FWSA Awards

Tommi Tyndall was a prominent force in the promotion of winter sports in the Big Bear area during the late 40s, the 50s and early 60s. He was a one-man whirlwind where skiing was concerned.
Tommi came to the US from Dresden, Germany, in 1939 to demonstrate his father’s machinery at the NY World’s Fair. With the outbreak of WWII, he stayed in the US and joined the Navy. His first paying job in the US was teaching skiing at Sun Valley. He became an American citizen in 1949.

In 1946, he was among the first member of the California Ski Instructors Association. He developed and supervised a group of instructors who formed the Big Bear Ski School. In 1949, he founded the Big Bear Winter Club and hosted Big Bear’s first Winter Carnival.

In 1952, Tommi opened Snow Summit with a mile-long double chair, two major ski runs and several rope tows. In 1961, after a few draught years, Tommi undertook the construction of a major snow making system at Snow Summit, which would be the largest in Southern California upon its completion in 1964.

At age 54, Tommi died in a tractor accident while grooming his beloved mountain.