The poster for the 2025 Ajax Cup was designed by local artist Estelle Sweeney. It features Olympian and Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club supporter Renie Gorsuch as a subject, and was unveiled at the opening reception of an art gallery featuring previous years’ posters on Wednesday night at the Colorado Mountain College Aspen Art Gallery.
A new exhibit at the Colorado Mountain College Aspen Art Gallery is showcasing Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club’s historic — and new — event posters for its marquee fundraiser and event, the Ajax Cup.
The dual giant slalom race is AVSC’s big end-of-year fundraiser, bringing in more than $1 million for the club each December, and entering its 16th year. Its marketing materials are on display at CMC in the exhibit “The Art of Skiing: AVSC and the Ajax Cup.” This year’s poster, the first created by a public contest, also was unveiled at Wednesday night’s opening reception.
Designed by local artist and photographer Estelle Sweeney, the poster nods to Aspen’s ski history, incorporating elements from original Aspen lift tickets, vintage Patagonia magazine styles and a black-and-white Polaroid photo of Olympic skier and AVSC supporter Renie Gorsuch.
“I was excited about the vintage theme and decided to focus on Renie,” Sweeney said in an artist statement. “I chose this photo of Renie shredding the course at the 1959 Women’s National Downhill Championship, which she won. I paired the photo with old Aspen ski lift tickets, and I love how the colors work together with the black and white photo.”
Gorsuch represented the U.S. in the 1960 Winter Olympic Games and, with her husband Dave Gorsuch, grew their first ski shop in Gunnison into a lifestyle brand across many small ski towns. The Gorsuch family annually donates hundreds of pairs of skis to AVSC to create accessibility to skiing for youth in the Roaring Fork Valley. The Ajax Cup’s trophy is named the Gorsuch Cup. Renie Gorsuch passed away in 2023.
Sweeney was unable to attend Wednesday’s unveiling, but Gorsuch’s granddaughter Mariel Gorsuch did, noting that the poster’s style aimed to “revive the timeless aesthetic of badass women at the forefront of mountain culture.”
Nearly 20 people entered submissions for the poster contest.
The poster joins many of its predecessors on the CMC walls for the exhibition. The Ajax Cup’s poster designs were previously designed by Rainy Day Designs’ Erin Rigney.
“We were thrilled when CMC approached us to exhibit the posters and we are so pleased with this collaboration,” Ash Farrington, AVSC stewardship director, said in a news release. “We’re celebrating our 90th anniversary in 2027, and this was a great inspiration for us to dig into our files and closets and see what other powerful moments we can share.”
“The Art of Skiing” is on display through Nov. 21. The Ajax Cup will return on the Little Nell on Aspen Mountain on Dec. 30. More information is available at teamavsc.org.
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