Peter J. Lahdenpera

Pekka Juhani “Peter” Lahdenpera of Fort Collins Colorado, a five-time Olympian in biathlon and cross country and co-founder of the Alpine Haus sporting goods stores has died.

Lahdenpera, born December 29, 1935 in Helsinki, Finland came to the US with his mother and siblings in 1948 following his father Erkki Lahdenpera, an officer with the Finnish army who managed to escape capture by authorities pursuing him for his leadership role in the 1945 Finnish Weapons Cache Case.

After graduation from Fitchburg High School in Massachusetts, he attended Middlebury College in Vermont and as a member of the cross country ski team won numerous races and earned All American accolades. After graduating in 1959, he became an officer stationed the U.S. Army’s Modern Winter Biathlon Training Center in Alaska and eventually competed on the US Cross Country and Biathlon teams at multiple World Championships as well as five US Olympic teams between 1960 and 1972 in both Biathlon and Cross Country. No other participant has ever managed to qualify on multiple teams at the same Winter Olympics and Peter did so twice—in 1960 and again in 1964.

Lahdenpera’s contributions to the sport of biathlon over several decades included coaching, development and administration leading to his induction into the U.S. Biathlon Association’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

Lahdenpera married Susanne Bildstein in 1960 and had two children over a fifteen year marriage.

In 1963, Lahdenpera and his then-wife Susanne co-founded the Alpine Haus sporting goods company in Fort Collins, a store that introduced thousands of local residents to alpine activities that eventually grew to include several shops in Colorado and Wyoming as well as a sporting goods distribution network. Later, he ran a division of Gart Brothers Sporting Goods and served on the Gart Brothers Board of Directors. Over the years, Lahdenpera was involved in multiple sporting goods related ventures including Alpen Court Limited, On the Move—a women’s active wear store chain, and Promats a sporting goods safety mat company, among others.

Lahdenpera is survived by his sister Enja Borgmann, daughter Heather Lahdenpera, and two grandchildren, Evan and Cade Shortridge. When he passed away on July 3, 2019 he was predeceased by his father and mother Ellie Lahdenpera (Sotisaari), his son Erik, his former wife Susanne, and brother Veijo “Boyd” Lahdenpera.

A private memorial service will be held by family members at a future date. In lieu of flowers, please make a contribution in Peter’s name to www.teamusa.org/us-biathlon.