utah Copyright Mike Doyle}