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Last Lift
Ski Industry Visionary:
The Legacy of Dick Kun

1940–2016

BY REBECCA W. AYERS, EDITOR

MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE gathered at the Big Bear Lake
Convention Center, Calif., a week before Christmas to
celebrate the life of Richard “Dick” Kun, the iconic ski resort
developer who died November 27, 2016, after a lengthy snowmaking, achieving 100 percent snowmaking coverage
battle with Parkinson’s disease. The size of the crowd was in the mid-1980s, and building his own resort power plant to
not surprising, given Kun’s renown throughout the ski provide reliable power when his massive snowmaking system
industry and the community where he spent most of his life. required more than the city of Big Bear Lake could guarantee.
Tributes to the former chairman and CEO of Snow Tim Cohee has been a close friend of Kun’s since
Summit Mountain Resort told the story of a man who he began his own ski resort management career at Snow
valued family and friends highly, who was an accomplished Summit in 1979. “Dick Kun was one of the most influential
athlete, and who was a gifted intellectual with a head for developer/operators of our generation, and a terrific friend
business—all of which served him well over the nearly five for nearly 40 years,” said Cohee, who today is the owner and
decades he spent running Snow Summit (and later Bear general manager of China Peak Ski Resort near Fresno. “He
Mountain, which Snow Summit purchased in 2002), just up not only invested heavily in the resort but also in his employ-
the road from where his memorial service was held. ees, cultivating a high level of loyalty. If you’ve been a man-
Kun ended up in the business by default. Born in ager at Snow Summit less than 20 years, you would be
Lacrosse, Wis., he moved to Big Bear at age 8 with his mother considered a short timer by their standards.”
and stepfather, Jo and Tommi Tyndall, who founded Snow Cohee attributes three key resort innovations to Kun’s
Summit in 1952 with a mile-long double chair, two major vision: limiting ticket sales to avoid over-crowding, lift line
ski runs, and several rope tows. After several years of sketchy wait lights (to help prevent long lift lines and to disperse
snowfall, the Tyndalls decided to build a snowmaking system crowds to other parts of the mountain), and Kun’s leadership
at Snow Summit—one of the first resorts to do so. Completed in developing the earliest terrain parks in the world.
in 1964, it was the largest snowmaking system in the West. A former junior ski racer and certified ski instructor, Kun
That same year while Kun was on break from college (where was also instrumental in NSAA, serving on the board of direc-
he was working toward his teaching credential and a likely tors from 1985 to 1989, and taking the lead on the industry’s
career in academia), Tommi was killed in a tractor accident. first terrain park operations manual. Based on Kun’s signifi-
Kun returned from the University of Colorado at Boulder to cant impact and contributions to the ski industry, NSAA hon-
help his mother manage the struggling resort. ored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
In all the years that followed—up until his retirement in Kun’s community leadership in Big Bear Valley is as impres-
2015—he developed Snow Summit into the most popular sive as his contributions to the ski industry. He co-founded the
ski resort in Southern California and one of the best in the Big Bear Resort Association; had an active leadership role serv-
nation, blazing the trail for a number of innovations that are ing the Big Bear Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club; and
now commonplace at resorts throughout the world. Under his made significant contributions in support of Big Bear Junior
stewardship, Snow Summit was one of the first areas in the US Ski Racing, among other organizations. Kun was honored with
to offer lift-served summer biking (1988); the first to offer a numerous regional and national awards, including California
reserved ticketing system (1977); the first to host the Winter Innovator of the Year, Rotary Club Eagle of Excellence, and
X Games (1997); and the first to develop a snowboard park San Bernardino County Award of Leadership.
(1994). In 2002 Snow Summit bought out its biggest com- Survivors are his wife, Jennifer, a former ski instructor
petitor, Bear Mountain, to form Big Bear Mountain Resorts. who he met at Snow Summit, and two children, Alex
Given the extremely challenging weather conditions in south- Tyndall and Dominique, who were both raised in Big Bear
ern California, Kun was an early pioneer in promoting Lake and became two of the top junior ski racers nationally.

74 | NSAA JOURNAL | WINTER 2017