2020s

Ski Museums of the World 2026

AUSTRALIA

Mount Buller, Victoria

National Alpine Museum of Australia, Inc.

Level 1 Alpine Central, Summit Road, Mt. Buller, Victoria 3723

Curator: Michelle Stevenson

E-mail: info@nama.org

Tel: +61 418 976 338

Website: www.nama.org.au

Open Winter: Saturday 12.00 – 15.00

Open Summer: Saturday 11.00 – 15.00.  Every second Thursday 11.00 – 15.00.

Admission: Free

Thredbo, New South Wales

Thredbo Ski Museum

Thredbo Historical Society, P.O. Box 6, Thredbo, NSW 2625

Contact: Christina Webb

E-mail: via website

Tel: +61 2 9449 7610

Website: www.thredboskimuseum.com

Open: 26 December – 26 January (closed Mondays)

            February, March, April, October weekends and public holidays

            July - September daily (closed Mondays)

            Call for hours

 Closed: May, November, December 1 – 25

Admission: Free

AUSTRIA

Damüls, Vorarlberg

FIS Skimuseum Damüls

Kirchdorf 138, 6884 Damüls

Director/Curator: Christian Lingenhöle

E-mail: info@damuels.travel

Tel: +43 5510 6200

Website: www.damuels.travel

Open: December—April, and June—September: Tuesday and Friday 15.00—18.00

Closed: May, October, November

Admission: Free

Emphasis on Vorarlberg skiing and ski production and competition. Victor Sohm, Hannes Schneider, Georg Bilgeri featured.

Haus im Ennstal, Steiermark/Styria

Wintersportmuseum

Schlossplatz 189, 8967 Haus im Ennstal

Director: Willi Wawra

E-mail: wintersportmuseum@haus.at

Tel: +43 3686 2207-17

Website: www.haus.at/de/kultur/wintersportmuseum.php

Open: Tuesdays 10.00 – 12.00 and Wednesdays 16.30 – 20.30 and by appointment

Admission: €2 ($2.50), children: €1 ($1.25)

Hinterstoder, Oberösterreich/Upper Austria

Alpineum Hinterstoder

4573 Hinterstoder

Contact: Sabrina Plursch

E-mail: hinterstoder@pyhrn-priel.net

Tel: +43 7564 5263 99

Website: www.alpineum.at

Open: Monday—Friday 8.00—12.00 and 14.00—17.00

           Weekends by arrangement

Admission: Adult €4 ($5), Child €2.20 ($2.50), Family €8 ($10)

Exhibits showing change from mountain farm village to summer and winter tourism. Strong on local skiing with downhill simulator and avalanche detector exhibits.

Hirschegg, Vorarlberg

Wintersportmuseum im Walserhaus

Walserhaus, Walserstrasse 64, 6992 Hirschegg

E-mail: info@walserhaus.at

Tel: +43 5517 5114 460

Website: www.walserhaus.at

Open: Monday-Saturday 9.00—17.00.  Sundays and holidays 8.00—15.00

Admission: Free

Hochpillberg, Tirol

Schimuseum Hotel Grafenast

Bio-Hotel Grafenast, Pillbergstrasse 205, 6130 Hochpillberg

E-mail: sehnsucht@grafenast.at

Tel: +43 5242 63209

Website: www.grafenast.at

Open: By appointment

Admission: Free

Private collection of the Unterlechner family.

Lilienfeld, Nieder Österreich/Lower Austria

Bezirks-Heimatmuseum mit Zdarsky-Skimuseum und Archiv

Babenbergerstrasse 3, 3180 Lilienfeld

Director: Heinz Eppensteiner

E-mail: tourismus@lilienfeld.at or bez.heimatmuseum-lilienfeld@aon.at

Tel: +43 2762 52478 or +43 2762 52478

Website: www.zdarsky-ski-museum.at

Open: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday 16.00-18.00

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25), Student €2.50 ($3)

Best museum for Mathias Zdarsky

Mürzzuschlag, Steiermark/Styria

Winter!Sport!Museum!

Wienerstrasse 13, 8680 Mürzzuschlag

Director: Hannes Nothnagl

E-mail: office@wintersportmuseum.com

Tel: +43 3852 3504

Website: www.wintersportmuseum.com    

NB:  Museum is being reorganized; probable reopening date is January 2019, admission hours and fees will be announced.

Large museum, excellent collections, good library.

Seefeld, Tirol

Olympic and Nostalgia Exhibition (1964, 1976 Winter Olympic Games) in the Rosshütte Panoramic Restaurant above Seefeld

E-mail: info@rosshuette.at

Tel: +43 5212 2416-0

Website: www.seefeld-sports.at                  

Open: call to find out dates and times

Admission: Free

St. Anton am Arlberg, Tirol

The Museum of St. Anton in the Kandahar Haus

Rudi-Matt-Weg 10, 6580 St. Anton am Arlberg

E-mail: office@museum-stanton.com

Tel: +43 5446 22690

Website: www.museum-stanton.com

Open: Winter: 12.00—18.00.  Summer not announced (April 2018)

Admission: Adult €4 ($5), Child €2 ($2.50)

Local history.  Emphasis on Hannes Schneider period.

Werfenweng, Salzburg

Salzburger FIS Landes-Skimuseum

Weng 138, 5453 Weng

Director: Hans Müller

E-mail: info@skimuseum.at

Tel: +43 664 50 000 96

Website: www.werfenweng.eu/EN/129-FIS-Landes-Skimuseum.html

Open: May—October: Monday, Friday, Sunday 13.00-17.00

            November—April: Monday, Friday, Sunday 14.00—18.00

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25). Senior/Student €3.50 ($4.50), Child €2.50 ($3) Family €10 ($12.50)

Local history with emphasis on Rudolf Lettner’s steel ski edges.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Gröbming, Steiermark/Styria

Heimatmuseum Gröbming

Dr. Franz-Xavier-Mayr Strasse 123, 8962 Gröbming

Contact: Hubert Pleninger

E-mail: pleninger@aon.at

Tel: +43 664 960 5006 or +43 3685 22 573

Website: www.museum-gb.at

Open: From 18 June 2018—31 October: Thursday 16.00—19.00 and Sunday 10.00—12.00.     

            Other times by appointment.

Admission: Free

Local museum including small regional ski development.

Jochberg, Tirol

Bergbau- und Heimatmuseum

Schulgasse 3, 6373 Jochberg

Curator: Anneliese Hechenberger

E-mail: info@museum-jochberg.at

Tel: +43 664 330 6302

Website: www.museum-jochberg.at

Open: Year round: Tuesday 17.00—19.00

            Group arrangements can be made for other times

Admission: Free

Small collection of ski material.

Kitzbühel, Tirol

Museum Kitzbühel

Hinterstadt 32, 6370 Kitzbühel

E-mail: info@museum-kitzbuehel.at

Tel: +43 5356 67274

Website: www.museum-kitzbuehel.at

Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 14.00—18.00

            Thursday 14.00—20.00 and Saturday 10.00—18.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: €6.50 ($8).  Free for under 18.

Many paintings by Alfons Walde.

Lech, Vorarlberg

Walsermuseum Lech-Tannberg

6764 Lech

E-mail: museumvereine@aon.at

Tel: +43 5583 2213 36

Website: www.vorarlbergermuseen.at/museen/walsermuseum-lech-tannberg/information

Open: Wednesday and Friday 15.00—18.00

Admission: Free

Ski display among many others.

Mariazell, Steiermark/Styria

Mariazell Heimatmuseum

Wienerstrasse 35, 8630 Mariazell

E-mail: mariazeller.heimathaus@aon.at

Tel: +43 3882 431 26

Website: www.mariazeller-heimathaus.at/heimathaus/wintersport

Open: Call ahead for days and hours

Admission: Adult €6 ($7.50), Youth €3 ($3.75), Family €12 ($15)

Small section of skis among local history artifacts.

Saalbach, Salzburg

Skimuseum und Heimathaus Saalbach-Hinterglemm

Dorfplatz 36, 5753 Saalbach

E-mail: gemeinde@saalbach.at

Tel: +43 664 4767 807

Website: www.saalbach.or.at/de/einrichtungen/heimathausskimuseum

Open: July-August: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 14.00—18.00

            End of May, June, September: Tuesday, Thursday 14.00—18.00

            Winter: 14.00—18.00

Admission: Adult € 4.50 ($6), Child €2 ($2.50), Family €9 ($11.25)

Wien/Vienna

Österreichisches Olympiamuseum: this is the virtual museum of the Austrian Olympic Committee

E-mail: office@olympia.at [the e-mail of the Austrian Olympic Committee]

Tel: +43 1799 5511 [telephone of the Austrian Olympic Committee]

Website: www.olympia.at/museum

Vordernberg, Steiermark/Styria

Erzbergbahn- und Wintersportmuseum

Hauptstrasse 140, 8794 Vordernberg

Contact: Helma Moitzi

E-mail: office@erzbergbahn.at

Tel: +43 3849 832 or +43 3849 6246

Website: www.vordernberg.at/geschichte/museum.html

Open: By appointment

Admission: Adult €2 ($2.50), child €1 ($1.25)

This railway museum also exhibits ski material.

Innsbruck, Tirol

Österreichischer Alpenverein/Austrian Alpine Association

Olympiastrasse 37, 6020 Innsbruck

Contact: Veronika Raich

E-mail: veronika.raich@alpenverein.at

Tel: +43 512 595 47-19

Website: www.alpenverein.at

Closed: while looking for new premises (April 2018). 

Available: Lists of ski material from the Alpine Clubs of Germany, Austria, and the South Tirol can be found at www.historiches-alpenarchiv.org.

.

Schruns, Vorarlberg

Montafon Folk Museum and Montafon Archive

Kirchplatz 15, 6780 Schruns

Director: Michael Kasper

E-mail: info@montafoner-museen.at

Tel: +43 5556 74723

Website: www.montafoner-museen.at

Open: Museum: 12 June—26 October 2018: Tuesday—Friday and Sunday 14.00—18.00

            Archive: By appointment

Closed: Monday and Saturday

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25), Youth and Child Free

Regional museum that also contains ski material and much documentation.

CANADA

Banff, Alberta

Canadian Ski Museum West

Cascade Plaza, 317 Banff Ave., Banff, AB T1L 1C1

Tel: 43 762 8484

Website: www.Banffnationalpark.com/Banff-activities/Banff-museums/Canadian-ski-museum-west

Open: When shopping plaza is open

Admission: Free

Variety of a few artifacts hung in shopping mall.

Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke Ski Museum (part of Revelstoke Museum and Archives)

315 First St. West.  Box 1908, Revelstoke, BC  VOE 250

Curator: Cathy English

E-mail: curator@revelstokemuseum.ca

Tel: 250 837 3067

Website: www.revelstokemuseum.ca

Open: Monday—Friday 10.00—17.00, Saturday 11.00—17.00. 

Admissions: Adult $5, Seniors/Teens $4, Family $12

Western Canadian Rocky Mountain skiing.

St. Sauveur, Quebec

Musée du Ski des Laurentides/Laurentian Ski Museum

30 Ave. Fillon, St. Sauveur, Québec JOR 1RO

Curator: Nancy Belhumeur

E-mail: Nancy@museeduski.com

Tel: 450 227 2564 x 222

Website: www.museeduskideslaurentides.com

Open: Tuesday—Wednesday 10.00—17.00

            Thursday—Monday 10.00—18.00

Admission: Free

Early skiing in the Laurentians, Emile Cochand, ski trains and village-ski growth.

Associated with the Musée du Ski des Laurentides is the Historical Directory of Québec Ski Sites, a virtual museum

Director: Pierre Dumas

E-mail: info@museeduski.com

Tel: 450 227 2564 x 222

Website: www.museeduskideslaurentides.com/index.php?q=node/221

Ca. 700 past and present ski areas, includes 444 alpine areas with lifts and 98 jumps, and ca. 12,500 documents.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Banff, Alberta

Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

111 Bear St., P.O. Box 160, Banff AB T1l 1A3

Head archivist and Librarian: Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron

E-mail: info@whyte.org

Tel: 403 762 2291 x 332

Website: www.whyte.org

Open: 10.00—17.00

Admission: Call before any research visit

Library and photographic records.

Calgary, Alberta

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

169 Canada Olympic Way SW, Calgary, AB T3B 6B7

Director: Interim director Janice Smith

E-mail: jsmith@cshof.ca  

Tel: 403 776 1061

Website: www.sporthall.ca

Open: September—June: Wednesday—Sunday 10.00-17.00

            July—August: Monday--Sunday 10.00—17.00

Admission:  Adult Canadian $12 ($9.50), Senior $10 ($8), Youth $8 ($6.50), Family (4) $35 ($28)

London, Ontario

The International Centre for Olympic Studies at University of Western Ontario

1151 Richmond St., London, ON N6A 5B9

Director: Michael Heine

E-mail: via website

Tel: 519 661 4113

Website: www.uwo.ca/olympic/about/contact_icos.html

Open: Essential to inquire

Admission: Free

Olympic research center contains Avery Brundage papers. Publishes annual Olympika and edited papers of biennial symposia on Olympic research.

