Some people ski to race, others for exercise. But what motivated Henry Bendinelli was the pleasure of giving others the gift of skiing. To him, skiing was like flying (something he did as an aerial navigator in WWII and Korea). He said when he taught someone to ski, it was like giving them angel wings.
Henry's goal in life was to get as many people to ski as he could, which was been a major love of his life. Below are some stats to showed Henry's love of skiing:
77 years: the number of years he had been skiing
74 years: the number of years he had been teaching others to ski.
Circumference of Earth: conservative estimate of the distance Henry had skied. By other estimates, he had skied it twice.
1,500: number of people he had taught to ski.
43 years: time span that he had run the Mt. Hood SkiKats Club.
1969-1975: the most joyous of his ski years he spent with his kids - Carol, Annie, Mark and Louise - at Timerline.
To extend his legacy, Henry founded the Snow Sportsmanship Program. It rewards high school students in the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association (www.osira.org) for observed civility and congeniality on the slopes. Statewide, nearly 800 teens participated in 2015. According to Henry, "Skiing is not a sport; it is a way of life." We miss Henry everyday, but know he is Shredding in Peace!
