Readers Respond

 Support Telemark Racing as an Olympic Discipline

In “Where Are They Now? Hedda Berntsen, Norwegian Triple Threat” (July-August 2022), Aimee Berg writes that the amazing skier/athlete Hedda Berntsen in 1997 won gold at the Telemark World Championships. What an amazing champion in multiple disciplines! It made me ask why has telemark ski racing not made it to the Olympics when there are so many ski disciplines included, while telemark racing has a deep ski history and a strong current international FIS race circuit? After the
classic course, with gates, skating and jump, Hedda said, “I have never been more tired in my whole life on the course or after.”  

Back in 2006, Schweitzer Mountain hosted the Telemark World Championships. Our five-year-old daughter was the forerunner for the classic race and went on to considerable success at the USA Telemark National Championships.

Telemark is a FIS sport and the FIS did go to the IOC and ask that telemark ski racing be included in the Beijing 2022 Olympics as a demonstration sport, but the IOC denied the request. Telemark is close to being part of the ski racing Olympic family. Support from Skiing History and readers would probably go a long way to seeing this through. It’s a valid discipline when you see the dedicated athletes and how it connects many ski disciplines into one. Reading the article about Hedda got me revved up to try and get more support for telemark racing in the Olympics. 

Tim Boden 
Sandpoint, Idaho

A Beer and a Backstory at Totemoff’s

Your story about Pete Totemoff (“New Mexico’s Indispensable Man,” March-April 2023) really hit home with my wife and I, who have skied 15 days this season at Ski Santa Fe, a great little mountain near our home.

Tipping a few at Totemoff’s is always a special part of the mountain experience. A “throwback” true mountain pub if there ever was one. We, like many, had no idea where the name came from or the deep ties it has to the ski tradition of New Mexico—this includes most of Totemoff’s employees.

So, thank you for the wonderful historic article and the deep dive into the man Pete Totemoff himself. This is another example of the part ISHA plays to keep the ski tradition alive. All involved are to be complimented for their efforts.  

Duane and Susan Larson
Santa Fe, N.M.

 Justice Served: Jim Thorpe’s 1912 Gold Medals Restored

In my article “Pro vs. Am” (July-August 2022), I discussed the historic conflict between the concepts of amateurism and professionalism in skiing and Olympic sports. The most tragic victim of this conflict was Jim Thorpe, who won two gold medals in the 1912 Olympic Games in the decathlon and pentathlon, two of the most difficult of all sporting events. 

Thorpe dominated the 1912 Olympic Games, with Swedish King Gustav V telling him at the medal ceremonies, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” However, Thorpe had earned $25 a week while playing semi-professional baseball before his Olympic career, and in 1913, he was stripped of both medals by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under the era’s strict rules governing amateurism. Historians consider this action to be a combination of racism against Thorpe, who was Native American, and a rigid adherence to the idea of amateurism. 

In 1982, the IOC partially restored Thorpe’s 1912 successes by declaring him co-winner of the two medals. But that partial victory is now complete. In July, the IOC announced that Thorpe is now officially recognized as the sole winner of the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Games, while the two athletes who received the medals after they were stripped from Thorpe will be recognized as co-silver medalists of their events. When Thorpe died in 1953, the New York Times called him “probably the greatest natural athlete the world had seen in modern times.”

John W. Lundin
Seattle, Washington

Amateur Athletes? Hardly

John Lundin (“Pro vs. Am,” July-August 2022) is right to point out Avery Brundage’s hypocritical stands on amateurism in Olympic competition. But Brundage’s hypocrisy went beyond the unfortunate examples Lundin cites. Even though most Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc Olympians (and other top athletes) were supported by their governments, Brundage saw no problem in their participation in the Olympics. The value of that government support far exceeded the value of prizes or endorsements that led Brundage to disqualify famous athletes such as Karl Schranz. Athletes from the Soviet Union and the states it dominated were often paid by the military or other state institutions without having to do much other than train and compete. Some amateurs!