Rossland, British Columbia

Rossland Museum and Discovery Center

P.O. Box 26, 1100 Hwy 3B, Rossland, BC VOG 1YO

Director: Joelle Hodgins

E-mail: info@rosslandmuseum.ca

Tel: 250 362 7722

Website: www.rosslandmuseum.ca

Open: Mid-May—end June: Tuesday—Sunday 10.00—17.00

            July—August: Monday—Sunday 10.00—18.00

            Rest of year: Wednesday—Saturday 12.00—17.00

Admission: Adult Canadian $10 ($8) Senior/student $8 ($6.50), Youth $5 ($4), Family (4) $24 ($19)

Small display, emphasis on early skiing from 1896 with Olaus Jeldness.

Thunder Bay, Ontario

Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame

219 May Street South, Thunder Bay, ON P7E 1B5

Exec. Director: Diane Imrie

Curator: Kate Dwyer

E-mail: nwosport@tbaytel.net

Tel: 807 622 2852

Website: www.nwosportshalloffame.com

Open: Tuesday—Saturday 12.00—17.00

Admission: Canadian $3 ($2.50)

Whistler, British Columbia

Whistler Museum and Archives

433 Main St., Whistler, BC VON 1B4

Director and Curator: Bradley Nichols

E-mail: info@whistlermuseum.org

Tel: 604 932 2019

Website: www.whistlermuseum.org

Open: 11.00—17.00 with extended hours Thursday

Admission: Free

Local skiing with emphasis on Olympics 2010.

CHINA

Changchun, Jilin

Vasaloppet museum

Changchun Jingyuetan Park, 5840 Jingyue St., Changchun

Tel: +86 431 8964 5455

Website: www.vasaloppetchina.com

Open: The museum is closed and only open on request.  I am told that it is difficult to make connections with the museum.  The website given and phone number are those for the Chinese Vasaloppet race organization.  There are no specific people, website or telephone for the museum.

CZECH REPULIC

Harachov, Liberec Region

Ski Museum Harrachov

Nový Svet 378, Harrachov 512 46

E-mail: turistik@sklarnaharrachov.cz

Tel: +420 603 470 113

Website: www.giant-mountains.info/tourism/ski-museum-harrachov.harachov.html and www.liberecky-kraj.cz

Open: January—December: Wednesday—Friday 14.00—17.00 and Saturday 10.00—17.00

Admission: 70 Koruna ($3.50), Senior 50 K ($2.50), Child 20 K ($1), Family 150 K ($7)

Local development of skiing and especially jumping.

Jilemnice, Liberec Region

Krkonosske Muzeum in Jilemnice Castle

Zamek 75, 514 01 Jilemnice

Director: Jan Luštinc

E-mail: kmjilemnice@kmap.cz

Tel: +420 481 543 041

Website: www.kmjilemnice.cz

Open: January—April: 8.00—16.00

            July—August: 8.00—12.00 and 13.00—17.00

            November—December: 8.00—12.00 and 13.00—16.00

 Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult 70 Koruna ($3.50)

Graf Harrach and early skiing in area.

Nové Mesto na Morave, Vysočina Region

Horacké Muzeum

Vratislavovo námĕstí 114, 592 31 Nové Mesto

E-mail: horacke.muzeum@nmnm.cz

Tel: +420 566 216

Website: www.hm.nmnm.cz

Open: October—April: Tuesday—Saturday 9.00—16.00

            May—June: Tuesday—Sunday 9.00—16.00

             July—August: Tuesday—Sunday 9.00—17.00

             September: Tuesday—Sunday 9.00—16.00

Closed:  Monday

Admission: Adult 40 Koruna ($2), Senior/student 20 Koruna ($1)

Late 19th century skiing in area.

ESTONIA

Otepää, Valga County

Talispordimuuseum (Otepää Winter Sports Museum—a branch of the Estonian Sport and Olympic museum, but concentrating on winter sports)

Tehvandi Sports Center, Valga mit 12

Contact: Jana Mae

E-mail: info@spordimuuseum.ee or jana@spordimuuseum.ee

Tel: +372 766 3670 or +372 501 6082 (Jana Mae)

Website: www.spordimuuseum.ee/info/otepaa-talispordimuuseum.ee

Open: Wednesday—Friday 11.00—17.00

            Saturday—Sunday 11.00—16.00

Admission: Adult €2 ($2.50), Senior/student €1.50 ($2), Family (4) €5 ($6.25)

General collection with emphasis on cross-country skiing.

Tartu

Eesti Spordi-ja Olümpiamuuseum/Estonian Sport and Olympic Museum

15 Rüütli Street, 51005 Tartu

Director: Daimar Lell

E-mail: info@spordimuuseum.ee

Tel: +372 730 0750

Website: www.spordimuuseum.ee

Open: Wednesday—Sunday 11.00—18.00

Closed: Monday and Tuesday

Admission: Adult €6 ($7.50), Family (4) €15 ($18.50)

Olympic exhibits.

FINLAND

Helsinki

Suomen Urheilumuseo/Sports Museum of Finland

Olympiastadion, Paavo Nurman tie 1, FI-00250 Helsinki

Director: Pekka Honkanen

E-mail: urheilumeseo@urheilumuseo.fi

Tel: +358 9 434 2250

Website: www.urheilumuseo.fi

Closed: For renovations.  Will reopen in 2019. Admission hours and fees will be announced

Displays, library especially strong in Finnish newspapers and periodicals.

Lahti, Päijänne Tavastia Region

Lahti Hiihtomuseo/Lahti Ski Museum

Sports Center (Urheilukeskus), Salpausselänkatu 8, P.O. Box 113, FI 15110 Lahti

Curator: Suvi Kuisma

E-mail: hiihtomuseo@lahti.fi

Tel: +358 50 398 5523 or +358 50 398 5521

Website: www.ladenmuseo.fi

Open:  Tuesday—Friday 9.00—17.00

            Saturday—Sunday 11.00—16.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult €10 ($12.50), Senior/student €7 ($8.50)

Impressive displays, good library

FRANCE

Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise (Besse-en-Chandesse), Puy-de-Dôme

Musée du Ski

Maison de la Reine Margot, 11 Rue Boucherie, 63610 Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise

Owner and Curator: Pierre-André Chauvet

Tel: +33 4 7379 5730

Open: During school holidays: 9.00—12.00 and 14.00—18.00

            Other times only by telephone arrangement

Admission: €4.50 ($6)

Large and excellent private collection, small library.

Grenoble, Isère

Musée du Ski is part of the Musée Dauphinois

30 Rue Maurice Gignoux, Cedex 1000, 38100 Grenoble

Director: Olivier Cogne

E-mail: musee.dauphinois@cg38.fr

Tel: +33 45758 8901

Website: www.musee-dauphinois.fr

Open: 1 September—31 May: 10.00—18.00

           1 June—31 August: 10.00—19.00

Admission: Free

Excellent collection, much from Rossignol, good library.

Les Rousses, Jura

Le Grand Tétras

705 route des Rousses, 39220 Les Rousses, Jura

Owner: Roger Tangueley and Stéphane Tangueley

E-mail: grandtetras39@aol.com

Tel: +33 3846 05113  

Website: www.legrandtetras.troumad.org/Le_musee.html

Open: Thursday 17.00—19.00

Closed: April and October to Christmas

Admission: Free but call ahead

Large and excellent private collection, especially material from the Jura.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Albertville, Savoie

Maison des Jeux Olympiques d’Hiver

11, rue Pargoud, 73200 Albertville

Director: Claire Grangé

E-mail: contact@maisonjeuxolympiques-albertville.org

Tel: +33 44793 77571

Website: www.maisonjeuxolympiques-albertville.org

Open: Monday—Saturday 10.00—13.00 and 14.00—19.00

           Sunday 14.00—19.00

Admission: Adult: €4 ($5), Senior/student €3 ($3.75), Family (3) €11 ($13.50)

Winter Olympic material from 1992.

Chamonix, Haute Savoie

Musée Alpin

89 Ave. Michel Croz, 74400 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

E-mail: via website

Tel: +33 450 539 998 (Tourist office)

Website: www.chamonix.com/musee-alpin,49-187321,fr.html

Open: 7 April—7 May: 10.00—12.00 and 14.00—18.00.  Closed Tuesday

           8 May—25 May: 14.00—18.00.  Closed Tuesday

           1 July—2 September: daily 10.00—13.00 and 14.00—18.00

            3 September—30 September: 14.00—18.00.  Closed Tuesday

           22 October—4 November: 10.00—12.00 and 14.00—18.00.  Closed Tuesday

           22 December—7 January: 10.00-12.00 and 14.00—18.00.  Closed Tuesday

Closed: See above

Admission: Adult €5.90 ($7). Youth and child free

Local museum, much mountaineering material.  Includes winter sports. Library.

Nice, Alpes-Maritimes

Musée National du Sport (moved from Paris in 2014)

Stade Allianz Riviera, Bd. des Jardiniers, 06203 Nice cedex 3

E-mail: contact@museedusport.fr

Tel: +33 4892 24400

Website: www.allianz-riviera.fr/fr/le-musee-national-du-sport

Open: May—September: 10.00—18.00

           October—April: 11.00—17.00

Admission: Adult €6 ($8) for permanent or temporary exhibit

                              €8 ($10) for permanent and temporary exhibit

                              Free for youth and free on first Sunday of each month October-April

PARIS

Club Alpin Français/French Alpine Club

24 avenue Laumière, 75019 Paris

E-mail: via website

Tel: +33 1537 28700

Website: www.ffcam.fr

Open: Tuesday—Wednesday 9.00—17.30

           Thursday—Friday 9.00—18.00

           Saturday 9.00—12.00

Admission: Free, but call ahead

Many documents of the CAF.  Other CAF sections hold regional library materials too.

GERMANY

Bernau im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg [Schwarzwald/Black Forest]

Ski-Köpfer-Museum—a digitalized museum with texts

Kaiserhausstrasse 27, 79872 Bernau im Schwarzwald

Contact: Walter Strohmeier

E-mail: info@ski-koepfer.de

Tel: +49 7675 1600 25 and +49 7675 1088

Website: www.ski-koepfer.de

Information and details: Contact essential

Braunlage, Niedersachsen/Lower Saxony [Oberharz]

Heimat- und Skimuseum

Dr.-Kurt-Schroeder-Promenade 4, 38700 Braunlage

Director: Jürgen Schütz

Email: mail@museum-braunlage.de

Tel: +49 5520 1646

Website: www.museum-braunlage.de

Open: Tuesday and Friday 10.00—12.00

Closed: November to mid-December

Admission: Adult €2.50 ($3), Child €1.50 ($2)

Braunlage in late 19th century.

Hinterzarten, Baden-Württemberg [Schwarzwald/Black Forest]

Schwarzwald Skimuseum

Hugenhof, Erlenbruckerstrasse 35, 79856 Hinterzarten

Director: Brigitte von Savigny

E-mail: info@schwarzwaelder-skimuseum.de

Tel: +49 7652 982 192

Website: www.schwarzwaelder-skimuseum.de

Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 14.00—17.00

            Saturday, Sunday 12.00—17.00

Closed:  Monday

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25), Youth €1 ($1.25), Family €8 ($10)

Exhibits on Black Forest, Georg Thoma and Sepp Allgeier.

Kempten, Bayern/Bavaria [Allgäu]

Alpinmuseum

Marstallgebäude, Landwehrstrasse 4, 87439 Kempten

Contact: Christine Müller Horn

E-mail: museen@kempten.de

Tel: +49 831 2525 740

Website: www.kempten.de/alpin-museum.html

Open: Tuesday—Sunday 10.00—16.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult €4 ($5), Youth €2 ($2.50), Family €8 ($10). First Sunday in month free

History of the Alps, Alpinism and Skiing. Wilhelm Paulcke, Mathias Zdarsky, Georg Bilgeri featured.  Good library.

Fischen, Bayern/Bavaria [Allgäu]

Skimuseum Fischinger Heimathaus

Geschwenderhaus, Hauptstrasse 3, 87538 Fischen

Contact: Florian Ruppaner

E-mail: info@skimuseum-fischen.de

Tel: +49 175 202 1404

Website: www.skimuseum-fischen.de

Open: Call ahead for hours

Admission: Call ahead

Local heroes and excellent historical ski repair shop.

Nesselwang, Bayern/Bavaria [Allgäu]

Skimuseum Nesselwang

Hauptstrasse 20, 87484 Nesselwang

Contact: Tourist Office

E-mail: info@nesselwang.de

Tel: +49 8361 9230 40

Website: www.nesselwang.de/museen-in-nesselwang.html

Open:  Call ahead for hours

Admission: Call ahead

Skiing in Allgäu.

