Chuck Ferries, of Houghton, shown in an undated photo, was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Museum Hall of Fame in 2008. (Courtesy Photo/Colorado Snowsports Museum Hall of Fame)

HOUGHTON — Chuck Ferries is generally remembered as the best skier ever to come out of the Copper Country.

The Houghton native put together a strong career on the slopes, earning a spot on the 1964 United States Olympic team–and the cover of Sports Illustratred.

But he had to earn his spurs on the slopes of Mont Ripley under the tutelage of the late Fred Lonsfdorf.

“Fred Lonsdorf was an excellent instructor,” Ferries said in an interview in 2005. “I know I wouldn’t have had the success I had without him.”

Lonsdorf was the manager at Mt. Ripley from 1947 to 1970 and taught several other students, including Barb Ferries (Chuck’s sister), Nona Foley and Mary Seaton.

Barb Ferries also made it to the Olympics in 1964, while Seaton was a member of the 1976 U.S. team.

Chuck started at an early age on the slopes. By the time he was in the Central Ski Division, he was winning nearly every race he was entered in.

After moving to Aspen, Colorado as a junior in high school to sharpen his skills, he began to make noise among American skiers.

“I had to go to Aspen because that was where most of the top coaches were located,” Ferris said. “It was the logical move for me.”

After winning three slalom titles, he was elevated to the U.S. National Team. He was on the 1960 Olympic team at Squaw Valley but was disqualified in his lone downhill race.

His most notable achievement came at the famed Hahnenkamm race in Austria in 1963. He became the first American skier to win the slalom race there.

That was enough to put him on the cover of Sports Ilustrated, which labeled him as his country’s “best skier.”

“That (SI cover) put some pressure on me,” he later said.

At the Innsbruck Olympics in 1964, he finished a disappointing 20th in the downhill.

Earning a scholarship at Denver University, Chuck competed for the Pioneers and won several awards.

But he never appeared on an Olympic team again.

Barb went on to get a full ski scholarship at the University of Colorado and did well there.

Chuck went on to become president of K2 Ski Company and later formed his own company.

Inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1989, he’s been a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Ski Team.

Barb was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1978.