The Rossignol Legend 100 years by Groupe_Rossignol

The Legend

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The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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PREFACE BY EMILE ALLAIS

8-9

100 YEARS AT THE HEART OF THINGS Pictures of the world of Rossignol

10-49

100 YEARS OF SKIING How the history of Rossignol is intertwined with the history of skiing

50-99

100 YEARS OF ADVERTISING Know-how and knowing how to share it

100-107

100 YEARS OF INNOVATION A visit to the company spirit of facing new challenges

108-137

100 YEARS OF COMPETITION Racing first as a guiding principle, but then cause for a pedigree and an international reputation

138-191

100 YEARS OF RIDING Being in the snowsliding business means moving ahead and adapting; how Rossignol carved a turn to go "new school"

192-214

Cover picture : Blake Jorgenson

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

PREFACE

by Émile ALLAIS

oots

So just like that, Rossignol is a hundred years old. 101 even! Already. It seems to me that it was only yesterday when everything began. Now today I'm being asked to talk about its hundredth anniversary, it’s the ambience of the beginning, the one in the Voiron workshops, which comes back to me most strongly. It was there that it began and developed; a unique corporate culture breathed into the company by the Abel Rossignols, father and son. And that’s where the origins of the brand will always be, forever. It is the smell of wood that comes back to me first. I have a confused sensation of smelling the odors of resins, sap, wood shavings and sawdust. Then comes the memory of wanting to “read” the wood, to decode the language of where its weaknesses lay, of its texture, its knots, and its color. Then there is the almost carnal contact of the hand selecting the wood type, running over the planks, sensing their flexibility. I see myself again standing next to the saw machines, planers, workbenches and trimming saws, watching the woodworkers at their task in their overalls or gray shop coats. I remember their meticulous and careful gestures, their concentration, their attention to detail and their continual desire to do things better. Each newly-cut ski had to be better than the last one; each pair had to be as close to perfect as possible, two identical skis had to be made out of a single piece of solid wood. As a young skier delighted with the joys that snow could offer, and at the time very far from imagining for even a second my future life as a champion, I had a contract early on with Rossignol, after a few good international results. I remember that before the 1937 World Championships in Chamonix I went to Voiron to choose the wood for my skis. Rough strips that I had had run over with a planer going along the grain. It was American hickory. The planer had to first be run over

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it along the grain, then two similar strips had to be found. Choices had to be made depending on the graining. A difficult but crucial step. The woodworkers knew what they were doing; they knew how to find the same wood, the same flexibility to make good pairs. It was work as delicate as that of a goldsmith. I then directed things, saying: "You have to plane down a bit there, and make it thinner here, trim the tail like this..." Yes, I was proud that they were asking me for my opinion and that they trusted my (limited) experience to direct what they were doing. It was with them, these inspired and impassioned "company woodworkers" that bit by bit we were able to fine-tune the manufacturing techniques, improve the process, as they say now. We made skis with a certain number of wooden lathes, then we made flat skis, then glued laminated skis; then there was the development of metal skis, then fiberglass ones, etc. On the subject of metal skis: it was a revolution for these people who loved wood so much. But they dusted off the prototypes I had brought back from the United States, and with all their heart went to work developing them. The Metallais and the Allais 60 are the result of their know-how. Thanks to its skis, Rossignol found itself on the highway to becoming an international presence. Yet it is all these workmen laboring in the shadows, the creators of the first pairs in rough wood just as much as the high-level technicians who succeeded each other from decade to decade in the manufacturing lines, who for me are the real craftsman of Rossignol's worldwide success. This was one of the talents of Laurent Boix-Vives, who directed the destiny of this worldwide leader for half a century: that of never forgetting this and of making the following proverb his motto: "the deeper the roots, the higher the tree grows!" Yes, at this moment of much-deserved celebration of Rossignol's hundredth anniversary, I like this reference to a tree, to wood, to roots. It takes time to make a magnificent tree, and it takes so little to cut it down... I have paid close attention - like a father watching his son growing up - to the successive episodes of this chronicle in recent years. I find that Rossignol has found itself a very nice slogan: "Pure Mountain Company." For me, who was lucky enough to ski the world's mountains, this says as much about the joy of skiing as the need to protect mountains and their spirit, and respect for those who have cleared the way to that. But this very modern motto must not let us forget the high-tech equipment of the champions skiing the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s snows, equipment lovingly created by nameless people working in production units under Laurent BoixVivesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; inspired leadership. I am sure that all champions, and God knows they are many and marvelous, who have had the happiness of winning, or even simply racing on skis by Rossignol, defending its name and values, will join with me in saying we count on all those who have (and will have) responsibility for ensuring the future of this wonderful brand; we count on them to preserve the magnificent inheritance left by Abel, father and son, and showcased by Laurent Boix-Vives.

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years at the

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Heart of things

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2007 - Alaska Photographer : Blake Jorgenson

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2007 - Alaska Rider : Tommy Brunner Photographer : Florent Ducasse

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1932 - Chamonix, France. Skier : Maurice Lafforgue © Collection privée / ZOOM

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1970 - Val Gardena, Italy. Skier : Alain Penz Â© D.R - Collection ROSSIGNOL

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1985 - Chamonix, France. Rider : Michel Perrin Photographer : Sylvie Chappaz

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2006 - Lake Tahoe, California Rider : Candide Thovex Photographer : Christoffer Sjรถstrรถm

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2005 - Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Skier : Bruno Kerner Photographer : Bernard Sciancia

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2006 - Whistler, B.C - Canada Rider : Jean-Franรงois Pelchat Photographer : Eric Bergeri

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2005 - Kuusamo- Finlande. Skier : Ronny Ackermann Photographer : ZOOM

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2003 - Haines - Alaska Rider : Jeremy Jones Photographer : Adam Clark

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Années 1930 - Fance. Skier : Émile Allais © Collection privée - ZOOM

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2006 Skier : Julia Mancuso Â© D.R - Collection ROSSIGNOL

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2007 - Yukon Backcountry, Canada. Rider : Jeremy Jones Photographer : Scott Serfas

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2005 - France. Skier : unknown Photographer : Stephane Godin

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2007 - Plan du Midi - Chamonix, France. Photographer : RenĂŠ Robert

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2006 - Les Deux Alpes, France. Rider : Mathieu Crepel Photographer : Eric Bergeri

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2007 Rider : Kye Petersen Photographer : Blake Jorgenson

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2007 Rider : Arnaud Kugener Photographer : Elina Sirparanta

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2007 - Les Trois VallĂŠes, France. Skier : Manu Gaidet Photographer : Nico Joly

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years of

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Skiing

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The core of the ski is its soul, crafted into the very wood, giving it flexibility and personality. In 2008 this is still the case for most Rossignol models.

Century tory of His

WHAT WERE ABEL ROSSIGNOL'S THOUGHTS AS HE LOOKED UP AT THE SNOWY PEAKS OF LE-SAPPEYEN CHARTREUSE, FROM HIS VOIRON WORKSHOP IN THE FRENCH DÉPARTEMENT OF ISÈRE? PROBABLY THE

SAME THING AS ROGER ABONDANCE A HUNDRED YEARS LATER, RETIRED, A FORMER RACING STAR WHO ADMITS TO DREAMING AT NIGHT THAT HE STILL MANUFACTURES SKIS. WHEN ABEL POLISHED HIS FIRST STRIPS OF WOOD IN 1907, HE DIDN'T KNOW THAT A HUNDRED YEARS LATER HIS NAME WOULD BE THAT OF THE WORLD’S LEADING BRAND OF SKIS. HE DIED IN THE 1950S, AT THE TIME WHEN LAURENT BOIX-VIVES, A TRUCK FARMER'S SON, BOUGHT THE COMPANY TO TRANSFORM IT, QUITE SIMPLY MAKING IT THE GREATEST SUCCESS IN WHAT WAS NOT YET THE SKI INDUSTRY.

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he epic Rossignol story coincides with that of the history of skiing, going so far as to being its most successful example. For a century the name has followed the industry’s ups and downs, advancing together with its innovations, to finally become the world's greatest ski brand and even a bit more than that... It all began in 1907 with copies being made of the Norwegian models the military had discovered the usefulness of. This "prehistoric" period extended until 1939, with early solid wood skis having to be held in forms to maintain their shape between each use. In 1939, the technique of lamination opened a new era of technical innovation corresponding to the birth of winter sports: the first ski resorts and the start of the winter tourism industry, along with the first in a long series of gold medals in a field which was far from being exhausted of its possibilities. In 1956, following financial difficulties, Rossignol was bought by Laurent Boix-Vives. It was the start of a new period. Rossignol rose like a shot, propelled by a society undergoing modernization, riding the swell in the standard of living brought by France's three-decade post-war period called the "Glorious Thirty". From 1956 to 1971, times were prosperous, and the brand climbed the ladder of success, appearing on the market worldwide and on all the podiums, to become the global leader by 1971. Largely the realm of old-fashioned craftsmanship, the "ski profession" then became industrial and turned to largescale production for a worldwide market. From 1971 to 1980, the

at the time, which began its descent to the depths in 1997/1998. Nevertheless, while the worldwide ski business has been dropping continually since 1979/1980 (the peak in its history, with 11.28 million pairs of skis being sold that season) to 4 million today, the Rossignol share of the global market has nevertheless been increasing regularly. Rossignol, the brand with the blue-white-and-red rooster, was able to quickly erase national borders oing downhill, you went straight ahead and become more than just another French brand abroad. American in the United States, Swiss in until you fell to a stop, the best one Switzerland, number one on the Japanese market, being the one who held on the longest" it became a cultural icon in the 1960s as it carried the French Ski Team, stronger than ever, to Kléber Balmat victory. In France it is a reference synonymous with the word "ski"; all French skiers have worn double-digit growth rate promised a radiant future for the brand, at least one pair sometime in their lifetime. It is so well rooted which opened factories in Canada, the United States, Spain, in the national psyche its media impact goes beyond its actual Switzerland, Italy and France. economic importance. The announcement of its being bought by The grim winter of 1980/1981 brought a sharp end to this dynamic Quiksilver, for example, thrust it into prime time evening news growth. Two snowless winters in the United States and the 1979 reports. Consumer awareness surveys place its name very high in oil crisis were only so many warning indicators of what was to rankings, proof positive that it is known well beyond the single come: the world market shrank by a quarter; Rossignol underwent demographic category of those people who love snowsliding. restructuring, closed factories and adapted to a winter sports scene that no longer functioned as smoothly as before and which would lose close to two-thirds of its skiers over the course of twenty IT ALL BEGAN WITH ORDINARY STRIPS years. In 1989/1990, three snowless winters froze (or overheated, OF WOOD ... depending on one’s choice of words) accounts for all the sector's businesses. Then, with figures once again in the black, it was To try to understand how Rossignol got to where it is today, the Japanese market, which had been sustaining the ski market we have to travel back in time to the 1840s and 1850s, to stand in

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In 1907, in his Voiron workshops, Abel Rossignol produced solidwood skis. He traveled to Norway to take inspiration from its ski culture and to bring it back to the Chartreuse slopes.

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Abel Rossignol, maker of wooden tools for the textile industry, would be the first great innovator in the ski-making.