Oberwiesenthal, Sachsen/Saxony [Erzgebirge]

Oberwiesenthal Ski Museum

Karlsbaderstrasse 3, 09484 Oberwiesenthal

Contact: Brigitte Roscher

E-mail: info@oberwiesenthal.de

Tel: +49 373 487 521

Website: www.oberwiesenthal.com/urlaubsziel/sehenswertes/skimuseum.htm

Open: 1 April—2 December: Monday—Friday 9.30—17.00

                                                 Saturday—Sunday 10.00—13.00

           2 December—31 May: daily 9.30—17.00

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25), Youth free

Planegg, Bayern/Bavaria

Deutsches Skimuseum

Hubertusstrasse 1, 82152 Planegg

Director: Gerd Falkner

E-mail: gerd.falkner@deutscherskiverband.de

Tel: +49 898 5790 211

Website: www.deutscherskiverband.de/ueber_uns_skimuseum_uebersicht_de,348.html

Open: Monday—Friday 8.30—16.00 and by appointment

Admission: Free

Excellent displays, good library but no longer holds the Luther Archive.

Reit im Winkl, Bayern/Bavaria

Skimuseum Alfons Dorner

Contact: Franz Höflinger

E-mail: via website

Tel: +49 8640 800 200

Website: www.reitimwinkl.de/winterurlaub/skimuseum

Open: Winter: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 15.00—17.00

           Summer: Tuesday, Thursday 15.00—17.00

Admission: Free with guest card

Excellent displays from c.1880s on.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Hannover, Niedersachsen/Lower Saxony

Niedersächsisches Institut für Sportgeschichte (Lower Saxony Institute for Sport History)

Ferdinand-Wilhelm-Fricke-Weg 10, 30169 Hannover

E-mail: info@nish.de

Tel: +49 511 1268 5060

Website: www.nish.de

Open: Essential to call

Admission: Essential to call

Documents relating mostly to Lower Saxony including the Harz.

Köln/Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen/North Rhine Westphalia

Deutsche Sporthochschule/German Sports University

Institut für Sportgeschichte

Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933 Köln

Director: Stefan Wassong

E-mail: sporthistory@dshs-koeln.de

Tel: +49 221 4982-3740

Website: www.dshs-koeln.de

Open: Essential to call

Admission: Free but essential to call

Best library for ski materials in Germany. Now holds the Luther Archive.

Köln/Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen/North Rhine Westphalia

Deutsches Sport & Olympia Museum

Im Zollhafen 1, 50678 Köln

Secretary: Jennifer Guthof

E-mail: info@sportmuseum.de

Tel: +49 221 33609-0

Website: www.sportmuseum.de

Open: Tuesday—Friday 9.00—18.00

           Saturday—Sunday 11.00—19.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult €6 ($7.50), Family (4) €15 ($18.50)

Concentrates on 1936-1972 Olympic Games. Comparatively little on skiing.

Leipzig, Sachsen/Saxony

Leipzig Sportmuseum

Am Sportforum 10, 4105 Leipzig

Director: Gerlinde Rohr

E-mail: sportmuseum.Leipzig@t-online.de

Tel: +49 341 98051 12

Website: www.leipzig-online.de/sportmuseum-leipzig.html

Open: Monday—Friday 8.00—16.00

Admission: Inquire

Large general collection with some ski material.

Peiting, Bayern/Bavaria

Museum im Kloesterle

Kapellenstrasse 1, 86971 Peiting

E-mail: kloesterle-museu@gmx.de

Tel: +49 8861 59961

Website: www.peiting.de/tourismus/.../peiting/museum-im-kloesterle

Open: June—September: Monday—Friday 8.00—12.00

                                          Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 14.00—16.00

                                          Thursday 14.00—18.00

          October—May: Monday—Friday 8.00—12.00

                                     Thursday 14.00—18.00

Admission: Inquire

Skiing is one section of the museum.

Winterberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen/North Rhine Westphalia

Wintersport Museum Neuastenberg (sometimes called the Westdeutsches Wintersport Museum)

Neuastenbergstrasse 17, 59955 Winterberg

E-mail: info@skimuseum-winterberg.de

Tel: +49 2981 2636

Website: www.skimuseum-winterberg.de

Open: Saturday and Sunday 15.00—17.00 and by appointment

Admission: Adult €3 ($3.75), Child €1.50 ($2)

ITALY

Montebelluna, Treviso

Museo dello Scarpone/Museum of the Boot

Vicolo Zuccaareda 5, 31044 Montebelluna

E-mail: info@museoscarpone.it

Tel: +39 423 303282

Website: www.museoscarpone.it

Open: Monday—Friday 9.00—12.00, 14.30—17.30

           Saturday 16.00—19.00 and Sunday 15.30—19.00

Admission: free

Largest collection of ski boots (among others) including, for example, those of Alberto Tomba.

Torino/Turin, Piemontese/Piedmont

Museo Nazionale della Montagna ‘Duca degli Abruzzi’/National Museum of the Mountain ‘Duke of the Abruzzi’

Piazzale Monte del Cappuccini 7, 10131 Torino

Director: Aldo Audisio

E-mail: post@museomontagna.org

Tel: +39 116604 104

Website: www.museuomontagna.org

Open: Tuesday—Sunday 10.00—18.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult €10 ($12.50), Child €7 ($8.50)

Although this is a mountaineering museum, there is much on skiing here, film is specialty.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Temù, Brescia

Museo della Guerra Bianca/Museum of the White War

Via Roma 40, 25050 Temù

Tel: +39 334 648 7127

E-mail: info@museoguerrabianca.it

Website: www.museoguerrabianca.it

Open: Essential to email or call for hours

Admission: Adult €7 ($8.50), Child €4 ($5)

Ski material of World War I mountain warfare.

TORINO/TURIN

Club Alpino Italiano, Sezione di Torino/Italian Alpine Club, Turin Section

Via Guiseppe Barboux 1, Torino

E-mail: segreteria@caitorino.it

Tel: +39 11 54 6031

Website: www.caitorino.it

Open: Monday 14.00—18.30

           Tuesday—Friday 10.00—18.30

Admission: Free

Although a mountaineering society, the library has interesting ski material.

JAPAN

Nagano, Nagano Prefecture

Nozawaonsen-mura/Ski Museum (also called Japanese Ski Museum)

9780-4 Toyosato, Nozawaonsen-mura, Shimotakai-gun, Nagano Prefecture

E-mail: info@nozawaski.com

Tel: +81 26985 3418

Website: www.nozawaski.com/summer/skihakubutsukan.php

Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9.30—16.00

Closed: Thursday, Sunday

Admission: Adult 300 yen ($3), Student 150 yen ($1.50)

Displays European background and then development of skiing in Japan.

Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture

Sapporo Olympic Museum

1274 Miyanomori, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 064-0958

Director: Masashi Abe

Tel: +81 11 641 8585

Website: www.sapporo-olympiamuseum.jp

Open: 28 April—4 November: 9.00—18.00

           5 November—26 April: 9.30—17.00

Admission: Adult 600 yen ($6), Senior 450 yen ($4.50), Child free

Many displays, especially of Olympics. Prince Takamatsu and Dr. Seishichi Ohno ski collections.

LIECHTENSTEIN

Eschen

Geissmann Collection

Rainer Geissmann, Renkwiller, Eschen

E-mail: Geissmann.rainer@adon.li

Private collection of Swiss Schwendener skis. Essential to E-mail for appointment.

NORWAY

Kongsberg, Buskerud

Ski Museum in Bergverksmuseet/Ski Museum in the Mining Museum

Hyttegata 3, Kongsberg

E-mail: bergverksmuseet@bvm.no

Tel: +47 9191 3200

Website: https://norsk-bergverksmuseum.no/skihistorisk-samlung

Open: 2 January—16 May: Tuesday—Sunday 12.00—16.00

           18 May—26 August: daily 10.00-17.00

           28 August—23 December: Tuesday—Sunday 12.00—16.00

Admission: Adult 90 NOK ($11.50) Senior/Student 70 NOK ($9), Child 50 NOK ($6)

The ski museum is part of the Mining museum.  Especially strong in Kongsberg region and Birger Ruud materials.

Lillehammer, Oppland

Norges Olympiske Museet/Norwegian Olympic Museum

Maihaugveien 1, 2609 Lillehammer

E-mail: post@lillehammer.no

Tel: +47 6128 89000

Website: www.ol.museum.no

Open: September—May: Tuesday—Sunday 11.00—16.00

           June—August: daily 10.00-17.00

Admission: Adult 135 NOK ($17), Senior/Student 95 NOK ($12), Child 65 NOK ($8), Family NOK 335 ($43)

Excellent displays on all Olympics but especially those held in Norway in 1952 and 1994, and the Youth Olympic Games in 2016.

Morgedal, Telemark

Norsk skieventyr/ /Norwegian Ski Adventure

3850 Kvitseit, 3848 Morgedal

Director: Kristi Marie Tveit

E-mail: kmt@vtm.no

Tel: +47 3506 9080

Website: www.vest-telemark.museum.no/...norsk-skieventyr-skimuseet-i-morgedal

Open: 26 January—30 April: Tuesday—Friday 10.00—17.00

                                                Saturday 11.00—17.00

                                                Sunday 11.00--1800

           1 May—14 June: Monday—Friday 10.00—17.00

                                        Saturday 11.00—17.00

                                        Sunday 12.00—17.00

          15 June—15 August: daily 10.00—18.00

           16 August—31 August: Monday—Friday 10.00—17.00

                                                   Saturday 11.00—17.00

                                                   Sunday 11.00—18.00

             1 September—16 December: Tuesday—Friday 10.00—17.00

                                                             Saturday 11.00—17.00

                                                             Sunday 11.00—18.00

Admission: Adult 100 NOK ($13), Senior/Student 80 NOK ($10), Child 50 NOK ($6.50), Family 250 NOK ($32)

Part of the Vest-Telemark museum system, good displays with special attention to Norheim (house available for visit) and Bjaaland.  Good library.

Oslo

Holmenkollen Skimuseet/Holmenkollen Ski Museum

Kongsveien 5, 0787 Oslo

Director: Åslaug Midtdal

E-mail: 

Aslaug.midtdal@skiforeningen.no

Tel: +47 917 69 758

Website: www.skiforeningen.no/en/holmenkollen/skimuseet

Open:  October—April: 10.00—16.00

             May—September: 10.00—17.00

             June—August: 9.00—20.00

Admission:  Adult 140 Kroner ($18), Senior/Student 120 Kr ($15), Child 70 Kr (49), Family (4) 350 Kr ($45)

The world’s most comprehensive ski museum.  Call ahead for research purposes.

Tromsø, Troms

Polarmuseet, Polar museum

Søndre Tollbodgate 11, 9008 Tromsø

E-mail: via website

Tel: +47 776233 60

Website: www.uit.no

Open: 1 January—14 June: 11.00—17.00

           15 June—15 August: 9.00—18.00

           16 August—31 December: 11.00—17.00

Admission: Adult 60 NOK ($8), Senior 30 NOK ($4), Family (4) 120 NOK ($16)

Tickets can be purchased for both the university museum and the polar museum.

Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and also Helmer Hanssen and Hjalmar Johansen with Amundsen to S. Pole.

Tromsø, Troms

Tromsø Universitetsmuseet/Tromsø University Museum

P.O. Box 6050 Langnes, 9037 Tromsø

Contact: Anita Maurstad

E-mail: postmottak@tmu.uit.no

Tel: +47 776 450 01

Website: https://uit.no

Website for skis: www.unimus.no/etnografi/tmu/samling/index.php

Open: 1 June—31 August: 9.00—18.00

           1 September—31 May: Monday—Friday 10.00—16.30

                                                  Saturday 12.00—15.00

                                                   Sunday 11.00—16.00

Admission: Adult 60 NOK ($8), Senior/Student/Child 30 NOK ($4), Family 120 NOK ($16)

Tickets can be purchased for both the University Museum and the Polar Museum

General exhibits on northern life, especially Sami culture.  Some ski material including ca. 25 skis.

Trondheim, Trøndelag

Skimuseet Sverresborg, part of the Sverresborg Trøndelag Folkmuseet

Sverresborg Allé 13, Postboks 1107, 7020 Trondheim

E-mail: post@sverresborg.no

Tel: +47 7389 0100

Website: www.sverresborg.no

Open: Tuesday—Friday 10.00—15.00

           Saturday—Sunday 12.00—16.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult 125 NOK ($16), Senior/Student 110 NOK ($14), Child Free

Ski museum is among a large number of buildings which comprise the Folk Museum of the area

Trysil, Hedmark

Trysil-Knut Ski Museum

Vestsidevegen 4, 2420 Trysil

E-mail: rvingels@gmail.com

Tel: +47 918933 77

Website: www.expology.com/trysil-knut

Open: By appointment only: Tuesday—Sunday 12.00—19.00

Admission: 40 NOK ($5)

Small museum, nice displays.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Alta, Finnmark

World Heritage Rock Art Centre—Alta Museum

Altaveien 19, 9518 Alta

Director: Harriet Hagen

E-mail: post@altamuseum.no

Tel: +47 41756330

Website: www.alta.museum.no

Open: 2 January—13 May: Monday—Friday: 9.00—15.00

                                             Saturday—Sunday: 11.00—16.00

           14 May—8 June: daily 8.00—17.00

            9 June—19 August: daily 08.00—20.00

           20 August—14 September: daily 08.00—17.00

           15 September—30 December: Monday—Friday 9.00—15.00

                                                             Saturday—Sunday 11.00—16.00

Admission: Summer/Winter (1 May—30 September/1 October—30 April): Adult 115/75 NOK ($16/10), Senior 105/65 NOK ($13/8), Student 100/55 NOK ($13/7), Child 35/20 NOK ($5/3)

Impressive rock carving. Exhibition jumping and Bjorn Wirkola.

