The Tony Buttinger Memorial Slalom is held to honor the memory of Tony Buttinger, an avid and accomplished young skier, and son of Klaus Buttinger. When a Tony Buttinger wrote his poem, Skiing on Mountains, he was expressing the limitless dreams of a boy who had discovered the exhilarating power of skiing. Tony's dreams were cut short by a tragic accident while skiing at Gunstock after finishing a race earlier in the day.
The winner of the first Tony Buttinger Memorial, Todd Workman, by coincidence wore the same number Tony wore in the race the day of his death two weeks earlier. Todd was the first racer from GSC to win the race and bib 98 was retired in Tony's memory.
I like to soar like a bird
With my skis upon my feet,
And take an humungus jump
And fly right over my street!
I keep on going more,
And more on down the road,
I look below my skis,
And see a freezing toad.
I was flying over Hawaii
And looked down at the hot
steaming sand
I knew that when I landed
I would be a famous man.