Kit DesLauriers likes to say she’s a Rocky Mountain girl born to New Englanders.
The famed skier and mountaineer did, in fact, spend a portion of her childhood living in Westport, Mass. Her grandparents also lived in the coastal town, and it’s where she spent many summers during her youth. She also married into New England skiing royalty when she met Rob DesLauriers — of the Bolton Valley, Vermont, DesLauriers family — while on a ski mountaineering trip to Mount Belukha, the highest mountain in Siberia.
But there’s no doubting that DesLauriers’ true home is in the Rocky Mountains, which is where she will be recognized later this month when she is officially inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Sun Valley, Idaho.
DesLauriers certainly has the credentials for such an honor. She was the first person to successfully ski the Seven Summits (the highest mountains on each of the seven continents), her career highlight, but only one of several “firsts” on her skiing résumé. She also is a vocal advocate for protecting natural environments. She volunteers her time to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is a member of the board of directors for Alaska Wilderness League, completed a six-year term as a director for the American Alpine Club, and donates her time as a member of the Protect Our Winters Riders Alliance.