Elverum, Hedmark

Norsk Skogbruksmuseet/Norwegian Forestry Museum

Solørvegen 151, 2407 Elverum

Director: Bjørn Bækkelund

E-mail: skogmus@annomuseum.no

Tel: +47 6240 9000

Website: www.skogmus.no

Open: 24 June—13 August: 10.00—17.00

           Rest of the year: 10.00—16.00

Admission: Adult 110 NOK ($13.50), Senior 80 NOK ($10), Youth/child 60 NOK ($7.50)

Concentrates on forestry, hunting and fishing and few skis on view. To see the 100 skis in storage appointment must be made for Monday-Friday 10.00—15.30 at bookingskogmus@annomuseum.no.

Oslo

Norskfolkemuseum/Norwegian Folk Museum

Museumveien 10, Bygdøy, 0287 Oslo

Conservator: Morten Bing

E-mail: post@norskfolkemuseum.no

Tel: +47 2212 3700

Website: www.norskfolkemuseum.no

Open: 15 May—14 September: daily 10.00—18.00

            15 September—14 May: Monday—Friday 11.00—15.00

                                                     Saturday—Sunday 11.00—16.00

Admission: Adult 130 NOK ($17), Senior/Student 100 NOK ($13), Child 40 NOK ($5), Family 260 NOK ($33)

The ski material is digitalized at www.digitalmuseum.no/search/?q=Ski&aq=owner%3F%3A%22NF%22

.

POLAND

Cieklin, Subcarpathian Voivodeship

Muzeum Narciarstwa w Cieklin: Stanisław Barabasz Ski Museum in Cieklin

38-222 Cieklin

Director: Wiesław Czechowicz

Scientific Director: Leon Rak

E-mail: muzeumnarciarstwa@op.pl; leorak1964@gmail.com and lrak@ajd.czest.pl

Tel: +48 791 994 591

Website: www.muzeum-narciarstwa.pl

Open: Wednesday 9.00—14.00

           Saturday 9.00—11.00

           Other times by arrangement

Admission: Free

Tadeusz Wowkonowicz and Stanisław Barabasz archives, and local ski development.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Warsaw

Muzeum Sportu i Turystyki/Museum of Sport and Tourism

Pope Jan Pawell (John Paul) II Olympic Center, ul. Wybrzeże Gdyńskie 4, 01-531 Warszawa

Director: Tomasz Jagodziński

E-mail: muzsport@muzeumsportu.waw.pl

Tel: +48 225 603 780

Website: www.muzeumsport.waw.pl

Open: Wednesday—Friday 9.00—17.00

           Saturday—Sunday 10.00—17.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: 12 zloty ($3.50).  Saturday: Free

Skiing presented among other sports. Large library, museum publications.

Zakopane, Maloposkie/Province of Lesser Poland

Muzeum Tatrazańskie/ Museum of the Tatra Mountains

ul. Krupówki 10, 34-500 Zakopane

Director: Anna Wende-Surmiak

E-mail: biuro@muzeumtatrzanskie.pl

Tel: +48 182 0152 05

Website: www.muzeumtatrzanskie.pl

Open: 1 January—30 April: Wednesday—Saturday 9.00—17.00

           1 May—30 September: Tuesday—Saturday 9.00—18.00

           1 October—31 December: Wednesday—Saturday 9.00—17.00

           Year round Sundays: 9.00—15.00

Library open: Tuesday—Friday 8.00—16.00

Archives open: Tuesday—Friday 8.00—15.00

Admission: 7 zloty ($2)

Ski material and excellent photographs among much local history.

RUSSIA

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Moscow

State Historical Museum

Red Square 1, Moscow 109012

Tel: +7 495 692 4019

Website: www.shm.ru (but there is nothing about skis)

Information about the few bog skis held in this museum comes from Natalia I. Astashova, “Skis from the Archeological Collections of the State Historical Museum,” in Karin Berg et al (Eds.), History of Skiing Conference Holmenkollen, Oslo 16. – 18.9.1998.  Holmenkollen: Skiforeningen, 1998, 89-94.

St. Petersburg

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography

University Embankment 3, 199034 St. Petersburg

Website: www.kunstkamera.ru (but there is nothing about skis)

Tel: +7 812 328 0812

Information about the few skis held in this museum comes from Tatyana Shrader, “Skis in Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (The Kunstkammer),” in Karin Berg et al (Eds.), History of Skiing Conference Holmenkollen, Oslo 16. – 18.9.1998. Holmenkollen: Skiforeningen, 1998,  13-15.

SLOVENIA

Begunje, Gorenjska/Upper Carniola

ELAN Alpine Ski Museum

4275 Begunje na Gorenjskem

Director: Tomaž Šlibar

E-mail: info@elanskimuseum.com

Tel: +386 453 511 09

Website: www.elanskimuseum.com

Open: 15 April—15 September: Tuesday—Thursday 10.00—19.00

                                                    Friday—Saturday 10.00—20.00

            16 September—14 April: Tuesday—Thursday, Sunday 10.00—19.00

Closed: Monday

Note: Groups by appointment outside listed times

Admission: Adult €5 ($6.25), Senior/Student €4 ($5), Child €3 ($3.75)

This is the ELAN factory museum.

Planica, Gorenjska/Upper Carniola

Planiški muzej/Planica Museum in the Nordic Center Planica

Rateče 4283

E-mail: info@nc-planica.si

Tel: +386 316 898 06

Website: www.nc-planica.si

Open: July—August: daily 9.00—20.00.  Rest of year: daily 9.00—18.00

Admission: Adult €6 ($7.50)

Excellent displays of jumping and ski flying.

Pohorje

Smučarski Mozej Pohorje/Pohorje Ski Museum

Hočko Pohorje 36b, 2208 Pohorje

Owner and Curator: Prof. Dr. Duško Uršič

E-mail: dusko.ursic@um.si

Open: By appointment

Admission: Adults €10 ($13), child up to 15: free

Largest private collection in Slovenia.  Opening Summer 2021.

Tržič, Gorenjska/Upper Carniola

Tržiški muzej—Slovenski smučarski muzej, Tržič/Tržič Museum—Slovenian Ski Museum

Muzejska 11, 4290 Tržič

Curator: Boštjan Meglič

E-mail: trziski.muzej@siol.net

Tel: + 386 4592 3810

Website: www.trziski-muzej.si

Open: Tuesday—Sunday 10.00—18.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult €3 ($3.75), Senior/Student, Child €2 ($2.50), Family €5 ($6.25)

Ski materials are only one part of the museum.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Bloke

Nova vas 4 a, 1385 Nova vas, Bloke

Contact: Matej Pakiž

E-mail: obcina.bloke@bloke.si

Tel: +386 1709 8918 or +386 313 261 58

Open: Call ahead

Exhibition is sponsored by the municipality of Bloke (Občina Bloke)

Emphasis on local skis.  Bloke considers itself the founding place of Slovenian skiing.

Ljubljana

Muzej Športa/[Slovenian] Sports Museum

Kopitarjeva ulica 4, 1000 Ljubljana

Director: Tomaž Pavlin

E-mail: info@muzejsporta.si

Tel: +386 1431 8340

Website: https://museu.ms/museum/details/35/muzej-sporta

Open: Monday—Friday 9.00—14.00

Closed: Saturday, Sunday

Admission: Free

Most of the ski material has been moved to the complex at Planica. Good library, especially on Olympics.

Maribor, Podravska/Drava

Vojaški muzej slovenske vojske/Military Museum of the Slovenian Armed Forces

Kadetnica, Engelsova 15, 2111 Maribor

Contact: Gregor Kastelic

E-mail: gregor.kastelic@mors.si

Tel: +386 2449 5006

Website: www.vojaskimuzej.si

Open: January, February, June—September: 10.00—17.00

           March—May, October, November: 10.00—15.00

           Saturday, Sunday during the holidays: 10.00—15.00

Admission: Free but call before visit

The museum is inside the main building of the officers’ military training college and has minor displays on skiing.

Mojstrana, Gorenjska/Upper Carniola

Slovenski planinski muzej/Slovenian Alpine Museum

Triglavska cesta 49, 4281 Mojstrana

Contact: Miro Eržen

E-mail: info@planinskimuzej.si

Tel: +386 8380 6730

Website: www.planinskimuzej.si

Open: 1 June—14 September: 9.00—19.00

           15 September—31 May: 9.00—17.00

Admission: Adult €6 ($7.50), Senior/Student €3.60 ($4.50), Family €13 ($16)

A  mountain museum with occasional ski-mountaineering material.

SPAIN

Unha, Lleida

Musèu dera Nhèu/The Snow Museum

Santa Eulàlia 17-19, Unha-Naut Aran

E-mail: vielha@baqueira.es

Tel: +34 973 644 030

Website: www.bazueira.es/aran-aneu/vall-aran/aran-museos

Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 10.00—13.00

           Thursday, Friday, Saturday 17.00—20.00      

Closed: Sunday                                                                                                     

Admission: Adult €3 ($3.75), Student €2 ($2.50), Child free

Snow seen from a scientific, ethnological, and sporting point of view. 

SWEDEN

Åsarna, Jamtland

Skimuseum Åsarna

Åsarna Ski Center, Olstavägen 45, 840 31 Åsarna

E-mail: info@asarnaskicenter.se

Tel: +46 687 302 30

Website: www.asarnaskicenter.se

Open: June—August: 9.00—20.00

           September—May: 9.00—19.00

Admission: 20 SKR ($2.50)

Mora, Dalarna

Vasaloppsmuseet/The Vasalopp Museum

792-32 Mora

E-mail: info@vasaloppet.se

Tel: +46 250 392 25

Website: www.vasaloppet.se

Open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8.00—16.30

           Thursday 9.00—15.00

Closed: Monday—Friday 12.00—13.00 and Saturday and Sunday

Admission: Call for prices

Museum of the Vasalopp.  Special exhibits, one on Mora Nisse.

Umeå, Västerbotten

Ski Museum is part of Västerbotten museum complex

Helena Elisabethsväg 3, Box 3183, 903 42 Umeå

E-mail: info@vbm.se

Tel: +46 9016 3900                                                                                                       

Website: www.vbm.se

Open: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10.00—17.00

           Wednesday 10.00—20.00

           Saturday, Sunday 11.00—17.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Free

Open air cultural museum of Västerbotten. Incorporates the best ski museum in Sweden, with excellent library.

SWITZERLAND

Bad Ragaz, Canton St. Gall/St. Gallen

Jürg Hess Collection

Unterrainstrasse 12, 7310 Bad Ragaz

Owner: Jürg Hess

E-mail: hess_juerg@bluewin.ch

 Tel: +41 79 616 7885

Open: By appointment only

Massive private collection of equipment, especially skis and bindings.

Davos, Canton Graubünden/Grisons

Wintersport-Museum/Winter Sport Museum

Promenade 43, 7270 Davos Platz

E-mail: andresguler@bluewin.ch

Tel: +41 814 132 484

Website: www.wintersportmuseum.ch

Open:  Winter: Tuesday, Thursday 16.30—18.30

             Summer: (Opening 19 June) 16.30—18.30

             Other times by appointment

Closed: April—18 June

Admission: Free

Excellent displays.

Lausanne, Canton Vaud/Waadt

Musée Olympique/Olympic Museum

Quai d’Ouchy 1, 1006 Lausanne

E-mail: info.museum@olympic.org

Tel: +41 216 216 511

Website: www.olympic.org/museum

Open:1 May—15 October: daily 9.00—18.00

           16 October—30 April: Tuesday—Sunday 10.00—18.00

Closed: Monday 16 October—30 April

Admission: Adult CHF 18 ($18), Senior CHF 16 ($16), Student CHF 12 ($12), Child CHF 10 ($10), Family CHF 40 ($40)

Vast museum, excellent displays, includes winter Olympics.  Olympic library and documentation center. Essential to call for research information.

Les Bois, Canton Jura

Laurent Donzé Collection

Sous les rangs 31, 2336 Les Blois

E-mail: l.donze@bluewin.ch

Tel: +41 794 188 252

Open: By appointment only

Private collection of c.a. 2000 cross-country skis.

