Andrea Mead Lawrence is the Greatest American Skier of All Time
An oral history of Andrea Mead Lawerence told by her daughter, Didi
In 1952, a 19-year-old American teenager made history in Oslo. First, Andrea Mead Lawrence emphatically won the Olympic Gold Medal in Giant Slalom by nearly three seconds. Then, a few days later, she cemented herself in history when she won the Slalom Gold Medal. She’s the only American skier to win two Gold Medals in the same Olympic Games.
Andrea Mead Lawrence is the greatest American skier of all time.
Look at the angles Andrea Mead Lawrence built 69 years ago in leather boots clicked into bear-trap bindings drilled into wooden skis. She was so far ahead of her time—in so many ways.
Before Mikaela and Bode, Lindsey and Billy Kidd, Picabo and Ted, there was Andrea. And, we need to remember how bright her star burned out of respect to skiing’s history. Because, Andrea Mead Lawrence is the GOAT.
“It was quite an epic life,” says Didi Lawrence, Andrea’s daughter and longtime ski instructor at Aspen Highlands. “One thing I’m always reminding people is that Mom is still the only American to have two Gold Medals in a single Winter Games.”
We talk about dominance a lot in sport. This 19-year-old from Rutland County, Vermont dominated. She left the rope toe at Pico Mountain, showed up in Oslo and absolutely went off!
But you never would’ve known it if you visited the Mead Lawrence home. There weren’t trophies on display or Gold Medals on the mantel when Andrea Mead Lawrence reared her family post-Olympics.
“She never showed them off,” remembers Didi. “She kept them in a box. There was nothing around the house to show or prove what she did. In her mind, it wasn’t about winning the gold medals; it was about what she did after the Olympics. That’s what was most important in her life.”
To honor Andrea, here’s a profile that I humbly loved reporting…
In 1955, Andrea Mead Lawrence stood in the start gate for The Roch Cup in Aspen. She was seven months pregnant with Didi. She won! After skiing the day’s fastest time down America’s Downhill, Andrea Mead Lawrence climbed atop the podium, and a few months later she became Didi’s mom.
“In my mom’s head she was like, ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. This is what I’ve done all my life and this is what I’ll continue to do, pregnant or not. This child is coming with me,’” says Didi. “I was born with my toes curled up and ready to ski from the moment I was put on this earth, and that’s through my mom.”
Between Andrea Mead Lawrence’s historic 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway and the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the skier gave birth to three children. That’s why she sat out the 1954 World Championship season. After becoming a mom, Mead Lawrence returned for the 1956 Winter Olympics, and “competed in all three disciplines, placing fourth in the giant slalom.”1
Before the hardware and history, and before Andrea shared skiing with her children (and so many others), who taught Mead Lawrence to ski?
Didi remembers: “My gift of skiing comes first through my grandparents. My grandfather, Brad Mead, mom’s father, came over from Scandinavia. He and bunch of his buddies bought the property at Pico, which is just outside of Rutland [in Vermont]. He put a rope toe in at Pico with a bunch of his buddies. Then, eventually, through several trade magazines he read about the guy who invented the T-bar. So, he went over to Europe and grabbed a T-bar. This was the first T-bar in the United States, at Pico Peak. I started skiing there when I was 18 months old…”
Growing up with a legendary skier as “mom” could be challenging. Or, it could be awesome. Andrea Mead Lawrence shared her passion with her children. What does a two-time Gold Medalist teach her children about skiing? How to have fun!
“I remember as a child going skiing with mom. She would put me on her shoulders at Pico. We’d be going up and down, up and down, up and down. I remember having so much fun. I didn’t want to stop for hot chocolate or an egg-salad sandwich. I just wanted to ski,” says Didi. “My hands would slip down over Mom’s eyes when we were skiing downhill because I was having so much fun. And, I remember hearing her giggle. She knew I loved it. Her energy transferred to me.”
As Didi speaks I smile. Skiing is joy and gratitude, freedom and control, adventure and independence. It’s an heirloom. Andrea’s passion passed to Didi was palpable during our conversation. I could hear Brad Mead’s passion via 1937 through Didi’s voice in 2021. It’s transcendent.