Ivo Krupka
Former President
Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum
Ottawa, Canad

T-Bar Timeline

I have a correction to make about the Sugarloaf poster in the “Many Gems at Swann’s Winter Auction” (May-June 2022). Those are all T-bars, not chairlifts, on the poster. The poster was created later than 1955. The lower of the tandem T-bars was built in the summer of 1956; the upper T-bar was built the next summer. The lower left T-bar was built later. 

Jean Luce
Carrabassett Valley, Maine

Correction

Due to an editing error, we reported in the July-August issue that Hedda Bernsten and her husband, Tyler Conrad, spend summers in New England. In fact, they live near the ski resort of Hemsedal, Norway, in the winter and in coastal Tønsberg, in the summer.

Hang On

Your recent article “Lifts that Went Nowhere” (May-June 2022) reminded me of an uphill lift I experienced in 1959. The nearest big mountain close to my home in upper Austria was the Feuerkogel. Once one took the gondola up the mountain you ended up on some snowfields with several huts. I walked about two hours to the Rieder Hütte, named after the town I lived in. After an overnight stay I toured back. But then I approached a lift that reminds me now of a T-bar. The main difference was its size. There was space for about 10 people, lining up next to each other. In front of us was a wooden beam on the ground attached to a cable. We all grabbed the beam, and after a nervous wait an attendant gave the command: los geht’s! (let’s go!) and off we went, similar to the Roca Jack lift in Portillo, Chile. Whoever was not alert was left behind or was being dragged along for a while. After a few hundred meters travel we reached the top. I assume that beam was then dragged back for the next load of daring skiers. I survived it and am still skiing at the age of 81.

Heino Nowak
Manchester, Vermont

Celebrating Willy

I would like to add to “The Original Rebel” story (May-June 2022) about Willy Schaeffler. The airbags used around towers and other immovable objects on or near the course of the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel are today still called Willy Bags. This came about when Willy was setting the course in 1982. He designed the bags after realizing the tower protection had been hay bales, which could freeze at night,
turning them into cement.

During my nearly 30 years in the ski industry with Roffe Skiwear our paths would cross, and we would dine together. His stories were fascinating. He told me he was in front of a firing squad three times. Your story told of one of them. And he told me he loved pork because Dr. Michael DeBakey, the famous heart surgeon, put a pig valve in his heart.

Shortly before his death, I attended a private celebration of life for him at the Fairmont Hotel in Denver. Many of his past University of Denver and U.S. Ski Team members were there. The last speaker was one of his team members and spoke for all of them. He relayed that Willy would make them run up the stairs of the university grandstand with a fellow team member on their backs. If someone failed to do it, the punishment was sucking a raw egg. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out an egg. “Suck this, Willy,” he shouted. It was a solid gold egg!

Wini Jones
Bainbridge Island, Washington

T-Bar Timeline

I have a correction to make about the Sugarloaf poster in the “Many Gems at Swann’s” (May-June 2022). Those are all T-bars, not chairlifts on the poster. The poster was created later than 1955. The lower of the tandem T-bars was built in the summer of 1956; the upper T-bar was built the next summer. The lower left T-bar was built later.

Jean Luce
Carrabassett Valley, Maine

Correction

The photo of Killington’s customized Skyeship gondola cabin in “Lifts that Went Nowhere” (May-June 2022) was taken by Mark D. Phillips.

Ruade Redux

The November–December 2021 issue’s “Whatever Happened To” explored the ruade technique, developed in France in the 1940s and introduced to the U.S. by Emile Allais. There is an interesting story about Allais, ruade and Sun Valley.

(Photo above: Emile Allais (second from left) at Squaw Valley, 1949, with instructors Dodie Post, Warren Miller, Charlie Cole and Alfred Hauser. Courtesy Palisades Tahoe.)

In 1947, Otto Lang became head of the Sun Valley Ski School. In his autobiography, A Bird of Passage, Lang said it was time to revitalize the ski school and it needed “a celebrity with the charisma of a superior ski racer who could also teach.” In 1948, he brought in four-time world champion and Olympic medalist Allais, famous for devising the French direct-to-parallel teaching technique, in opposition to the stem-based Arlberg system that was the mainstay of the Sun Valley school. Hannes Schneider, godfather of Arlberg, approved the hire, since “only time will tell which of the techniques deserved to last.” Allais worked out well and was a popular instructor.

