Ben Manfredi's skis

During my visit to Yakima yesterday I visited John and Candace Manfredi, parents of Ben Manfredi, who was well-known in the early TAY community. Ben was one of the first Northwest skiers to fully embrace steep skiing and to combine his enthusiasm with internet savvy. In 2001 he created a website called CascadeClassics.org to document and share his skiing and kayaking adventures.

Ben's ski descents included Stormy Monday Couloir, Lava Glacier Headwall and North Lyman Glacier on Mt Adams, Mt Baker’s Roosevelt Glacier, the North Face of Mt Maude in the North Cascades, Fisher Chimneys and Price Glacier on Mt Shuksan, and the upper Northeast Face of Mt Fury in the Picket Range.

Ben was as enthusiastic about kayaking as he was about steep skiing, and he made many difficult whitewater descents throughout the Northwest. In November 2003, he drowned while kayaking the Grand Canyon of the Elwha River in the Olympic Mountains. He was just twenty-four years old.

A few weeks ago, Ben's parents reached out to the Mountaineers, asking whether the club knew anyone who might want to acquire Ben's skis. The club office forwarded the query to me. I responded that I'd be happy to take the skis. I decided to combine the trip with a visit to the Yakima Valley Museum (see this post). I had a long chat with John and Candace Manfredi. They're wonderful folks.


Ben's skis are Dynastar brand, but I don't know what model since Ben painted the top surface of the skis white. The skis are around 195cm in length with 84mm width underfoot. They are equipped with Armond Dubuque's Ultimate Telemark Bindings.


The combined skis and bindings weigh a ton. (Okay about 10 lbs.) One of Ben's skis weighs as much as both of my fattest modern powder skis (184cm long and 112mm underfoot). I imagine that the skis gave a very solid, confident ride, but they must have been a chore to climb with.

I don't know what I'll do with the skis ultimately, but for now, I've got the storage space, and having met Ben and knowing a bit about his story, I'm happy to be their custodian for now.

Here is an example of those skis in flight: skisickness.com/2003/05/05/

Charlie, thank you for the link to seeing the Ben Manfredi's skis "jump turning " at the top of the run. Sky has always done a history of places he has skied with his partners and his site "Ski Sickness".

Charlie Hagedorn wrote: Here is an example of those skis in flight: skisickness.com/2003/05/05/

Wow, You would have to be an exceptional skier to ski that line with that kind of gear. Those skis are not designed to help the skier make them turn and those bindings generate almost no leverage on the ski at all...  No doubt Ben was a badass tele skier....  Like many of our mountain brothers and sisters, gone too soon...

Good on you Lowell. That man did some incredible things in his short life.

Jason Hummel could probably give you some info on the model, if you want to know.

Very nice of you to share this, Lowell.