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Still Going Downhill · History · Eagle Mount

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“They shall mount up with wings as eagles.”Isaiah 40:31 · where Eagle Mount found its name

If you've ridden the chair on a winter Sunday, you've seen them: a skier in a sit-ski, a volunteer behind on tethers, two or three more skiing alongside. That's Eagle Mount Great Falls, up Kings Hill since February 1992, and the deal behind it was never written down. It was a handshake.

Give to Eagle Mount Volunteer on the hill
Two Eagle Ski volunteers in their bibs help a young skier on a walker at the top of the chairlift, 1990s
Eagle Ski at the top of the chair, 1990s
  • 1992the first Eagle Ski day at Showdown, February 5
  • 36winters on Kings Hill, counting 2026–27
  • 103the age of the oldest person Eagle Mount has served; the youngest was six weeks old
  • $2from every copy of the 90th-anniversary book

The handshake

No paper. Just lunch.

Bill Macfadden and George Willett were already friends. Every fall the two of them went to lunch, argued over who was buying, and shook hands on one more season of Eagle Mount at Showdown. Showdown gives every skier and volunteer a lift ticket, and a place to keep the equipment.

Bill hired Deb Sivumaki in 2000. When he could no longer make that lunch, she kept it going with George, and she'll tell you the handshake turned into hugs. Today it goes on with Katie Boedecker.

Thirty-six seasons

Press the button to shake on each one, from the first winter to this one.

The history, one gate at a time

How it came down the hill

  1. 1982 · Bozeman

    A general and his wife

    Robert and Greta Mathis, a retired Air Force general and his wife, set out to give people with disabilities the outdoors. They named it from Isaiah. Their very first program was skiing, at Bridger Bowl.

  2. 1982 · Kings Hill

    Showdown was already doing this

    The same winter, Showdown started hosting the Winter Special Olympics. So Eagle Mount didn't bring adaptive skiing to this mountain. It joined something the hill already did, and made it every week.

  3. 1990 · Great Falls

    A phone call, and a man retiring

    Marian Gutzwiler, a recreational therapist at Montana Deaconess, called Bozeman and asked when they were going to start an Eagle Mount up here. Bill Macfadden retired from D.A. Davidson and, the way Eagle Mount tells it, went to work on it that same day. By November he chaired its board. Lessons were five dollars an hour, and nobody was turned away.

  4. Winter 1990–91

    A hundred and eighty miles to ski

    The first winter the Great Falls skiers drove to Bridger Bowl. The plan was always Showdown: closer to home, terrain for beginners and experts, and a staff that was, as Marian put it, very supportive.

  5. February 5, 1992

    Eagle Ski comes up Kings Hill

    Six weeks, midweek: 35 skiers on sleds, walker skis and tethers, with six staff and thirty-two volunteers. One of those volunteers was Showdown's owner, George Willett.

  6. July 1994

    Heather Martin starts

    She's still there, thirty-two years on, now Eagle Mount Great Falls' operations director.

  7. 1995

    Its own wings

    Eagle Mount Great Falls started under Eagle Mount in Bozeman. In May 1995 it became a nonprofit of its own.

  8. May 2000

    Bill hires Deb Sivumaki

    She runs Eagle Mount Great Falls today. She remembers Bill as a man with a big heart and a true love for people with disabilities, and says he handed all of it down to her and Heather.

  9. March 8, 2003

    The Dick Dailey Memorial Cup

    Dick Dailey, one of the first volunteers, died in 2002. Eagle Mount renamed its race at Showdown for him: teams of four, a Calcutta, and every dollar to the adaptive ski program.

  10. November 2013

    Twenty-two years of the handshake

    Showdown posted a picture of Bill and George side by side, renewing their handshake for the last 22 years.

  11. Winter 2026–27

    Sundays on the hill

    The volunteers train in Great Falls and then on the mountain, and the lessons run on Sundays through March. Today's dates are on eaglemount.net.

Still coming down. Still shaking on it.