Lang described ruade as “a christiania with the skis held parallel, and in order to initiate the change of direction, one lifted the tail ends of both skis off the snow and started the turn in midair to head the skis in the opposite direction.” He found it “a physically taxing maneuver, but very useful under certain conditions, such as a crusted or deeply rutted snow surface. The sight of a bunch of skiers doing the ruade reminded me of a flock of bunny rabbits hopping around and frolicking in the snow.”

That spring, Allais was hired to launch the Squaw Valley Ski School. When Lang saw Allais years later, he asked “What about ruade?” Allais replied, “Extinct as the dodo bird.”

John W. Lundin
Seattle, Washington

Cover Blurb Blunder

Ingrid Christophersen has delivered a valuable anthology to the international skiing community with To Heaven’s Heights. She deserves the recognition of ISHA’s Ullr Award for her extensive research and translation achievement and this addition to the skiing literature canon.

Readers of Skiing History also should know that the back cover of the volume highlights an entry by Leni Riefenstahl, the German filmmaker best known for glorifying Hitler and the Nazi regime. The 438-page volume contains entries from 100-plus authors. Singling out Riefenstahl for the back cover suggests a naivety or tone-deafness, especially during this time of growing anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism. To the author’s and publisher’s credit, the Riefenstahl reference, included in the book’s early publicity materials, was removed from subsequent promotional materials when the issue was brought to their attention. It remains on the back cover.

Jon Weisberg
SeniorsSkiing.com
Salt Lake City, Utah

Correction

Due to an editing error, on page 20 of “The Legacy of Spider Sabich” (March-April 2022), the site of Spider’s first WPS race—and victory—was misidentified. The race was held at Buffalo, New York, not Hunter Mountain. A caption on page 22 misidentified the woman in the photo. It’s Missy Greis, Spider’s daughter, not her mother Dede Brinkman.

Ties That Bind: The Origin Story of Sport Obermeyer

When I saw the photo of Friedl Pfeifer, Walter Paepcke, Herbert Bayer and Gary Cooper in the November-December issue all wearing my Koogie pom-pom ties (“Heavy Lifting: Aspen Under Construction,”) I thought I would tell the story.

As a young boy in Bavaria in the early 20’s, skiing was a formal sport. People wore shirts and ties and wool overcoats. The tie for skiing was called the ‘koogie pom–pom’. Koogie in the Bavarian dialect is the German word for Kugel which means ball. The ties were made of yarn. I remember men would come to our house wearing the Koogie tie on their way to go skiing. I asked my mother to make one for me, which she did. Then my friends wanted one, too. So my mother taught me how to make them.

I arrived in Aspen in 1947 to teach for Friedl Pfeifer. The following spring, as there was no work in Aspen, I bought a Ford car for $350 and headed back to Sun Valley. I bought some yarn in Hailey and made some samples of the koogie pom-pom ties. Pete Lane’s Ski Shop ordered three dozen. The retail price was $1.75 each. I gave him a 10 percent cash discount because I had spent all my money on yarn. He paid me in silver dollars. A few days later he ordered 6 dozen more! 
Averell Harriman gave some to the employees.

In Aspen in the fall of 1947, there were just seven instructors. Because the ski business was often slow, I played chess with Walter Paepcke, sometimes all night. Gary Cooper liked coming to Aspen. One day he said to me, “Klaus, I hear you started a business selling pom-pom ties. Maybe it would help your business if I wore one.”

“I would be happy to give you one Gary,” I said.

“No, I will pay retail” he insisted.

That was the first Sport Obermeyer product and the beginning of our company.

Klaus Obermeyer
Aspen, Colorado

Cover Story

The cover of the magazine’s November-December 2020 issue shows my old ski school director Luggi Foeger, who I worked for from 1947-1952 at Badger Pass Ski Area in Yosemite, California. The cover, from a photograph, shows him making a turn at Ostrander, near Badger Pass. It was a favorite place to show students the perfect position while making a turn. You came down a fairly steep hill and near the bottom there was a drop off so the skier had to move his upper half of his body forward to keep proper balance. So it showed him quite forward in his turn. This was vogue at the time. Several ski instructors and me were working on a film in 1950 or 51 and the filmmaker chose that spot.

