News from ISHA: 2020 ISHA Awards presented online, November 7

Photo above: In receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Der Schneehase, editor Ivan Wagner acknowledged the book’s previous editors, going back to 1924.

The 28th annual ISHA Awards were presented during an online ceremony on November 7. Originally scheduled for March 26 in Sun Valley, the banquet was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

During the 90-minute Zoom program, awards were presented to the authors or producers of ten books, two films and a website that made significant contributions to our understanding of skiing history during calendar year 2019. All but two of the awardees logged on, from across Europe and North America, to accept their trophies.

In addition, a lifetime achievement award was presented to Der Schneehase, the annual publication of the Swiss Academic Ski Club, now in its 40th edition. Schneehase editor Ivan Wagner accepted on behalf of SAS. A special award went to the Holding family of Sun Valley, for their preservation of Sun Valley’s skiing history.

It was an interesting evening as the awardees, who comprise some of the world’s leading ski historians, discussed their winning projects. Highlights included:

• The editors of Skispuren (Ski Tracks), Rudolf Müllner and Christof Thöny, noted that skiing history is an immature academic discipline and called for more conferences involving researchers on both sides of the Atlantic.

• Philipp Strobl, co-editor with Aneta Podkalicka of Leisure Cultures and the Making of Modern Ski Resorts, was surprised to learn through his research how interconnected skiers were a century ago around the world. Instructors travelled seasonally between hemispheres, and transported and taught skiing culture wherever they went.

• Isak Lidström, author of Heja Persson! Sámi Triumph in the Vasaloppet, described parallels between the experiences of indigenous athletes in Scandinavia and North America, in their confrontation of the stereotype of “natural” or racial-based talent.

• Jeremy Davis, author of Lost Ski Areas of the Berkshires, noted that since founding his New England Lost Ski Areas Project (nelsap.org) in 1998 he has documented more than 700 closed ski areas—including Roger Picard’s Thunderbolt rope tow, which ran on Mt. Greylock for just three weeks in 1958.

• Chris Diamond, author of Ski Inc. 2020, explained that no business publication has covered the astonishing success of rapidly consolidating ski resort operations over the past five years. His co-author Andy Bigford remarked that, counterintuitively, consolidation has been a boon for consumers, and that multi-resort mega-passes appear to be helping people to ski during the COVID-19 epidemic.

• Jeff Conroy and Patrick Creadon, producers of Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story, recounted the experience of interviewing 92-year-old Warren Miller at his home, just eight months before he died. Warren told his entire life story in nine hours over the course of three days —while some of the skiers who starred in his films visited for a final reunion.

• Patrick Thorne, creator of DrySlopeNews.com, recalled learning to ski on a dry slope in 1970 before heading to the Alps on a school holiday.

• Ivan Wagner, editor of Der Schneehase, acknowledged the five editors who have produced 40 volumes since 1924: Walter Amstutz, Arnold Kaech, Kaspar Wolf, Raoul Imseng and Martin Hodler.

To watch the 90-minute program, and read about the award-winning works, use the links at skiinghistory.org/events.

Postponed: Skiing History Week 2021

Due to the ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame will postpone its 2021 induction banquet and related events, originally scheduled for April 7 to 11, 2021, at Snowmass, Colorado. Revised plans were in development at press time.

ISHA will modify plans for its 29th Annual ISHA Awards banquet, originally scheduled for April 8 at Snowmass. ISHA will announce new dates for the 2021 awards before the end of this year.

The Hall of Fame and ISHA plan to hold their 2022 banquets in Sun Valley and return to Snowmass in 2023.

Joe Jay Jalbert Joins ISHA Board

Joe Jay Jalbert was unimously elected to the ISHA Board of Directors at our November online meeting.

Jalbert began skiing at age five in Mullan, Idaho and dominated PNSA racing as a four-time Junior Nationals Team member. While studying at the University of Washington on an academic scholarship, he was recruited to ski and captained the UW ski team. He raced internationally prior to the debut of the World Cup and narrowly missed a spot on the 1968 Olympic team.

Jalbert landed a role as ski double for Robert Redford in the 1969 classic film Downhill Racer, and learned to shoot film by carrying a camera down the Lauberhorn course. He won his first Emmy for cinematography in 1971, for a CBS network feature from Sun Valley with Jean-Claude Killy and Peggy Fleming. In 1972 he launched Jalbert Productions International, and now has more than 800 productions to his credit.

In 1975, he won the first of 16 category titles at the International Ski Film Festival, taking best of show a year later with Just a Matter of Time, a documentary on the classic 1976 Olympic downhill matchup at Innsbruck between Franz Klammer and Bernhard Russi. That film would springboard Jalbert Productions into the global spotlight, starting a series of four IOC Olympic and 13 FIS World Championship official films. He distributed his films through broadcast syndication, a field in which he remains an industry leader. For over 20 years, Jalbert produced official films for the U.S. Ski Team.

Jalbert has won more than 30 international film awards. In 2002 he was honored as the FIS Journalist of the Year, and in 2007 received ISHA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

2020 Fundraising Drive: Help Us Meet Our Goal!

ISHA’s annual year-end fundraising drive kicked off on October 1, and by Thanksgiving individual donations were running about 10 percent ahead of the previous record pace during the 2019 campaign.

This is gratifying. In October we told ISHA’s members that, due the economic impact of COVID-19, we forecast roughly a 20 percent drop in the revenues we need to support publication of Skiing History magazine, the website skiinghistory.org, the annual ISHA Awards program and other programs in support of our nonprofit mission. We asked that members contribute early rather than wait for the end of the tax year, and you responded. Thank you!

Nonetheless, ISHA will run an operating deficit in 2020 and we have dipped into investment reserves to meet current expenses. We need a strong finish to meet our goal. If you’ve already sent in a gift, thank you! If you have not, please do so before December 31. ISHA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and contributions are tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers.

To give, please donate online at skiinghistory.org/donate or use the envelope bound into this issue.

Many members have asked how to give in memory of the late John Fry. Simply write his name on the memo line on your check, or if donating online, check the In Memory box and enter John Fry. Questions? Call our office: 802.375.1105. 

John Fry Tribute Video: Now online

ISHA has produced a 10-minute biographical video honoring the late John Fry, longtime president and chairman of ISHA, editor of SKI Magazine, founding editor of Snow Country and honored member of the U.S. and Canadian Halls of Fame. Produced by Rick Moulton, the video features a 2006 interview with Fry, with plenty of archival photos. See the video at tinyurl.com/JohnFry.