Alf Engen

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Alf Engen (May 15, 1909–July 20, 1997) was a Norwegian-American skier and skiing school owner/teacher. He had two younger brothers, Sverre (1911-2001) and Corey (1916-2006), both of whom were also accomplished skiers. Alf Engen set several ski jumping world records during the 1930s.

Born in the town of Mjøndalen, in Buskerud county, Norway, the first son of Trond and Martha Oen Engen. As the first-born son of a famous skiing father, Engen was naturally reared to ski. After his father died of the Spanish flu in 1918 when Alf was 9, his mother moved Alf and his younger brothers the short distance to the small town of Steinberg. In 1929 at age 20, Alf and his brother Sverre (age 18) emigrated to the U.S., first settling in Chicago, then relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1931. Their widowed mother Martha and younger brother Corey (age 17) joined them in 1933.

Alf Engen quickly gained a reputation for his world class skiing skills. Although a ski jumper when he arrived in the U.S., he quickly mastered alpine skiing and is credited for developing the technique of powder skiing, honed at the Alta Ski Area. The following years he won numerous American and international titles. He helped establish the ski school at Alta, and assisted in the creation of thirty other ski resorts in the western United States. The three Engen brothers helped to popularize skiing in the West, primarily in Utah and Idaho. Alf's son Alan carries on the family tradition at Alta.

Alf Engen died in 1997, at the age of 88. His two younger brothers both lived to the age of 90.

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