Los Angeles Times - 09.11.2019

Did you grow up skiing?
No, I was raised on a hog farm
outside Loma, Colo., not far from
the Utah border. I spread a lot of
pig manure on fields during my
youth, enough to know I didn’t
want to do that for a living. I went
to Mesa State College in Grand
Junction for a year.
I didn’t start skiing until I
joined the Army in the late 1960s
and was stationed in Europe. I
first skied on a small resort in the
Austrian Alps. When I got back to
Colorado, I skied at Powderhorn,
near Grand Junction, and fell a
lot. I walked down the slope and
pretty much gave it up for the next
15 years.

How did you get into painting ski
trail maps? That seems like such
a tiny niche market.
It is. There aren’t many people
doing it. After the service, I
worked in a print shop and then
for an ad agency. Then I moved to
Denver and struggled as a free-
lance artist. I looked up Bill
Brown because I admired his ski
resort maps. He liked my portfo-
lio, and he turned over a small job
to me at Winter Park in Colorado.
That got me started, and the
first contract I got on my own was
for the Boreal and Soda Springs
resorts on Donner Summit near
Lake Tahoe. I also started doing
maps and illustrations for Snow
Country magazine.

How did you learn to draw maps?
I’m pretty much self-taught.
But Bill Brown was my mentor in
the beginning.

When did you get back on the
slopes?
After I started making maps. I
got to be an intermediate [skier]
in my prime. I had one instructor
at a Colorado resort who told me,
after he’d picked me up for the
fourth time, that he thought the
guy who painted all those maps
would be able to ski better. But
the snow was choppy, and I
couldn’t handle it. [Laughs.] I
don’t ski much anymore, but I’m
still hiking a lot.

How do you create your maps?
I love photography and I shoot
a lot of pictures of the mountain.
I’ve also used topographical maps
and even satellite images. If the

budget allows, I’ll fly over the

slopes in a small plane and get to

know the resorts as best I can.

Then I’ll do a series of sketches

and, after I get the approval, it

takes two or three weeks to paint a

map, adding shadow, detail,

clouds and things like that.

What were you paid for your

artwork, then and now?

It depended on the size of the

resort. ... I was getting a minimum

of $1,800 for a small area, $6,500 for

a midsize resort and more for a

large one. But when computers

came in, the pay flattened, and it

was harder to make a living. ...

Now, I’d say I get around $15,000

for a really big resort. But the

other rates, unfortunately, haven’t

gone up much over time.

What do you think of computer-

generated maps?

There is no comparison to what

I do. On one basic level they are

similar because they are both tools

for people to know where they are.

But I create a mood with my maps

because of the way I interpret the

terrain and the trees and the shad-

owing. When you look at a hand-

painted map, you can sense what

the artist is portraying.

Have computers threatened your

livelihood?

Around 2000, when they came

on the scene, times got slow and I

lost quite a few jobs. It was tight

then, and I had to look for other

work. But I got through, and the

ski areas came back around. In a

good year, I’d paint 20 to 25 maps. I

sign my work, because the resorts

object if I don’t. I paint every indi-

vidual tree, but I have a technique

that I use to put down a back-

ground of trees pretty quickly.

Do you have a favorite ski resort?

Not really, but I am kind of fond

of Powderhorn, because that’s

where my kids learned to ski.

How long do you think you’ll

continue to do this?

As long as I enjoy it. I just fin-

ished up a new version of Sun

Peaks in British Columbia. And

this past summer, I painted new

maps for Ski Santa Fe in New

Mexico, Mt. Bachelor in Oregon,

Sugar Mountain in North Carolina

and Wolf Creek in Colorado near

Durango, Colo.

Info: “James Niehues: The Man

Behind the Map” is $85; maps of

individual resorts, $40 each;

JamesNiehues.com. He’ll be sign-

ing books Dec. 6 at the Ski Dazzle

Show at L.A. Convention Center.

