Mel and Peggy Fletcher photograph collection

Collection

Identifier: P0943

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Mel and Peggy Fletcher photograph collection consists of ski images along with family photographs.

most of the collection is digital only; the originals returned to the donor.

Dates

1930s

Creator

Fletcher, Mel, 1918-2010 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical Note

(1918 – 2010)

In the annals of Utah’s skiing history, Mel Fletcher merits his own chapter. Its pages would regale readers with tales of “a human ski lift,” a lift builder, trail-cutter, ski jumper, ski school director, ski patrol leader, ski club president and tireless servant in his hometown of Park City.

Always with upbeat demeanor, a young Fletcher pumped gas, mounted tire chains and drove skiers to the mountaintops, thus his self-proclaimed “human ski lift” title. He jumped, often on barrel staves, at Park City’s Creole Hill, a one-time mine dump as well as at jump meets throughout the region.

In 1946, he became Summit County’s first ski school director at Snow Park, also called Frog Valley, and now Deer Valley Resort. In 1965, Mel became ski patrol director at Treasure Mountain Ski Area (now Park City Mountain). From 1979 to 1981, he was patrol director at Parleys Summit (formally Gorgoza Park and now Woodward Park City).

The grandson of a town barber, Mel’s passion for Park City ran as deep as its silver mines. He was a volunteer for the fire department, the Park City School Board, the Park City Historical Society, and the American Legion, among others.

Living to age 92, Mel watched the 2002 Olympic Winter Games unfold at his doorstep, and marveled at how far his beloved ski sport had advanced. It was a pleasure well deserved.

Mel was inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in 2018. The above biograpical note is from that event.