The mountains surrounding Aspen have long inspired dreams of skiing, but it wasn’t until 1936 that plans were initiated for building a ski resort in the heart of the Elk Mountains. That was the year André Roch (pronounced Roash), a world-renowned Swiss skier, engineer and avalanche expert was brought to Aspen.

His mission was to determine the feasibility of a ski resort that would capitalize on the long, steep drops and deep, fluffy snow that carpeted the Aspen area six months of the year. Unfortunately, Roch’s first reaction to Aspen was anything but positive.

Aspen in 1936 was almost a ghost town — old, decrepit, hardly discernible from its halcyon days four decades earlier when it reigned as a silver-mining Mecca. The town that had produced millions of dollars in silver bullion, the largest single silver nugget ever mined, two railroads, several grand hotels, an opera house, and a governor of the state, was in the final stage of collapse.

One historian suggests that André Roch was "underwhelmed" by what he saw. Considering Aspen as the lodging base for a world-class ski resort in the mid-‘30s was ludicrous. And, with limited transportation available at the time, the town was so remote that accessing the slopes would be a major detriment to its popular success.

Once Roch could look beyond the squalor of the town and into the surrounding mountains, however, he exulted in a vision. The soaring peaks with their steep pitches, open bowls and high elevations became tantalizing. He was thrilled by the "deepest, lightest powder snow and one of the longest seasons known to the ski world." The sight inspired the skier in Roch, and all else became secondary.

Roch surveyed the area for promising ski terrain with Gunther Langes, an Italian ski racer, and they presented a report to the recently formed Highland Bavarian Corporation, Aspen’s first ski company. Roch determined that Aspen Mountain, directly above town, could be superior to any ski mountain in the U.S. at the time. But it was nearby Ashcroft, a ghost town in the Castle Creek Valley 11 miles from Aspen, and Mt. Hayden rising above it, that held Roch’s attention.

Roch gave ski lessons during the winter of 1936/37, and as Ted Ryan, one of the partners of the Highland Bavarian Corporation, proclaimed, Roch "put the spark of skiing into the natives of Aspen." That spark would ignite a flame in two young Aspen brothers — Frank and Fred Willoughby, whose father managed the Midnight Mine on the backside of Aspen Mountain. The boys had been skiing the open powder slopes of Little Annie Basin since childhood, and they eagerly embraced Roch’s instruction.

In the winter of 1937, the Willoughbys joined Roch to form the Roaring Fork Winter Sports Club, later renamed the Aspen Ski Club. Before returning home to Switzerland, Roch convinced the Ski Club that development was still a few years off on Mt. Hayden, but that Aspen Mountain should be opened with a ski run that would drop right into town.

Frank Willoughby later recalled that Roch "impressed on the club a need for a difficult but excellent downhill racecourse to attract publicity for Aspen skiing." Roch Run, as it came to be known, would mark the beginning of a new trend for Aspen, and the Swiss scouted the run himself.

In the summer of 1937, Frank Willoughby and crews of volunteers cut the 6,600-foot run in a 50-foot-wide swath that looped down the front of Aspen Mountain. Roch Run was served halfway to the top by a "boat tow" fashioned in 1938 from old mining equipment, and it put Aspen in the spotlight, just as Roch had predicted. Roch Run was the site of the Southern Rocky Mountain Downhill and Slalom Championships of 1939, the Rocky Mountain Championships of 1940 and the National Championships of 1941.

Toni Matt, a famed Austrian ski racer who won the 1941 National Championships just ahead of American Dick Durrance, praised Roch Run as one of the finest downhill courses he had known anywhere, here or abroad. When World War II intervened, quashing dreams for Ashcroft and Mt. Hayden, Aspen took center stage as a ski resort, with Roch Run as the focal point.

The Aspen Ski Club hosted the first André Roch Cup race in March 1946, before the first chairlift opened on Aspen Mountain — competitors hiked up the course. Three women and 20 men competed, including American ski-racing legend Dick Durrance, who still resides in the Aspen area. A storm hit on the day of the downhill race; competitors raced in a foot of powder. The course was still fast, despite the fresh snow.

When Aspen officially opened as a ski resort in 1947, the annual André Roch Cup became the major attraction. A silver cup was donated by Aspen Skiing Corporation founder, Walter Paepcke, and it was presented that year to Barney McLean, the first winner. Other notable skiers in that year’s Roch Cup included Steve Knowlton and Durrance. The women’s race went to Barbara Kidder.

The André Roch Cup became Aspen’s race, a testing ground for the world’s top-ranked skiers. It became synonymous with great skiing and was mentioned in the same breath as the "Harriman," and the "Silver Belt." Roch Cup winners include Pete Siebert (’47), Hope Humphries (’47), Yves Latreille (’49), Sally Neidlinger (’51), Stein Eriksen (’53), Noni Foley (’57), Bud Werner (’59 and ’61), Bill Marolt (’62), Billy Kidd (’64 and ’65) and other skiing legends.

André Roch left his mark on Aspen with Roch Run, mountain and trail planning, the Aspen Ski Club, the Roch Cup, and an enthusiasm and appreciation for skiing that had no bounds. Aspen’s first ski race was well named for a seminal skier and schussing visionary who recognized the potential of Aspen Mountain. The name André Roch remains part of Aspen’s legacy.