Page 12 - Flathead Beacon // 6.4.14

12 | JUNE 4, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Farewell to the ‘Mayor of Big Mountain’

After 92 years and a life- 22, at the age of 92. He was recently re-
membered by friends and family who
time of skiing and sailing, recalled his larger-than-life presence on
Peter Brucato passes on
Big Mountain, where he moved in 1991,
and the colorful patchwork mosaic that
deined his epic pre-Montana adven-
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
tures while living in Massachusetts, Ida-
ho and Wisconsin.
On the alpine slopes above Whiteish Brucato began skiing when he was
and along the shores of Flathead Lake, 5 years old, and irst encountered the

there is some disagreement over wheth- “big peaks” in Utah in 1941, followed by
er Peter Brucato was more devoted to a stint working and skiing in Sun Valley,
skiing or sailing – after all, the “Mayor Idaho.
of Big Mountain” competed as an Olym- His athletic achievements and dedi-
pic alternate in both disciplines, pursu- cation only lourished with time.
ing them with hot-blooded zeal even as By the late 1940s, after serving with
he crossed the threshold to his 90s and the U.S. Navy in World War II, he was ski-
confronted the attendant, attenuating ing with the nation’s best as an Olympic

health maladies of longevity.
alternate. In 1950, he won the New York
In observation of his ninth decade, state downhill ski competition, one of
Brucato toured the San Juan Islands for many championships in a distinguished
10 days on a 22-foot boat, sailing along- racing career that would span decades.
side friend and former Big Mountain Sitting in his home in the Edelweiss complex at Whiteish Mountain Resort in 2013, Peter Brucato talks His involvement with the U.S. Ski Team
CEO Mike Collins. After sufering a about his time skiing and sailing in the Flathead. over the years included several diferent
stroke last year he still cut powder turns BEACON FILE PHOTO
positions and he was the chairman of the

on The Big, skiing top to bottom with U.S. Ski Educational Foundation.
his son, Rick. When gout prevented him He completed the 34-mile American more than one season, because he loved children, and his many friends, the col-
from putting on his ski boots, he had one Birkebeiner cross country ski marathon to ski and he loved to sail.”
lective makeup of his ballast long before
toe and part of another removed so he 25 consecutive years, including one year Despite the ski-or-sail debate, there he arrived in Whiteish to be knighted
could buckle in.
when he was recovering from a spinal was never any dispute in the Brucato “Mayor,” an honorary handle of distinc-
“You would be hard pressed to pick fusion and deied a doctor’s orders, ac- family about where his deepest passions tion and a mark of pride.
one or the other for Dad,” Rick Brucato cording to his sons. He also completed resided – in his late wife, Martha, his After 87 years of skiing and sailing
said. “He was just happy that there was
24 marathons.
three boys, Bill, Pete and Rick, his grand-
adventures, Brucato passed away April

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