The Red Bench Speaker Series Presents,
Celebrating Vermont’s Olympians: Inspiring Journeys to the Winter Games
Thursday, November 20, 2025
7 PM via ZOOM
Join us for a special virtual conversation with four remarkable women Olympians from the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame as we look ahead to the 2026 Winter Games. Hear firsthand how they got their start, what it felt like to make the U.S. Olympic Team, and who inspired them along the way. Celebrate their stories of passion, perseverance, and pride in representing Team USA on the world stage.
We’re honored to welcome Olympic gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, cross-country skiing pioneer Trina Hosmer, snowboarding trailblazer Betsy Shaw, and freestyle skiing legend Donna Weinbrecht for this inspiring panel discussion.
Moderating this event will be Peter Graves, television sportscaster and race announcer for alpine, cross-country, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing. Well known as the voice of skiing in America, Peter has covered hundreds of Olympic, World Cup, and championship events.
This virtual event begins at 7:00 PM via Zoom. Virtual Red Bench events remain complimentary; however, during a time when funding for cultural organizations is diminishing, we would be grateful for a $10 donation to help support the Museum’s mission to collect, preserve, and celebrate Vermont’s rich skiing and snowboarding history.
Thank you Red Bench Speaker Series sponsors, Spruce Peak, rk Miles, Sisler Builders, and Vermont Ski + Ride.
Barbara Ann Cochran
Barbara Ann won her first U.S. Junior Title in 1966 in the Giant Slalom. She and her sister Marilyn attended the U.S. Alpine Training Camp in 1965-66 and were both named Athlete of the Month in March 1966. As a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1969 to 1974, Barbara was the U.S. Women’s GS Champion in 1969 and 1970 and won the 1971 Slalom Championship. Named to the 1972 Olympic Team, she brought home a gold medal in Slalom and had the honor of carrying the U.S. flag in the closing ceremonies.
After retiring from World Cup competition in 1974, Barbara attended the University of Vermont, coached at racing camps and the women’s alpine team at UVM. She was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1976. After living in Washington, D.C., while writing for The Washington Post, she returned home, began her teaching career in Vermont public schools, and became Ski School Director at Cochran’s. She was inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2004.
After retiring from teaching and the ski school, Barbara wrote Hike the Course: A Journey of Family, Passion and Olympic Success for Inspiring and Transforming Athletes of All Ages. She now mentors athletes worldwide, helping them build a foundation which allows them to compete at the best of their ability. She is a proud mother of two. Cate works for Tekion in the automotive industry, and Ryan, an alpine skier, won silver at the Beijing Winter Games and is aiming to be named to the 2026 Olympic team. She is also a grandmother and lives in Starksboro, Vermont.
Trina Hosmer
Trina B. Hosmer came to the University of Vermont for her master’s program in 1966, when very few women were cross-country skiing. Her future husband, Dave Hosmer, then captain of the UVM ski team, got her going. She first skied in Putney in 1966, and from that first day on snow, she was determined to perfect her kick and glide. A natural athlete and competitor, Trina was also a national-caliber 1,500-meter runner and an avid cyclist.
Trina was selected for the first international U.S. Women’s Ski Team, competing in the Nordic World Championships in Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia, in 1970. She represented the United States in the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, the first to include women’s cross-country skiing events.
While raising a family and working as a statistical software consultant at UMass, Trina continued to race and share her love of skiing with other women. She has won countless medals at Masters Nationals and Masters World Championships and was inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2015. Still a force on the World Masters race circuit, Trina works closely with the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) to foster cross-country skiing programs and is a tireless advocate for women in Nordic skiing.
Betsy Shaw
Betsy likes to say she was raised in a small wooden shack that once housed the Bromley Outing Club, because that’s where her best childhood memories were made. At 18, she left her college ski team and soon picked up a snowboard. Little did she know that snowboarding, and the support of Jake Burton Carpenter, who offered her a spot on the Burton Team, would take her around the world and all the way to the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, where snowboarding made its Olympic debut.
Her career highlight, aside from winning a U.S. Open Slalom title, was clinching the Women’s Overall World Cup Giant Slalom title in 1995. Betsy was inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2014.
A recent transplant to the UK, Betsy now lives car-free in Scotland and serves as an athlete ambassador for Protect Our Winters UK, a climate advocacy organization.
Donna Weinbrecht
Growing up in New Jersey, Donna and her family were introduced to skiing by a neighbor. Her parents and her two siblings each adapted to the sport differently but they all enjoyed the freedom and ambience of the small local ski area, Hidden Valley. Donna tried racing, but when a ballet skier came to teach tricks, she was immediately hooked. Ski trips throughout New England eventually brought the family to Killington, where Donna discovered mogul skiing on Outer Limits. She found her passion and a community of like-minded freestyle skiers.
After high school, Donna enrolled in the Ridgewood School of Art and Design, but when it closed midyear, she returned to Killington and dedicated herself to training in mogul skiing. And she did it, without a coach, without specialized camps, and without a team
In her rookie year on the U.S. Ski Team (1988-89), freestyle skiing was a demonstration event at the 1988 Calgary Games. When mogul skiing debuted as an official Olympic sport in 1992, Donna made history as the first woman to win Olympic gold in freestyle skiing.
The sudden fame was overwhelming, and in 1993 she suffered a serious knee injury, but her resilience carried her back to the 1994 Olympics, where she finished 7th. She tried out for the 1998 team and finished 4th. She ended her career as the most decorated mogul skier in history, earning five World Cup mogul titles, 46 World Cup victories, seven U.S. national titles, one World Championship gold, two World Championship silvers, and one Olympic gold.
Today, Donna remains a passionate advocate for the sport. She runs The Donna Weinbrecht Experience, women’s-specific all-terrain and co-ed mogul camps, and offers a limited number of private ski days at Killington. Her love for skiing and the outdoors, born on the slopes of New Jersey and Vermont, still shines bright.
