Skiing Heritage News

If you have bound volumes or collections of old ski magazines, please consider donating them to ISHA for inclusion in our reference libraries. A tax-deductible donation or bequest will help us produce a better, more useful, more entertaining magazine. Email seth@masia.org to arrange for a pick-up.

SKIING HERITAGE: A quarterly journal

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First Issue 2008, March, Vol 20#1 Loden poster

Cover: Poster created in 1927 to promote the pre-Olympic cross-country races at St. Moritz. Poster available from Vintage Ski World, (800) 332-6323.

Mathias Zdarsky by John Allen
A 19th century Renaissance Man and eccentric, the Austrian's extraordinary achievements in instruction and equipment design were responsible for the alpine ski sport we know today.

Aspen: The Metamorphosis of a Skiing Icon
by Morten Lund
Miners Henry Gillespie and Clark Wheeler had the hopes. 65 years later, Friedl Pfeiffer and Walter Paepcke supplied the vision. A detailed history of the host town for the 2008 Skiing Heritage Week, featuring Andre Roch, Ted Ryan, Dick Durrance, Darcy Brown, Bill Janss, Fred Iselin and a cast of thousands.

ISHA Names New Chair, President by Dick Needham
Barry Stone and Dean Ericson to head ISHA.

Bill Hazelett: Player, Witness to an Era by Joe Cutts
This Vermonter helped modern skiing history unfold.

Where Are They Now:
When Doctors and Skiers Lit Up by John Fry
Blanche Christian married Benno Rybizka, Dick Hauserman and Corty Hill -- and modeled on skis for Life, for Vogue, for catalogs, and for Camel cigarettes.
Andy Mill: On the Edge by Christin Cooper
The premier American downhiller of the '70s, Andy Mill skied hurt almost every season. But he couldn't resist the wildly risky line. Now he's the reigning five-time world champion of deep sea fly fishing, the greatest living tarpon fisherman.

U.S. Cross-Country Should Return to its Roots by John Caldwell
America's nordic program saw its greatest success when racers trained regionally. A former U.S. Ski Team nordic coach argues that it's time to return to a system that worked.

Where Seniors Ski Free
Age has its attributes, not least of which are ski-on-us deals at 103 U.S. ski areas. Here's the list.

Skiers' Bookshelf by Morten Lund
Downhill in Montana, by Stan Cohen
Skiing in the Treasure State dates back at least before 1865, when a painting depicts a frontier trader on skis outside a fort in the Bitteroot Valley, and the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel at Yellowstone hosted skiers as early as 1883. A U.S. Army company patrolled the park on skis for 30 years, starting in 1886. Both jumping and slalom meets were organized by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., starting in 1935. Eventually, some 60 ski areas were launched in Montana. For more information, see Stan Cohen's website.
Aspen Out of Bounds, by Charles Spetz
A social history of Aspen's drug-addled 1970s, in the form of a memoir of the author's life on the hill and off. Aspen Out of Bounds.com
No Limits: The Amazing Life of Rhonda and Rhona Wurtele, Canada's Olympian Skiing Pioneers, by Byron Rempel
Born in Quebec in 1922, the identical Wurtele twins won nearly every alpine skiing trophy available in North America during the 1940's and early '50s, usually sharing the podium. They skied on the Canadian Olympic squad in 1948, then split up after Rhona married an American-born Canadian and wound up on the U.S. Ski Team for the 1950 World Championships. The twins conquered chauvinism to become the first female fully-certified ski instructors in Canada. And their kids became world class athletes, too. Zeeba Books.
Ski Sentinels, by Rick Moulton
Moulton's latest, a history of the National Ski Patrol told with antique footage and expressive interviews, sets a new mark in ski-history filmmaking. 45 minutes. New England Ski Museum.
The Story of Sugarloaf, by John Christie
Local storekeeper Amos Winter and his brother Erland founded the Sugarloaf Ski Club in 1950 and leased the mountainside land from the Great Northern Paper Company. The story is told by insider Christie, who succeeded Winter at general manager in 1965. Down East Books.

Remembering: Ann Taylor, Buzz Fiorini, Bish McGill, Paul Valar, David Bradley, Jim Quarles.

Long Thongs: Uplifting Tales by Martie Sterling
In the good old days, lifts were rickety and slow. There was enough time during the ride to make deals, friends and love. No more. From the March 1987 issue of Ski Magazine.

Index of Back Issues

JOURNAL OF ISHA, THE INTERNATIONAL SKIING HISTORY ASSOCIATION
The International Skiing History Association is a not-for-profit corporation, whose mission is to preserve and advance the knowledge of ski history and to increase public awareness of the sport's heritage.

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