Imagine the courage. The excitement! The adventure! Being young and spry and Canadian in the pre-war 1930s, devoted to an obscure, hearty little sport called “ski-ing.” And imagine the thrill, in the midst of a Great Depression, to be named to the team representing Canada in the first Olympic Winter Games to feature Alpine skiing. It must have been intoxicating. It must have been thrilling. One can hear the rally cry:
Tom Lippert was working as a ski instructor at Squaw Valley in February 1969 when the World Cup came to town. A Sports Illustrated photographer needed a caddy, and Tom schlepped the camera bags. The SI pro agreed to let Tom take some shots, and his full-page photograph of slalom-winner Billy Kidd was selected to illustrate the story. It was Kidd’s second World Cup victory, and the photo launched Lipp’s career.
Alaskan Native forest ranger was the Renaissance man of ski resort development.
Among the characters who pioneered skiing in New Mexico—and there were plenty—one of the most colorful was a powerful, laughing Aleut Indian from Alaska’s Chugach Mountains: Pete Totemoff.
St-Germain scores first Canadian gold in 31 years.
Špindlerův Mlýn is a charming resort in the Czech republic that holds special memories for Mikaela Shiffrin. She made her World Cup debut here in March 2011, at age 15. She returned in 2019, winning the race that her father, Jeff, captured from behind his camera lens.
This fourth-place diploma for an “international” race in 1948 held a special place in my uncle’s memory. Tommy Norgate had joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 and was posted to Norway immediately after the war as some sort of arbiter between the departing German Nazis and the Norwegians. He had been on skis only one season before this race.
Three of the ten books honored at the 31st Annual ISHA Awards Banquet
Heroes in Good Company
The newest addition to the vast body of 10th Mountain Division literature is Skyler Bailey’s Heroes in Good Company. It tells the harrowing experiences of a combat group within Company L of the 86th Mountain Regiment. The book may be short on the details of ski mountaineering and high-altitude military training, but its value to our community is an intimate account of the wartime tribulations of the very young soldiers who later became ski industry pioneers.
Thanks for the article on all of the innovative lifts across history (“Lifts That Went Nowhere,” May-June 2022). It seems few have caught on to one of the most economical and practical of all. I only lucked into it about 30 years ago. To sell enough lots to purchase the land for Moose Mountain near Fairbanks, Alaska, I had to design and build a spec road up and around the mountain. Once we’d cut a few runs, we started skiing by driving up in my Chevy Suburban. We were making a lot of runs, and it wasn’t long before we realized we could simply charter local buses and sell lift tickets.
The International Skiing History Association is pleased to announce the 19 recipients of its annual awards honoring the best works of history published during 2022. Winners include four films, 10 books, four honorable mentions and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
First established in 1993, the ISHA Awards include the year’s best creative works of ski history, including books, films, websites and other media projects.
First annual grant of $5,000 for curation and construction of new exhibit
The International Skiing History Association is pleased to announce that its first annual grant in support of ski museum programs has been awarded to the Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum.
Financial report: In 2022, donors and sponsors kept Skiing History vital.
For the ninth straight year, donors to the nonprofit International Skiing History Association (ISHA) set a record for charitable giving in support of our mission. Individual donations rose rose 4.7 percent over 2021 (not including the Dick and Georgette Bohr bequest).
This ad, running in the September 1968 editions of SKI and Skiing magazines, represents one of the most successfully misleading messages ever foisted upon ski racing fans. It promulgated the lasting impression that Bob Lange’s plastic ski boot had created a revolution and already dominated elite ski racing.
