The 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley were magical. Crowds of nearly 50,000 packed the small valley near Lake Tahoe as Walt Disney enraptured them with pageantry. Just five years earlier, entrepreneur Alex Cushing defied all odds as unknown Squaw Valley upended Austria to get the Games. This winter, Squaw Valley will celebrate the 50th anniversary of those history Olympics.

At the opening ceremonies, 1952 double gold medalist Andrea Mead Lawrence skied the torch down the mountain to kickoff the Games.  After dominating women's alpine skiing in 1948 and 1952, the Americans were shutout at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy in 1956. But a pair of young New England women were about to change that.

As teens in the mid-50s, New Hampshire's Penny Pitou and Vermont's Betsy Snite Riley rose to the top of their sport, winning major European titles and creating a potent Pitou-Riley one-two punch that the Austrian press called unbeatable. Coming into America's first Winter Olympics since Lake Placid in 1932, the two became media darlings – especially Pitou, who carried a huge burden of expectations on her shoulders. They were on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which described Snite as: "Poised, sophisticated and - on occasion – ruthless."

They didn't disappoint. In the women's downhill – an event added four years earlier in Cortina – Pitou became the first American to earn a speed event medal, taking silver. She backed it up with another silver in GS, while Snite won her silver in slalom.

They were American heroes – capturing the hearts of the nation which watched them live on CBS. An entire generation of skiers was created as they watched the snowflakes blanket the towering peaks around Lake Tahoe in quintessential Walt Disney fashion.

Pitou and Snite, meanwhile, went on to become icons in the sport – both enshrined in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, MI. Sadly, Snite Riley died in 1984, while her fellow Olympic medalist Pitou remains active in her travel business in New Hampshire,  having been a lifelong, passionate ambassador of skiing.

America's top skiers and snowboarders are Vancouver Bound, headed for the world's biggest sporting event that occurs every four years this February. They head to Vancouver with goals, dreams and aspirations, following in the footsteps of U.S. athletes who have established a legacy of Olympic success since the Winter Olympics began in 1924. Learn more about the great accomplishments of American skiers and snowboarders at www.usskiteam.com/vancouverbound. And to help support today's Vancouver Bound U.S. Ski Team - athletes who have made a lifetime commitment to their sport - you can join the new U.S. Ski Team Fan Club.