Skiing With Junior And Steve

Words by Ben White

Junior Bounous was born in 1925. His love for skiing in the Wasatch began as a teenager and he was involved with the Timp Haven rope tow ski area, which turned into Sundance ski area once Robert Redford bought the place. He did a lot of work at Alta, was pulled away from the Wasatch to run the ski school at Sugar Bowl in California, and returned to the Wasatch to help get Snowbird open and run its ski school. He was instrumental in setting up the PSIA. He carried the Olympic torch on its journey to Salt Lake City in 2002, and he just plain loves to ski. I called him up asking if I could ski with him and he put me in his calendar for a Tuesday. I would get to ski with some of his friends and his son Steve, a former member of the US Ski Team and retired head of the Snowbird Sports Education Foundation. It was sunny as can be.

He had taken a few warm up runs with his good friend Margaret and we met at the Sunnyside lift at Alta. We jumped on the lift and chit chatted on the way up. He said he wanted to go ride the Sugarloaf lift so we skied the short distance from the top of Sunnyside to the bottom of Sugarloaf. His son Steve was on the way over from Snowbird and we could meet up with him. Junior, the life long ski instructor and joy-sharer, pointed out a groomed run that had a few rollers on it that are fun to ski over. He wanted to ski down that. Ok, let’s go.

Junior, Margaret and I got off Sugarloaf and skied down Devil’s Elbow. At 98, almost 99, Junior skis with more fluidity and grace than most people at any age. He’s had some time to practice. He gave me and Margaret a briefing on the next pitch of skiing we were about to do, telling us to keep our speed in check. We let him go first. He didn’t keep his speed in check and I thought I was going to witness a 98 year old have a yard sale.

His son Steve watched Junior stiffen up and fall a little in the back seat from the chairlift. We waited for Junior to collect his thoughts and calm down a bit. He said “I almost died” and then told us that he warned us about the rollers and going fast over them, but didn’t heed his own warning. Steve met up with us and we skied down to get a mocha at Alta Java where Junior’s granddaughter Tyndall works.

My mom, with her aging mom, has said the phrase “raising parents” a few times and that immediately came to mind. In this instance, Junior was akin to a 10 year old who got too excited about skiing down a black diamond, almost crashed, and needed a moment to recompose. Steve was there, raising his dad. A warm cup of cocoa or mocha helped quite a bit, as it probably would with somebody 88 years younger than Junior. After a mocha and a couple more sunny blue groomed cruisers, Junior was back to himself, skiing as relaxed and as fluidly as anybody would who has had so much practice.

Steve and Junior wanted to go over to Snowbird to watch The Snow Cup, one of the longest running ski races in North America. We took the Sugarloaf lift to the pass that separates Alta and Snowbird. Junior pointed to Timpanogos and Provo Peak and said “those are my stomping grounds” and I took a picture of him and Steve with Timpanogos in the background. Then I got to watch Steve pull Junior across the flats, just like Junior was a 10 year old.

After riding the Mineral Basin lift, it was time to ski Regulator Johnson while looking at Pipeline, a steep chute off the summit of Twin Peaks. Junior was the first known person to ski down it the year Snowbird opened. He skied it most recently for his 80th birthday. People in the know consider Pipeline to be very much Junior’s run. I got to watch him ski Regulator with Pipeline in the background. If I had blinked, I would have missed watching his son Steve arc a smooth beautiful race arc in the background. I’m glad I didn’t.

The three of us got to the race hill and it was quite the party. Everybody was in a good mood and saying hello to Junior and Steve. The Bounous Boys had done a lot of work to make the Little Cottonwood ski racing community what it is. Every time somebody turned around they said hello to Steve and Junior. It was like magic, watching these two pillars of the community do their thing.

I hope that I get to be as healthy and joyous at 98 as Junior is, let alone skiing as well as he does.