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Seth Masia Honored with FWSA’s 2026 Western Ski Heritage Award

Jane Wyckoff | Published on 7/6/2026

FAR WEST SKI ASSOCIATION
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Jane Wyckoff, FWSA History Chair
Ph: 949-933-9607, history@fwsa.org
https://fwsa.org

Seth Masia Honored with FWSA’s 2026 Western Ski Heritage Award

L to R: Larry Young, Director of Hotel & Resort Sales - Steamboat Resort; Seth Masia, 2026 Western Ski Heritage Award Winner; Jane Wyckoff – Far West Ski Association History Committee Chair; and Alan Christian, President - Far West Ski Foundation. Photo Credit: T Taylor Photography.

The Far West Ski Association (FWSA) presented Seth Masia with its 2026 Western Ski Heritage Award at the Awards Luncheon on June 13 at the Element by Marriott in San Diego, California during SkiCon 2026, the Association’s 93rd Annual Convention. Seth was recognized for, “Lifetime Contributions as a Snowsports Journalist, Historian and Environmentalist.” The Western Ski Heritage Award recognizes the best effort to find, preserve, document and share the history of skiing in the west.

Seth Masia has a 58-year career as a ski writer and historian, ski instructor and environmentalist. His lifetime efforts in preserving shared snowsports history has reached beyond the west, to a worldwide audience. Seth’s lifelong dedication to skiing began in the summer of 1968 when he was hitchhiking around in Europe and went to Chamonix to do some climbing, and tried skiing on a glacier. After receiving a BA Degree in 1970 from the University of Chicago, Masia moved to Colorado and got a job at a start-up ski area called Stagecoach.

Arriving in New York several years later, he was invited to join the staff of Ski Magazine. He was a key editor and writer, covering equipment, racing, travel and environmental issues. His work was published regularly in Outside, Backpacker and The New York Times. He was also the managing editor of Cross Country Ski Magazine.

His work took him around the world to ski, where he could see glaciers melting, so he started writing about climate change in 1989. He received a Master’s Degree in Environmental Journalism at the

University of Colorado/Boulder, and went to work for the American Solar Energy Society and editor of the magazine, Solar Today. It led to a parallel career documenting and promoting the rise of renewable energy. He later served as executive director of ASES.

In 1994 he returned to Ski as general manager/online products and pioneered online ski journalism, as manager of the award-winning website “SkiNet.” He was recruited as a website producer by Microsoft Corporation, then worked at Intrawest as Director of Internet Strategy. Seth has managed ISHA’s website since shortly after it was launched by Mort Lund, and in 2004 he received the ISHA Cyber Award for this work.

Seth has taught skiing since 1984, at Squaw Valley, Vail and Snowmass, and has served on the board of directors of the Colorado Ski Museum. At Vail he created “Ski Younger Now,” one of the earlier programs aimed at retaining older skiers. He has authored eight books on varied topics, including The Unofficial Guide to Skiing and Snowboarding in the West.

He has long been a frequent contributor to Skiing History magazine, and today serves as its editor. He became President of the International Skiing History Association in 2014, and remains in that position to this day. As president of ISHA, Seth led the organization to new heights, obtaining financial stability that will enable it to be a leader in skiing history into the future. He was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 2023.

In 2025 Seth received the North American Snowsports Journalists Association’s esteemed Carson White Snowsports Achievement Award. NASJA’s highest honor, it is bestowed to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of snowsports in North America, through a lifetime of snowsports endeavors. He was also selected a Fellow of the American Solar Energy Society.

The Western Ski Heritage Award is sponsored by Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, and Seth received a trip for two to Steamboat.

Click here for a PDF copy of this press release.

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