40 years ago, in an act of self-preservation, long time ski school instructor Dan Steffen developed the Ski Interim program – a 4 week college course that taught college students from all across the country the Fundamentals of Skiing at the Park City Ski Resort.
For about 700-hundred dollars, student skiers could ski for half a day and spend the rest of the day in the classroom learning about the evolution of skiing as well as the science of avalanches AND get college credit.
Dan Steffen had moved to Park City in November 1972 to teach skiing. By January, he and many of his fellow ski instructors were out of a job when the number of lessons dried up after the Christmas holidays. In this week’s Park City Story, he tells how in 1974 he launched the first Ski Interim for college kids who used to be on what was known as the 4-1-4 college schedule.
