End of an Era

Sculptor George Lundeen, a highly decorated, award winning artist, has lived and worked in Loveland, Colorado since the mid-70s. A Fulbright scholar, he studied art at the Academia de Belle Arte in Florence, Italy. End of an Era depicts a skier from the 1960s sporting wooden skis, bamboo poles, and a wool sweater. The skier is mounted on a stone base (think Rocky Mountains).

Gifted by Lt. Col. Chandler and Mrs. Melitta Bergen, the bronze sculpture commemorates 100 years of skiing in Colorado. Earliest records indicate that “schussing” first began in a snowbound mining camp in what is now Breckenridge, Colorado. The pioneer skiers were precursors of the famed, elite Tenth Mountain Division skier-troops who defeated German forces during combat in the Alps of Italy during World War II. After the war, many of these men helped develop what are now world-class ski resorts in Colorado.