Oberwald, Canton Valais/Wallis

Toni Hischier’s Ski Museum

Oberwald 3999

Tel: +41 793 299 400

Website: www.obergoms.ch/activities/for-mind-soul/museums

Open: By appointment only

Private collection of over 1000 skis.

Swiss Ski Lifts, a virtual museum

Contact: Jakob Schuler

E-mail: via website

Tel: +41 79 894 51 01

Website: www.skilift-nostalgie.ch

Comprehensive on-line depiction of ski lifts in Switzerland.

Swiss Ski Museum, a virtual museum

Case Postale 67, 1937 Orsières

Contact: Pierre Schneider

E-mail: info@swissskimuseum.com

Tel: +41 79 736 6947

Website: www.swissskimuseum.com

The most comprehensive on-line depiction and explanation of skiing development in Switzerland founded by Luzi Hitz (d.) and Pierre Schneider.

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Arosa, Canton Graubünden/Grisons

Heimatmuseum und Kulturarchiv Arosa—Schanfigg

Egga-Hus, 7050 Arosa

E-mail: info@arosa-museum.ch

Tel: +41 796 765 658 and +41 813 771 731

Website: www.arosa-museum.ch

Open: 22 December—13 April: Tuesday, Friday 14.30—16.30

           18 June—19 October: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 14.30—16.30

Closed: 14 April—17 June and 20 October—21 December

Admission: CHF 3 ($3)

Local museum with local archive.  Essential to call ahead.

Bern/Berne

Alpines Museum der Schweiz/Swiss Alpine Museum

Helvetiaplatz 4, 3005 Bern

E-mail: info@alpinesmuseum.ch

Tel: +41 3135 004 40

Website: www.alpinesmuseum.ch

Open: Tuesday—Sunday: 10.00—17.00

Closed: Monday

Admission: Adult CHF 16 ($16), Student CHF 12 ($12), Child CHF 6 ($6), Family CHF 35 ($35)

Includes winter sports material, also skis of Hermann Hesse. Good library. 

Grindelwald, Canton Bern/Berne

Heimatmuseum Grindelwald

Almisgässli, 3, 3818 Grindelwald

Director: Marco Bomio

E-mail: grindelwald-museum@bluewin.ch

Tel: +41 338 5343 02

Website: www.grindelwald-museum.ch

Open: 1 June—8 October: Tuesday—Friday, Sunday 15.00—18.00

Closed: 1 April—31 May

Admission: Adult CHF 7 ($7), Child CHF 2 ($2)

The winter sport section is on the second floor.

Lauterbrunnen, Canton Bern/Berne

Talmuseum Lauterbrunnen

Ey, 3822 Lauterbrunnen

Contact: Esther Graf

E-mail: info@talmuseumlauterbrunnen.ch

Tel: +41 338 553 586

Website: www.talmuseumlauterbrunnen.ch

Open: 3 June—14 October: Tuesday, Thursday—Sunday: 14.00—17.30

Closed: Monday, Wednesday

Closed: 15 October—2 June, but possible entry by arrangement

Admission: Adult 5 CHF ($5)

One of 12 sections is a small display of skis and equipment.

Luzern/Lucerne, Canton Luzern/Lucerne

Verkehrshaus der Schweiz/Swiss Transport Museum

Lidostrasse 5, 6006 Luzern

E-mail: mail@verkehrshaus.ch

Tel: +41 413 704 444

Website: www.verkehrshaus.ch

Open: Summer: daily 10.00—18.00

           Winter: daily 10.00—17.00

Admission: Adult CHF 32 ($32), Student CHF 22 ($22), Child CHF 12 ($12).  Note these are for museum only.  Other prices apply for various aspects of this large museum

Includes a replica of the Davos-Bolgen ski lift, and much on aerial tramways and their inspection.  Good library.

Magglingen/Macolin, Canton Bern/Berne

Eidgenössische Hochschule für Sport/Swiss Sports University

Federal Office of Sport, Swiss Federal Institute of Sports, 2532 Magglingen

E-mail: via internet at ‘media library’

Tel: +41 323 276 226

Website: www.ehsm.ch

Open: Library: Monday—Friday 9.00—12.00 and 13.30—17.00

Closed: Saturday and Sunday

Admission: Free

No ski exhibits but very good library.  Essential to call ahead.

Münchenstein, Canton Basel

Schweizer Sportmuseum/Sport Museum of Switzerland

Reinacherstrasse 1, 442 Münchenstein

E-mail: info@sportmuseum.ch

Tel: +41 612 611 221

Website: www.sportmuseum.ch

Open: Wednesday, Friday: 14.00—17.00

Admission: CHF 8 ($8)

Much ski material among vast collection of sport artifacts.  Good library.  Essential to call ahead for research.

Näfels, Canton Glarus/Glaris

Museum des Landes Glarus

Freulerpalast, 8752 Näfels

Director: Bettina Giersberg

E-mail: info@freulerpalast.ch

Tel: +41 556 121 378

Website: www.freulerpalast.ch

Open: 1 April—30 November: Tuesday—Friday 10.00—12.00 and 14.00—17.00

                                                   Saturday—Sunday 10.00—17.00

Closed: 1 December—31 March but will open for groups by appointment

Admission: Adult CHF 10 ($10), Student CHF 5 ($5)

Local museum, skiing being one of seven major exhibits with emphasis on Glarus.

Obervaz, Canton Graubünden/Grisons

Obervaz Museum

Voa da Solis 2, 7082 Vaz/Obervaz

Director: Anna Maria Elmer-Cantieni

E-mail: museum.vaz@bluewin.ch

Tel: +41 813 842 159

Website: www.vazobervaz.ch/sportmuseum

Open:  Call for hours

Admission: Adult CHF 7 ($7), Child CHF 3 ($3)

Local museum displaying importance of tourism and holding late 19th century skis and a display of local Olympic (1976) star, Heine Hemmi.

Pontresina, Canton Graubünden/Grisons

Museum Alpin Pontresina

Chesa Delnon Haus, via Maistra 199, 7504 Pontresina

Contact: Annemarie Brülisauer

E-mail: museum@pontresina.ch

Tel: +41 818 427 273

Website: www.pontresina.ch/museumalpin

Open: 11 June—20 October: Monday—Saturday 15.30—18.00

Closed: Sunday

Admission: Adult CHF 8 ($8), Youth and Child CHF 2 ($2)

Local museum with some ski material. Exhibit on 50th anniversary of Engadin marathon.

Saas-Fee, Canton Valais/Wallis

Saaser Museum

Dorfstrasse 6, 3906 Saas-Fee

Contact: Damian Bumann

E-mail: museum@3906.ch

Tel: +41 792 202 853 or +41 279 571 475

Website: www.3906.ch/de/leben/kultur/saasermuseum

Open: 18 June—14 October: Tuesday and Thursday 14.30—17.00 and on request

Admission: Adult CHF 5 ($5), Child CHF 2.50 ($2.50)

Local museum with some ski related material.

Schönenwerd, Canton Solothurn

Bally Schuhmuseum/Bally Shoe Museum

Oltnerstrasse 6, 5012 Schönenwerd

E-mail: receptioncaslano@bally.ch

Tel: +41 916 129 111

Website: www.bally.com

Open: For individuals only on the last Friday and Saturday of every month.  For groups by arrangement.

Admission: Call ahead

One of the largest collections of boots and shoes with occasional early ski boots.

Tramelin, Canton Bern/Berne

Musée du Ski Geiser

In shop Geiser-Sports, Grand-Rue 39, 2720 Tramelin

E-mail: info@geiser-sports.ch

Tel: +41 324 874 160

Website: www.geiser-sports.ch

Open: October—April: Monday 13.30—18.30

                                       Tuesday—Friday 9.00—12.00 and 13.30—18.30

                                        Saturday 9.00—12.00

           May: Monday—Friday 14.00—18.00

           September: Wednesday 14.00—18.00

Closed: June—August

Admission: Free

The ski museum is in the shop, various exhibits are available for ski clubs etc.

Zermatt, Canton Valais/Wallis

Matterhorn Museum

Kirchplatz, Zermatt 3920

E-mail: matterhornmuseum@zermatt.ch

Tel: +41 279 674 100

Website: www.zermatt.ch/en/museum

Open: 9 April—30 June: daily 14.00—18.00

            1 July—30 September: daily 11.00—18.00

            1 October—31 October: daily 15.00—18.00

            23 November—20 December: Friday, Saturday, Sunday 15.00—18.00

Closed: 1 November—22 November

               23 November—20 December Monday--Thursday

Admission: Adult CHF 10 ($10), Senior/Student CHF 8 ($8), Child CHF 5 ($5)

Mostly on growth of Zermatt from mountain farm community to summer and winter alpine resort with much on Matterhorn climbing.

UNITED KINGDOM

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Leicester, Leicestershire

The Ski Club of Great Britain Archives in Special Collections of De Montfort University

Special Collections Kimberlin Library, Leicester LE1 9BH

Archivist: Katharine Short

E-mail: kshort@dmu.ac.uk and archives@dmu.ac.uk

Tel: +44 116 250 6392

Website: www.dmu.ac.uk

Open: Monday—Friday 9.00—17.00.  Essential to call ahead for research

Entire archives of Ski Club of Great Britain is now (April 2018) housed at De Montfort University.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Boise, Idaho

Glory Days Ski Museum

4432 N. Burnside Place, Boise, ID 83702

Owner: Kirk Luba

E-mail: glorydaysskimuseum@gmail.com

Tel: 208 629 8329

Open: By appointment.

Private collection of 1960s-1980s skis.

Davis, West Virginia

Snow Sports Museum of West Virginia

466 William Avenue, Davis, WV 26260 (postal P.O. Box 421)

Executive Director: Andy Snyder

E-mail: ssmwv@icloud.com

Tel: 334-663-1172

Website: www.snowsportsmuseumwv.org

Open: 15 April—31 October: Thursday-Monday 11.00-18.00

            2021 until 11 April: Friday-Sunday 11.00-18.00

Admission: Free

Monthly Newsletter on website. Collections 1950—1990

Fort Drum, New York

10th Mountain Deivision & Fort Drum Museum

Building 2509 Col. Reade Road, Fort Drum, NY 13602

Director: to be names Fall 2022

Curator: Kent Bolke

E-mail: 10thmountainmuseum@gmail.com

Tel: 315 774 0391

Website: https://history/army/mil/fieldmuseum/fortDrum/index.html

Open: All year, Tuesdays-Saturdays 9 am-5 pm

Closed: Sundays, Mondays, and federal holidays

Admission: Free

History of Fort Drum and 10t Mountain Division from beginning to modern deployments.  Military mountaineering and skiing in US army.

Franconia, New Hampshire

New England Ski Museum

135 Tramway Drive, P.O. Box 267, Franconia, NH 03580

Executive Director: Jeffrey R. Leich

E-mail: staff@skimuseum.org

Tel: 603 823 7177

Website: www.skimuseum.org

Open: 1 December—ca.15 April: 9.00—17.00

           31 May—ca.15 October: 9.00—17.00

Closed: 15 April—30 May and 15 October—1 December

Admission: Free.  Admission during closed periods by appointment

Exhibits highlight New England skiing.  One of the finest libraries in the USA with manuscript archives and films. Journal is published four times a year.

Ishpeming, Michigan

U.S Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

610 Palms Avenue, P.O. Box 191, Ishpeming, MI 49849

E-mail: Administrator@skihall.com

Tel: 906 485 6323

Website: www.skihall.com

Open: Monday—Saturday 10.00—17.00

Closed: Sunday and national holidays

Admission: Free

Many exhibits, Roland Palmedo library.

Kingfield, Maine

Ski Museum of Maine

256 Maine St., P.O. Box 359, Kingfield, ME 04947

Director: Theresa Shanahan

E-mail: info@skimuseumofmaine.org

Tel: 207 265 2023

Website: www.skimuseumofmaine.org

Open: Year round Monday--Friday 10.00—16.00

Admission: Free

Emphasis on Maine skiing, with special reference to Sugarloaf and manufacturers.

North Conway,  New Hampshire

New England Ski Museum: Eastern Slopes Branch

P.O. Box 1673, North Conway, NH 03860-1673

Manager: Brian Fowler

E-mail: brian@skimuseum.org

Tel: 603 730 5044

Website: www.skimuseum.org

Open: daily 9.00—16.00 until further notice

Admission: Free

Irwin Exhibit Hall displays Eastern skiing with special reference to Harvey Dow Gibson and Hannes Schneider. Library.

Park City, Utah

Alf Engen Ski Museum located in Olympic complex

Joe Quinney Winter Sports Park, Utah Olympic Park, P.O. Box 980187, Park City, UT 84098

Executive Director: Connie Nelson

E-mail: via website

Tel: 435 658 4240

Website: www.engenmuseum.org

Open: daily 10.00—18.00

Admission: Free

Emphasis on Alf Engen and Utah skiing.  The Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum is also a part of this museum.