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Norway’s thin winter light, in the province of Telemark. Skiing was then a well-known means of transport, often used for hunting, which dated from prehistory; but for Sondre Norheim, skiing was also a sport. There is a photo of him jumping over a small chalet in a spray of snow; he would only need to be doing a tail grab, with shorter skis with more rounded tips, for him to fit in perfectly in a snow park in... 2008. To attain the sensation of speed he was dreaming of, Sondre made a ski with a pinched middle to facilitate turns; it also had attachments (leather bindings) and to complete the package, he invented the so-called "telemark" method of turning. He defined the convex shape of the "modern" ski: the front (the tip) and the back (the tail) being wider than the central part (the waist). Sondre Nordheim very simply oriented the ski in its natural direction, towards that of the sheer pleasure of snowsliding. A rare privilege until then reserved for Norwegians and, soon after, for military personnel in continental Europe. It was they who brought the Norwegian gadget back home, to people like Henri Duhamel who discovered these early skis at the Paris World Fair of 1878. Like the vanilla or coffee bean, or the nutmeg, the ski would lose its exotic character within a few decades to spice up slopes the world over. Other visionaries, soldiers like Commander Allotte de la Fuye or Captain Clerc, developed a passion for these strips of wood so useful for skimming on snow and, as sharp strategists, they also saw in them their significant military potential. Clerc, based in Briançon, in 1901 equipped his men with these Norwegian skis, substantially more efficient and faster then snowshoes, and brought over Norwegian mountain guides. In 1903 the first ski school was founded in Briançon and in 1905, when Captain Clerc and his group of skiers returned to Valloire, they were "surprised to find there a small group of skiers led by a doctor and consisting of young people aged 12 to 25 who already got around with them very well." In Chamonix, a certain Alfred Couttet ran "the school children's ski school ", a sort of free ski camp reserved for local children: five students in 1909, 96 in 1914. More and more people caught the bug for snowsliding on this "wooden footgear", and it was woodworkers with their specialized knowledge who crafted them. From 1907 Abel Rossignol cooperated with the military to make solid wooden skis for its personnel in his Voiron factory. As was the case in the United States, in Germany and in France, Abel copied the Norwegian techniques. To learn more, he even organized his taking a trip to Scandinavia.

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THE WOODWORKER ABEL

bel, "manufacturer, Knight of the Legion of Honor, Officer of the Order of Academic Palms, Gold Medal for Physical Education, Honorary Commander of the Corps of Firefighters of the Town of Voiron, Honorary Deputy Justice of the Peace", was a public figure with a large mustache, an attribute well-suited to the time. He possessed a quality that the long inventory of his assets at his death did not list: a talent for inventiveness. He had invented a batten sley for weavers' looms and, in 1932, filed for Patent No. 737.471 concerning the "vélo-ski", a snowsliding apparatus which, the texts tell us, "consists overall of a bicycle frame, the wheels of which are replaced with skates or skis of reduced length, the front ones which can be oriented by means of handlebars to control the direction, it being articulated with the fork so as to be able to tilt it vertically in order to remain continually in contact with the ground, a set of springs bringing it back to its normal position". Abel was the kind of person who looked, and found. Inspired by the first international ski competitions taking place that same year in Montgenèvre and Le-Sappey-en-Chartreuse, he polished his first skis in 1907, astonishingly advanced models: 170 cm long and 65 mm in width at the waist, 91 mm at the tip and 76 mm at the tail. The Touring Club of France awarded him a medal in 1909 for his participation in manufacturing skis, for a nameless model of which only a single example remains, hanging on a wall in "La Chaumière", a Voiron restaurant - the first of a long series on the podiums for World Cups and Olympic Games. This first phase in the technical evolution of the ski was of course completely one of old-fashioned craftsmanship; for the most part production was seasonal, and research was empirical. Innovation was a question of how much know-how the individual craftsmen had, and how adroit and ingenious he was. A capacity for improvisation was just as important out on the snow. How did you turn? How did you stop? "Going downhill, you went straight ahead until you fell to a stop, the best one being the one who held on the longest", commented Kléber Balmat (10). After the first World War - during which Abel's skis equipped the mountain troops - the ski bug bit all of Europe and more and more manufacturers appeared, such as Joseph Fischer in Austria (in 1922) or Franz Völkl in Germany (in 1923). Specialists

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Abel’s skis won the Touring Club de France manufacturing prize in 1909. At the time they were only solid strips of beech wood raised tips and reinforced underfoot.

estimated the European market at 80,000 pairs of skis between 1910 and 1930. Eighty thousand brave pioneers.

Above

Until the 1960s, ski-making was the woodworker’s job. With the arrival of new materials (metal, fiberglass, synthetic materials), ski-making would mobilize engineers and plastics specialists.

to me, that went faster and better. On the other hand, for slalom I took narrow and straight graining, for skis with more rigidity. Skis were 225 cm long for downhill and 215 cm long for slalom. The woodworker made them sensitive, I checked for flexibility, then we put on the edges." The years between the two World Wars were a turning point in the development of the ski. Technically speaking, it became thinner and more complex, becoming a real piece of sports equipment with an entire range of technical innovations made necessary by the need to gain mastery over both trajectory and speed. Shaping was fine-tuned; it was found that Canadian ash was more resistant, had a finer grain and made the base of the ski smoother and faster. In 1932, a German glued the edge on the ski with a rubber layer, a Norwegian invented the hidden edge in 1938 and little by little fashion designers offered specially-adapted ski apparel. "Those who sought to promote skiing as utilitarian made a mistake. It was skiing for fun, snowsliding, skiing for speed and pleasure that was going to, in only a few years, transform winter in the mountains", confirms Yves Ballu, the well-known mountain historian.

For the skis were rudimentary, "ordinary strips of wood placed under one's feet to move around over snow. For walking or low-speed skiing, there are very few technical problems. The skis should not be ‘ jammed’ into snow that is too soft; the raised front extremity of the ski, the tip, has resolved this problem. Reinforcing the central part permits better distribution of load over this snow and ensures, at the same time, greater resistance to flexing during turns, which has led to the lateral ‘wasp-waisted’ shape being adopted. Ash is therefore the best adapted material for construction. Its elasticity permits the extremities to be flexible and the Scandinavian manufacturing procedures are maintained. At the time wood is an abundant and cheap raw material. A ski is shaped out of a single piece of it, and its construction falls in the domain of the woodworker’s craft" (2). Each solid wood ski was therefore different, since it came from a different part of the tree... or even straight from a barrel. "Our first skis were barrel staves. After school, at five o’clock in February, we left one after the other. We picked and stepped our way up and on the way down, we all fter school, at five o’c lock in turned in the same direction", remembers Benjamin Alphand, we left one after the other. of Vallouise (the Hautes-Alpes and stepped our way up and region). EMILE, THE FIRST UNDER CONTRACT

SKIER

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February, We picked on the way down, we all turned in the same direction." Benjamin Alphand

Emile Allais, a medal-winner in combination and in slalom at the 1936 Olympic Games, the future 1937 world champion on "Rossignol " skis, worked with Abel Rossignol from 1936. They signed a sponsoring agreement, probably the first of its kind! Emile was careful to choose skis made from hillside trees, which grew more slowly than those in the wetter plains; with more compact fibers, they could be sealed with less lacquer, therefore improving glide. "I went to Voiron to choose my strips of wood. Rough strips that I had a planer run over along the grain. This was American hickory. The problem was finding two strips of wood that were similar. Choices had to be made depending on the graining. It wasn't easy – one strip was always a bit more rigid than the other. The woodworkers knew what they were doing; they knew how to find the same wood, the same flexibility to make pairs. And then I directed what they were doing. I told Abel Rossignol: ‘Plane down a bit more there, make it a bit more flexible, thinner, the tail there, etc...’ It was crucial to be accurate with the planing! For downhill skiing, I liked skis that had nice wide graining. Because that made skis that were more flexible and, it seemed

Because the second change affected the mountain landscape itself. The first ski lifts (1934) brought skiers up the slopes of Megève, Méribel, Val d'Isère, La Féclaz, Tignes, the Porte Pass, the Alpe d'Huez Pass or the Gets, replacing cows, mules and hemp ropes. The stars of the 1930s popularized the practice. Gabin, Mistinguette, Colette and Paul-Emile Victor made Montgenèvre a fashionable winter resort; Sartre and de Beauvoir were completely out of their element in the snows of Chamonix. These vacations in the snowy climes inspired Jean-Paul Sartre to come up with a wonderful definition for skiing: "The meaning of skiing is not only to permit me to move about quickly, and to acquire a certain technical adroitness, nor is it limited to ‘play’ by increasing as I wish my speed or the difficulty of the course I’m on; it also allows me to possess this field of snow, to make something of it. This means that, by the very activity of being a skier, I am changing what it is and what it means... The snow which gives away under my weight as I walk, which melts into water when I attempt to take it in my hands, suddenly solidifies under the action of my speed; it carries me. I have a special relationship, one of

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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The laminated ski, the Olympic 41, was the first modern ski. Solid wood was abandoned for glued blades of wood, which brought better solidity and better performance on snow.

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Emile Allais signed the first sponsoring contract in the history of skiing with Abel Rossignol. Emile participated in manufacturing the Olympic 41 and later gave his name to the Allais 60, a metal ski which would be the brand's first commercial success.

appropriation of the snow: skiing." (10) THE SNOW SCENE OF THE THIRTIES The railroad (via the old Paris-Côte d'Azur train line, the PLM), roads and bus service made it even easier to enjoy the new pleasures of skiing. What was a ski weekend like in 1935? Laurent Chappis, an architect when Courchevel was just beginning, describes one of his first excursions: "I was a student in Grenoble, I was 20 years old. In April with a group of friends from the mountaineering club ‘Climbers of the Alps’, we took the train to Modane and, with our skis on our shoulders, we went to sleep in the unsupervised Péclet-Polset ski hostel after having gone through the Col de Chavière. The next day we went by Lac Blanc, the Col du Soufre and the Gébroulaz glacier to climb the Dôme de Polset and come back down to the Vallée des Allues, going to the Chalet du Saut to climb back up the Col de Chanrouge where we came back down to Moriond via the Lacs Merlet. From there we continued to Courchevel and Saint Bon, where a car was waiting for us." A real day of freeriding ahead of its time, but substantially more ambitious! The creation of the "French National Ski School " in 1937 laid the foundation for ski instruction, based on the "Christiania Léger" turn, the French method developed by Emile Allais and Paul Gignoux. The requirement for paid holiday time established in 1936 would broaden the circle of skiers to beyond the well-heeled elite, the real spread to the general public reaching its height in the 1960s and 1970s. Skiing became part of the Olympic Games for the first time in 1936, in GarmischPartenkirchen, with a bronze medal in slalom for Emile Allais, the

Emile Folliguet, one of the stars of the French Ski Team of the time. One of the early solutions involved using different species of wood: fir, pine, oak, ash, larch or sycamore, as well as hickory, the American wood similar to walnut, and more resistant to breaking and abrasion. (1)

"At the time," recalls Emile Allais, "we repaired skis. When a tip was broken we glued another one on. One day an instructor had broken the part just behind the foot, where the binding was attached. We went to Abel Rossignol to see if he could try to glue it together again. And that was when he said to us: ‘Oh, that’s nothing, I' ll lay another strip over it and glue it on well, and that should stay put.’ So he put this patch on it, and what happened? The ski he repaired this way no longer warped, it didn’t flatten out, it stayed curved. So the instructor said: ‘This is terrific, Emile, you have to do the same thing to the other one, it stays curved!’ As a matter of fact at the time we always put wooden blocks between the skis so they wouldn’t lose their shape, so they would stay curved and keep their special characteristics. So we went back to see Abel and told him all this, and that was when he told us about his woodworker’s trick." When a cabinetmaker makes a chair back, he takes two strips of the same wood, splits them, curves them and glues them. The idea was to do this for skis, to split them in two. Abel Rossignol suggested making a few pairs to see. "He took a slat," remembers Emile, "he bent it, then glued it onto a form. There was still the problem of the wood, the same wood. He found the solution: ‘It’s very simple,’ said Abel, ‘we're going to take two strips of wood, make them into four, and these two we' ll put on the underside and the other two we' ll put on top, and that way we' ll have the same skis, with the same wood on top and the same wood he skis were still fragile, with the solid-wood underneath.’ It was obvious for him, but fabrication showing its weaknesses. These were skis we hadn’t thought of it." Thus the first laminated wood "which we got used to, it wasn't the skis that got model came into existence. From then used to us." Emile Folliguet, the ski's technical aspects became better member of the French Ski Team controlled and more consistent; and thanks to Abel Rossignol it began to be possible to talk about performance. only one on the podium not to raise his arm in salute of Hitler (on his coach's instructions). The next year, Emile Allais became triple world champion at Chamonix, as a member of the French Ski Team which THE LAMINATED WOOD MODEL, THE FIRST PATENT brought along a secret weapon: comedian Maurice Baquet, responsible bel Rossignol simply applied his woodworking for making fun of the athletes just before the competition - a good methods to skis in filing for a patent in 1939 for a laugh got them to the podiums in one easy step. laminated ski made with a single type of wood. Patent Broken skis were less amusing; they were still fragile, with the no. 219431 of 1942, this time with several types of solid-wood fabrication showing its weaknesses: its sensitivity to wood laminated together, would mark the creation moisture, the irregularities in materials and camber. These were skis of the Olympic 41: the ski was "characterized by the structure "which we got used to; it wasn't the skis that got used to us", remembers

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Emile Allais with Jean-Claude Killy and Adrien Duvillard bending over the Allais 60.

