Ryan Says He’d Like to Be an Olympian for That Country
By MICHAEL STRAUSS
SKI SKETCH: Peter Ryan, one of the Bast’s top Alpine! skiers, has lived in Canada for most of his life. Now he finds himself seeking a berth on the 1960 United States Olympic team.
“To be honest,” he says, “I would be happier on the Canadian team. The American fellows are great but with the, but I grew the Canadian skiers. Ryan, 18, and extremely popular with Canadian and American competitors, finished third last Sunday in the important Vermont Olympic Trials’ downhill at Stowe. But he gave the credit for his fine showing to a new paid of skis and his coach.
Ryan is being- guided by Ernie McCulloch, a member of the 1954 Canadian Federation International de Ski squad and a two-time winner of the Harri-man Cup. McCulloch is the head of the ski school at Mont Tremblant in Canada’s Laurentians, which is headed by Peter’s mother, Mary R. J. Ryan.
Although young Ryan has attended some American schools, he has done most of his skiing in Canada. He was first put on the runners by his father, the late Joseph E. Ryan, when only a 3-year-old.
“In those days we had no lift back home,” says Ryan, “so it meant a two-way job for Dad. He would prop me up against himself, work his poles furiously, and push us both uphill. Then we would ride down after Dad had got a good grip on me.”
Ryan, born in Philadelphia, attended the Eagle brook School in Deerfield, Mass., and Hotch-kiss in Lakeville, Conn. He hopes to matriculate at the University of Denver next September.
But while he would like to ski Cor Canada, he wouldn’t care to give up his American citizenship.
Short Schusses
The Snobirds of Lake Placid Club will hold on invitation ski jump on its 70-meter Intervale Hill Sunday afternoon, March 29. … Boy Scouts from Troop 512, Manhattan, have been camping at the base of Snow-Valley in Manchester, Vt, as guests of Fred Colclough, the owner-manager of the well-known Green Mountain development. Colclough has been supplying the Scouts with skis, boots and poles.
Virtually all of the major ski areas in New England and upper New York State are expecting big turnouts for the Easter week-end. At Whiteface Mountain yesterday a total of 15 inches of packed powder was reported on a 7-to-51-inch base. The Lost and Found Bureau at Oak Mountain in Speculator, N. Y., reports that more ski mittens are turned in than all other items combined. It is now being suggested that skiers tie the mittens to their jackets as in grandma’s day.
The tour season is still at its height. The Joe Ritter Sid Tours has scheduled a weekend trip to Stowe and the Ski Birds Tours has just announced one to Manchester. Stowe and the Laurentians. Both junkets are listed for the Easter Sunday week-end. ..The five-week-long Olympic qualifying trials will end on Saturday and Sunday at Pinkham Notch’s Wildcat Mountain in New Hampshire.
about Peter Ryan