Jim McConkey
Denman Island, British Columbia

Skiing with Stein

When the November-December 2021 issue arrived, the first thing I saw was the Jantzen ad on the back cover with Stein Eriksen’s photo and the history of Stein and his brother Marius’s sweaters knitted by their mother.

I was reminded of that memorable time in April 1989, when I traveled with Stein to Norway, as a writer for SKI. Other journalists and I skied with Stein in Hemsedal, and it was there that Stein gave me a red, white and blue sweater knitted by his mother. I also met his brother Marius.

I dared not wear the gifted sweater, because it seemed too precious. A couple of years ago, however, I gave it to a relative. An avid skier, she loves it and wears it with pride. 

Laurel Lippert
Truckee, California

Legacy of the Kokanee Camps

Regarding the story about the birth of the Canadian National Ski Team (January-February issue): The Canadian Ski Team program at Notre Dame University beginning in 1964 was a success but the academic calendar was a bad fit with the World Cup tour (1967), so the program ended in 1969. It did inspire the creation of high-school level ski academies across North America. 

Many of the program’s athletes became successful professionals. We learned resilience and determination by overcoming injuries or defeat. We forged a lifelong bond of friendship. That was a gift over and above all the medals and success stories.

I would like to honor Emily Ringham-Beauchamp, who kept the Nelson group in contact for years by organizing reunions and gatherings. She annually hosted an event to support the Ernie Gare athletic scholarships, named to honor one of program’s founders. For the 50th ski team reunion in 2005, she organized a nostalgic trip up to Kokanee glacier to visit the beautiful new Alpine Club cabin and check out our carved names on the walls of the old Kokanee cabin. Emily passed away in 2018, before our most recent reunion. 

Eva Kuchar, PhD
Pointe-Clair, Quebec

Correction

In “Aspen Under Construction” (November-December 2021 issue), an editorial error misstated the name of Greg
Poschman’s Swiss-born grandfather, who designed some of the Lift 1 components. His name was Paul Purchard, and he was an engineer and patent attorney. We regret the error.

ISHA Awards

The best works of skiing history published during 2021.
Awards Banquet March 24, 2022

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Jeff Leich, executive director, New England Ski Museum, for Research, Writing and Museum Stewardship

Ullr Book Awards

• Celebrate Winter: An Olympian’s Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing by John Morton (Independently published)
• 30 Years in a White Haze: Dan Egan’s Story of Worldwide Adventure and the Evolution of Extreme Skiing by Dan Egan & Eric Wilbur (Degan Media)
• Skiing: In the Eye of the Artist by E. John B. Allen (Egoth)
• To Heaven’s Heights: An Anthology of Skiing in Literature, compiled by Ingrid Christophersen, MBE (Unicorn)

Skade Book Awards

• Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski and Snowboard Tours in New England and New York by David Goodman (Appalachian Mountain Club Books).
• Ski Jumping in Washington State: A Nordic Tradition by John W. Lundin (Arcadia Publishing)
• Written in the Snows: Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest by Lowell Skoog (Mountaineers Books)
• Harris Hill Ski Jump: The First 100 Years by Kevin O’Conner and the 100th Anniversary Book Committee (Harris Hill Ski Jump Inc.)
• Mount Assiniboine, The Story by Chic Scott (Assiniboine Publishing) – John Fry Award for Excellence

Baldur Book Award

• Way Out West: The Skiing Years by Paul G. Ryan (Cape Cod Cinema)

Film Awards

• Spider Lives. Executive Producers: Christin Cooper, Mike Hundert, Mark Taché, Edith Thys Morgan, Hayden Scott
• 120 Years Ski Club Arlberg. Blue Danube Media: Alessandra Ravanelli and Hadmar Charlie Mayer, Markus Knaus
• In Pursuit of Soul. A TGR Film. Director: Jeremy Grant. Producer: Drew Holt
• Dear Rider: The Jake Burton Story. An HBO Documentary. Director: Fernando Villena. Producer: Ben Bryan. For Burton: Abby Young, Mike Cox.