“Mom’s attitude with skiing was: have fun, do what you feel is your passion, as long as you’re safe and I know where you are you do what you need to do. She never really coached us or taught us. She would take us out, let us ski, watch us do our thing and fly off jumps, fall down and pick ourselves up. It was like growing up with a big sister who was like, ‘Let’s go outside and have fun.’ We would just go out and ski together. I’d follow her, and she’d follow me. It was just for the pure pleasure and fun of [skiing].”
“The cool thing with Mom, it was like, ‘You guys can ski or don’t ski. But whatever you choose to do make sure it’s your passion.’ With that kind of attitude I knew I could go out, push my limits, accept responsibility for my choices,” says Didi. “But, you learn so much about life, and personal goals, what your limits are and what you’re willing to push. That’s how I found my passion in skiing. What I do all winter long with my clients now is pure passion and love. It’s not work. That love of skiing comes from my mom. I know how much she loved it when she was racing and skiing. She was a wrinkle in time. She was a miracle in the skiing world. She was so far above and beyond with the angles she was creating.”
When you look at vintage photos of Andrea Mead Lawrence from the 1950s, look at them with respect to her equipment. It’s remarkable. In the photo above Mead Lawrence is skiing on hand-made Kastle skis that Anton Kastle made for her. They’re wooden skis with bear-trap bindings. Kastle made the skis by hand for Andrea and they have old-fashioned metal edges that were screwed into the bottom of the ski. She’s wearing leather ski boots that go just above her ankle.
And, she’s blasting on that antiquated equipment.
It’s so inspiring to see the angles she built, the aggressive fall-line approach and the trust she had in the wood, leather, metal and hand-made equipment.
“Mom used to always say that racing today is nothing like what it was when she was racing,” says Didi. “When Mom raced it was for the pure love of competition and sport. She knew all of her competitors, she was friends with them. There was no money involved in any of it. She ski raced for the sheer pleasure of competition and the love of skiing because it raised you to a different level.”
The best part of it all, in my opinion, is that Andrea Mead Lawrence’s crowning life achievements came years after her skiing glory and success.
“In her mind,” says Didi, “it wasn’t about winning the Gold Medals, it was all about what she did after that was most important in her life.”
Andrea Mead Lawrence was ahead of her time—on snow and off. Her prescient approach wasn’t siloed to skiing, racing and technique. Andrea Mead Lawrence was an activist. She was thinking about conservation, stewardship, protecting nature and paving the way for future generations in the 1960s.
In a lovely profile to Andrea Mead Lawrence for Powder Magazine in 2019, Julie Brown writes:
“Lawrence’s passion for environmentalism was as central to her core as ski racing. But her success as an activist hinged on her Olympic celebrity, which she wielded into a platform to advance meaningful, lasting change. Not unlike the leagues of athletes who are doing the same today, using their voices to amplify a message beyond their sport. Whether they are fighting for public lands, climate change mitigation, or civil rights, skier activists follow in Lawrence’s footsteps.”2
And, in The LA Times obituary of Andrea Mead Lawrence, Antonio Rossmann, an environmental lawyer, says, “Andrea, in her lifetime, was the most significant and effective citizen activist in California.”3
“She always had a huge respect and admiration for the mountains,” says Didi. “When we moved to Mammoth in 1968 there was a huge building development that wanted to come in to build high rises. Mom said, ‘There’s no fucking way you’re building this in my town.’” So, Andrea Mead Lawrence started ALIMAR [Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers] and the environmental impact study “to work for a balance between economic growth and preservation of the region’s natural beauty,” according to The LA Times.
Andrea Mead Lawrence was very concerned with the impact skiers would have on mountains, the wildlife, nature and the ambiance of mountains. She protected her environment. And, due in large part to her stewardship decades ago, we are able to find joy and passion in the mountains today.
She truly was ahead of her time. And, I’m convinced that Andrea Mead Lawrence is skiing’s GOAT. She’s the greatest of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Mead_Lawrence
https://www.powder.com/stories/features/the-profound-legacy-of-andrea-mead-lawrence/
https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-andrea-lawrence2-2009apr02-story.html
Having skied "my entire life......", I must say she has always been, hands down, one of my faves, one of THE greats regardless of time and many abound in all objective truth. Special shout to Betsy Snite. I miss these two women immensely, Rosi Mittermaier, too........... They were so great, so lovely !