Barbara Ferries-Henderson (center with Apres sweatshirt) poses with the Houghton High School and Mont Ripley ski teams on Monday at Mont Ripley. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Barbara Ferries-Henderson had been back to her hometown of Houghton many times over the years. It had always been during the summer months. However, Ferries-Henderson’s best moments in life have come during the winter — on skis, going downhill on snow.

So the 78-year-old Colorado resident mapped out a 10-day trip to the area to coincide with this year’s Winter Carnival at Michigan Tech, and it has been an emotional homecoming of sorts.

“It is amazing what you remember,” she said.

Her first stop after checking in at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Saturday was Mont Ripley where she skied with the slopes’ general manager Nick Sirdenis.

“The first run was amazing,” she said. “The slopes are groomed, the snow was great, and I felt like a champion.”

Ferries-Henderson, however, has no need to feel like a champion, because she is already one on a number of levels.

She was the youngest member of the U.S. (winter) Olympic Team in 1964, where she competed in Alpine skiing at Innsbruck, Austria, along with her brother, Chuck Ferries. However, as she tells the story, her greatest accomplishment occurred two years earlier. She won the bronze medal in the downhill at the 1962 F.I.S. World Championships held at Charmonix, France. She also finished fifth in the slalom and eighth in the combined at that event.

She brought the bronze medal with her to Houghton this week to show to the members of the Houghton High School and Mont Ripley ski teams.

“They use this same medal still today,” she said.

Ferries-Henderson spoke with them about her life and career on the ski hills of the world on Monday at the Race Room at Mont Ripley. She also brought along lots of photos and newspaper clippings from the days when downhill skis were really long and all you wore for head protection was a leather cap.

Ferries-Henderson and her three siblings grew up in Houghton in a house where the Portage Lake District Library now sits. She was on skis at three and in a ski school at age four thanks to generous and encouraging parents. While her brother Chuck really embraced the sport, she was right behind him longing to be as good as her big brother.

She explained that her “a-ha moment” occurred in 1958 during her sophomore year at Houghton High School when she traveled to Aspen, Colorado, and won the Junior Nationals in the downhill and combined events.

“I shocked the ski world, especially the girls’, because no one had heard of me,” she said on Monday. “So, my brother, Chuck, along with the Houghton coach, Fred Lonsdorf (who ran Mont Ripley for more than 40 years), convinced my parents to allow me to finish high school in Vail (Colorado) and ski. So, after my sophomore year at Houghton, I headed to Colorado, where I lived with a host family and was named to the U.S. Ski Team after my junior year at Vail High School.”

“I was just one of four girls named to the ski team, and we only had six guys,” she said. “I did not do so well at the Olympics. I fell. After that, I didn’t get on skis for more than 20 years. I got married, had kids (three), and worked as a teacher in the Boulder, Colorado, area. I was married to a man who did not like skiing.”

In 1978, Ferries-Henderson was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming. Interestingly, her brother, Chuck, was elected in 1989. After divorcing her husband in the early 80’s, she married Canadian Ski Hall of Famer Scott Henderson.

“Scott reintroduced me to skiing,” she said, “and I haven’t stopped since.”

The Hendersons live in Nederland, Colorado – less than 20 minutes outside of Boulder.

She was elected into the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2006. Her brother joined her there in 2008.

As the Houghton skiers were anxious to get on the slopes Monday afternoon, Ferries-Henderson left the kids with some words to live by.

“Being passionate about what you do,” she said, “and that doesn’t mean just skiing. Consistent practice and dedication will get you anywhere in life. Finally, you must stay active. I’m 78 and I plan on to just keep going and going and going. That’s the way to live.”