For his slalom skis (215 cm!), scrupulously planed and polished by Rossignol woodworkers, Emile Allais chose straight veining in the strips of wood for better rigidity. With the success we know of today!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;F

or downhill skiing, I liked skis that had nice wide graining. Because that made skis that were more flexible and, it seemed to me, went faster and better."

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Emile Allais

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Winter tourism was only for the select before the Second World War. It took off in the post-war period, from the 1960s, an evolution that Rossignol accompanied at every step of the way.

The French Ski Team in the snow. In the foreground, Désiré Lacroix, one of the best slalom racers of the 1950s, and to the right, with glasses, Henri Oreiller, gold medal winner in downhill and combination, bronze in slalom at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympic Games. Watched by Abel Rossignol Jr., and Lucienne SchmithCouttet, giant slalom world champion at Åre (1954).

1941

The Olympic 41 was the first ski with the modern "sandwich" construction.

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etween 1940 and 1960 a lot of things happened; the foundations of the modern ski were laid down." Jérôme Noviant, current ski

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1956

8,000 pairs were manufactured each year; five years later, this would be 50,000.

consisting of two overlaid parts, cut from the same strip of wood, then bent, which caused the fibers to split apart slightly. The procedure (...) is characterized by the fact that the wood strip is cut into two parts down its length, from the beginning of the tip to the tail, and by the fact that it is then shaped by applying pressure, after placing glue in the aforementioned split, and then drying it in the press." The lamination (with fish scale glue - a cabinetmaker’s technique) was an early solution to the problems of consistency, rigidity and behavior in solid-wood skis. With the wood’s fiber broken, the ski warped less in the long run and, held in place by the glue, the tips did not lose their shape. There were no less than twenty-four pieces, assembled in three layers of wood of varying hardness (hickory, Canadian ash and azobé, a hard wood in the family of ebonies). These assemblies were inspired by those used, once again, by the cabinet making profession to make furniture. Based on the old principle of leaf springs, Abel began with a first layer 200 cm

from a few hundred pairs annually to several thousand pairs by 1951. Continuing to be innovative, Abel Rossignol brought out lucof lex bases (a 1949 Rossignol invention) which substantially improved glide and slowed wear.

It was only the beginning of an extremely rich period for the ski industry: "A lot of things happened between 1940 and 1960; the foundations for the modern ski were laid down," considers Jérôme Noviant, the brand's current ski product manager. "More happened then, than in the three decades that followed. The basic principles of the ski that were laid down during that period have never been put into question. Nine times out of ten when someone has a new idea there is already a patent for it, such as the slanting sidewalls on our Scratch series, or short skis. Nothing is invented today, things are only transformed." The Olympic 41 and Rossignol came through the war; Pétain founded the "Compagnie des Moniteurs" (literally, the "Instructors Society") and offered it the monopoly on ski instruction. In 1942 a Vichy government aurent Boix-Vives created the modern Rossignol, and task force conducted an indepth study of the possibility imposed his way of functioning on the business. He was of establishing resorts in very demanding, paying great attention to detail." the already very attractive Gérard Pichot, former world marketing and sales director, who joined Trois Vallées area. Abel and Rossignol in 1974. his Olympic 41s won the downhill gold medal at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympic long, then layered over it another 160 cm long and finally a last Games, worn by a certain Henri Oreiller; they also carried off, one 100 cm long; it was all then planed down to create an assembly among others, the gold for giant slalom with Lucienne Schmitt at the with a varying thickness, thicker under the foot and thinner at the 1954 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, the first French world extremities. champion, still every bit as sharp at more than 80 years old. France was The Olympic (or Allais) 41 was the first ski with a modern a winner in the world of skiing, but it came out of the war weakened. "sandwich" structure: base, core, top. These skis were manufactured "It was faced with the gigantic problems of reconstructing buildings, by Rossignol until 1965 and Henri Deborde, the current racing roads, bridges, railroads, while there were severe shortages of materials, and model range prototype coordinator, and also quality manager, inexperienced workers, unreliable transport and rationing everywhere: remembers the turns he carved as a child with this model: "Skis for food, clothing, shoes, tools, materials and above all gasoline," recalls were chosen by stretching out our arms to hold the tip to find the right Laurent Chappis. Nevertheless, as early as 1945 the General Council height; my first ski was an Olympic 41 that was 215 cm long. " The of the Savoy region decided to build a new kind of resort, Courchevel, brand’s success in the sports world also came with unprecedented " from the ground up" in a high mountain area and not around an commercial success; production in the Voiron (Isère) factory went existing village. The Upper Savoy region, the prewar winter tourism

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The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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From left to right: - Laurent Boix-Vives with Adrien Duvillard. - With Roger Abondance, the brain behind Rossignol's greatest skis and head of the racing department. - With Nancy Greene, Olympic Champion in 1968 in giant slalom and winner (overall) at the World Cup in 1967 and 1968. Laurent Boix-Vives and his wife. "Boix", as he was called internally, built the modern Rossignol after purchasing the company in 1956. He transformed the Voiron workshop into the world's greatest ski brand, the industrial leader of the sector.

destination, would be dethroned by the Savoy which began tourism development on an incredible scale. After the war, with the recovery taking place from 1945-50 and tourism seeming to be reborn, it in fact was to be a completely different world. The Tarentaise hardly counted in 1930 - it only offered sleeping accommodations for only two thousand, or as many as Megève; thirty years later, it was one of the world’s largest ski resorts. The war also transformed French society and the French economy. With Sputnik orbiting around the Earth, France dove into its three-decade post-war "Glorious Thirty" period with a 5% annual gain in productivity. The Marshall Plan brought the European economy back to life; television became color; the war continued in Korea, there was a Cold War and Khrushchev, during a famous speech, denounced Stalin while in France Dalida warbled Bambino. The textile industry, a major Rossignol customer, collapsed, bringing financial difficulties in its wake. This worried Emile Allais who in late 1955 in Courchevel contacted a young ski lift operator with an entrepreneur’s profile, Laurent Boix-Vives." I met Mr. Boix [Laurent Boix-Vives], a young guy who already had ski lifts and who already had a promising future. I told him that I had financial interests in Rossignol and commissions that weren’t getting paid. He went to take a look at the accounts, introducing himself as my representative. He quickly saw that it was a catastrophe, and that nobody could tell him what the cost price of a pair of skis was." "MR. BOIX" Laurent Boix-Vives had instincts and ideas. His father, a truck farmer, had said to him "you will be my accountant", when he decided, without any diploma in hand, to abandon his studies. "From his beginnings he had an astonishing aptitude for mental calculation which meant daydreamers stood no chance in following him in his digressions on currency parity." (4) Mr. Boix, as he is still respectfully called today, then met the general manager and went over the accounts. "I thought right away that it was a good deal ready for a turnaround. Even more so in that I discovered a fantastic product in a bottom drawer, for which I immediately worked out the cost price and its undeniable profitability: the Allais 60, then called the Métallais, the first metallic ski with screwed-

in edges and a plastic base with graphite additives. I found the money, took over running the business while keeping Abel Rossignol at my side and I ‘ found’ Roger Abondance who worked with me as a woodworker at Courchevel." The economy took off, consumption developed, winter sports for the "general public" began, the standard of living rose... and during its early years under the management of Mr. Boix, Rossignol had double-digit growth, reflecting the economic vitality of the time. Voiron is a city in the shadow of Grenoble, but Chartreuse is distilled there and in 1963 Rossignol had 300 employees. While Abel Rossignol was a pioneer, Laurent Boix-Vives, a precise and meticulous man, was the entrepreneur the company needed to develop. He was more than that: a figure inseparable from the company that he directed and to which he dedicated his life. "Laurent Boix-Vives founded the modern Rossignol, and infused the company with his methods," added Gérard Pichot, who joined Rossignol in 1974 after having managed an umbrella factory, retiring 30 years later from the position of worldwide marketing and sales director. "He was very demanding, paying great attention to detail; to prepare for his meeting with the financial analysts at the end of the fiscal year, we spent the day huddling in a room correcting the commas in his speech. He never improvised. Everything was calculated and thought-out. He was also lucky, he was the kind of man whose toast always fell butterside up. He always managed to get himself out of trouble, as if a guardian angel was protecting him from disaster." While finance and strategic planning were his specialty, he also took a close interest in the technical aspect of the business, testing each model at Courchevel with his personal instructor, Paulo Péaquin; he often gave his opinion, as he did for the SM Comp, when he woke up everyone at seven o’clock in the morning to have the grooving removed from the ski bases the day before manufacturing was to be launched. Laurent Boix-Vives teamed up with investors he met in Courchevel, partners who were loyal to him through the 1990s. In 1956 he bought Rossignol Skis for 25 million francs in the currency of the time. It was the epic time of the Formica Ski Cup, the Olympic anorak, Henri Ours shoes, Look commercials offering "anti-fracture" bindings ("50,000 francs to any injured skier"), a partnership between Rossignol and Hohner harmonicas, of Ovomaltine and the unforgettable slogan

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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The Rossignol workshops in Voiron. In 1956, 8,000 pairs were manufactured yearly; five years later, this figure would be 50,000; in 1986, 8,000 pairs a day left the Group's international factories. It would obviously be impossible to name all the brilliant employees who have worked for Rossignol. The 232 pages of this book would not be enough to! We will nevertheless name some of those who advanced the business in their areas, outside of product development. Bancel, Russel, pioneered sales development in France and abroad in the 1960s and 70s, for example. Michel Amoudruz, was Rossignol's General Manager and a mainspring in its growth in the 1970s and 90s, Jean-Jacques Bompard, the General Secretary of the group in the 80s and 90s. Since the 90s the firm was headed successively by Claude Jantet, Jacques - Henri Rodet, Bruno Cercley, JeanFrançois Gautier. We can also name, Patrick Werlé and Hubert Nominé, who have contributed significantly in export sales.

of Skidress, the skiwear manufacturer: "Style that snowballs." Boix-Vives was 29 years old and immediately decided to concentrate production on the ski, dropping the wood-turning business. He made sure he had the support of Emile Allais and Abel Rossignol's technical participation (Abel's father, founder of the company, died in1954 at the age of 72). In 1956, 8,000 pairs were manufactured yearly; five years later, this figure would be 50,000; in 1986, 8,000 pairs a day left the Group's international factories. He would turn the craftsman's business into an industrial leader in its sector, riding on the wave of economic growth and the development of ski resorts (there were only 34 ski resorts in France in 1964) on a worldwide scale. "The decade of the 1950s saw the French ski areas extending beautifully and developing a wonderful network of equipment. The number of ski lifts multiplied by eight. Starting with 50 mechanical ski lifts in 1945, comprising a fair amount of chairlifts and a few cable tramways, but they rose to 400 in 1960. The 1950s was also the time, from 1953, of the progressive introduction of school trips to high altitudes, permitting thousands of children to suddenly discover mountains, snow and skiing, all the while getting some fresh country air and a good bit of fun. Above 1000 m, villages turned themselves into the so-called " firstgeneration" ski resorts along the same lines as the pioneers (Chamonix, Megève, Morzine, St. Gervais, Barèges, Serre-Chevalier, Montgenèvre, etc.) and little by little the locals accepted varied roles, ready for either agricultural or tourist activities." (10)