Honorable Mentions

• La Grande Histoire du Ski (film)
• Skiing in New Mexico by Daniel Gibson and Jay Blackwood
• Vintage Skiing: Photos of Ray Atkeson
• Black Dirt by Phil Bayly

What a wonderful compliation of history and music made available through the web site (“History of Ski Music and Song,” September-October 2021). Appreciation to the author, Charlie Sanders. I was especially impressed by his wide ranging and through knowledge of ski related songsters from the 1950s and 1960s. Mr. Sanders really blew my mind as he described the contribution of Mike Cohen’s collection of ski songs, To Hell With Skiing! published in 1967 and his description of the contributions made by Mr. Cohen’s ski lodge Trailside, near Killington, Vermont. Mr. Sanders’ recollections were spot on and brought back a flood of memories. In the 1960s I had the opportunity to stay at Trailside. It truly was a life changing experience. Entertainment was provided by the guests themselves. Instruments hung from the living room walls. All were invited to take an instrument and share a story, tune or a song. It was the coolest thing a young teenager from the ’burbs like myself could experience. I should also add that my photograph is included as part of a song in To Hell With Skiing! I am “The Cold Skier Man.”

Mark Plaat
Albany, New York

Jubel to Norway

Congratulations with a very Norwegian issue in September-October: An extensive story on Kari Traa, review of the book on Andreas Wyller (who won two of the three first national championships, in 1938 and 1940, and led the clearing of the trail which carries his name), and then the Northland story involved several Norwegians. Keep it up!

Jon Vegard Lunde
Lillehammer, Norway

Farewell to Ron LeMaster

Ron was a very humble and quiet person, yet he produced the most amazing photo sequences of ski runs. His analyses were phenomenal and his technical expertise superb, all documented by the undeniable evidence of his photography. The photos produced the most appealing confrontation and learning opportunity for everybody—experts, beginners, professionals, amateurs, J5 or Masters.

He skied at the University of Colorado and coached there from 1977-79. He graduated and taught in the Physics Department. His passion for the physical analysis of the ski turn was legendary. The Ski World will miss Ron, the artist of motion dissection.

Richard Rokos
Former University of Colorado Ski Coach
Boulder, Colorado

Northland Revived

Here’s a followup to the early history of Northland Skis (September-October 2021). We bought the Northland trademarks in 2013 and began selling skis we make by hand right here in Steamboat. It’s a modern all-mountain carving ski made of hickory/ash laminates in the Northland tradition, reinforced with Kevlar and carbon fiber, making a unique blend of traditional and modern materials. See our website northlandskis.com.

Peter Daley
Northland Skis
Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Here’s a postscript to the article “Northland Skis: Fire and Feuds in St. Paul” (September-October) about Christian Lund, Northland Skis, and Martin Strand, who produced some of the first high-quality skis for retail sale.

In 1931, Northland donated a “very good pair” of its heaviest jumping skis for the winner of the Cle Elum Ski Club tournament. Its letter said “nearly all of the best skiers prefer skis that weigh around 15 lbs. or slightly less. It is our opinion that whenever a pair of jumping skis goes beyond 16 lbs. in weight, they are too heavy, no matter how large the hill.” Their local dealer in Cle Elum, Washington, Parchen Hardware, displayed the skis before the tournament.

The company’s letterhead has a picture of C.A. Lund, president, saying he had “taken part in many tournaments abroad and in this country, and has kept in close contact with the sport and with skiers of prominence. Mr. Lund has followed and aided in the development and growing popularity of skiing and is a recognized authority on the sport.”

John W. Lundin
Seattle, Washington

More on Megève

Regarding my article “Baroness Mimi and Mont d’Arbois,” (November-December 2021), I’d like to add that Megève heads into its second century as a partnership between Benjamin de Rothschild and the Four Seasons Hotels group, rechristened the Four Seasons Hôtel Megève. Pampered guests will find first-class amenities, Michelin-starred food and an exquisite spa. Ariane de Rothschild led the interior design work with a view to maintaining a connection to the resort’s past.

