MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Jeannie Thoren of Marquette has been named one of the most groundbreaking characters in the story of women’s ski equipment.
“Being raised a Catholic Yooper in Marquette, I had to help everybody,” said Thoren.
When Jeannie began skiing at Cliffs Ridge (now Marquette Mountain) in the 1960’s, ski equipment used by both men and women was only specifically built for men. There were no design standards for different areas of weight distribution in women, causing what is known as knock-kneeing in many female skiers, without much being done.
“Guys are more narrow hipped and straight down legged, and women are the opposite,” said Thoren. “When we tried to go forward we left too much our weight on the back of the ski.”
In 1986, Thoren created the first women’s specific ski for the Austrian company Blizzard. This was the first style of skis with bindings set further forward, to relieve these common issues.
Over the next 15 years, Jeannie and her husband Tom traveled around the country, running clinics for women to showcase this better fitting equipment, including different boot heels and canted bindings.
“They always say ‘why are you called Mean Jean the Ski Queen?’ said Thoren. “It’s because in my two day clinics, I would start them on their own equipment, fix them up, and for the last run of the clinic I had them go back to their own gear. When they’d go back to their own gear, they would all do 360s and fall over.”
The Marquette native has created what is known as the Thoren Theory, stating that ‘Women are not small men, they need different ski equipment.’
Marquette Mountain’s General Manager Kaet Johnson says, she learns something new about Jeannie’s amazing life every time they meet.
“She has changed the skiing world for women,” said Johnson, “What a hard go it was for her to make the waves she did, but she made them.”
In 2007, Jeannie created an exclusive carve ski that became SKI Magazine’s ‘Ski of the Year.’ Then in 2009, her and her husband opened Jeannie Thoren’s Women’s Ski center in Vail, Colorado.
In her words, “If you don’t have the problem, you won’t know how to fix it.”
“I learned from the women I was teaching,” said Thoren. “I didn’t start out trying to save the world, I was just trying to save myself.”
Jeannie will be one of 10 inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, May 10th at the Island Resort and Casino in Harris.
She has previously received a medal of honor in the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2014.