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he Allais 60 was a forerunner of today’s ski. At the time it came out, it was technically at least two years ahead of the competition’s skis." Emile Allais Boix-Vives understood that for his business to succeed, it had to offer innovative products for athletes who were winners; it also had to have an international dimension as well as industrial facilities capable of responding to demand. The American market was therefore both a boost - with the Squaw Valley Olympic Gains in 1960 - and a lesson; Rossignol was unable to respond to the demand for the Allais 60 as its production facilities were insufficient, so that Austrian and German companies were able to benefit from orders for metal skis. A NEW START We are in 1960: Camus, philosopher of the absurd, dies when he strikes a tree at 130 km an hour, Cassius Clay (the future Mohammed Ali) is starting out in the professional ring, the "week of barricades" is occurring in Algiers, the United States, gripped in the Cold War, is sinking half of its national budget into its military expenses and the metal ski is finally imposing itself in the market after its success at the 1960 Olympic Games, silencing its detractors. This was Rossignol's first great success. It can even be said that Rossignol owes everything

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Emile Allais and Adrien Duvillard were Rossignol's two stars in the 1960s. They poured their talent into the research and development laboratories, on the snow for testing and on the road for promotion. The graceful shapes of the French DS automobiles resemble the silhouettes of skiers plunging ahead.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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1973

The very first pair emerged from the Rossignol factory in Burlington Vermont, in the United States.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

Winter 1966/67. The first world cup in history has just given its verdict. Nancy Greene and Jean-Claude Killy, both dominating the event, are the first holders of the famous crystal globe. A double success in gold for legendary skis: the Stratos!

to the Allais 60, "the most innovative ski, with a behavior completely was to reinforce its position on the international scene, given that the different from what came before it," according to Adrien Duvillard French market represented only 7 to 8% of world consumption and that who participated in developing this model and who was the first to it was largely supplied by imports. "Boix-Vives had understood that France complete a downhill run on metal skis in 1959 in Chamonix - he was was a small market and that things needed to be attacked on a worldwide level, still skiing with Olympic 41s in slalom. "We developed this for downhill that was what made the big difference from Dynamic...," specifies Gérard skiing without knowing exactly what it would bring that would be new in Pichot. Rossignol turned to Italy, Switzerland, in Germany, then to the end: that is, an interaction with snow that would increase speed. In this the United States and Japan where Boix-Vives, Adrien Duvillard and period from 1956 to 1958 French skis were lagging behind Austrian skis. Emile Allais went on the first sales trip in 1962. "From the late 1950s I From 1955 they used polyethylene bases. We were phenomenally behind the was looking to the foreign markets. Fed up with seeing foreign skis, especially Austrians in the area of speed." And behind the big competitor of the time, Austrian ones, invading France, I went to see the foreign companies to sell them Dynamic. For several seasons they would be the big stars at international our skis. It was an enormous, exhausting and indispensable job. I took the plane competitions. "The Allais 60 was a forerunner of today’s ski in that it had as many as 250 times in a year; I had to go, I had to have a sales strategy hidden edges and a polyethylene base. At the time it came out, it was technically that was first implemented by establishing subsidiaries, then by establishing at least two years ahead of the competition’s skis. Its technical aspects, especially factories in countries where consumption was significant, to develop a more in terms of grip, were very much superior to those of the wooden skis still used locally national identity. I thought it was a mistake to serve the big foreign at the time. This ski provided a decisive advantage for the French team. The markets from France. If we have come so far, if we've never lost our place as Austrians were extremely envious," remembers Emile. The Allais 60s t was racing that launched Rossignol. were manufactured throughout the The logic is simple: if we win, it's because we decade.

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make the best skis in competition,

"Victories, however, are not so we make the best skis for everyone." enough," continues Boix-Vives. "It's been a question of being able to put Roger Abondance, racing department head, at Rossignol from the 1960s. them to advantage since I took over Rossignol. After all, Austrian ski companies have had several periods of dominating the world market since I took it over. And which manufacturer a leader, it's thanks to our international base. When I arrived Rossignol was over the long run has increased its market share by the most? Rossignol." selling a thousand pairs of skis to the United States. We got ourselves set up Putting success to advantage, that means knowing how to have a there. By 1972, 16 years later, we were number one. We became American in presence in the national markets the winning ski is exposed to. It was the the United States. The same year we were number one in Japan and in the idea of internationalizing at all levels that would be the guiding principle world." (3) for Boix-Vives and his team. At the start of the 1960s, the company's goal Rossignol's development has clearly been built on the foreign

Above

From left to right: Léo Lacroix Adrien Duvillard Guy Périllat Roger Rossat-Mignod Bill Kidd Annie Famose Marielle Goitschel.

markets (in 1980, 48% of Rossignol sales were made in the United States), the first owing to exports from its headquarters in France, then through a network of sales subsidiaries and factories manufacturing the skis domestically. 1965: a factory was opened in Switzerland; 1968: a factory in Italy; 1971: a Spanish factory in Artès (the only one abroad still operating in 2008) which increased production tenfold (from 13,500 to 138,000 pairs) between 1972 and 1976. 1974: opening of the production/sales subsidiary in Vermont (USA). It was a way of gaining a national identity in each of the targeted countries (by hiring local personnel as well). "Rossignol stole the position of worldwide leader from Fischer in 1972, thanks especially to the development of sales in the American market (where it overtook the national brand, K2, in the mid-1970s). Austria was concentrated on its domestic market and those of the neighboring countries (German-speaking Switzerland, Germany). They were weak on the other markets," said Gérard Pichot whose first job at Rossignol

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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The 1960s mark a real turning point in the sky industry. It was both technological (with the use of new materials – metal, fiberglass – and construction methods – molding) and economic, with the development of winter mass tourism.

was as North American market manager. "The Austrians (Kästle, Blizzard and Kneissl), the French brand's constant rivals, in opposition to Rossignol, sought to limit expenses by concentrating their production in a single factory." Innovation, competition, production capacity and a willingness to internationalize: let's take a closer look for a moment at these four pillars of development which would gain Rossignol the position of world leader in the sector by 1971. Although innovation was at the heart of the Rossignol strategy, a good ski must be seen to be bought, and it has to be desired; this led to the role played by athletic competition and to which Boix-Vives committed from the start by participating in creating a French "pool" of manufacturers. "I have always believed in racing and I continue to believe in it. I've always played on this a lot. In 1958 racers were giving up skiing because they simply couldn’t afford to keep racing; a solution had to be found to help them at any cost, to give them enough so that they could have a decent lifestyle, get married, ensure their future; they didn't have anything. I proposed creating a sort of pooling of resources. There weren't many who believed in it. I stuck to it though so that the pool came into being with Fusalp, Montant and Look, and then ‘they’ all joined up, so as not leave me in control of all that... Jean Vuarnet and Charles Bozon told me: ‘With 600 FF a month for six months, even if it's not minimum wage today, we racers can get by...’ We found them the 600 FF, and they stayed." (3) Jean Vuarnet's downhill skiing victory in 1960 in the Squaw Valley (USA) Olympic Games launched the brand, causing Roger Abondance to say "it was racing that launched Rossignol." The reasoning is simple: "If we win, it's because we make the best skis in racing, so we make the best skis for everyone. Historically speaking we have always been linked to racing and after 70 years on the podiums, there's a tendency to forget the importance of that," added Jean-Luc Gaydon, General Manager for the European subsidiaries and a great connoisseur of the brand. In 1964 at the Innsbruck Olympic Games, Rossignol equipped only France and Switzerland. Eight years later at the Sapporo Olympic Games, Rossignol was chosen by the ski teams for France, Canada, Italy, the United States, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Spain and Poland, making eight specialized "ski-preparers" available to them. Returning to Innsbruck for the 1976 Olympic Games, Rossignol was the manufacturer winning the most medals. In 1987 the brand, with a presence in racing since the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, has devoted 3% of its turnover to racing,

wo skis Rossignol designed brought technical innovation and an even more astonishing skiability: the Strato in 1965 (with fiberglass) and the Roc 550 in 1971.

almost as much as to its research program. Racing has great influence. The very value of skiing can even depend on it, such as when the French team director in 1987, just before the World Championships in Crans-Montana, criticized the lack of glide in French skis (of which Rossignol was the main supplier), and caused the stock’s value to drop by almost 10%.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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(left) The Roc 550 continued the dynasty of innovative Rossignol skis (after the Olympic 41, the Allais 60, the Strato). It was one of the first skis with its wood core replaced by polyurethane. The ski was less expensive to manufacture and offered a more comfortable ride. The factory of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux opened in France's Drôme region in 1971. Steve McKinney becomes the fastest man on skis (189 km/h) in Cervinia (Italy).

on racing means French firms will undergo considerable growth, causing them to go from being craftsmen's workshops to industrial concerns, or even international ones as in the case of Rossignol." (2)

ROSSIGNOL: DOUBLE THE PLEASURE, DOUBLE THE FUN! Gaining an international dimension has had two effects for Rossignol: "streamlining ski sales development - sales categories are established on the basis of the prices at which specific products could be put in them, and innovation, assembly production and marketing play into this too – as well as deseasonalizing" (2) manufacturing and sales. These effects had an impact on turnover, which increased elevenfold from 1966 to 1976, with the year 1970/1971 being key, as the turnover achieved with exports surpassed that achieved in France. Rossignol restructured as a group and consolidated its balance sheets. In ten years the world market share held by the group doubled, going from 11.22 to 20.5% (1975/1976). In 1970 Laurent Boix-Vives received the French Oscar de l'Exportation award for consumer goods from the hands of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then Minister of Finance and the Economy, who summarized the Rossignol approach: "systematic and opinionated." Rossignol assumed a third of the world market and has kept this lion's share up to today. Innovation, mass production, competition, sales development, with economic growth to drive it. Everything is interlinked. It is a matter of "a network of converging economic interests (developers, manufacturers, instructors, etc.) which, when added to the domestic political dimension (under De Gaulle), gives sports competition, and especially to the French Ski Team, a very precise function (...): its impact on the public and in advertising both in France and abroad. The convergence of interests

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

Laurent Boix-Vives had sensed and even favored all this (as in the case of the "pool" created for the French Ski Team) and depended on it to launch the "new formula" Rossignol, a ski that innovated in both technical and performance terms in racing. A ski on which he began to base his hopes for development: the Allais 60. At this stage of technical development, the wooden ski remained extremely stiff at its extremities; if it didn't, it broke. On the other hand, as it lacked rigidity in torsion, its hold on ice remained difficult. Metal provided a solution to these problems. Resistant and workable in thin sheets, this material very quickly interested ski manufacturers. The first metal ski models date from the 1930s. Metal was added for the first time in 1928 to the skis of an explorer, Marie Marvingt. Captain of the women's ski teams, nurse during the First World War, aviator, swimmer, nicknamed at the time "the fiancée of danger", she wanted to participate in the Citroen Croisière Noire through Africa. She imagined being able to glide over the sand on skis in case of a breakdown. But too heavy and too stiff, they were not very convincing on snow. An Alsatian manufacturer, Vicki, in 1934 marketed mixed skis, in wood and metal, and in the 1950s the metal ski became the reference. Nevertheless the French manufacturers, including Rossignol, specialized in wood; they didn't know how to glue metal. In 1957 a Rossignol riveted sandwich construction with a wooden core was a flop; the rivets worked themselves loose too quickly. The solution came from aviation. Head, an aeronautical engineer, in 1951 proposed his patents for the Head Standard metal ski, a very good ski on virgin snow but a lot less at ease on hardpack.

mile Allais continued to see that metal had a certain potential. "It was at Squaw Valley that I met Mr. Head. He came one day with three or four pairs of metal skis, aluminum plates glued on a plastic core, without edges or bases. The Austrians and the Americans who were there really made fun of him; for my part, I took a look at this material, I tested its flexibility; when the meeting had finished I continued to look at these skis. I was telling myself that they had to be incredible in powder. Mr. Head asked me if I was interested, knowing that I was; I talked to him about the edges that were not there, the base... ‘You think that's going to be easy, to put edges on it?’ I answered him: ‘You’re an aviation engineer, you' ll find a way all right to screw in the edges and put plastic under the metal plates!’ He really wasn’t convinced about the interest in doing that... He left me two pairs with which I skied in powder. They were exceptional! But as soon as the snow hardened, things became more difficult. But nobody could keep up with me in powder, nobody! I was training the American Ski Team and while

going through Europe, I told Abel Rossignol that these were the skis of the future. At the time there were already the Aluflexes, but Mr. Head’s skis were quite different, more elaborate, sandwiched. I told him to work on it, but Abel put them in a corner, such that when I came back I found the skis in the same place with spiderwebs and lots of dust on them. I was told: ‘It’s too complicated,’ which didn’t please me very much. Especially since Head had given me all the necessary information, going as far as the references for the glue and the metal, Zicral. At Rossignol, they were not at all convinced despite this, because evenue gluing the blades really was a problem for them. So they left the problem there on a back burner." in ten It is true that the making of wooden skis by the had reached a remarkable level (in 1962, the majority of skis sold were still in laminated 20.5%. wood), but "the great expertise achieved in making wooden skis could not be transferred to manufacturing metal ones. Gluing metal was very demanding in terms of preparing the surfaces. At the time the mechanical properties of these materials were not well understood. The temperature at which epoxies polymerized was higher than that for wooden skis, and the significant expansion coefficient for aluminum increased the difficulty of mastering the camber and the plating, a recurrent problem owing to the long and narrow shape of the skis. Certain manufacturers had moreover put aside the idea of metal skis: Dynamic in France, Kneissl in Austria" (5). Paradoxically it was a woodworker, and moreover one who "knew nothing about skis", who reorganized the Rossignol workshops to produce the Allais 60: Roger Abondance. "I joined Rossignol in 1960, at the age of 23. The factory was madness, no evacuation for dust, everything made by hand, a real pain to work, a disaster. But I was in love with the Allais 60, it was like a piece of furniture, it was magical! Out of the 54 pairs that we made each day, 10 were defective, and we put them to one side. I reorganized that, put in an evacuation for dust, mechanized things. We went up to 100 pairs a day in 1962."