Bob Soden
Montreal

Letters to the Editor: We’re All Ears

There may not be a more experienced and distinguished readership in the ski industry than ISHA’s audience. We’d like to hear from you. Send letters to the editor to seth@skiinghistory.org. Please include your name and your town of residence.

To elaborate on “Better Than Wool” (March-April 2021), Polarfleece was an evolutionary product. The first polyester fiber insulations were created in the mid-1960s by compressing nonwoven Dupont Dacron and Celanese Fortrel, used in quilted outerwear. Later, nonquilted jackets used a tougher version made on a needle-punching machine. I made this stuff for the skiwear industry at our Seattle factory beginning in 1975; a competing factory made it in New England.

In 1978, 3M began manufacturing and selling Thinsulate in Asia. That disrupted North American insulation manufacture. U.S. skiwear makers had to compete with China. We needed a new U.S.-made synthetic insulation.

At Malden Mills, where I worked selling synthetic pile fabrics, we knew how to make sweatshirt fleece from cotton-polyester blends. In 1980, I asked Malden to make a blanket fleece fabric using a special Fortrel polyester fiber. This was fleece. It gave us a competitive product to the stuff made in Asia, and allowed skiwear brands to keep their sewing factories here in the U.S.A.

I need to add an environmental note: North American mills operate under strict EPA guidelines. Asian mills often poison their rivers. The more American products you buy, the cleaner the planet.

Doug Hoschek
Seattle, Washington

The Musical Origin of the Jim Dandy Ski Club

I enjoyed reading the article by Charlie Sanders, “A History of Ski Music and Song” (September-October 2021). . . . The nation’s first Black ski club, the Jim Dandy Ski Club, was formed in 1958 in Detroit, Michigan, named after the rhythm and blues song “Jim Dandy,” written by Lincoln Chase and first recorded by American singer LaVern Baker in 1956.

The song was recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and included in Rolling Stone’s Greatest Songs of All Times. The song is about a man named Jim Dandy who rescues women from improbable situations. The lyrics begin with the phrases, “Jim Dandy to the rescue” and “Go, Jim Dandy,” and go on to describe the predicament: “I was sitting on a mountain top, 30,000 feet to drop.”

The ski club, which boasts 300 to 400 members, added to the song, “Jim Dandy does the hockey stop.” Members ski to the beat of the song. I would like to see more articles in the journal that reflect the contributions made by Black skiers, including African Americans, to skiing history. 

Naomi Bryson
Chandler, Arizona

Give Skiing History for the Holidays

Skiing History magazine is the perfect gift for the holidays. Go to skiinghistory.org/join to send a subscription to a friend, at a discounted gift rate.

Shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate .05 percent of your purchases to ISHA, at no cost to you.

Sign up at smile.amazon.com/ch/06-1347398. This link takes you directly to ISHA’s new AmazonSmile account, where you can make your usual Amazon purchases while providing a new funding source for ISHA. Just select Sign-in at the upper right corner of the page.

There is an interesting postscript to the article about bringing fashion to the Olympics (“Halston on Netflix: How Fashion Came to the Olympics,” July-August 2021). It involves Sun Valley and Kathleen Harriman, the daughter of the resort’s founder, Averell Harriman, who brought high fashion to the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, well before Halston or Levi Strauss did so many years later.

(Photo above: 1948 U.S. Women's Ski Team in uniform; Utah Ski Archives)

Sun Valley played an important role in getting American skiers ready to compete in St. Moritz. Sun Valley hosted the 1948 Olympic tryouts “in a style that has surely never been equaled,” and paid for accommodations for the 40 men and 20 women skiers competing for Olympic berths, according to the 1948 American Ski Annual.

Kathleen Harriman was not only a fixture at Sun Valley, often accompanying her father to official events, she was an outstanding racer. She was on Bennington College’s ski team and won an Eastern Ski Championship. Kathleen and Gretchen Fraser were good friends, often skiing together at Sun Valley.

