Olympian Picabo Street famously won a gold medal in Japan after crashing and blowing out her knee on Pepi’s Face in Vail back in the ’90s. Now she’s trying to crash the Vail Resorts’ boardroom party in an escalating shareholder proxy battle for company control.

In a press release Friday morning, Vail Resorts acknowledged the two-time Olympic-medalist ski racer and Park City, Utah, resident is among a group of four nominees for the board of directors of the Broomfield, Colo.-based ski company who are associated with Oasis Management.

A hedge-fund management firm based in Hong Kong, Oasis reportedly owns anywhere between 6% and 8% of the stock in Vail Resorts (MTN) and has been making headlines for its rumored takeover bid to possibly force the company to sell off some of its 42 ski areas worldwide.

Vail Resorts Friday reported it received notices of intent to nominate five people for its board of directors on certain dates, with the nominating window closing on Thursday: Robert A. Chapek of Florida, M. Ashton Hudson of Florida, Bryce Roberts of Utah, and Picabo Street of Utah, all via Oasis Management. The company also received a self-nomination of Gregory Syvert Meyer of Florida, apparently not via Oasis.

“Vail Resorts prioritizes consistent engagement with shareholders and welcomes ongoing dialogue around the shared interest of continuing to drive long-term shareholder value,” Vail Resorts stated in the release. “As previously announced, the Company has an active, fulsome search underway for a new independent Director, which it expects to complete in early 2027.”

On Sept. 2, Vail Resorts announced the departure of Sue Decker from the board after 11 years. In July, Vail Resorts added MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle, a Park City homeowner, to the board.

“After evaluating all candidates, the Board will include its recommended slate of director nominees in the Company’s proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and distributed to all shareholders eligible to vote at the annual meeting,” Vail Resorts stated in Friday’s release, referencing a required meeting with a so-far unspecified date that will take place later this year. “Vail Resorts shareholders are not required to take any action at this time.”

Street, an Idaho native who lives in Park City, provided this comment to the Park Record newspaper on Friday: “I’ve spent my life skiing, winning Olympic medals, and giving back to the sport. Over the years l’ve learned that real success isn’t just about gold medals — it’s about passing that love on. This is my way of bringing back the magic of skiing to even more people and families.

“Whether visitors are strapping on boots for the very first time or chasing powder on a cold morning, I want them to feel the same spark I felt as a kid. It’s time to make these mountains more welcoming, more fun, and a better run for everyone,” Street added.

Why is Park City so pivotal in the board of directors battle? Discontent over Vail Resorts ownership has been simmering there for years, with complaints about crowding, infrastructure and worker pay wreaking havoc during recent seasons, including a debilitating ski patrol strike.

In an interview this summer with the Vail Daily, Park City native son and tech billionaire Matthew Prince once again urged Vail Resorts to sell the ski area to him so he could properly invest in the employees and the mechanical infrastructure of the mountain where he once taught skiing before launching Cloudflare.

Prince told the Vail Daily that the shareholder activist strategy is fairly straightforward in acquiring enough stock to force a board of directors vote on the direction of the company, either by changing leadership, taking the company private, selling off individual resorts, or all three. He emphasized at the time that he was not part of any activist takeover and doesn’t own VR stock.

“Every one of the activist firms that is sniffing around Vail, and there are lots, has called me because I’m part of the strategy,” Prince told the Vail Daily. “If they can find me and a handful of other people at the other resorts who are willing to pay to take over the resorts, then it becomes really inexpensive for them to actually launch this campaign because they’ve basically got a guaranteed source of financing to do it.”

Oasis officials did not respond to requests for comment for that story, in which some longtime Vail residents also discussed the future of the company and the possibility of Vail Resorts being compelled to spin off individual ski areas.

Vail Resorts in July launched Epic Experience to try to improve dining, customer service and other aspects of the ski experience at its various resorts.

Street, who runs a school for winter-sports athletes in Park City and is an NBC Sports commentator, would be any interesting choice for the company’s board.

Besides her painful connection to Vail — Street’s training-run crash on Pepi’s in 1996 led to recovery after surgery by Vail’s Dr. Richard Steadman and a super-G Olympic gold in Nagano — she was a women’s sports role model for former Vail resident Lindsey Vonn, who is widely considered the greatest women’s speed-event ski racer (downhill, super-G) of all time.

In fact, Vail’s original World Cup race course, International, which descended into the finish stadium in what’s now Mountain Plaza above Pepi’s Face — named for Austrian ski-racing great and Vail pioneer Pepi Gramshammer – has been renamed “Lindsey’s” in honor of Vonn.

Vonn won Olympic gold in downhill 2010 and 84 World Cup races in her career, and Street was by her side in the hospital at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, after the heavily favored Vonn crashed in training and failed to medal at those Games.

Former Vail Daily Editor and current Denver Post Sports Editor Nate Peterson profiled Street back in 2005.

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.

Original reporting from vaildaily.com