SKI FIBERGLASS Allais worked on the wood and metal sandwich construction, adjusting the flexing stiffness and playing with side cuts. This ski was very stable for big turns, and perfectly adapted to downhill skiing. "At the beginning, they were still riveted because we couldn’t manage to glue on the edges. At the same time the rivets held the two plates in place and so there wasn’t a problem with gluing there. Naturally there were other problems, for example the fact that Zicral was too brittle and broke. Together with Adrien Duvillard and the French Ski Team, we then conducted a lot of tests to see what we could improve, especially in terms of flexibility. And also a

whole lot of other things: thickness and flexibility; and the high torsional stiffness. Because they were glued metal plates, they were very resistant to torsion, while wood or fiberglass twists. We first manufactured the Métallais (NB: 1957) which, precisely, was riveted. It had a plastic base with a lot of glide. It was a very beautiful ski. Neither the French team or the instructors were very interested in the beginning. When they saw the hidden edges, its glide and the fact that it worked very very well, that

multiplied elevenfold from 1966 to 1976: years the worldwide market share held Group doubled and went from 11.22 to

it held really well on big turns and downhill, they changed their minds. And then because we kept at it we made progress and designed the Allais 60 with which Vuarnet won in downhill at the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley. It was there that he achieved his well-known success." Vuarnet made the pair of skis that carried him to victory famous, the brand that he had designed and also his so-called ‘egg’ speed position. Unfortunately, factory production couldn’t keep up with the demand. "There was extraordinary demand; we were never really able to supply skis in the amounts we could have sold them," says Emile Allais. This misadventure was a real lesson for Laurent Boix-Vives who from then on made sure that sufficient capacity was built to avoid this kind of difficulty. Looking back, the metal ski was not a technology that would last long; rather, it was an intermediate step between the laminated wood ski and the fiberglass ski, even though metal is still used today. Its difficulty in turning on snow limited its appeal to the general public. The next two skis Rossignol designed brought technical innovation and an even more astonishing skiability: the Strato in 1965 (with fiberglass) and the Roc 550 in 1971 (with an injected foam core, the first ski without a wood core). In the early 1960s came the understanding of how to spin fiberglass industrially, and the chemical industry reinforced the fiberglass with epoxies. "Fiberglass," tells Emile Allais, "started in the United States. I met a Dutch guy in Los Angeles, who showed me his first skis made out of fiberglass. His specialty was making rocket heads - rocket heads are made like an ‘egg’ with a wire wound round the egg. However, with his skis, he was having problems with the tip. His ski was simply a wood strip he covered with fibers in the shape of the ski, but it wasn’t curved. For the tip, he added it by gluing it on, but it came unglued or broke. It apparently happened because of the flexing. That was how we made progress, because naturally with Rossignol we have no choice but to

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

1 - The comedian Maurice Baquet was the "secret weapon" hired to make fun of the French Ski Team in 1937.

6 1 2

2 - Departure of the French Alpine Ski Team for the Squaw Valley Olympic Games in 1960. In the first row, squatting from left to right: Jean Vuarnet, Désiré Lacroix (coach), Guy Périllat (hidden), François Bonlieu, Albert Gacon. Second row: Charles Bozon, Arlette Grosso, Marguerite Leduc, Mrs. Boix-Vives, Anne-Marie Leduc, Jeanine Monterrain, Thérèse Leduc, Honoré Bonnet, Emile Allais. Above, Adrien Duvillard, and at the top, Laurent Boix-Vives. 3 - Henri Oreiller, gold medalist in downhill and combination at the St. Moritz Olympic Games in 1948.

4 - Adrien Duvillard and Abel Rossignol. 5 - Skiers Egon Zimmerman and Karl Schranz. 6 - Emile Allais gives a ski lesson. 7 - From left to right: Emile Allais, the actress Mylène Demongeot and Laurent Boix-Vives. 8 - Marielle Goitschel pours the champagne, Honoré Bonnet is to the left in a white sweater. 9 - Cyclist Jacques Anquetil. 10 - Albert Raisner, announcer for the television show "Age Tendre et Tête de Bois", and Annie Famose.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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Emile Allais was involved in designing Rossignol skis and in their promotion from the 1930s to the end of the 1960s. Emile describes this period with the Rossignols, here with Abel Jr., as among the best moments of his life.

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and for women's downhill and giant slalom with Marie-Thérèse Nadig. Nevertheless, fiberglass technology was expensive and the hollow ski was complex to manufacture. "We knew how to do it just as well and at a lower cost," comments Henri Deborde whom BoixVives "secretly" commissioned later to stop production of the ski in Switzerland in 1986, while it was manufactured in the Authier factory. "It was complicated to manufacture, especially owing to the waterproofness problem, and we had a lot of scrap. The air chambers inflated in the sun and the base lost its flatness. It especially meant that the ski felt good on the snow, it was nice and stiff in torsion and had a lateral strain that was of interest. But it was difficult to adjust." "I had first made a Strato," continues Emile Allais, "with fiberglass on top, underneath and a metal plate in the middle. But it was so thin that when we got to the tip and the heel it always came unglued. There were problems with making it flexible enough that we never resolved. We dropped the system, but it was nevertheless a very good one because fiberglass is very flexible in this way, with the plate in the middle, becoming stiffer than with two plates. It stood up to tension better. An engineer in Voiron, Woerlhe, did a lot for fiberglass. I told him: ‘We need a bit more flexibility...’ So he did some drawings, saying: ‘we need a bit more fiberglass there,’ or ‘we will put the fiberglass like this...’ We had it made. We tried it out. We fitted out some racers, and that was how we moved forward."

he Strato is, I believe, the first ski which gave the impression of turning all by itself. This ability came from its special wasp-waisted shape, which emerged as if by magic under the plane of one of our developers, Angelo Nocente." Maurice Woerhlé, Rossignol engineer, one of the first fiberglass specialists keep going." The first skis using this new material came out of the Dynamic factories in 1962, and the Swiss engineer, Gaston Haldemann, in partnership with Rossignol, filed for several patents on his ski with a hollow core, three long empty air chambers (then two, then just one) going down the length of the ski, blown into place during manufacturing. The development progressed and resulted in the Fiberglass ski, which was adopted by the Swiss Ski Team, and the Salto, which was a first step towards the Strato. "The Fiberglass, a ski made of fiberglass reinforced with epoxy, which Gaston Haldemann developed together with Rossignol, was a true innovation. It was molded, in a single operation. The pressure needed to put the ski's different elements into their proper place came from inside the assembly, by inflating three air chambers enveloped in epoxy-reinforced fiberglass textile. This audacious procedure met two obstacles: the pre-impregnation epoxies of the time polymerized at a temperature which was excessive for certain components of the ski, and the orientation of the glass fibers, which remained random, generated defects in geometric dimensioning. It was only some years later that this technology resulted in the manufacture of very successful fiber-metallic skis, but in a certain way it laid the groundwork for the Strato." (5) For over 15 years Rossignol produced the "Haldemann" ski, first in Voiron from 1960, then in its Swiss subsidiary, "Haldemann Rossignol Skis AG" in 1971. It triumphed on the podiums at the 1972 Sapporo Olympic Games, for men's downhill with Bernhard Russi,

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

"LET THERE BE THE STRATO"

The beginnings of the Strato were not brilliant; it was at first a fiberglass version of the Olympic 41, with edges screwed in by hand. Three hundred pairs were sold under the Strato name; it was then rebaptized as the Plume and 2,000 pairs and eight months of production later everything was brought to a stop. It behaved well on the snow, but the right resins were not being used; epoxy did not stand up to impacts, and the skis broke open on ice. The same year, in 1962, Rossignol realized the extent of the Austrians' technological advance when Kneissl brought out the White Star at the Megève Grand Prix. For Roger Abondance, something had to be done fast: "In 1962 we were manufacturing 140 pairs of wooden skis per day and 100 pairs of Allais 60s. The next year, we made as many wooden skis, but no more than 25 Allais 60s. In 1964 we were dying - Rossignol had gone from 9.45 to 7 hours of work per day – even though there was a market! We just didn't have products to compete with Dynamic, Kneissl, Kästle or Head. For my part, I had ideas about molding a ski and it seemed to me that the Strato could be right for that." In early 1964, Roger Abondance presented the first prototype to Laurent Boix-Vives. It was a race against time so that this prototype, which no one had ever skied with, could be sold by the end of the year. It was decided at first it would be presented at the Grenoble trade fair. "I had nothing but a prototype which hadn’t been tested on snow. In my whole life I have never worked as much as that, 14 hours a day, to have 14 untested pairs to present at the trade fair. We had 140 orders, which was a lot. It took a lot of nerve, we didn’t know what side cut to use, what flexibility to go with! I said ‘we’ll take the edge cut from the VR 27’, Maurice Woerhlé told me ‘you’re nuts!’, but we had to do something! Adrien Duvillard had me correct the flexibility in October, then we modified a few details with the first snows and the right product finally came out in time." "The commercial success was a result mainly of its behavior on

French Ski Team, winter 1969/70: Top, from left to right: George Mauduit, Bernard Charvin, Jean-Louis Ambroise, Right-hand page Roger Rossat-Mignod, Jean-Luc Pinel and Jean-Pierre Auger â&#x20AC; . Below: Alain Penz, Henri Duvillard and Patrick Russel.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

Above

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

From left to right: Alain Penz, Otto Tschudi, Jean-Claude Killy, all with Rossignol equipment, on the professional circuit in the United States.

snow. The Strato is, I believe, the first ski which gave the impression of turning all by itself. It got this capacity from its special wasp-waisted shape, which emerged as if by magic under the planer of one of our developers, Angelo Nocente." (5) Marketed until 1975, it was the first ski to sell more than a million pairs. It was a winner at the 1966 Portillo (Chili) World Championships, in particular with Annie Famose, who carried off several gold and silver medals at the Grenoble Olympic Games (1968) and for slalom in Sapporo (1972). "I tried a pair of Stratos for the first time five days before the World Championships in 1966," says racer Nancy Greene. " I experienced sensations I had never had with metal skis. But I didn't dare change skis five days before a big competition. When the winter season began in Europe, I only brought Stratos with me. I won the first event of the season at the World Cup even though conditions weren't favorable. This race was the first in a series of 10 victories over the same season with the same pair of skis." THE ERA OF ENGINEERS Starting with the Strato, manufacturing a ski meant molding it to shape the sandwich: core, base, top, edges, epoxy-reinforced fiberglass textile. Assembling all the components, about 30 elements including the edges down the entire length of the ski (an innovation), was carried out in a single gluing/molding operation. "This molded construction marked a turning point, of going from empirical production to scientific production; from 11 hours of work per ski for the Allais 60, the Voiron workers spent no more than seven hours

early 1960s by combining DYNAmic and STARf lex, a subsidiary of the firm Les Ressorts du Nord, Dynastar was at the head of the pack in terms of innovation, with for example the Omega (1964 patent reinforcing the ski’s core with a metal blade shaped like an Omega, and which gave rise to the giant slalom ski MV2); or yet again, the famous Compound. The evolution of the ski accelerated by leaps and bounds in the 60s, and by the end of the decade became the modern ski, the construction materials of which would change little. These years, between Vuarnet’s victory (1960) and Killy’s (1968), marked an astonishingly dynamic technical development in a world caught up in the tumult of libertarian temptations and cold sweats from the Cold War; it was the time of the Vietnam War and Hendrix’s f lamboyant "Stars and Stripes" at Woodstock, of the Algerian War and the Prague Spring, the Who and "My Generation" and the first men on the moon, De Gaulle in BadenBaden and the French cult film "Tontons Flingueurs".

