Vintage Ski World
Sharing the joyful history of skiing with the entire world.

Vintage Ski World owner Richard Allen began collecting skis and other gear in the late 1980's, including a pair of handmade Norwegian wooden skis that his grandfather used in the early 1900's. If that sounds like a long time ago, consider the fact that skiing may be as much as 7,000 years old, dating back to some skis that have been found in Scandinavia.

Richard Allen's passion for skiing is homegrown - he and his five brothers and sisters came to Aspen for the first time in 1959. In one black-and-white portrait, his family stands at the top of Aspen Mountain, clad in hand-knit ski sweaters and wool pants by White Stag, a popular brand at the time. Allen's father had ski-bummed in Aspen in the 1930's, when a boat tow hauled skiers up the mountain.

"All of us still ski, as do all of the grand-kids," he said. Allen moved to Aspen in the mid-'70's from Lake Minnetonka, Minn. He started Alpine Cleaning and eventually pursued his collecting hobby to its fullest, filling four storage spaces in Carbondale with memorabilia.

"In 1989 I found a sporting goods store in Portland, Oregon, with a basement full of new-old stock from the 1940's through '60's," he said. "It was all the skis, boots and poles that had never been sold."

Allen's collection continued to grow while he started a poster business and his first Internet store in 2002. For a couple of summers he sold his skiing posters and prints at the Aspen Saturday Market, and turned a van into a moving vintage skiing collection, which he still uses to host vintage ski-themed parties all over the West.

Mission Statement
Vintage Ski World, LLC preserves the history of skiing, by finding classic images and vintage ski equipment that brings skiing memories of the past to life and continues to promote the joy and passion of skiing. Vintage Ski World is the largest seller, in the world, of authentic vintage ski equipment and snow-sports artifacts.

We pursue our mission in a variety of ways:
  • We hold and continue to improve one of the largest private collections of antique ski equipment and art in North America.
  • Our collection of vintage ski equipment and clothing is available for skiers to use today, in Vintage Ski Races. Although skiers in vintage gear are not allowed on the lifts at ski areas today, we all have lots of fun using the classic gear in the Vintage Ski Races that may ski areas provide as special events. By using vintage ski gear, skiers gain appreciation of the athletic abilities of past generations, as well as history in general.
  • We display our collection at events, decorate private parties, corporate parties and ski theme weddings.
  • We also sell items regularly from our collection.
  • We honor the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division of the US Army we collect and display authentic 10th Mountain equipment, as well as rent the WWII equipment and sell reproductions of items like 10th Mountain Division Patches.
  • We collect and sell vintage ski art, as well as reproductions of such art.
  • We provide both products and authenticity consulting for Media Productions and Ad Agencies, with our products being used extensively on TV and movie sets and in advertising photographs.