Red Wing, Minnesota

The American Ski Jumping Hall of Fame and Museum

Inside the St. James Hotel, 406 Main St., Red Wing, MN 55066

Contact: St. James Hotel

E-mail: info@americanskijumping.com

Tel: 651 388 2846 (Hotel telephone)

Website: www.americanskijumping.com

Open: On request only, essential to call hotel ahead

Admission: Free

History of jumping, especially Scandinavian immigrants.  Hall of Fame.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah Ski and Snowboard Archives

University of Utah Marriot Library Special Collections, 295 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Manager: Judy Jarrow

E-mail: via website

Tel: 801 581 3421

Website: www.lib.utah.edu

Open: Essential to call ahead

Admission: Free

Documentation on Utah skiing, resort growth and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Sandia Peak, New Mexico

New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame and Ski Museum

Base of Sandia Peak Aerial Tram, 10 Tramway Rd. NE, P.O. Box 09937, Albuquerque, NM 87122

Contact: Jay Blackwood

E-mail: jblackw796@aol.com

Tel: 505 857 8916

Website: www.nmskihall.org

Open: daily 9.00—20.00

Admission: Free

Small museum, local emphasis.

Snoqualmie Pass, Washington

Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum

Snoqualmie Pass, WA 98068

Contact: Dave Moffett

Email: info@wsssm.org

Tel: (206) 854-3626

Website: www.wsssm.org

Opened in 2015, WSSSM is a modern museum featuring 11 permanent exhibits on Washington's snow sport venues. Olympians, manufacturers, Alpine, Nordic, mountaineering, adaptive, and snowboarding history.

Soda Springs, California

Western SkiSport Museum

On Donner Pass.  P.O. Box 829, Soda Springs, CA 95728

Director: Bill Clark

E-mail: bclark@inc.auburnskiclub.org

Tel: 530 426 3313 x 101

Website: www.auburnskiclub.com/asctc/about-us/ski-museum

Open: Ski season: daily 10.00—16.00

            Off season: by appointment

Admission: Free

Displays of Western states skiing and of Squaw Olympics. Strong on Sierra “longboard” skiing of the Gold Rush era. Library and documents.

Note: The Museum of Sierra Ski History and the Olympic Museum are presently (April 2018) fundraising and obtaining land permits.  If all goes as planned, the Olympic artifacts from the Western SkiSport Museum will go to the Olympic Museum, and the other artifacts will go to the Museum of Sierra Ski History.  Eventually, the hope is to combine all three in the Olympic Museum (www.olympicskimuseum.org) planned for Squaw Valley opening in 2023.

Stowe, Vermont

Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum

1 South Main St., P.O. Box 1511, The Perkins Building, Stowe, VT 05672

Director: Abby Blackburn

E-mail: info@vermontskimuseum.org

Tel: 802 253 9911

Website: www.vtssm.com

Open: 26 May—15 October: Wednesday—Sunday 12.00—17.00

Closed: Monday and Tuesday and 16 April—25 May

Admission: Free

Vermont exhibits, also 10th Mountain.

Squaw Valley, California

Olympic Museum—See Soda Springs: Western SkiSport Museum note

Tahoe City, California

Museum of Sierra Ski History—See Soda Springs: Western SkiSport Museum note

Currently artifacts are displayed at the Gatekeepers Cabin Museum, 130 W. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, CA 96145

Tel: 530 583 1762

Website: www.tahoecity.org

Open: daily in Summer.  Rest of the year: Wednesday—Sunday.  Call for hours

Local ski history.

Tannersville, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Ski and Snow Sports Museum

Exhibit at base lodge of Camelback Ski Area, Tannersville, PA 18372

Contact: Paul Prutzman, Goggleworks Suite 506 A, 201 Wahington St., Reading, PA 19601

E-mail: Pasmoffice@gmail.com

Tel: 610 334 4378

Website: www.pasnowsportsmuseum.com

Open: When ski area is open

Admission: Free

Local ski development.  Hall of Fame.

Vail, Colorado

Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame

231 South Frontage Road East, P.O. Box 1976, Vail, CO 81657

Director: John McMurtry

E-mail: skimuseum@gmail.com

Tel: 970 476 1876

Website: www.skimuseum.net

Open: 5 March 2018 on limited basis due to renovations: daily 10.00—18.00

Admission: Free

Exhibits Colorado material, extensive 10th Mountain collection

OTHER MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES

Aspen, Colorado

Aspen Historical Society

620 West Bleeker St., Aspen, CO 81611

Curator: Lisa Hancock

E-mail: info@aspenhistory.com

Tel: 970 925 3721

Website: www.aspenhistory.com

Open: Call for opening hours

Admission: Free

Documents relating to Aspen’s skiing history.

Decorah, Iowa

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum

520 West Water St., P.O. Box 379, Decorah, IA 52101

Curator:  Laurann Gilbertson

E-mail: info@vesterheim.org

Tel: 563 382 9681

Website: www.vesterheim.org

Open: 1 May—31 October: 9.00—17.00

           1 November—30 April: 10.00—16.00

Admission: Adult $10, Senior $8, Youth $5

Museum of Norwegian immigration in the Midwest with small collection on immigrant skiing.

Denver, Colorado

10th Mountain Division Resource Center in the Denver Public Library

Denver Public Library, 10 W 14the Ave Parkway, Denver, CO 80204-2731

Archivist: Keli Schmid

E-mail: kschmid@denverplibrary.org

Tel: 720 865 1812

Website: www.denverlibrary.org

 Open: Monday and Tuesday 10.00—20.00

           Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 10.00—18.00

           Saturday: 9.00—17.00 and Sunday 13.00—17.00

Admission: Free

Archives of letters, diaries, photos, films with emphasis on World War II.

Government Camp, Oregon

Mount Hood Cultural Center and Museum

88900 East Hwy 26, Business Loop, P.O. Box 55, Government Camp, OR 97028

Contact: Lloyd Musser or Cheryl Maki

E-mail: info@mthoodmuseum.org

Tel: 503 272 3301

Website: www.mthoodmuseum.org

Open: daily 9.00—17.00

Admission: Free

Local museum with ski documents and artifacts from local clubs on second floor.

Ketchum, Idaho 

Sun Valley Museum of History

180 East 1st St., P.O. Box 2168, Ketchum, ID 83340

Director of Regional History: Mary Tyson

E-mail: mtyson@comlib.org

Tel: 208 726 8118 and 208 726 3493 x 103

Website: www.ksvhs.com

Open: Monday—Saturday 10.00—18.00

Admission: Free

Local material including much on skiing.

Lake Placid, New York

Lake Placid Winter Olympic Museum

Olympic Center, 2634 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 12946

Director: Alison Haas

E-mail: via website

Tel: 518 302 5326

Website: www.lpom.org

Open: daily 10.00—17.00

Admission: Adult/Youth $7, Senior/Junior $5

Much on skiing but also on the other winter sports.  Exhibitions highlight the Games of 1932 and 1980.

New England Lost Ski Areas Project (NELSAP)

Digitalized list of closed ski areas

Director: Jeremy Davis

E-mail: nelsap@yahoo.com

Tel: 518 581 8755

Website: www.nelsap.org

Admission: Free

Detailed list on line of closed past ski areas of New England with brochures, photos, tales.

Norco, California

California Ski Library

3321 Aryana Ave., P.O. Box 283, Norco, CA 92860

Owner: Ingrid P. Wicken

E-mail: ingrid@skilibrary.com

Tel: 951 207 9218

Website: www.skilibrary.com

Open: By appointment only

Admission: Free

One of the finest ski libraries in the USA.  Documentation on western US skiing.

Park City, Utah

Park City Historical Society and Museum

528 Main St., P.O.Box 555, Park City, UT84060

Director: Morgan Pierce

E-mail: via website

Tel: 435 649 7457

Website: http://parkcityhistory.org

Open: Monday—Saturday 10.00—19.00

            Sunday 12.00—18.00

Admission: Adult $12, Senior/Student $10, Child $5

Much on mining and ski history.

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Tread of Pioneers Museum

800 Oak St., P.O. Box 772372, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487

Executive Director: Candice Bannister

E-mail: cbannister@treadofpioneers.org

Tel: 970 879 2214

Website: www.treadofpioneers.org

Open: Tuesday—Saturday 11.00—17.00

Closed: Sunday and Monday

Admission: Adult $6, Senior $5, Child $2

Local museum with display of skiing personalities and material.

Stratton Mountain, Vermont

Stratton Mountain Foundation

Stratton Foundation, 2D Village Square, P.O. Box 523, Stratton Mountain, VT 05155

E-mail: info@strattonfoundation.org

Tel: 802 277 2096

Open:  Only by appointment

Stratton Mountain archives of local area and papers of personalities.

Washington, DC

Sir Arnold Lunn Papers, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University

Special Collections, Lauinger Library, 37th & O Streets, Washington DC 20057

Contact: Essential for appointments to see special collections: www.library.georgetown.edu/special-collections/contact

E-mail: https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu

Tel: 202 6878 0100

Website: www.library.georgetown.edu

Open: Essential to call for hours special collections are open

21 linear feet of Arnold Lunn’s correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, ephemera from 1896-1978.

COLLECTIONS and LIBRARIES now in STORAGE or in CLOSED museums:

AUSTRIA/LIECHTENSTEIN

Noldi Beck’s collection, once on display in Liechtenstein, is believed to be in Austria.  Once it has been inventoried, there is a hope that it will be exhibited.  The ‘drama’ is best followed in an article by Bernhard Odehnal, “Ein Museum verschwindet” (“A Museum Vanishes”) in the Swiss Tagesanzeiger 28 October 2017.

The Austrian Alpine Association in Innsbruck is closed (April 2018) while they look for new premises.  However, the digitalized lists can be searched, so I have left it as an entry.

CANADA

Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum, as of April 2018, is planned for Mont Tremblant, Quebec.  The Executive Director: Joanne Heward can be reached at 514-715-0245 or at joanne@hewardgroup.com.  No opening date yet.

USA

Beekley International Collection of Art and Library in storage in Westminster, Colorado while searching for a new venue.  Open to research by appointment only.  For information: Natale Messina, P.O. Box 426, Plantsville, CT 06479 and/or tel: 860 240 6027 and email:  nmessina@legacyfws.com.  Or from Kim Carrera email: Kcarrera1@cox.net.

Neptune Mountaineering and Ski Museum (Boulder, Colorado) is in storage until further notice.

Olympic Museum (Squaw Valley, California) and Sierra Ski History Museum (Tahoe City, California)—see note at Soda Springs.

How one local saved the Borscht Belt’s last ski area.

For nearly 70 years, every southern tourist, every comic, every singer, every song-and-dance man in the Catskills has driven past a ski lift counterweight inscribed with “16 Tons,” just outside of Monticello, New York.

Though no longer in use, the weight remains along Route 17, the main artery linking New York City, 85 miles south, to the so-called Borscht Belt resort area (see Skiing History, “The Sour Cream Sierras,” May-June 2020). The otherwise mundane concrete block paid homage to the 1946 Merle Travis coal-mining song Sixteen Tons, popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955.

The counterweight has been free advertising for a 440-vertical-foot municipal ski area called Holiday Mountain, situated between the Neversink River at its base and a divided four-lane highway up top. Although the lettering has since faded, this beloved ski hill, the last dedicated ski area in the southern Catskills according to the Facebook group Catskill Skiing History, is undergoing a multi-year renovation driven by a local entrepreneur who is also a lifelong skier and ski patroller.

Holiday Goes Private

The hill’s riverside terrain opened for skiing in November 1949, with three electric tows, rolling slopes, expert trails and a “Swiss Ski School” to bring authentic Alpine techniques to New York skiers. The original iteration of Holiday, developed by local businessmen Don Hammond, a department store owner, and Manny Bogner, a lumber dealer, also offered a warming hut and ski shop—but it was abandoned after a few years due to a lack of snow, according to Remembering the Sullivan County Catskills, by local historian John Conway.

In December 1957, when the town of Thompson parks commission purchased the property from local resident Maude A. Crawford for $5,000, the ski area reopened with two rope tows and a 900-foot platter-pull lift with an uphill capacity of 900 skiers per hour, according to the Conway book.

Holiday wasn’t as challenging as, say, Stowe’s Nosedive terrain, but in 1957 the New York Times gushed that the ski area will “more than suffice for the run-of-the-mill sports lover who wants to test his legs as well as enjoy the sport with a minimum risk of injury.” Trails and slopes sported holiday-related names, including Easter Parade, Birthday Schuss and Christmas Bowl. Forty years later, as losses mounted and local taxpayers grew tired of deficits ranging upward of $250,000 per year, town leaders decided to bail out of the ski business.

The ski area was purchased from the town in 2000 by Craig Passante, son of the late owner of the nearby Villa Roma Resort (which still offers skiing and snow tubing to guests). The younger Passante, a Hofstra University graduate with a degree in marketing and an honorary doctorate in hospitality, tried to pump new life into the aging facility by adding a family-activities park, motocross course and special events.