Kathleen Harriman Mortimer (in 1947, she married Stanley G. Mortimer, heir to the Standard Oil fortune) was in charge of the women’s uniforms for the 1948 Olympics. Drawing on her father’s contacts, according to the book Gretchen’s Gold, Kathleen collected a wardrobe designed by Fred Pickard of Pickards of Sun Valley. Jantzen did the grey-worsted gabardine ski suits. There also were poplin parkas with fur trim plus hand-knit sweaters by Marjorie Benedickter. Most impressive were wool alpaca coats, long black après-ski skirts and pure silk scarfs decorated with delightfully drawn skiers that Max Barsis—Sun Valley’s official watercolorist and cartoonist-in-residence—had dreamed up. As the ski suits did not come with belts, Gretchen added her own belt with the buckle she had won in the initial California Silver Belt race at Sugar Bowl in 1940.

There is no record of who paid for the Sun Valley inspired wardrobe for the 1948 U.S. women’s team, but the U.S. Olympic Committee, with a limited budget, certainly did not. One suspects that a small part of the vast Harriman or Mortimer fortunes paid for the fashionable outfits at St. Moritz.

John W. Lundin
Seattle, Washington

John W. Lundin is a lawyer, historian and author, and is one of the founding members of the Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum (WSSSM). His book, Skiing Sun Valley: a History from Union Pacific to the Holdings, received a 2021 Skade award from ISHA. His most recent book, Ski Jumping in Washington State: a Nordic Tradition, was the companion to an exhibit on ski jumping at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, co-sponsored by WSSSM, which John helped organize. 

Correcting the Record

The book review of Skiing Sun Valley (Media Reviews, July-August 2021) contains an error by the reviewer. The book did not include a misspelling of Marilyn Monroe. 

In “Seven Decades at Belleayre,” also in the July-August issue, a trail on Mt. Greylock was misidentified. It is the Thunderbolt Trail, not the Thunderbird Trail.

John Allen did a great job with “What Might Have Been” (March-April 2021), describing the possible mega-resort up at Ashcroft instead of down where we ski today in Aspen. In characterizing Billy Fiske, the spark plug behind the proposed development, I would offer a few details. Fiske produced Hopalong Cassidy movies and was an adventurous flyer known for his island-hopping flights across the Pacific. When he saw the above-treeline terrain in Joe Flynn’s photographs, he flew into Glenwood Springs to take a look. There was no airfield, so he picked a field and landed but had to pay the local power company to drop the power lines so he could take off. Fiske was a figure in British Society, reportedly arriving at the RAF airdrome, white scarf flying in his Bentley convertible, to fight in the Battle of Britain. In those early days of World War II, there were more pilots than Hurricane planes. Knowing their scarcity, Fiske coaxed his shot-up plane back to the field, landing despite a cockpit fire that was roasting him alive. He was the first American to be officially killed in action fighting the Germans. Just the year before in Colorado, he and Ted Ryan, his partner in the Highland Bavarian Company, purchased the Ashcroft ghost town and thousands of adjoining acres. John refers to my 1981 interview with Ryan that I featured in the film Legends of American Skiing. Without Fiske, the plans for the mega-resort fizzled. HBC’s surviving partner, Ted Ryan, passed Ashcroft and all the surrounding land to the U.S. Forest Service.

Rick Moulton
Chairman, ISHA Board of Directors
Huntington, Vermont

Painting of Fiske's final landing by John Howard Worsley/Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.

Inside the Domes

Patrick Thorne’s piece on indoor skiing (May-June 2021) was informative but didn’t address a key question: What’s the skiing like? Fifteen years ago, I did an October tour of what I called the Rhenish Alps: Four ski domes in four days in Germany, France and the Netherlands. The goal was to test a new ski design on winter snow, something unavailable in either hemisphere at that time of year. We skied Amnéville, Neuss, Bottrop and Landgraaf and found edgeable firm surfaces—not ice but not packed powder. What impressed me most were the buses parked outside each venue, transporting ski-club kids and coaches for off-season slalom training. The terrain isn’t steep enough for FIS-level slalom racing, but the snow surface was appropriate. Under the mercury-vapor lamps, it felt like night skiing. Sounds echoed off the walls and roof. 