He’s had a good run at mapping

More than once in my several decades of skiing in the West, I’ve gotten lost on a mountain. And many times,

I’ve pulled out my James Niehues trail map to get back to a lift or the resort’s lodge. The watercolor maps,

which are also posted in large scale around resorts, have guided countless skiers and snowboarders over the

years since the 73-year-old began painting them in 1987.

Niehues (pronounced “Nee-hews”), who lives outside Denver, has created hundreds of maps for ski areas

around the country, including more than a dozen resorts in California, such as Mammoth Mountain, Squaw

Valley and Heavenly; at least two in South America’s Andes; more than a dozen in Canada; six in New Zealand;

and one in Serbia. He was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame this year for his remarkable

artwork on maps that many skiers use once and throw away. Now Niehues, who has been called the “Rem-

brandt of snow,” has published a hefty coffee table book with a collection of nearly all of his hand-painted maps.

“James Niehues: The Man Behind the Map” was launched as a Kickstarter campaign, which attracted dona-

tions from 5,000 people.

He got his start in the world of art when his mother bought him an oil painting set while he was recovering

from an illness during his freshman year in high school. Over the decades, his maps have gained appreciation

as artwork in their own right. They’ve been shown in at least one New York City gallery, and one made the cover

of “Mind the Map,” a 2016 collection of illustrated cartography sold in art museums.

I’ve kept some of his maps from my trips and have taken them out from time to time to muse over runs down

slopes. I spoke with him after the book was released.

NIEHUES’map of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., indicates elevations and locations of ski runs.

Open Road Ski Company

JAMESNiehues, seen working in his home studio in Parker,

Colo., has been painting watercolor ski resort maps since 1987.

Lindsay Pierce Martin

CARLOS VALLEOpen Road Ski Company

By Brian E. Clark

F4 WSCE LATIMES.COM

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OUTDOORS

Mammoth/Tahoe

Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe:open

Fridays through Sundays.

It’s offering $49 lift tickets

starting at noon Fridays.

Mammoth Mountain:

The first chair spins at

8:30 a.m. Saturday, with a

beer toast and live music

to follow. Active duty

military and veterans ski

or ride free on Monday in

honor of Veterans Day.

Squaw Valley/Alpine

Meadows:Squaw Valley

plans to open Nov. 15;

Alpine Meadows, Dec. 6.

Squaw will host a Leap of

Love event Feb. 29 for up

to 50 couples who want to

get married or renew their

vows.

Heavenly Lake Tahoe

and Northstar California:

Nov. 22. New this year,

Northstar brings celebrity

chef Michael Mina’s Bour-

bon Pub to its village.

Kirkwood: Nov. 27

China Peak:Nov. 28

Sugar Bowl:Nov. 29

Sierra-at-Tahoe:mid-

November

Diamond Peak:Dec. 12

SoCal

Big Bear:The two peaks

in the San Bernardino

Mountains have different

opening dates: Nov. 15 for

Snow Summit, and Nov.

22 for Bear Mountain.

Bear Mountain’s sun deck

has doubled in size.

Mountain High:Nov. 22.

“Santa Sunday” is Dec. 15.

Snow Valley:Nov. 22

Mt Baldy:Lift tickets for

sale online begin Dec. 7.

Yosemite

Badger Pass:Dec. 13

Ski season starts

before the snow

By Mary Forgione

California’s ski season is officially on, even though

there’s no snowfall in the Sierra’s immediate forecast.

Mt. Rose revved up the snow-making guns and opened

Oct. 25 on a limited schedule. Mammoth Mountain Ski

Area plans to open Saturday with a man-made base,

free beanie giveaway and $50 lift tickets.

When will the real snow come? AccuWeather’s winter

forecast predicts a normal season that will “translate to

decent ski conditions for resorts in California.”

Regardless, ski resorts have put these start dates on

their calendars — and you can too.