Every skier and snowboarder spends plenty of time staring at resort trail maps, and there is a high probability that the map was created by artist James Niehues.
Since working on his first trail map in 1988, Niehues has painstakingly painted the trail maps of 300 ski resorts on five continents, including resorts in Australia and New Zealand.
Every map is hand painted over several months by brush and airbrush using opaque water colours to showcase a resort’s beauty and capture the details of the peaks, lifts, trees and buildings.
Niehaus will be honoured in March 2020 when he is inducted into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Sun Valley, Idaho, one of the many resorts he has painted.
Sun Valley is one of the maps included in Niehaus’ stunning coffee table book – ‘The Man Behind The Maps’ which highlights more than 200 trail maps over 292 pages.
Check out his incredible works of art here.
