Skiing took Herby around the world

COEUR d’ALENE — It was love at first flight.

The day 10-year-old Dan Herby stepped into a pair of leather, lace-up boots, locked into cable bindings, pointed the ski tips downhill and flew, he knew he was addicted. No turning back.

Skiing became an immediate passion for Herby and eventually propelled him into the international spotlight at the pinnacle of aerobatics. It became a glamorous but challenging career over time.

And it started on that first day with a buddy at Schweitzer Mountain.

“We’re going to be skiers, his friend said. I said, ‘What’s a skier?’ He said, ‘We’ll meet girls.’

“But it was about the freedom. For me it was a way to express yourself. I loved it, and I still love it today,” said the 56-year-old father of two.

“You see the same group of people and everybody having a positive experience. Very rarely do you go to a ski mountain and see somebody having a bad day. I don’t think there’s a more positive atmosphere out there.”

Not that Herby was unhappy growing up in downtown Coeur d’Alene. He moved with his family to the Lake City from Boise when he was 5.

“I thought it was Nirvana,” he said.

He could jump on a mini-bike and cut through open fields. In winter, he would climb aboard a snowmobile parked in the driveway of his home near Best Avenue.

“Nobody said ‘boo.’ From Ninth Street to 15th it was all open country, just fields. It was awesome. There were lots of positive distractions for a youngster with a lot of energy.”

His father, a contractor, who initially came from Minnesota — the Land of 1,000 Lakes — chose smaller Cocolalla Lake near Sandpoint over Lake Coeur d’Alene as a summer retreat.

“He’d park a camp trailer there as soon as school let out and we’d stay there for 90 days. All summer,” he said.

“So being a builder, he bought some property there and built a cabin, which we still own today. So now my children are enjoying what I got to enjoy. We just have a ball. It’s so nice to share that with another generation.”

Herby attended junior high and high school in Coeur d’Alene.

“You knew everybody. That was really interesting,” he said. “You had a huge pool of friends,” many of whom were skiers.

At 17, they convinced him to attempt freestyle mogul and aerobatics competition.

“I finished last in my neighborhood but I kept pecking away and coming up the ladder,” he said. “When I graduated from high school that was still in me but I wanted to take it to the next level. But I couldn’t do it here in North Idaho and the Pacific Northwest.”

Herby attended a year at North Idaho College, then abruptly changed directions.

“I wanted to make it to the national championships. So I went to my father and said, ‘I’m going to take a little gap here and pursue this skiing thing that’s bugging me.’ He said, ‘I have money for school but I don’t have money for skiing.’”

So Herby and high school buddy Bob Legasa loaded up a car and headed for Lake Tahoe, Calif., the mecca for high-flying skiers.

Intimidated at first, they persisted. Herby eventually won nationals in freestyle and traveled through Europe with the U.S. Ski Team.

After overcoming a back injury, he was hired by the Volvo Ski Team in Sweden and traveled the world for several years performing demonstrations.

Herby and Legasa also created their own operation, Outrageous Air, and performed for about six years at a host of venues including ski shows in the U.S. and Canada and NFL halftime shows as well as appearing in Warren Miller movies.

Perhaps the most challenging stunt, Herby said, was performing aerobatics on their 40-foot-high ramp on a float in the Rose Bowl parade, especially as the float rounded corners. But it earned them an audience of millions.

“We traveled for a lot of years and looked at a lot of beautiful places, but look at what we have right here,” Herby said. “Life can take you in a lot of different directions. For me, I was just so fortunate to get my eyes open. I forgoed my college education, but traveling abroad for that many years was an education in itself. It was a wonderful time to meet people from all over the planet.”

Herby and his wife, Kristi, were married in 1988. She’s the author of a series of children’s books.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to lose this one. She’s the one for me. So I’m not going to join the tour next year,’” he said.

Herby has since returned to his home and more than a decade ago started a business, Herby Construction.

Herby said he misses the freedom of the ski slope, but has no regrets.

“I didn’t realize how special it was at the time. I took it for granted. I’ve called my (former) boss and said, ‘Thank you for giving a kid from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, an opportunity like you did.’

“Once I decided skiing wasn’t my main focus, family became my main focus and I’ve really enjoyed being a parent and a husband,” he said. “I’ve got as much joy as I ever did out of my traveling and competing and performing.”