La Malbaie, Quebec – Encouraging and developing young ski racers earned Ginny Cochran, of Richmond, VT, the 2003 Lifetime Achievment Award, from North America's Snowsports Journalists.

The award was presented at the North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) annual meeting March 22, in Quebec. The Lifetime Achievement Award honors an individual for a lifetime achievement in snow sports.

In addition to mothering a tribe of Olympic skiers, Cochran has turned her home into a virtual incubator of little skiers. The achievements of Cochran's progeny, of course, are well known. All four were on the U.S. Ski Team: Barbara Ann won Olympic gold, Marilyn was the first American overall World Cup champ (GS), Bobby won at Hahnenkamm, and Lindy had top American results at Innsbruck.

Cochran kept her kids well grounded and grew them into exceptional adults. Her dedication was extraordinary. Barbara Ann claims her mother outdid any modern soccer mom, twice driving them across the country for their first U.S. Ski Team camps because they couldn't afford plane tickets.

One-half of a dynamic duo that for 38 years grew a community resource out of their backyard hill, when husband Mickey was coach of the U.S. team in 1973-74, Ginny ran Cochran's by herself, always the businessperson to Mickey's engineering and coaching talent. Giving countless kids and families the opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasure of sliding on snow, Cochran's kitchen amounted to the area lodge in the area's early days. Today, school buses cram the parking lot, thanks to Cochran's-sponsored after-school programs.

Cochran has always been a skier. She met Mickey when she caught a ride to Stowe with him back in their University of Vermont days in the 1940s. As recently as three years ago–well into her 60s–Cochran was logging 50 to 60 days a winter on skis. She is also an exceptional teacher. When the area opened in 1961, Cochran taught an after-school program at the request of the local PTA. Since that time, thousands of kids have learned to “ski the Cochran way.”

Cochran was also an important contributor to the development of some exceptional national-level skiers as part of a network of parents that supported their kids' friends and teammates whenever they needed a place to stay. Early in her career, Cindy Nelson was dropped from the traveling team and sent home from Europe. Where did she go? To the Cochrans for a month of Cochran's cooking and Mickey's coaching. Similarly, Terry Palmer did his senior year of high school at Mt. Mansfield Union, living with the Cochrans because his New Hampshire high school was unimpressed with the talents of an aspiring racer.

Cochran's crowning contribution was her recent gift of the ski area to the public for outdoor recreation and preservation. It was no small contribution. Developers had eyed her lovely hillside for years, and though she could easily have reaped a sizable profit by selling, she would rather see Cochran's live on, continuing to grow little skiers.

Cochran is still teaching never-ever kids how to ski every Saturday — make that teaching parents how to teach their kids, a Cochran trademark. She's a skier, first and foremost, a mother to skiers, a ski area operator, a ski instructor, a supporter of American ski racing and a benefactor of Vermont skiing. Cochran is also wisecracking, warm, ornery, patient, loving … and when the need arises, tough as nails.

The North American Snowsports Journalists Association is the only professional organization for snow sports writers, photographers, broadcasters and electronic media representatives from throughout the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.nasja.org.