But the playful effervescence and pioneering spirit of the interwar years would be left far behind. "The or the Roc 550 and the ST 650, we had to find the right ski world was structuring itself, at the risk of mix of the foam’s two components. Those were the crazy becoming a caricature of years of experimentation, we just tested - sometimes the itself, on the necessary liquid injected into the sealed mold spurted into cohabitation of milieus that ordinarily would have our faces!" nothing to do with each other: city dwellers and Henri Deborde mountain dwellers, racers on the Strato. Research laboratories were created at this time, in 1963 to and businessmen, intellectuals and empiricists, the elite and the masses, be precise. Using the mold permitted greater product consistency, given manufacturers and craftsmen... It was the start of a new era, that of the quality constraints we had." (2) The ski industry, with Rossignol truly developing the mountain environment to accommodate a single at its head, entered into its "rationally industrialized " phase. Little thing: skiing." (10) Mountain areas became less and less agricultural by little, wood and mixed metal-and-wood skis disappeared and and countrified and more and more tourism-based, leaving behind the expertise of woodworkers was replaced by that of engineers the way of life of forebears to plunge into the age of winter sports. working on composite materials that were easier to use and more Les Menuires and La Plagne, which rose up in the mid-1960s, consistent: fiberglass, carbon, aramid, Kevlar, polyethylene. incarnate these huge single-building high-altitude (above 1800 In 1968, an Olympic year where half of the competing racers m) ski resorts, standing on the heights like cresting ship prows, were equipped with the Voiron brand, Rossignol became the Spartan and functional, devoted to skiing and only to skiing. It largest producer of plastic skis in the world, with the support of became an affair of State, which invested substantially, driving the second production unit at Saint-Etienne-de-Crossey (Isère) these projects on and launching the "Snow Plan" to develop French in 1967, which had doubled its production capacity in a year. The mountain areas with "all-in-one" ski resorts: Pra-Loup, Super-Besse, Voiron brand bought out Dynastar in Sallanches (Upper Savoy) in Superdévoluy, Le Corbier, Avoriaz, Flaine, Les Arcs, Puy-Saint1967 as well as the Lange footwear brand in 1969. Founded in the Vincent. In short, streamlining and optimizing the number of skiers

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The ROSSIGNOL Legend

1980

48% of Rossignol sales were made in the United States

in relation to the number of hectares of ski trails. Meanwhile, French skiers were on the podiums, bringing back medals but also tourists and dollars. The athletes became indirect but effective promoters for French ski resorts and brands: Guy Périllat won all the major alpine titles in 1961, the popular Charles Bozon was world champion in slalom at Chamonix in 1962, and Marielle Goitschel, 16 years old, was the public's new sensation. In 1964, returning from the Olympic Games at Innsbruck, the French champions and Olympic medals (François Bonlieu, the sisters Marielle and Christine Goitschel, Léo Lacroix and their coaches, led by Honoré Bonnet) were even received by the French President. At the end of the 1960s, the French were triumphant: scooping up medals at the Portillo World Championships in 1966 and the historic triple victories at the Grenoble Olympic Games in 1968. Rossignol was the big winner as well with all these medals. "Dynamic, Rossignol's big competitor, didn't know how to take advantage of the French Ski Team’s wins, whereas Boix-Vives knew very well how to handle things to build their victories," tells Daniel Mornet. "It was really racing that positioned Rossignol; it made its name with competition, there's no doubt about that, and its fame on the podiums was used by the salesmen in the stores, and in the ski clubs that supported us a lot. Rossignol, or ‘Rossie’ as the Americans called it, had made a whole lot of young people eager to ski." THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE 70S

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Philippe Taillefer freeskiing at the end of the 1970s. Winter 1980/81 was the beginning of a real downturn from which the ski market would lose twothirds of its volume over the course of two decades.

top-of-the-range models and certain middle-the range models being made with a polyurethane core. Even if the technique was difficult to master, using polyurethane (or acrylic) meant freedom from the variations inherent to wood, as well as its tendency to warp in contact with moisture. Product consistency was improved. "We worked with chemists from Bayer to find the right mix of the foam’s two components, the right formula. Those were the crazy years of experimentation, expanding foam into the ski, nobody knowing what they were doing, just testing - sometimes the liquid injected into the sealed mold spurted into our faces!" remembers Henri Deborde. The Sapporo Olympic Games of 1972, the year of the NixonMao handshake and the appearance of Prozac, could also mark the apogee of Rossignol’s worldwide inf luence: its skis, some of which were exposed to radiation to modify their behavior, gained seven medals out of eighteen; the Japanese market was completely conquered by the French brand. Grateful, the brand thereafter always made a point to provide skis exclusively for the Japanese, such as the Miss R model in the 1980s, a million pairs sold in Japan over 15 years, a historic record. "The multinational nature of our products has been demonstrated in a very concrete way," declared the triumphant Boix-Vives on this occasion, "(...) The seven medals won by our brand in fact were awards for three of our products used by racers in the main international alpine ski teams: the plastic Strato (gold for the American Ski Team, silver for the French), the combined plastic and metal Roc (gold and bronze for n those years and up to winter 1981, Rossignol was in the ski the Swiss Ski Team) and phase of maximum growth. Factories opened abroad, the the combined plastic and metal Equipe ski produced market was expanding and the products were innovative. by our Swiss subsidiary (two gold medals and one silver one for the Swiss). This diversification was the best guarantee of our company's future In 1971, the Roc 550 developed for the giant slalom and the expansion." ST 650 for slalom were two skis as important for the company as the Strato. The polyurethane core (injected foam that hardened on During these years, up until the winter of 1981, Rossignol was cooling) was a development that brought a great deal of f lexibility in a phase of maximum growth, with factories opening abroad, to the evolution of the ski’s behavior, broadening the appeal of the a growing market, and innovative products. The figures for the sport to the larger public. "It was a softer flexibility, the ski was less growing turnover for the Group, listed on the stock exchange sensitive. For 95% of the skiers, flexibility was a good thing to have," in 1971, recall the forgotten climate of this golden age: a 55.7% comments Adrien Duvillard. But it was with the industrial angle increase in 1973/1974, and 62.4% in 1976/1977! that the Roc was going to change everything; with it, Rossignol The Group's ski production (including Dynastar) went from acquired the technique of the injected ski (in-situ), made in one 418,000 pairs in 1971 to 2,174,000 pairs in 1979! The same year shot, the polyurethane foam taking up all the available space in - and it was a record - the worldwide ski market was estimated at the mold and joining together all the parts making up the ski’s 11.28 million pairs of skis! "In 1976-77, we achieved a consolidated structure. From this ski forward, Rossignol began to be less and turnover growth of 62.4%, which was well beyond what we had less "woodworking" and more and more "plastics working", all the forecast; it is true, we were riding on the wave of an exceptional

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The ROSSIGNOL Legend

PATCHWORK !!!! RECHERCHER AMBIANCE PR CHAQUE PÃ&#x2030;R IODE, AVEC PUBLIC, MODE, STATION ETC...

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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Below

Eric Saerens, one of the monoski pioneers in France, with the famous Diabolo.

ENSA demonstration team at the Interski encounters in Japan.

worldwide ski market growth: + 30.2%. This progress owes a lot to the development of cross-country skiing," commented Boix-Vives at the time.

golf.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

Everyone supposed at the time that the growth would continue to rise at the same dizzying pace. The different parts of the great economic machine of winter sports, a real industry, were very much in place: the ski resorts were selling white gold, Rossignol was producing innovative skis, champions were collecting medals and acting as the best promoters of this f lourishing business. Manufacturers, developers, elected officials, executive officials, professional unions, tradespeople and administrators were all steering the course, and an economic interest group took form with Rossignol as an important element. The Spanish factory of Santa Maris de ArtĂ¨s opened near

he taste for skiing was not only in France where skiing was the second national sport after soccer; in fact, everyone worldwide had been bitten by the bug. In Japan this sport is the most popular except for

Barcelona as did one at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in France's Drôme region in 1971. At the end of June 1973, the very first pair emerged from the Rossignol factory in Burlington Vermont, in the United States; the Viva model was manufactured by the Italian factory in same year, and factories opened in Voiron, SaintEtienne-de-Crossey and Sallanches (Dynastar), as well as the Authier ski factory in Switzerland and that of Haldemann (closed in 1976)). The taste for skiing was not only in France where 600,000 registered ski athletes made it the second national sport after soccer; in fact, everyone had been bitten by the bug worldwide. In Japan this sport was the most popular after golf. In recognition of this astounding success, Laurent Boix-Vives was elected manager of the year by the readers of the magazine "Le Nouvel Economiste." The same year Rossignol was the first manufacturer to have sold more than a million pairs of skis in 12 months. Who could outstrip Rossignol in the winter season of 1977-1978? Cross-country skier Jean-Paul Pierrat was victorious at the mythic Vasaloppet event in Sweden, where first had always been the Scandinavians cherished place, and the brand’s advertising proclaimed with a clever pun "Rossignols are great” which also meant literally "Nightingales are

owls" ("Les Rossignols sont chouettes"); and the 18th stage of the Tour de France left that year from the Voiron factory. Paris’ modern art Pompidou Center opened, the Sex Pistols set the world of music on fire by screaming "Never Mind the Bollocks", while in France Jean-Michel Jarre seemed to never stop singing "Oxygène", Elvis Presley died weighing 140 kg, Apple launched its Apple II and the French President, Giscard d’Estaing, gave his Vallouise speech which symbolically ended the "Snow Plan" years: "Too many vacation homes are developing as agricultural land is sold. Too many ski resorts were established without taking sufficient account of local populations and the environment’s constraints. The State's efforts shall henceforward concentrate on tourism integrated with other activities, accessible to the greatest number, respectful of sites and landscapes." The SM Competition ski took Italian champion Piero Gros to the top step of the Olympic podium in 1976 before being marketed in 1979. The next year came the ST Competition; a medal-winner as well, this fiberglass-and-plastic ski meant for slalom and with

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

R OSSIGNOL FAMILY

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The ROSSIGNOL Legend

1 - Celebration of 100th anniversary in 2007: Laurent BoixVives, Emile Allais, JC Deborde, William Gozzi. 2 - The Rossignol ski instruction product department: JeanPierre Albinoni, Olivier Dumas, Catherine Alary, Jacky Dray, Daniel Marlens. 3 - Jean Alary and Marilyne Nivon. 4 - Alberto Tomba and Laurent Boix-Vives. 5 - Jérome Noviant and Adrien Duvillard 6 - COQ D'OR in Les Menuires - 2003 (sponsors Alberto Tomba and David Douillet) – first row, left to right: Arnaud Peyrin, Benjamin Jouannaud, Didier Paris. - Second row, left to right: Tonio Rombi, Alberto Tomba, Véronique GiraudRoux, David Douillet, Jean Christophe Deborde. 7 - Rossignol Inc employees, The Mountain center, Park City, Utah. 8 - Gilles Chappaz and Nathalie Faure. 9 - Gérard Pichot, Pierre Lalande, Bernard Liatti. 10 - SKI MEMORY 1994 - Rossignol sales force - 1st row, left to right: Adrien Duvillard, Pierre Faye, Eric Leblond, Evelyne Michalet, Olivier Dumas, Jean Alary, Annick Plaquevent, Daniel Gavet, Marilyne Nivon, Didier Paris. Second row (standing), left to right: Jérôme Noviant, Dominique

