Danny Pufpaf
Competition | 2000
Hometown: Georgetown, Colorado
Danny Pufpaf was a ski instructor in the Adirondack Mountains of New York in his youth. In 1971, while serving in Vietnam, he stepped on a land mine, losing his left leg and severely damaging his right leg. Danny went through rehabilitation and was reintroduced to skiing as a three track skier, a skier that uses one ski and two outrigger cuff canes with small skis on the tips.
Danny returned to the slopes as a Professional Ski Instructor of America ski instructor, teaching lessons to both able-bodied and adaptive skiers at the Loveland Ski Resort in Colorado. The following year Danny was named to the U.S. Disabled Alpine Ski Team and remained on the Team for 13 years. The highlight of his racing career included five national slalom championships, an overall North American championship, and several top-five finish in international competition. In addition, Danny competed in the 1980 Winter Paralympic Games in Geilo, Norway and the 1984 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria but failed to make the podium.
After leaving Loveland Ski Resort, Danny went to teach at Winter Park. He continued to teach dozens of veterans with the intent of going out and teaching other veterans. But Danny was as well known for his sense of humor as he was with his skiing prowess. He used to tell his students “I used to cross my tips constantly before my accident…. that’s not a problem anymore.” Danny was also notorious for waving from the chairlift at skiers below with his stump. Danny Pufpaf was the kind of character that once your paths crossed on the ski slope, you would never forget him.
