Keystone Resort’s history began in a cabin called the Alhambra, named after a nearby mine. In this cabin, 10^th Mountain Division veteran Larry Jump and Max Dercum founded neighboring Arapahoe Basin ski area. More than two decades later in the same cabin, Dercum revealed “Dercum’s Dream,” his vision of creating and developing Keystone, to Iowa attorney  Bill Bergman. Bergman, who had just purchased the Alhambra, was excited at for the prospect of “Dercum’s Dream” and wanted to assist Jump in the pursuit.

“I went up to the top of the mountains with Max and almost killed myself coming down on a narrow snowmobile track,” Bergman said as he recalled the time when he knew this place would be special.

Dercum had the vision but Bergman possessed the business savvy skills to turn it into reality. He is credited as the individual who transformed skiing into a corporate enterprise, something that originally began with small investors. By partnering with a well-known dog food producer, Ralston Purina, Bergman took Max Dercum’s dream of Keystone and made the resort a leader in the ski industry. These efforts resulted in incredible developments throughout the entire skiing industry. Ralston assumed major ownership of the resort and therefore Bergman was able to expand the resort by designing environmentally friendly trails and installing snowmaking capabilities in 1972. Bergman laid the groundwork for standard practices in leading resorts that are still used today.

Bergman also served as Keystone Resort’s first president and the Bergman Bowl area was later named in honor of his contributions to the business.

Dercum passed away last September just a few days short of his 99th birthday.