Locatelli, Daniel Palandre, René Blanc, Christian Bon, Jean Luc Gaydon, Pascal Reynaud, Philippe Guizard, Robert Crebier, Dominique Cardi, Hubert Nominé, Thierry Brugeas, Jean Christophe Deborde, Bernard Dubois. 11 - Freeski Team – 2000 12 - Rossignol Team – Saint-Etienne-de-Crossey. 13 - Sestrières 2006 - Bruno Kernen, Didier Defago, Thomas Grandi, Pietro Piller-Cottrer, Alberto Tomba, Claudia Riegler, Carole Montillet, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Sarah Schleper, Pernilla Wiberg. 14 - Rossignol Communication Team. 15 - Women’s True Colors Team at Ispo 2007 - Anne Laure Meyer, Carole Montillet, Fabienne Abondance, Claudia Riegler, Gabriella Parruzzi, Candice Lebrun, Laurie Fayard. 16 - The Patrouille de France (French Acrobatic Patrol) 17 - Club Rossignol - 2006 Olympic Games at Sestrières: Sylvain Noailly, Daniel Mornet, Luc Alphand, Bernard Mariette, Michel Gros. 18 - Rossignol Canada Team with Hugo Harrisson 19 - France Sales Team with Manu and Doriane. 20 - Bob and Dave Seoane The ROSSIGNOL Legend

1980

Roger Abondance becomes head of the racing department.

A WORLD MARKET REDUCED BY HALF The 1980s began badly and ended even less well. The 1979 oil crisis wrought havoc with the GNP growth rates for rich countries, slowing consumption. Snow was insufficient for two seasons in a row on the American slopes, which accounted for virtually half of Rossignol sales in 1979. The snow, the damn snow. When it didn't show up, it was a threat for the entire industry, Rossignol first of all. It was the critical decade where the number of skiers was cut in half, absorbed in part by the new snowboard craze: "It completely changed the parameters of the ski market. We lost all the young people. With our very ‘alpine ski’ image, it wasn't a simple thing to go into the snowboard business," considers Daniel Mornet. A decade that began with the creation of Solidarity in Poland and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a decade during which the newspapers spoke of war (Iran-Iraq, the Falklands), catastrophes (Tchernobyl), repression (Tienanmen) and viruses (AIDS). Music became colder with New Wave and got burned onto compact discs, and Europe consisted of twelve States. Laurent Boix-Vives indicated, in a highly financial language: "Our estimates, which take into account the fact that the ski business has not returned to its former high level, force us to continue our efforts to adapt to a unique structure consisting of woven fiberglass enveloping this the conditions created by the low level performance of our leading product." central strip of a polyurethane core, gave it exceptional hold on (8) In short, the company had an underutilized production capacity hard snow and good attack. for manufacturing 3 million pairs of skis, which was too expensive "I often had an opinion different from the engineers; there were for its overall profitability. Production had to be reduced, and it was plenty of discussions with the two ‘Maurices’ on the staff! Sometimes decided in January 1980 to take various measures including some I asked for more flexibility in the waist while they had production layoffs and the closing of Dynastar and Rossignol factories in the imperatives and wanted the ski to last as long as possible, so often the United States (1982) and that in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (1983). waist was too stiff. It was not until the appearance of the ST Comp Asked about its stagnating sales by the local daily Le Dauphiné that it was possible to understand the need for a ski that was flexible Libéré in January 1982, Laurent Boix-Vives asserted that this was under the foot. The Strato and the Roc brought a certain ease, they were owing to "the lack of snow which has hit two consecutive winter seasons thinner and more flexible; nevertheless the Strato had great grip and hard in North America. From 40% of the world market, North America was not so easy to ski with. The ST Comp, a development of the ST fell to 20%." Before resorting to layoffs in its French factories in the spring of 1980 to reduce inventory, Boix-Vives had considerably reduced personnel in the North American here was never any question of stopping units to protect exports from France. From 2,174, 000 pairs in 1979-1980, the brand's production was reduced racing. Sometimes we cut into the to 1,797,000 the following winter. It would climb in promotion budgets but not into the racing the 1980s, then gradually achieve one million pairs, budget." without ever returning to its former record level.

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Daniel Mornet

650, was the first easy ski and I admit I really worked hard to make skis that were flexible at the waist. It's the ski I'm the most proud of," remembers Adrien Duvillard. Always seeking to make skiing accessible to the greatest number, Rossignol brought to the United States the concept of the compact ski, the increasing length of which accompanied the ski student's progress: the beginner started with a Short or an Olympia, continuing with an Arpège or a Choucas and finishing with an ST Series R or a Roc Series R. In 1978-1979, the manufacturer’s range, presented in the Grenoble trade fair journal (the ancestor of the SIG), broke down as follows: Racing (SM Comp, ST Comp, S2 and S3), Women's (Electra, Vista) a freestyle ski, a range of compact skis already in decline, the Salto (manufactured in Switzerland by Haldemann), the Baya (fiberglass and plastic), the Radian (plastic and metal) and junior skis. The compact ski was abandoned shortly thereafter.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

The bad luck continuing, Rossignol drew a blank at Lake Placid in 1980. Nevertheless Boix-Vives never wavered; racing was not to be dropped. "He had always been in racing, had been its most zealous upholder. There was no question of stopping; he protected it jealously, sometimes even at the expense of promotional budgets," indicated Daniel Mornet. Gérard Pichot does not remember ever having seen the great boss hesitate: "Racing was an important subject we discussed often, but he never wanted to stop racing. It was the most important communication budget; it got reduced, but there was never any question of dropping it. It's true that certain general managers thought it was too much money..." "On the contrary, we had to try to win twice as much!" Roger Abondance took over the racing department from 1980 to 1984, with Ian Larsson as his associate director, and with whom he worked for 14 years. "My department was my business, a State within a State, and you are successful when you think that way," he claims. The curtain opened then on a period of bold success where the brand with the red-white-and-blue rooster made itself known when worn by Vreni Schneider or Alberto Tomba.

Above

Since 1999, Rossignol has accompanied the freeride trend and its Bandit ski has attained cult status.

The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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The snowboard was the great revolution of snowsliding in the 1980s. The first Rossignol model was the Avion in 1986.

of measuring apparatus, accelerometers, sensors on skis, to analyze these vibrations and correlate them with what the tester felt. They recorded this field data with a data acquisition system worn by the skier (an eight-channel Stellavox recording device Yves Piegay developed). A complicated instrumentation of cables and receptors surround the tester's body, who wore a sort of backpack of power batteries. At the other end of the setup was a data processing and analysis system.

Rossignol factories closed one after the other, the number of skiers in the world melted like snow in the sun, but the Voiron brand still had a firm grip on its share of sales in the big markets (United States and Japan). To not put all its eggs in the same basket, Rossignol continued to develop in every direction in the 1980s: ski boots, the three boot manufacturers belonging to it, Lange, Caber and Trappeur, sold 700,000 pairs in 1986 and Rossignol presented in its first boot in 1987: the Rossignol R 900; the monoski in 1982; the snowboard in 1987; a tennis racket in 1984; apparel with the purchase of Anoralp in 1984 (stopped in 1990) then the Killy brand. It even allowed itself in 1984 to launch a little-known venture, that of the Lange skis. It was Henri Deborde who was sent to Switzerland to manage production of this new range, accompanied with two top-level testers: Michel Arpin, of Authier Skis, and JeanClaude Killy. "We only made three or four collections, moreover I still have a pair in my garage. The problem was getting skis as good as the footwear; Lange was the best in boots but not in skis. Working with Killy was a dream come true; in 1968 I was in Grenoble, I was 18 years old and Killy was my idol. We went out to do the tests on the glacier with his low-slung Mercedes banging on the pebbles on the road."

They identified three vibrational modes, 13, 26 and 40 Hertz, each corresponding to a type of ski (short to long range). “We had no problem linking the first mode and the sound vibrations of ski edges carving across the slope. In the same way, the third mode was that which, when it became excessive, was the floating of the skis in carving turns in giant slalom. Having confirmed that low-amplitude vibrations were favorable and even necessary to ensure skid, we were naturally led to the idea of modulating the damping, depending on what the model was to be used for. The mathematical model made it possible to calculate the frequency, ski strain and the energy distribution for each vibrational mode. In short, it told us where to introduce damping to specifically handle one or another vibrational mode." (5) By playing with the combination of materials (ABS, phenol, Kevlar), the skier only felt good vibrations, and in this way in 1981, with the "First" sport model and the FP and SM competition models, Rossignol incorporated a device into the ski’s internal structure, that combined steel wire and viscoelastic materials, called VAS (Vibration Absorbing System). With vibration under control, the ski gained in every area: comfort, accuracy, steering quality. Now that the VAS had been invented, it would go on to accompany the ski in its development; skiers were more physical, they went faster, they had more precise movements, competition snows were smoother and harder and, in 1984, came hinged slalom gates, or "rapid gates", all of which gave ideas to the racing guru, Roger Abondance. "I told myself that this was interesting, but I wanted to develop a ski for this. You round your curve around a fixed pole; around the ‘rapid gate’, the curve is tighter, the ski has to pivot more quickly. With the first prototypes, I remembered what McKinley told me on the Tignes glacier: I don't understand it, the skis go faster than my legs". The skis were the 4S Equipe.

onoskis in 1982, apparel in 1984, boots in 1987, then snowboards the same year; Rossignol adapted and developed its knowhow.

During these years Rossignol continued to bring out skis like the Open – you remember the little transparent window in the tip - and above all the 4S Kevlar, the most developed ski of the VAS generation, an anti-vibration system unique in the market. The new frontier for Rossignol engineers from 1978 on was less of a search for new materials and more an exploration of the vibration phenomenon. They studied the question seriously in connection with a research project launched by the French Ski Team. The Easyflex, marketed in 1956, had been the first attempt to control vibrations by entirely deadening them; this ski was not skiable. The VAS would be more nuanced and sought a selective deadening of the various types of vibrations: getting rid of the bad ones, keeping the best. The VAS idea came from a supplier which had put together a ski equipped with rubber and wire. It was inert, completely dead, but there was a good stiffness. Adrien Duvillard had tried it and commented: "It was not skiable, but there was something interesting about it." The Rossignol engineers then started to listen to vibrations with all sorts

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In 1987 the 4S Kevlar (for slalom) and the 3G Kevlar (for giant slalom) were brought out. The first, with its green color and new behavior, would be a bestseller. "It pivoted fast: we lightened the extremities, reinforced 15/20 cm at the toe, modified the side cuts to have a range of turning radiuses and freed up the torsion to eliminate aggressiveness. It was a ski where it was better not to have a dominating sort of personality", described Roger Abondance. The VAS literally glued the ski to the snow, and this Rossignol patent gave wings to its racers, including Vreni Schneider (fourteen victories in the 1988/89 season World Cup) and Alberto Tomba’s medal at the Calgary Olympic Games in 1988 where Rossignol was the most decorated brand with six gold medals (seven with Dynastar) out of the twelve given in alpine skiing. "My best memory in my 36 years career and eight Olympic Games!" Daniel Mornet recalls that even the Wall Street Journal had published an article explaining how Rossignol had dominated the Olympic Games with its technological advance and the personalities of its racers such as Tomba. Just barely recovered from the disturbances at the beginning of the decade, the winter sports market weakened once more during

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the winter of 1987-1988; the snow was lacking in France, which represented at the time 28% of the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turnover. This was the first of a series of three bleak winter seasons. "We projected a world market of seven to eight million pairs of skis and we had planned on Manu Gaidet (left) and snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue (multiple production capacities that proved oversized for the market. Boix-Vives world champion in boardercross and freeride) in the process of checking out their next line from a helicopter. thought that the market was going to grow like in the 1970s," comments GĂŠrard Pichot, looking back on that time. Sales fell in four seasons (from 1987 to 1991) from 1.69 million pairs (including the ou never completely master things in snowboard and the monoski) to skiing; two pairs out of the same mold 1.45 million. From 1990 on, the company had to go on a drastic will not go at diet. It improved productivity the same speed." with major investments in the Jean-Luc Gaydon S a i nt-Et ie n n e - d e - Cr o s s e y factory, bought the American Roger Cleveland Golf Company and launched itself into rollerblading to diversify into summer products. It added Look bindings to its brands portfolio in 1994, to become 10 years later the leading alpine ski binding brand. The poor meteorological and economic conditions affected all the brands but Rossignol managed to maintain its place as number one worldwide. "The circumstances didn't let us rest for a minute," commented Jonas Emery and Taylor Felton at Les Diablerets respect the tradition: a good day of riding always begins the day before, with the preparation of the equipment.

