Just one year after the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation, Aspen hosted the F.I.S. World Championships cementing Aspen’s status as a premier cultural and ski resort.

The World Championships had never been held outside of Europe before and Dick Durrance, then the general manager of the Aspen Skiing Corporation, brainstormed the idea to hold the races in Aspen.

No one was more surprised than he when the F.I.S. (International Ski Federation) accepted the offer. He worked diligently to ready Aspen Mountain for the Championships, laying out courses and cutting runs when necessary, all culminating at the bottom of Lift-One and the finish line.

Zeno Colo, an Italian lumberjack and a heavy smoker, won both the downhill and giant slalom and thus the overall title.