The adjacent Neversink River, known for world-class fly fishing, was a blessing for snowmaking but flooded the 1950s-era base lodge in April 2005. In summer 2011, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee caused more damage, according to the Sullivan County Democrat (June 13, 2023). What’s more, low snowfall totals during those years did little to help Passante turn the struggling ski hill around.

Determined to prevent the land from being sold for a housing development, Monticello native Michael Taylor, a longtime ski patroller at nearby Plattekill Mountain and great-grandson of original landowner Maude Crawford, purchased the teetering ski area in May 2023.

No Holiday

“This ski area was about to drop dead,” wrote Stuart Winchester of The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast in November 2024. “Then Mike Taylor bought it. … He has resources. He has energy. He has manpower. And he’s going to transform this dysfunctional junkpile of a ski area into something modern, something nice, something that will last. And everyone knows it wouldn’t be happening without him.”

Tayor, 58, is a successful businessman, the CEO of his family’s propane and heating-oil business in the New York Tri-State area. Still, preventing the ski area from becoming another entry in the directory of lost ski areas was no holiday.

Overcoming the reluctance of banks to loan to a modest ski area, Taylor spent $10 million in renovations, encountering enough bumps along the way to fill a World Cup mogul run. However, he remains dedicated and optimistic about Holiday’s future. “We’re 85 miles from 12 million people,” Taylor told the Sullivan County Democrat shortly after purchasing the area. “We can’t fail.”

Taylor and his team, often improvising on the fly, had to contend with snowmaking pumps and guns that clogged with river grass; a pump-house fire that caused $500,000 in damage; extensive soil erosion caused by the motorcross operation; a scarcity of chairlift parts; the cancellation of local after-school ski programs and the costly landscaping of the adjacent Bridgeville Cemetery, which dates back to the late 1700s. To add to the financial challenges of running a diminutive ski area, a fire damaged the attic of its new snowtubing lodge one week before opening this season, delaying the launch of this popular kids’ activity.

From Molehill to Mountain

Today, it’s hard to imagine a small ski area—with just 40 skiable acres, a stingy 55-inch average annual snowfall and a 1,600-foot summit—doing so much with so little. This season the mountain opened with nine trails, anchored by a refurbished quad and triple chair. Other amenities include an 11-lane lighted snow-tubing park and a ropetow and conveyor lift overlooking the cemetery. An upgraded snowmaking system, including 200 new guns and towers and eight miles of snowmaking pipe, strive to compensate for the area’s typically modest snowfall. A true community ski area, Holiday is closed on Mondays. One benefit of its tiny footprint, Holiday is able to offer night skiing across all of its terrain—a staple amenity for a family area.

There’s also Mambo Night, a new trail that honors the Cuban-themed dance parties once held at now-defunct Catskill resorts, and Hackledam, named after a former tanning and lumbering community that existed nearby in the late 1800s. The double black, winch-groomed trail is said to be one of the steepest in the Catskills. “We’ve really rebuilt this ski area from the ground up,” says Taylor.

Fond Memories

News about Holiday’s resurrection was greeted by the region’s skiers like a powder forecast. Jeff McBride, 66, now of Las Vegas, Nevada, and a grandson of Don Hammond, lived within sight of the mountain and started skiing there at age four. “I loved skiing Holiday nearly every day of the season,” he says, “practicing Daffies, back scratchers and side-tucks almost daily for annual freestyle skiing contests.

McBride, who became a professional magician and has several entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, especially remembers drinking hot Dr Pepper with lemon in the base lodge. (Apparently “hot Doc” was a thing back then, according to the web channel Tasting History with Max Miller.)

Catskill skiing historian and native Barry Levinson, 65, who now resides in Gypsum, Colorado, recalls that as a kid, “I kinda hated this little rinky-dink 440-foot hill with a highway on top and a gravel pit on the bottom that did not look like the pictures I saw in SKI, Skiing and Powder magazines.” However, “now, with age and perhaps wisdom and a sense of nostalgia I look back on it and feel lucky to have had that hill in my backyard. Holiday Mountain [was] neither a holiday nor a mountain, but it was ours.”

Future Plans

The conversion of Route 17 to Interstate I-86 has been a long-term state project, with major upgrades planned to bring the section passing Holiday Mountain up to Interstate standards, according to the New York State Department of Transportation. Still several years away, this will reduce commuter congestion during weekday peak hours and mitigate weekend vacation traffic, hopefully leading to more ticket sales for Holiday.

Today Taylor is singularly focused on his mission, as determined as ever to answer the question of “How do we get kids off their phones and out recreating again?” As he told Storm Skiing, “You can’t make me happier than to see busloads of kids improving their skills and enjoying something they’re going to do for the rest of their lives.”

Jeff Blumenfeld grew up skiing at Holiday Mountain. A resident of Boulder, Colorado, Blumenfeld is vice president of ISHA and past president of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association. He chairs the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Explorers Club and has covered the adventure field in ExpeditionNews.com for 32 years.

For obituaries, please go to Lives.

Authors and producers to be honored March 22 in Park City

ISHA’s Awards Committee has announced the winners of the 2023 ISHA Awards, honoring the best works of history published or produced during this past year.

The awards will be presented during a banquet in Park City, Utah, on March 22. Watch for reviews of the winning books and films in the Media Reviews section of this magazine.
 

Ullr Awards

• Around the World in 50 Slopes, by Patrick Thorne

• Georges Blanchon: Cet homme protée libre et généreux, by Daniel Sage

• Winterdanse: The Misplaced Art of Snow Ballet, by Michael Russell

• Une Histoire des skis Dynamic: Skis de Légende adoptés par des coureurs exceptionnels, by Jean Michal

Baldur Awards

• Junior Bounous and the Joys of Skiing, by Ayja Bounous

• Disneyland on the Mountain: Walt, the Environmentalists, and the Ski Resort That Never Was, by Greg Glasgow & Kathryn Mayer

Skade Awards

• From Ranch to Resort: The History of Sierra at Tahoe, by Christopher C. Couper

• Eldora: Six Decades of Adventure, by Rett Ertl and Andy Bigford

• Skiing off the Roof, by Rick Walkom

Film Awards

• Full Circle: A Story of Post Traumatic Growth 
Trevor Kennison, Barry Corbet, Josh Berman and Trish Sullivan-Rothberg

• Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows
Avalanche Jared Drake, Steven Siig (directors and producers); Evan Hayes, Mark Gogolewski, Shannon
Houchins, David Hillman and Michael Sugar (executive producers)

• Alf Engen: Snapshots of a Sports Icon
Alan and Barbara Engen (producers)

Cyber Award

• Perisherhistory.org/au, Perisher Historical Society

Honorable Mentions

• Baldur: Without Restraint, by Robert C. DeLena and Ryan C. DeLena

• Skade: Skiing in Colorado, by Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame and Dana Mathios

• Film: NGR: The Fabulous Life of Nancy Greene Raine, by Lainey Mullins

• Film: Sierra Nevada Ski and Olympic History: And the Future SNOW Museum, by Eddy Ancinas and Steve
Jensen

Join us in Park City, March 20–23

The International Skiing History Association and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame will hold our annual joint gathering in Utah. We invite you to join us for four days of skiing with friends and colleagues, on-snow tours, lectures, fashion shows, meet-and-greets and back-to-back evenings of awards honoring the 2023 ISHA Award winners (Friday evening) and Hall of Fame Class of 2023 (Saturday evening).

Schedule of Events 
(subject to change)

Wednesday, March 20

100 Years of Winter Olympics anniversary party, with vintage fashion show beginning 5 p.m., at the Alf Engen Museum

Thursday, March 21

• Group skiing at Sundance Ski Resort

• ISHA John Fry Lecture: Billy Kidd discusses the 1964 Olympics

• Doug Pfeiffer memorial dinner

•Welcome Party

Friday, March 22

• Group skiing at Solitude; free-heel skiing at White Pine Touring with Jan Reynolds

• Women in Industry Award, honoring Judy Gray

• Gorsuch fashion show

• ISHA Awards Reception and Gala Banquet

• Industry party

Saturday, March 23

• USSS Hall of Fame Induction Banquet

• After-burner party

For full event details, ticket packages and discounted lodging at Black Rock Mountain Resort, go to skiinghistory.org/events. Details on discounted lift passes will be sent after you book banquet tickets. 

At the end of the run, does it really matter?

Photo top: Vallee Blanche/Mer de Glace above Chamonix. Chamonix-Mont Blanc photo

In this day of perpetual social media marketing hooks, “extremes” sell: hottest, tallest, biggest, fastest. Ski resorts are not immune. However, determining a superlative like the longest ski run on the planet is not as simple as it would seem.

This exercise is rife with caveats. Are we talking about vertical feet or length? Lift-served or not? Off-piste or maintained? Perhaps the most mainstream solution is to determine the longest runs by using both vertical and length—further sorted by some sort of lift service. Or perhaps just consider it a skier’s bucket list.

Guinness Book of World Records says that a run at Davos, Switzerland, from the Weissfluhjoch to Parsenn, is “the longest all-downhill ski run in the world” at 7.6 miles in 6,692 vertical feet (12.3 km and 2,034 m). Many may disagree, partly due to the ambiguous “all-downhill” criteria, designed to exclude anything with a hike or another lift ride in the middle. Or a bus ride at the end. And we won’t delve into Guinness’s definition of lift-served.

One of the best-known lift-served long runs in the world is Chamonix’s Vallée Blanche, which helps explain why we feel a little mystical about such endless terrain. Its most far-flung route is 13.67 miles (22 km), all of it off-piste and bedecked with chamois, blue-ice caverns, crevasses, lurching seracs and stupefying mountain views. Its full 9,200-foot vertical (2,797 m) goes all the way to the Chamonix valley floor, though
climate change has increasingly made that a rare reward.

Zermatt, Switzerland, features what is marketed as the longest red (intermediate) run in the world. The 13.6-mile (22 km) trail from the Klein Matterhorn to the Italy's Valtournenche measures 7,739 vertical feet (2,353 m) and delivers you to another country. It does require a lift ride in the middle, however.

Alpe d’Huez, France, describes its famous Sarenne route as “Europe’s longest black run.” The nearly 10-mile (6.2 km) descent in 5,872 vertical feet (1,785 m) can be done, according to the resort, “without having to take a lift.”

North America looks to Revelstoke, Canada, for bragging rights. Revelstoke claims the Last Spike as the longest maintained ski run in North America at 8.3 miles (13.4 km). As a plus, the run descends the resort’s full vertical, which at 5,620 feet (1,708 m), is tops on the continent.

Netflix Co-Founder Buys North America’s Resort-Acreage King

Powder Mountain, Utah, Tries Again to Be the Resort of the Future

Tech money has joined forces with the largest ski resort (by skiable acres) in North America, in what may have been an inevitable marriage. On September 6, 2023, with a $100 million investment, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings became the majority owner of Powder Mountain. Hastings had already acquired a minority stake in the Eden, Utah, resort, which covers over 8,464 acres—roughly 16 percent broader than Park City.

Hastings has only started his re-imagining of the resort in what he has termed “Powder Next.” To that end, he recently pulled all available residential lots at Powder off the market. “That’s a big step that you do when you have confidence that it’s going to be a lot more successful in a year,” Hastings told the Salt Lake Tribune. “So we kind of don’t want to sell those lots at current prices.” Hastings said he envisions the reworked resort as being a “premium place in the world for being and doing.”

Perhaps Powder Mountain will go full circle with that vision. It was purchased by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs out of foreclosure for $40 million in 2013. Their vision was to build a future-embracing, eco-friendly resort with 500 homes developed around a hub of education, research and alternative medical facilities. Various challenges ensued, and fewer than 10 percent of the homes were built. Hastings, who stepped down as CEO of Netflix last January and now serves as executive chairman of the company, already had a home at the resort before he bought in. —Greg Ditrinco 

Old Time Lift Safety

Snow King Mountain Resort, Wyoming, about a dozen miles and several thousand light years in attitude from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, remembers the good ol’ days. The resort also wisely recognizes that hazy nostalgia might cloud some of the darker aspects of those good ol’ days. For instance, this image, dated June 8, 1965, posted on Snow King’s Instagram feed, is headlined “Safety Standards in the 1960s.” Snow King wisely notes that “We have upgraded a bit since these days!” A Skiing History editor recalls riding that chair. Its towers were made of telephone poles, bolted together into tripods. They creaked.