On the hill

What one ski day takes

From the chair it looks like a group that drove up to go skiing. There's a lot more behind it, and you can't rent any of it. Most of it is paid for by private donors and grants.

  • A sit-skiA seat on skis for a skier who can't stand, steered with the body and, sometimes, short outriggers.
  • A bi-ski or mono-skiTwo skis or one under the seat, for skiers at different stages.
  • TethersLines from the chair back to a volunteer, who skis behind and helps steer and slow.
  • Two or three volunteersThe ideal for every skier, so they can ski alongside like anybody else. Fifty is the number Eagle Mount would love to have.
  • Strong skiersEagle Mount doesn't teach skiing. It teaches the adaptive part, on dry land in Great Falls and then on the mountain.
  • A lift crew that knows the loadShowdown's operators learn to load the sit-skis every season, because the crew changes every year.

Eagle Mount brings the adaptive part of the schools' ski program to Showdown too, so no kid sits out.

It's how a skiing family keeps skiing together: brothers and sisters on the same hill, and parents who can learn to ski with their own child.

All year

Beyond the snow

Skiing was Eagle Mount's first program, and it's still one of its best known. But the Great Falls chapter runs all year from its five acres on Franklin Avenue.

  • HorsesRiding, and EMPACT, where the horses are the teachers.
  • Tiny TotsFor little ones and their parents, year round.
  • Paddle sportsAdaptive rafts, kayaks and paddleboards.
  • FriendsBowling, social groups, Friday nights out and summer all over town.

Come to them when you're one, and stay until you're a hundred and twenty.The way Heather Martin, Eagle Mount's operations director, puts it

The Legends

The people who built it

Eagle Mount isn't a Legend on this site. Its people are.

From the archive

Eagle Mount on Kings Hill

A few of the photographs the archive holds. Press one to see it on its decade's page.

Bill Macfadden, left, and George Willett at a table, 2013
Bill Macfadden, left, with George Willett, November 2013Showdown Facebook Collection
A sit-skier on tethers with an instructor in a yellow and black jacket, 1990s
A sit-ski on tethers, 1990sWillett Family Photos
Eagle Mount poster: Volunteers Needed, Eagle Mount celebrates 25 years
Eagle Mount's call for ski volunteers in its twenty-fifth winter, November 2015Showdown Facebook Collection
A stand-up skier between two volunteers coming off the chairlift, 1990s
Off the chair: a stand-up skier and two volunteers, 1990sWillett Family Photos
A volunteer in a costume hat with a young skier in a sit-ski by the lodge, 1990s
On the lodge deck, a costume day, 1990sGeorge Willett Collection
A sit-skier with outriggers and an instructor on a groomed run, 1997
Outriggers and a groomed run, 1997George Willett Collection
Instructors in yellow and black jackets with a young skier, 1999
Instructors in the yellow and black, 1999George Willett Collection
An instructor tethering a sit-skier down the Golden Goose, 2000
On the Golden Goose, 2000Diane Carter Collection
A volunteer tethering a young skier in a bi-ski, 2018
Volunteer with Eagle Mount and the lift ticket's on Showdown, 2018Showdown Facebook Collection
Two instructors with a tethered sit-skier on a wide run, 2000s
A wide-open run, 2000sGeorge Willett Collection

The 90th gives back

Two dollars from every book

  • $2 a copyEvery copy of 90 Years and Still Going Downhill, standard or custom, sends two dollars to Eagle Mount Great Falls.
  • A page of its ownEagle Mount's own page in the book, with its QR code, and its logo on the back cover.
  • The Legend priceFor Eagle Mount families and staff: make an account, open Bill Macfadden's page, press This is me and say you're with Eagle Mount. Once Charley or Ally approve it, you'll see the Legend price.
See the book Give to Eagle Mount

Help us finish it

What we still don't know

  • When Bill and George first shook on it. No paper has ever been found, and that may be the point.
  • Who ran the ski program between the mid-1990s and 2010, and how many skiers came each winter.
  • Whether a winter was ever missed. If you know, tell us.
  • Where Bill's famous buffalo hat ended up.