THE STYLISH LIFE SKIING
DESTINATIONS & EVENTS
Part of the joy of skiing is that you can, essentially, do it anywhere you wish as long as there’s a smattering of snow and a slope to slide down. In addition to over 2,000 ski resorts in Europe and some 500 in North America, there’s skiing to be found in less obvious places like Australia, India, Japan, Iran, Chile, and Morocco. Thanks to artificial snow and indoor ski centers, you can even ski in London and Dubai if the mood takes you.
Ski purists would argue that Scandinavia is the cradle of recreational skiing, and, given that Norway hosted the world’s first annual Ski Festival in Holmenkollen in 1892, it’s worthy of that claim. However, downhill skiing is known as Alpine skiing for good reason: the sport was effectively conceived in the Alps. In about 1910, in the Austrian resort of St. Anton, local ski instructor Hannes Schneider created the Arlberg technique, the primary method of Alpine skiing instruction which has remained virtually unchanged for 80 years.
Those looking to ski Europe’s classic ski regions should also include Chamonix, Zermatt, Saas Fee, Grindelwald, and Cortina d’Ampezzo on their list. These ancient towns attracted mountaineers to the mighty peaks that loom above them many years before people started skiing down them. Tucked beneath a thick snow comforter, their onion-domed churches, sun-blackened timber chalets, and cobbled streets are picture-postcard perfect, and particularly enthralling at Christmas when bedecked with fairy lights, scented with roast chestnuts, and alive with old traditions. While Europe’s jet set continue the century-old tradition of gathering under the Swarovski Christmas tree in Megève and filling their
Opposite: France’s Jean Frédéric Chapuis, Switzerland’s Peter Staeheli, France’s Bastien Midol, and Norway’s Didrik Bastian Juell compete during the Men’s Snow Ski Cross at FIS World Cup in Arosa, Switzerland, 2015.
Previous pages: Majestic view of lift station Vizelle at Courchevel ski resort, Trois Vallées, Haute-Savoie, France.
Opposite: On the way to Zürs and Lech on the famous Flexenstrasse mountain pass tunnel, 1936.
Top: Erich Moosbrugger teaches the cross-jump to ski students, Zürs, Austria, 1949.
Right: Originally built in 1927, the Sporthotel Lorünser in Zürs, Austria, run by the Jochum family for three generations, continues to be a popular ski holiday destination today; historic photograph of the hotel, 1951.
Following pages, left: Looking down to the city of Ketchum from Bald Mountain, Sun Valley Resort, Idaho; right: early ski resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, 1900.
This page: Piotr Żyła of Poland competes in the first round in the Large Hill Individual during the FIS Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup Sapporo, Japan, 2015. Opposite: View of Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump, designed by JDS Architects, at dusk, Holmenkollen, Norway, 2011.
PEOPLE
LEGENDS AND CHARACTERS
Founding Fathers
The list of founding fathers that skiers have to thank for creating the sport they love is extensive, but three gentlemen deserve special mention. The Norwegian explorer and Noble Peace Prize Laureate, Fridtjof Nansen, led the first crossing of Greenland on skis in 1888 and won Norway’s National Cross Country Championships 11 times, establishing skiing as the endeavour of choice for adventurers and athletes. Hannes Schneider of St. Anton, Austria, developed the Arlberg Technique of Alpine skiing instruction in 1910, determining our skiing technique for the next 80 years, and Sir Arnold Lunn organized the first ever slalom race in 1922, which, in turn, played a pivotal role in introducing skiing to the Olympic Games.
Alpine Greats
Only two men have won medals in all four of the Winter Olympic alpine skiing disciplines (downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G): Norway’s Kjetil André Aamodt and America’s Bode Miller. However, Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, who made his World Cup debut in 1973 at age 17, retains the record for the most international alpine ski racing wins, having scooped up 86 during his career. Croatia’s Janica Kostelic is the greatest female Olympic skier, with six medals to her name. But it is America’s most successful skier ever, Lindsey Vonn, who currently dominates alpine ski racing with 67 World Cup victories (five events: the four alpine disciplines and combined downhill and slalom), two Olympic medals, and five World Championship medals under her belt. And she’s still competing…
Opposite: French legend Jean-Claude Killy, winner of the first stage of the Slalom, poses for a photographer with French alpine skier, Annie Famose, during the Alpine Skiing World Championship in Portillo, Chile, 1966.
This page: American alpine ski racer Picabo Street proudly shows off her silver and bronze medals at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Sierra Nevada, Andalucía, Spain, 1996. Opposite: Silver medalist Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States waves the red, white, and blue on the podium of the Ladies’ Alpine Combined Slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, South Korea.
This page: Mrs. Clementine Churchill with her St. Bernard during her winter holiday in St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1937. Opposite: Audrey Hepburn and her companion, Robert Wolders, take a stroll during a winter vacation in Gstaad, Switzerland, 1982.
Second edition
Writer: Gabriella Le Breton
Designer: Allison Stern
Editor: Carla Sakamoto
Production by Dieter Haberzettl
Color separation by MT-Vreden, Vreden Germany
ISBN 978-3-8327-3266-0
Library of Congress Number: 2015940182
Printed in Printed in the Czech Republic by PBtisk a.s.
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