Snapshots in Time

1924 And So It Began
The Winter sports of the eighth Olympic Games were officially opened today with the customary Olympic ceremonies, presided over by Gaston Vidal, Under Secretary of State for Physical Education. M. Vidal received the oaths of amateurism by the athletes entered for the competition. The teams of all the nations represented, bearing their national flags and emblems, then paraded from the City Hall to the skating rink, where the actual competitions will begin tomorrow. On the arrival at the rink Under Secretary Vidal declared the official opening of the sports. His voice, caught up by enormous amplifiers on top of the grandstands, was sent reverberating up the sides of the high mountains which give the Chamonix Valley its magnificent setting. — “The Olympics in Winter” (New York Times, January 25, 1924)

1975 Free-Heel Revolution
If you’re a cross-country skier in the West, you may well consider yourself a pioneer. Just as the frontiersmen had to adapt to the mountains of the West, so also do cross-country skiers have to adapt their methods and equipment. And since touring is just beginning to boom in the West, the field is wide open for search and discovery. Here in Crested Butte, the telemark turn has turned the sport upside down. A group of skiers will ski to the top of a mountain with the sole purpose of linking a hundred or so telemarks together down a virgin bowl. — Rick Borkovec, “Trendsetters” (Powder, November 1978)

1989 A Turn for the Worst
“Collisions have become the number one cause of injury in skiing,” said Linda Meyers Tikalski, a U.S. Ski Team member and an Olympian at the Squaw Games. “Skiers think control means ‘not falling.’ The new skiers don’t think ‘turning.’ They think ‘cruising.’ Unless we can convince skiers that good skiing is good turning, we’re in trouble.” — Mort Lund, “No-Risk Skiing” (Snow Country, February 1989)

1990 Olympic Need
I have enjoyed reading your magazine through the years. There is only one suggestion I have for you. Let’s see more time and money spent on our U.S. Olympic ski team and on Olympic racing worldwide. Even though it is two years away, there are athletes preparing. I feel it would be interesting to see what is happening in the Olympic world. — Lori Bucher, Aurora, Indiana, Letters, “More on the Olympics” (Skiing Magazine, October 1990)

2001 Bye-Bye Ban; Hello Boarders
The Aspen Skiing Company is looking to youth to lead it out of the wilderness of complacency and sagging skier numbers into a more prosperous future. Thus it was on April Fools’ Day, of all days, last season that the resort’s notorious anti-snowboarding walls came tumbling down on Aspen Mountain to great fanfare, if not the actual trumpets of Jericho. Because it’s Aspen and therefore good news copy, on April 1 the town is jammed with more satellite uplinks than after Ivana Trump spied Donald’s girlfriend during a family ski vacation. — Jay Cowan, “The New Aspen” (SKI Magazine, September 2001)

2023 Shrinking Prominence
Mont Blanc’s peak has been measured at 4,805.59 m (15,766 ft 4 in), which is 2.22 m shorter than in 2021. The mountain, which straddles France, Italy and Switzerland, is measured every two years to try and track the impact of climate change on the Alps. French chief geometer Jean des Garets said the shrinking could have been caused by less rain this summer. “We’re gathering the data for future generations,” he said. “We’re not here to interpret them, we leave that up to the scientists.” — “France’s highest mountain Mont Blanc is shrinking.” (BBC.com, October 5, 2023)

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 Canadian Ski Hall of Fame Inducts Class of 2020

This induction class (Class of 2020) was recognized in 2022 after Covid-related delays. The Class of 2021 will be recognized at a physical event in the Fall of 2022.

Alexandre Bilodeau (Athlete Freestyle) of Montreal (photo above) won two Olympic gold medals in moguls, at the 2010 and 2014 Games. He won five FIS World Championship medals (three golds) and achieved 48 World Cup podiums, including 19 victories. In 2006, at 18, he became the youngest skier to win a World Cup mogul event. In 2009, he won the FIS overall titles for both moguls and freestyle. 

Gordon Canning (Alpine Builder) joined the staff of Blue Mountain in 1970 under his father-in-law, Jojo Weider, and became president in 1978. He built the business into a year-round resort and retired in 2014. He built it into a year around resort. In 1999 he led a successful partnership with Intrawest to create Blue Mountain Village.

Philip Chew (Para Alpine Coach) was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 25. During treatment he heard about disabled skiing, and went on to win Canadian, European and World Championship medals in all Alpine disciplines. After retiring from the Para National Ski Team in 1992, Phil became the first Level 3 Coach with a disability. He coached for 21 years and trained 24 athletes who moved up to the National Team, among them Paralympic and World Championship medalists. 

Joe Fitzgerald (Freestyle Builder) was a founding member of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. After earning a degree in physical education, Fitzgerald became the first freestyle technical director at the Canadian Ski Association. He developed certification programs, organized World Cup events in Canada and was chief of competition for the Calgary Olympics. He joined FIS in 2000 as freestyle director and oversaw inclusion of ski cross, halfpipe, slopestyle and big air to World Cup and Olympic status.

Darrell MacLachlan (Alpine Builder) grew up racing in Calgary and became an Alpine race official. Beginning in 1992 he served as chief of race for the Lake Louise World Cup. He took the same role for men’s Alpine events at the 2010 Olympics and served as a technical delegate in Sochi. He died of cancer at age 63.

Dave Wood (Nordic Coach) began skiing in his late teens in Prince George, British Columbia, and raced cross-country beginning in 1980. He began coaching in 1986. In 1998, Dave took over the struggling national cross-country ski team. Under his helm, Beckie Scott won gold at the 2002 Olympics. At the 2006 Games, Chandra Crawford won gold, while Sara Renner and Beckie Scott won silver in the team sprint. 

Vermont Hall of Fame Names Class of 2022

After a two-year hiatus, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum will hold its induction ceremony at Bolton Valley on September 24. Honorees are:

• Ralph DesLauriers, founder of Bolton Valley Resort

• Jim Holland, ski jumper and entrepreneur

• Rip McManus, Olympian, broadcaster, film star

• Betsy Pratt, steward of Mad River Glen ski area

• Greg Morrill, historian (Paul Robbins Award)

• Catamount Trail Association (Bill McCollum Community
Award)

In 2019, long-distance runner and ski mountaineer Kilian Jornet—with the goal of just testing “how his body will perform”—completed 51 laps on Tusten ski area in Molde, Norway, in 24 hours. He climbed 78,274 feet, crushing previous 24-hour records by a ridiculous margin. To be clear, Molde is at sea level. Jornet climbed 1,535 feet, 51 times, on roughly a one-mile piste. That works out to skinning up at about 2.25 mph for 25 minutes and resting a couple of minutes during a 36-mph schuss. Fifty-one times.

Photo above: Kilian Jornet has been rewriting the record books for ski mountaineering and high-altitude running for more than a decade, sometimes merely as a result of his training regimen. Right: An early ski-endurance competition, the 24 Hours of Aspen attracted elite athletes, television audiences and sponsorship dollars in the 1980s-1990s. YouTube photo

That’s nothing for the Catalan Jornet, who grew up in Chamonix. For more than 15 years he’s been methodically assaulting the records for high-altitude marathons and ski mountaineering. In his recent five-year “Summits of My Life” project, he set the fastest known times (or FKT) for the ascent and ski descent of major mountains including Kilimanjaro, Denali, Aconcagua, the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, at times shaving hours off previous records. Some of his records have since been broken by Ecuadorian mountain guide Karl Egloff.

Climbing and skiing massive verticals has become a passion with today’s endurance athletes, who are repeatedly blowing by many of the world's best times. Which begs the question, when did vertical-feet-skied become a thing?

Before smart watches and phone apps made vertical-feet scorekeeping easy, it was possible to estimate your numbers from the number of runs completed. Heliski operators charged by the vertical foot, and kept accurate count. You could keep track of your bragging rights whether for 24 hours, a week, a season or a lifetime. Heliski operations certified guest accomplishments with pins and special million-foot prizes, like Mike Wiegele’s silver belt buckles and limited-edition powder suits at Canadian Mountain Holidays.

One of the first vertical-foot-based competitions was the late 24 Hours of Aspen. After 13 events in 16 years, declining television ratings scuttled the show in 2003. But it left behind a slew of records. Chris Kent of Canada did 83 laps for 271,161 feet for the men’s mark in 1991. That’s 216 miles of skiing at an average 66 mph. Kate McBride and Anda Rojs set the women’s vertical record of 261,360 feet in 1997.

Once the genie was out of the bottle, lift- and rotor-assisted records started to topple. In 1994, Canadian speed skier and Chamonix resident Mark Jones logged 212,000 vertical feet in just 12 hours at Les Grands Montets. Next, Dr. Mark Bennett racked up 294,380 feet in 14 hours in the Yukon in 1997 for a new “daylight” world record. Fourteen months later, former U.S. Ski Team racer Rusty Squires chartered a specialized high-altitude helicopter and recorded 331,160 vertical feet in 10 hours and 15 minutes at Big Sky, Montana.

In the meantime, the guides at Wiegele’s were determined to set a record based on the normal constraints of commercial heli-skiing, with a full group of skiers and a single machine. In 1998, Swiss extreme skier Dominique Perret, Chris Kent and Austrian guide Robert Reindl, with Edi Podivinsky and Luke Sauder of the Canadian Alpine Team, logged 353,600 vertical feet in 14½ hours.

By this point recognition was growing that assisted vertical-foot records were as much about money as skill and endurance. As ski mountaineering boomed (it’ll be a full medal event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics) interest focused on self-powered athletes. In 2009, Austrian Eckhard Dorschlag set a 24-hour world record of 60,350 feet. Ultra-marathoner Mike Foote broke that in 2018 with 68,697 feet. A few months later Norwegian Lars Erik Eriksen took it to 68,697 feet. Then Jornet obliterated that.

Born in 1987, Jornet has captured more Skyrunner World Series and Skimo (ski mountaineering) World Championship medals than we have room to list. He still holds the mark for the Innominata ski traverse on Mont Blanc linking Chamonix and Courmayeur (8 hours 42 minutes), as well as the fastest ascent/descent of Mont Blanc from Chamonix (4:57) and of the Matterhorn from Breuil-Cervinia (2:52).

As for why all the fuss over vertical speed records advancing every season, Nick Heil, writing in Outside, quoted Foote: “How many push-ups can I do in a minute? How long can I hold my breath? How far can I ski in a day? In the end, it’s all arbitrary and contrived, but it gets people to ask, what am I capable of?” 

Snapshots in Time

1958 Be Careful What You Wish For
A penetrating statistical study of the ski industry in Colorado and New Mexico has been published by the University of Colorado. Pointing out that a great many more tourists visit Colorado and New Mexico in June, July and August than in the other months of the year, the authors ask if it is not possible to develop the winter tourist industry so that tourist facilities can be used all year. — “Skiers Under Scrutiny in Colorado and New Mexico” (SKI Magazine, October 1958)

1970 The Continuing Death of the Ski Bum
Once upon a time, the ski bum was the ultimate ski insider. As neither an entrenched member of the ski-area management nor a local profiteer, he enjoyed a free-swinging life with lots of time to ski and unlimited access to the inner circles of the ski establishment. It is, therefore, ironic that as the need for ski workers grows, the reputation of the ski bum diminishes. Ski bums, industry management will tell you, are bad news; the title is now synonymous with “hippie.” Many employers won’t consider hiring ski bums, even for temporary jobs. As a result, there are fewer of the old-time ski-bum types than ever before. — Janet Nelson, “But They’re Employed” (SKI Magazine, January 1970)

1978 Risk v. Reward
I have been skiing o.b. for many years. Skiing out of bounds is extremely dangerous. Inevitably some crazy powder addicts (myself included) will continue to leave the “safe” confines of patrolled areas. After reading Lou Dawson’s account and subtle hints (“... how far can you crawl with a spinal fracture?”), I realized certain steps must be taken to ensure the safety or at least the survival of o.b. skiers. Education is what is needed on this topic. — Steven Harrison, Central Valley, New York, “Whistling in the Dark" (Letters, Powder Magazine, Spring 1978)

1981 Crowds and Crashes
The rapidly increasing skiing population has led to an alarming increase in inconsiderate and out-of-control skiers who are a serious menace. Last season, an out-of-control skier crashed into me. He never so much as asked if I needed help. I’ll have a scar I’ll carry for the rest of my life. For too long ski areas have allowed Bonzai Bombers to endanger others on the slope without adequate punishment. It’s time something was done to protect the rest of us from these slope-side criminals. —Thomas F. Warda, Rochester, N.Y., "Slope menaces" (Letters, Skiing Magazine, October 1981)

2007 Bode Rules
Call them the Bode Rules. This year every athlete on the U.S. Ski Team is required to stay in official team housing. Every racer on the team is also prohibited from having a celebratory drink with the coaches after a big win, because it’s a slippery slope from that to, say, being photographed carousing with Miss March 2002 draped on your arm during the Olympics. U.S. Ski Team chief Bill Marolt implemented the stricter guidelines after the strongest American squad in decades limped away from the 2006 Torino Games with only two medals—neither of them won by the phenomenally gifted Bode Miller. —Nathaniel Vinton, “Ski Fast but Party Slow”(SKI Magazine, February 2007)

2021 A Woman’s Place Is On Patrol
“When there are women on a team like this, it lends an important voice and perspective to the job. I can say that having women on patrol keeps everyone connected. Men muscle their way through the job and women do it with finesse,” said Addy McCord, 64, one of the longest-standing professional patrollers in the industry. — Shauna Farnell, “A Surge of Women in Ski Patrols, Once Nearly All Men” (New York Times, February 11, 2021)