Andrea Mead Lawrence

Born on April 19, 1932 in Rutland, Vermont, Andrea, born Andrea Bario Mead learned to ski at a very young age. Her parents owned and managed a ski resort at Pico Peak, Vermont and introduced her to skiing when she was three-years-old. She was a fast learner and her skills increased rapidly. When she was 15, she qualified for the 1948 Winter Games in Moritz, Switzerland. However, she didn't fare as well as she had hoped, placing 8th in the slalom, 21st in the Alpine combined, and 35th in the downhill. But since she now had the experience of being in the games, she won first place at the U.S. national championships in slalom, downhill, and combined. She then went on to win 10 international events and had two well-earned victories at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo. She was also the team captain of the Olympic team.

In 1951, she married fellow U.S. Ski Team member David J. Lawrence in Switzerland and had 3 children before the 1956 Olympic Games in Italy. Unfortunately, she only placed 4th in the slalom portion of the games and didn't place well in the downhill and combined. But in 1958, she was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame and carried the torch at the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, California.  Sometime in the 1960's, Andrea and her family moved to Aspen, Colorado where she became a member of the town's planning board. Before divorcing her husband in 1967, she had two more children. Now with five young children and very little income, she moved her children and herself to Mammoth Lakes, California near Mammoth Mountain.

After retiring from competitive skiing, Andrea taught skiing and became active in environmental politics. She fought against development at Mammoth Mountain ski area and was elected as a Mono County supervisor in 1982 and served them for 16 years. In 2003, she established the Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers, which was a non-profit organization committed to conservation, specifically in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Andrea was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma in 2000 so upon her death on March 30, 2009, her organization was absorbed into another environmental nonprofit organization.


On April 19, 2010, a peak in Mono County was renamed Mt. Andrea Lawrence in her memory and on January 10, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act Of 2011, naming a peak near Donahue Pass on the John Muir Trail "Mt. Andrea Lawrence". Andrea was also inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame as the class of 2012. On November 8, 2013, two non-profit Vermont organizations opened a new multi-use adaptive sports and youth skiing center at Andrea's home mountain of Pico Peak, Vermont. The now 'Andrea Mead Lawrence Lodge' at Pico serves as the permanent home and base camp for any non-profit missions of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports and the Pico Ski Education Foundation.

Not only is Andrea known for her one-time wonder feats at the 1952 Olympics, but also for her environmental good works that have inspired many.