Charles Proctor

Charles Proctor’s father was a Dartmouth physics professor who became an advisor to the Dartmouth Ski Team. Professor Proctor later pioneered alpine skiing in the United States, setting up the first slalom race in 1925, with eight or nine markers made from pine branches, and his son became proficient in this style of racing although it was not an Olympic sport until 1936. In 1931, Proctor and John Carleton were the first to climb and ski the headwall at Tuckerman’s Ravine.

Charles Proctor later became a major contributor to the sport of skiing in the United States. In the east, the US National Forestry Service enlisted his help in designing ski trails, and he later coached the Harvard Ski Team. Proctor moved to California in 1938 and spent the next 20 years as the director of ski operations at Yosemite National Park. In the west, he was known as the “skimeister” of Yosemite, and in 1936, he was hired by Averell Harriman to design many of the trails and lifts at Sun Valley. Proctor was made a Life Member of the Kandahar Ski Association. He authored two well-known books on skiing, The Art of Skiing and Skiing.