Painting the ski industry, one trail map at a time
If you’ve gone skiing in the last 30 years, there’s a good chance you’ve used a trail map painted by James Niehues.
Back in 1987, James Niehues was a Denver graphics designer looking for a job. He decided to drop in on ski trail illustrator Bill C. Brown. “[I] walked in looking for extra work,” Niehues said. “I walked out with a career.”
Over the course of that 30-year career, Niehues said he created nearly 400 paintings for over 200 ski resorts. But it wasn’t always easy.
“You don’t have a steady flow of ski maps to paint,” Niehues said. “Some years, 10 [ski resorts] will decide to have a new trail map, and then I’m very busy. And other years, it may be down to two or three, and I’m looking for other avenues of income.”
But despite the ups and down, entire generations of skiers have likely seen his handiwork.
“In fact, the very first map I even produced, which was [Boreal Mountain Resort], California, is still in use,” Niehues said. “And that’s 30 years later.”
Niehues’ work is featured in his book, “The Man Behind the Maps: Legendary Ski Artist James Niehues.”
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