Seth Masia
President, ISHA
Paonia, Colorado

Skiing inside the Alpincenter Bottrop: Youtube video

Paul Post’s “Back to the Future” (November-December 2020) brought back fond memories of the early days at West Mountain, of which my family was a major part. I faintly recall the opening day, December 25, 1961, when the first rope tow started spinning. The Brandt brothers (Mike, Claude and Paul) had commissioned my father, Tom Jacobs, to open the ski school and ski shop. The following season he started the junior race program at West and helped organize the Southern Adirondack Junior Racing League.

When Tom hired Izzy Ture in 1966 to take over the ski school and race program, West Mountain racing was well on its way to becoming a significant player on the New York scene. However, the pivotal moment came when Mike Annett was hired by Izzy in 1969 to run the race program.

I agree with Steve Lathrop that history may well repeat itself under his race department directorship. The program is blessed with the full support of West Mountain’s managers, Sara and Spencer Montgomery, who are providing a unique opportunity for high level training and racing at a very reasonable cost, something unique at resort and academy settings throughout the nation. It’s most gratifying to see the race program at West Mountain continue to flourish!

John Jacobs
Glens Falls, New York

Alta is for…?

The Goldminer’s Daughter’s matriarch, Elfriede Shane, recently departed this life at the age of 97. (See Remembering, page 31). Hers was a life lived with passion, purpose, generosity, wisdom and a boundless appetite for fun! 

When my parents, Neef and Shirlee Walker, took over operation of Alta’s Watson Shelter, Jim and Elfriede were among our family’s most constant friends. One afternoon during the 1966-67 season, Elfriede invited me, an eighth-grade student, to help her devise a suitable slogan for Alta. Elfriede kicked the discussion off with a suggestion I’ll never forget: “Alta + Skier = Happy!” After a short lull, my mother suddenly volunteered “Alta is for Skiers.” Elfriede’s face alit with a smile as telling as it was enthusiastic. “That’s it!” she proclaimed.

Tom Walker
Alta Historical Society
Alta, Utah

Gone Fishing

I greatly enjoyed the excellent article on the Seigniory Club (“Canada’s Forgotten Ski Center,” September-October). It’s entirely appropriate, of course, that an article on the Seigniory Club in Skiing History should focus on skiing and other winter activities, but the Club also catered to people with a passion for fishing and hunting.

As it happens, the father of a childhood friend contributed a team of horses to haul the many logs of which the main club building was constructed. His reward was access to Seigniory Club grounds for fishing and hunting. This gave my friend and me the chance to do a little fishing. Using only bits of white bread on a hook crudely knotted to a thick line on a rod and reel set bought for $1.49 at a Canadian Tire store, we were able to catch some decent brook trout. We would kill for an experience like that at the fishing club in Quebec to which I have belonged for more than 40 years.

Ivo Krupka
Canadian Ski Hall of Fame & Museum

Thank you, ISHA

I joined Skiing History in 2009 as a part-time freelance assistant editor at the invitation of John Fry to start training and learning under editor-in-chief Dick Needham, who stepped down in 2010. Over the years, my duties expanded as I took on duties as Director of Operations and eventually Executive Director.

In 2018, I decided to toss my hat in the ring and run for the Vermont House of Representatives. I won. Then I won re-election in November 2020. I am passionate about public service and the role that grassroots community leaders can and must play in guiding us to a more equitable and unified future. So while I will dearly miss my daily involvement with ISHA, I look forward to my new role as a legislator. (Learn more at my website: kathjamesforstaterep.com.)

I loved my years at ISHA for many reasons. I am a passionate skier, having spent most of my life as an enthusiastic alpine skier but switching in recent years to the peace and serenity I find in classic nordic. So it was an honor to learn about, and help to preserve, the history and heritage of the world’s most wonderful and fascinating sport and lifestyle.

But for me ISHA has always been about the people—the chance to work and learn from my mentor and dear friend John Fry, to work with a fantastic board of directors, to meet lifelong ski journalists and historians who are the most knowledgeable stewards of our sport’s past, and to connect almost every day with our wonderful members around the world. I’ll hang onto my email—kathleen@skiinghistory.org—and I hope my ISHA friends will stay in touch! 

Kathleen James
Manchester Center, Vermont