Bartlett, NH – The New England Ski Museum will present its Spirit of Skiing award to U.S. Olympic and pro skier and honored member of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, Tyler Palmer.

The Spirit of Skiing award, now in its eighth year, recognizes a person or organization that has contributed to the sport of skiing in a way that evokes a line made famous by noted ski coach Otto Schneibs that “skiing is not just a sport, it is a way of life.”  Beloved by his ski teams of the 1930s and 1940s, Schneibs expanded on that definition in the 1938-39 American Ski Annual.

“Skiing is first,” he wrote, “a means of developing one’s bodily machine to health; second, a means through recreation to happiness; and last, an emotional outlet for highly impulsive characters.”

There was a time when Schneibs’ description of skiers as impetuous characters might have fit Tyler Palmer. He credits his teammates on the U.S. ski team, particularly Billy Kidd, Spider Sabich, and Jimmy Huega, with helping him develop the focus that allowed him to reach international success. Throughout his teens, Palmer pushed himself to compete with his younger brother Terry, who was winning races and beating everyone in Tyler’s age class.

The award will be presented at a dinner to be held on Nov. 2 at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel in Bartlett, beginning at 5 p.m. A compact silent auction will be part of the dinner, with prizes that include: the use of two USSA Gold Passes for three consecutive days in the upcoming season; a World Cup Supply ladies jacket; a Garnet Hill queen-sized flannel sheet and comforter cover set; four two-pound live New England lobsters and two pounds of fresh Essex steamer clams chilled and shipped overnight; a one-night stay at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt. for two with cross-country ski passes; and ski area lift tickets for the 2013-14 season from Pats Peak, Attitash, Wildcat, Sunapee and Ski NH.

Tickets to the event are still available at a cost of $65 per person from the ski museum at (603) 823-7177.