Going downhill with two thin pieces of specially designed wood and fiberglass beneath his feet still feels good to Laramie’s John Rowland.
He recently celebrated his 92nd birthday taking on the slopes at Snowy Range Ski Area.
The man who once enjoyed the challenging runs outside Teton Village in Jackson, now limits himself to tamer descents at his local ski resort.
“Being that I am 92, I am much more conservative than I used to be,” he said. “I stick to the blue runs out at Snowy Range.”
Rowland, who said he moved to Wyoming in 1966 to teach mathematics at the University of Wyoming, has been on skis for much of his life. He grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, and remembers being 3 or 4 years old and strapping on skis over his “galoshes” to head down little hills.
The sport took on new meaning when a Sunday school teacher took him and others to a Pennsylvania ski resort when he was 11. He had skis with actual bindings at that point.
While at Penn State University, he and college buddies took their skiing to a new level by traveling to the highest peak in New England, New Hampshire’s rugged Mount Washington at 6,288 feet.
The goal was to ski down the mountain’s Tuckerman Ravine on its southeast face.
“That’s where I got interested in skiing really steep slopes,” he said. “There weren’t any lifts. There still aren’t any lifts.”
The ride down required Rowland and the others to climb up the mountain in ski boots and carry their skis. He characterizes the boots in those years as more flexible than the ones that are used for downhill skiing today.
Rowland earned his bachelor’s degree in geophysics from Penn State University, a master’s in mathematics from the University of Washington in Seattle, and his doctorate in mathematics from Penn State.
Ski Vacations
Once landing his job at the University of Wyoming, he sought opportunities to take on the higher elevation challenges in Wyoming and Colorado. A father of four with his first wife, Rowland recalls that when the children were old enough, they would take ski vacations to Steamboat Springs and Jackson Hole.
Staying ready for the steeper slopes, Rowland’s routine during ski season was to spend time a few hours traversing the slopes at Snowy Range on a regular basis.
“When I was younger and could ski the big mountains it was always the place to keep in shape so when you went to Steamboat you didn’t get cramps in your legs and all that because your muscles were in shape and so on,” he said. “I used to go frequently for just half a day. You could drive out there in about an hour and ski for half a day and get a lot of exercise.”
That desire and drive have never left him. That’s why on his birthday, Feb. 20, he was back on the slopes.
Snowy Range owner Aaron Maddox characterized Rowland as a “supporter of the ski area forever.”
“(He is) one of our favorites,” he said.
To stay in shape for skiing and other activities, Rowland said he exercises regularly trying to get in some pushups and knee bends. In the summer, he still rides his bike but avoids Laramie’s more busy areas and stays on side streets.
Another year-round activity is tennis. He plays indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. His game is mainly doubles now but in his younger days he enjoyed taking on singles opponents.
“If I don’t have to move very far, I can still hit some pretty good shots, I am not as quick as I used to be,” he said. “If somebody lobs it over my head, I say ‘It’s yours.’”
‘Active’ Mentor
Rowland mentions former University of Wyoming professor of statistics William “Bill” Guenther, who lived to be 104, as a great mentor, friend and inspiration to him. Guenther, who died on Oct. 20, 2025, stayed extremely active until his 90s and even then kept going, Rowland said.
The friends spent time hiking and fishing and Rowland recalls that the former World War II veteran and navigator on bombers over Germany, would emphasize the need to stay busy and get outdoors.
“I could never keep up with him even though he was about 12 years older than me until he got to be about 90,” Rowland said.
Looking back over his life, Rowland said he was too young for World War II and took ROTC in college. He was still in college during the Korean War and then married with children, so was never drafted into the service.
As a high school student, he remembers many World War II veterans telling him, “not to volunteer for anything.”
“They said, ‘war is hell’ and if ‘you can avoid it, you should,’” he said. “I guess that was my outlook on life.”
After leaving the university, the mountains and his friends are what have kept him from looking at any other retirement destinations.
Computer Programs
Heading toward his own century mark, Rowland understands that a lot of things he used to be able to do are more challenging now. But to avoid just sitting around the house and feeling “sorry for yourself” he tries to be active not only physically, but mentally.
As a former math professor who taught a lot of engineering math courses, including calculus and numerical analysis geared to help students write programs for mathematical computation on a computer, Rowland still writes computer programs for himself.
And with his second wife, Virginia Vincenti, also a former University of Wyoming professor, he plans to keep going to the ski slope, though he said she sometimes is not as eager as he is.
When is he going to stop?
“I’ve told my barber, ‘Until I get hurt.’ He says to me ‘Wouldn’t it be smart to quit before you get hurt?’” Rowland said. “I guess as long as I am able, I would like to ski. I’m not sure how long that will be.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
