Covid-related delays at the printer and post office caused the November-December issue of Skiing History to mail a month late. The online version posted right after Thanksgiving, and you can read it here. Here’s what you’ll find:
Aspen’s Anniversary: 75 years ago, Aspen built its first chairlifts and opened for business. Most of us are familiar with the story of how racing champion Friedl Pfeifer returned as a wounded veteran of the 10th Mountain Division and forged a partnership with Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke to form the Aspen Skiing Company. In this issue, Aspen-based writer and editor Cindy Hirschfeld tells the story of the locals who surveyed the ground, cut the trees, dug the footings, hauled and poured the concrete, assembled the towers, hung cables and chairs, and then ran the lifts and ski school.
100th Anniversary of Megève, the first purpose-built resort in France. When the Baroness Noemie de Rothschild took a break from running a military hospital during World War I, she went skiing at St. Moritz. There she bumped into the German arms-maker (and notorious antisemite) Gustav Krupp. She swore to build an all-French resort, and in December 1921 opened her Hotel Prima in this medieval village just off the main road from Geneva to Chamonix. Under the stewardship of four generations of Rothschilds, the resort has maintained is ultra-luxe ambience. The skiing is good, too: After all, Megeve produced Emile Allais. Article by Bob Soden.
Ron’s Last Run: We go into the New Year mourning the sudden death of our great friend and longtime contributor Ron LeMaster. His obituary is on the SkiingHistory.org website now. This issue contains the last article he wrote for us – the history of ruade, the “horse-kick” turn that evolved into down-unweighting and paved the way for avalement.
American Downhiller Marco Sullivan retired after 105 World Cup starts and went to promote Alpine speed through coaching and an award-winning film. Edie Thys Morgan reports.
Walter Kofler Invented Kofix, the first polyethylene base, in 1952. It replaced celloid bases and revolutionized ski racing, making the Austrian and Swiss teams dominant at the 1956 Olympics. By Seth Masia.
150 Years of Skiing in Yellowstone. Explorers, poachers and even the U.S. Cavalry skied into the bitterly cold, snowbound National Park beginning around 1872. By Jay Cowan.
Meet the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame Class of 2021, with boot designer Sven Coomer, snowmaking genius Herman Dupre, skiing stuntman John Eaves, retail pioneers Dave and Renie Gorsuch, broadcaster Peter Graves, freeskiing hero Mike Hattrup, ski mountaineer Jan Reynolds and pro freestyler Alan Schoenberger.
Farewell to Ski Pioneers Rupert Huber of Atomic Skis, inventor of the fat powder ski; racing promotors Anne and Joe Jones; adaptive ski coach Hal O’Leary; Whistler general manager Peter Alder; Burke Academy founder and ski-racer Martha Coughlin Corrock; and pro racer Paul Carson.
The January-February issue should mail around mid-January, but you can already read Edie Morgan’s brilliant report on the upcoming Olympics, Beijing Olympic Alpine courses are a mystery.
