Traduire/Ubersetzen

Volume 32 Number 2 March-April 2020

Featured Articles: 

The Soul of Sun Valley

Author: 
By David Butterfield

Since 1977, the Holding family has transformed this historic Idaho resort while honoring its fabled past.


Carol and Earl Holding

Marie Marvingt, Superhero

Author: 
By Seth Masia

Marie Marvingt achieved fame as an aviator, but she was also a pioneering skier and inventor of an early aluminum ski. 

She’s famous in France, but nearly unheard of in North America. Marie Marvingt (1875–1963) was an athletic phenomenon who forged a path for women into mountaineering, martial arts, skiing, cycling, aviation and military service. Combining her careers as a surgical nurse and military aviator, she invented the concept and technology of the air ambulance, and promoted air-evac services around the world.

Ski Like the Champions

Author: 
By Rick Eliot with John Caldwell

In 1956, two Americans crisscrossed Scandinavia to film the world’s fastest Nordic racers and make the first-ever cross-country ski technique film.

One thing leads to another. In this case, a 1956 summer school course in Oslo landed a couple of Americans smack in the middle of the three biggest cross-country ski races in Scandinavia. It was the chance of a lifetime to make an instructional film showing how Scandinavian racers skied so much faster than anyone else in the world—especially those living back home, in the good old USA.

Departments: 

Readers Respond: Ski journalists, K2 ad, Javelin turn

Javelin Turn: Still Sharp

At Christin Cooper’s suggestion, I’d like to provide a picture of a modern use of the Javelin Turn, which I wrote about in the January-February 2020 issue of Skiing History (Timeless Tips). In the article, I described how this tip-crossing tip was promoted by Vermont instructor Art Furrer in 1967, and has been in constant use ever since.

Legacy: The Home of the Gods

Author: 
By John Fry

Go to the high places to gain vision and restore your soul. 

Author John Fry describes Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia as a place where the “sky and the world merged ... [and] the cluttered house of my consciousness was swept clean.”


Fry at home in Katonah, New York in 2015. This photo was taken by his friend, photographer and cinematographer Paul Ryan.

Short Turns: Alf Engen's Sun Valley days, FIS bans fluorinated wax

FIS Bans Fluorinated Waxes

By Greg DiTrinco

The FIS ban on fluorinated waxes for the 2020–2021 season applies to all ski and snowboard disciplines, but will be especially relevant in nordic competitions, such as the American Birkebeiner. Racers can shave off minutes in a typical 50k race with the advanced wax.

Where are they now: Dixi Nohl

Author: 
By Edith Thys Morgan

Since the 1960s, this Austrian instructor has been an influential voice in ski technique and mountain management … and for the past few decades, a hard-working innkeeper in Vermont. By Edith Thys Morgan

Photo above: Dixi Nohl in March 2020 outside of The Charleston House, the Vermont inn that he and wife Willa have run for 21 years.

ISHA Annual Report, Donor Roll

Another Record Year for ISHA Fundraising

In 2019, charitable giving and corporate sponsorships together rose 14.1 percent over the previous record.

For the sixth year in a row, donors to the nonprofit International Skiing History Association (ISHA) set a record for unrestricted donations. Thanks to the generosity of ISHA members, individual donations and corporate contributions together rose to $176,466 — 14.1 percent over last year’s record. Donors beat ISHA’s 2019 budget goal by 10 percent.

Media Reviews: Skis in the Art of War, Alpine Cooking

Skis in the Art of War

Kalle Bror Emil Aejmelaeus-Äimä (1882–1935) grew up on skis in Finland, when it was still a duchy in the Russian Empire. At age 17 he ran off to fight in the Boer War, on the losing side. He then fought in a South American revolution, became a sea captain and joined the U.S. Army as a cavalry sergeant stationed in Texas. He then worked as a cowboy.

Remembering: John Fry, Rhona Wurtele, Dave McCoy

Go to Recent Obituaries

Coming in Future Issues, Ads from the Past

This advertisement, from the Winter 1966–1967 issue of LIFE magazine, featured happy
skiers motoring uphill near the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho.

Collectibles: Off the Wall

Author: 
By Everett Potter

At the annual Swann Galleries auction, collectors snapped up vintage ski posters of both classic and unique design.

The annual sale of vintage ski and winter posters at Swann Auction Galleries in New York City on February 13, 2020 featured 30 posters, including a handful of American classics, a celebrated Swiss ski poster, and some striking examples of midcentury graphic design.

Corporate Sponsor: Classic Polartec ad

ISHA is grateful for the World Championship sponsorship support of Polartec.

On the Cover: 

ON THE COVER This famous 1949 poster for the Swiss canton of Valais was created by the Swiss designer Herbert Libiszewski. In November 2017, it sold at auction in London for £20,000 ($28,190). Image courtesy Eric Kellenberger Collection, Classic Posters, Blonay/Switzerland. Ebay sales store: postercollection

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Volume 32 Number 2 March-April 2020