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Laurent Boix-Vives soberly at the time (9), while the income statement remained afloat owing to Rossignol's performance in the American and Japanese markets. Profitability returned in the 1992/1993 season, after the Albertville Olympic Games just up the road from Voiron, with a hail of medals: almost half of the medals distributed went to athletes equipped by Rossignol or Dynastar. That same year the Maastricht Treaty was signed, France's Cinq television channel closed down, Disneyland Paris turned on its lights, credit cards got chips and the 7SK ski was seen on the snow. Marketed in 1992, the date of the 1000th World Cup podium for the brand, it was the first ski developed without the two "Maurices": one went elsewhere (Maurice Legrand), and the other retired (Maurice Woehrlé). This slalom ski consisted of fiberglass, Kevlar, a foam core and VAS; it was "narrow, light, easy and manageable," remembers Adrien Duvillard. "It was on a par with racing skis. This was the ski I invested myself in the most. With the racing model, prepared by Roger Abondance, Alberto Tomba won a few races." In telling the rich history of Rossignol and alpine racing, Alberto Tomba has a place of pride. This skier "has been with us since age 12. At that age he wasn't even very good, he had never won any big races. Alberto

never wanted to change brands. He liked our skis and he always wanted to have Roger Abondance, whom he trusted absolutely, at his side," said Laurent Boix-Vives (3). The proof resides in a corner of Roger Abondance’s living room: an enormous trophy cup with a dedication on it by Tomba, marking the unique bond between the two men. Roger Abondance sometimes fine-tuned five or six different ski constructions for his champion. This special relationship gave the golden touch to Rossignol skis starting with the Allais. "We designed Formula 1 skis, so we needed racing drivers for them," added Henri Deborde. Jean-Claude Killy, whom everyone thought had won at Grenoble on Rossignol skis while he was on Dynamics, wanted to become champion of the professional world in 1973. Roger Abondance went to work and "worked on the polyurethane’s density to give him exactly the tip he wanted, that behaved well. More air pockets damped the ski more, and he liked that." There was an indefinable relationship between a skier and his skis. A question of feeling. The proof was with the Michela Figini episode in March 1985. She had just won the downhill skiing World Championship title at Bormio, then the skiing World Cup; on her way back from the traditional North American tour, her two favorite pairs of ‘lucky’ skis were stolen at the airport. Magical skis or psychological imbalance? In any case the young Swiss woman never recovered from this theft. The next

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production of the 50th million pair of skis since 1956.

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Jonas Emery, Johan Olofsson, and Jeremy Jones. The helicopter is the freeriderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preferred method of travel for seeking out the best untouched slopes.

Kye Petersen, one of the little geniuses of the US freestyle scene.

kiers went to the snowboarders to come up with a ski with slanted sidewalls and twin tips, that rubbed traditionalists the wrong way.

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Candide Thovex - 360 Tail Grab. One of the world's freestyle icons, at home in La Clusaz, at the annual event: the Candide Invitational.

he Bandit and the Scratch, two of the "new school" hybrids at ease with their identity and their time.

year she won no victory - she who had previously taken for granted the wins in downhill and in giant slalom. Despite all reassurances from the Voiron company, despite the great many trials conducted throughout the season, ‘Michi’ would never experience those same ‘sensation’ again. She then decided to change ski brands. (7). As Jean-Luc Gaydon commented, "You never completely control skiing; two pairs out of the same mold will not go at the same speed. I remember engineers who remained quite humble before this phenomenon. You just can't control it." It was an old and abandoned idea, tested on cross-country skis, which had lain forgotten in the bottom of a drawer for 15 years. This idea was the Dualtec, marketed in 1995, the very demonstration of how "lateral thinking" can resolve the most complex problems. The solution must be sought where one doesn't expect to find it. Nothing is invented; an existing solution is found that has been waiting for its riddle. Pierre Heinrich, biathlon program manager, remembers a certain meeting devoted to the problem of jumping ski instability, a problem resolved thanks to a golf ball. "Abondance suddenly said to us: do you know how they stabilize golf balls in the air? With holes! So we made holes in the sidewalls and in the air the skis became exceptional." How was it possible to keep the advantages of the monocoque (smooth ride) and the advantages of straight sidewalls (powerful grip)? Simply by combining both: a half-cap with straight sidewalls. As was the case for the Strato and the Roc 550, the Dualtec had the advantage of technical advances (CAD and machines with digital controls arrived in 1990) to drive a new industrializing method (skis "in volume"). Whereas a ski used to require two years for development, from 1995 it only took six months (with protracted trials over the course of the season).

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As for the earlier skis, since the Allais 60, the engineers had depended on a group of testers with Adrien Duvillard at their head, "Obviously, we were always trying to improve ski behavior. We had a list of criteria classed into five categories: ease, grip, stability, manageability and damping. We were also responding to our sales force’s requests for an easier ski. Rossignol is known for precise grip and a certain light touch, it's our trademark and the heritage of my past as an athlete; I like skis that grip well. Nevertheless, ease is criteria number one, whether you're an athlete or an amateur." Amateurs would like it and athletes would win with it: for its first season in the World Cup, Dualtec would gain two crystal globe trophies at the event with Vreni Schneider and Alberto Tomba. Ease: this would be the guideline for the following generations of skis (Bandit, Scratch, Oversize) which would find their development in the geometric discoveries of the parabolic ski. As was the case for the metal ski (Allais 60), the use of fiberglass (Strato), the injected foam core (Roc 550), the monocoque capsidewall duo (Dualtec), Rossignol still had not invented the technical procedure, but it improved, industrialized and marketed it on a large scale. But not all brands possess such an ability;

industrial production of a prototype calls for special expertise. "Industrial mastery (technical and financial) of a mass production process can only be achieved and assured when the existing production reaches a certain minimum annual production level. This set of considerations (extending the product range and reaching a minimum production capacity) is the basis for explaining Rossignol's strong growth and the stagnation of Dynamic, the greatest French brand of the 1960s. Dynamic devoted most of its strengths to product innovation (focusing on competition); Rossignol's primary objective was innovation in production procedure. There was a division of labor between Rossignol and Dynamic; one provided the base of innovations likely to bring success in competition and therefore renown for French technology; the other "reaped the rewards " by achieving mass production." (2) THE PARABOLIC ERA The parabolic ski would bring an end to straight skis and launch a welcomed renewal in the ski equipment market that had been growing bleaker for 15 years. The new sensations of its astounding geometry brought new life to the ski industry

suffering from too little snow and the snowboard’s attraction. The parabolic was brought out by Kneissl, Elan, Head and Dynastar, and at Rossignol, it was the American market, in the person of Jacques Rodet, who gave the general alarm: "I need parabolics for Las Vegas, otherwise I won't sell anything for next season." In other words, six months to dream up these new skis. The marketing manager of the time, Pierre Faye, headed the parabolic project, and with the tenth prototype, head tester Duvillard sensed he was within a hair’s breadth of a good ski. Four more prototypes and Adrien validated number 14. So were things all sewn up? Not at all, since the molds used in the brand’s factories were too small to handle the larger dimensions of the parabolic ski. "We could manufacture 85 mm at most! The parabolics put everything into question, right on down the line: finishing, manufacturing facilities, molds. These skis became a strategic investment. Moreover, there were those who wondered if it wasn't a whim of 10 people in the company that was going to lead everyone to bankruptcy! The accountants accused us of wanting to sabotage the company! Pressure from the market and opinion leaders and the reality out in the field nevertheless made it possible to reach our goal," tells Jérôme Noviant, still amused. 100,000 parabolics, then called "deep sidecut skis", were sold

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Scratch skis, developed by the Rossignol snowboard team, breathed new life into the ski industry. Their "twin tip" geometry (with both the tip and the tail turned up) and their behavior on snow owe much to the snowboard. A century after the first Rossignols, the spirit of innovation hasn't stopped...

2005

Rossignol and Quiksilver combine their personalities.

during the season of 1995/1996. The revolution of the narrow waist was on the march...only to stumble in 1997/1998: "The Japanese market, which was driving the rest of the world with 2 million pairs sold, collapsed. A third of the world market disappeared. Very expensive skis were sold in Japan, where there was a favorable currency exchange, which made it a remarkably profitable market. Following this event, the ski market stabilized at 4 million pairs a year at the end of the 1990s. Budgets were trimmed, investments reduced, restructuring plans put in place, and we went over all the budgets to make expenses compatible with our resources," says Gérard Pichot, who was a member of the management team during this period of adjustment. The Japanese ski market, in which Rossignol was the leader, declined by 10 to 15% each year until 2005. With the Japanese cash cow dying, it was hard for all the manufacturers. The Asian crisis had a domino effect on the world's financial markets, including Japan. Clinton became President, Deep Blue was a hit movie and Garry Kasparov checkmated his opponents. Meanwhile, the following winter, the 9X Pro, equipped with Dualtec and VAS, became a reference ski on the slopes; freeriding appeared with its wide tips in the first Bandit and Rebel models (Powertrac 4x4 at Dynastar), and the Pow’Air began to explore the new dimensions of the "new school" freestyle, a modern version of freestyle inspired by snowskating and snowboarding. Too fragile, too thin and not really a twin tip, the Pow’Air ran out of steam quickly but not before it paved the way for: the Scratch.

that year, stocks were sold out in North America. A NEW MILLENNIUM In 2004, the "international group that was run like a family concern" (according to Daniel Mornet) celebrated production of its 50 millionth pair of skis since 1956, an unequaled record, innumerable candles on the cake... but it had to change hands. Laurent Boix-Vives sold the Rossignol Group in 2005 to the American surfwear giant Quiksilver, founded in 1969 and run by Bernard Mariette. Bernard Mariette’s vision was the natural alliance of sea and mountain and two groups sharing common values, as well as a welcome complementarity (equipment/apparel) between the two companies. The company is reinventing itself, adapting to this very competitive new worldwide market. Some industrial, logistics and organisational, redeployment have been made to review the Group's structure and reorganize its profit centers. In 2008 Rossignol is about to have new shareholders and is ready to enter into a new stage of its history.

Its emblem, the proud rooster with its blue-white-and-red plumage, has kept its place as a world leader in the sector and Abel would be proud. 2008 has been an historic and great year as far as Competition results. Michel Vion, Director of Competition, R&D and Marketing comments: “This is our best year since 1997 thanks to the amazing results of our Dream Team: we had great success in all disciplines. In A brand's star skis are not necessarily best-sellers, but they endow Alpine with Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Ted Ligety, JB Grange, in its name with an image and a personality. They are the " face" of the Nordic with Virpi Kuitinen in particular and in Freeride as well”. company. For Rossignol, these were, without question, the Bandits The Bandit range, still going in its seventh season, is just as and the Scratches. The latter, "new school" hybrids were comfortable successful and is now enriched with a new technology, Dual Camber. with their identity and their time; they did not take the same path The Scratch line, which became SAS, Seven Artistic Sins, in 2008, brings together art and freestyle and is just as innovative he Scratch quickly attracted skiers and by and creative through new shapes like the S7 and great design stories thanks to collaboration with artists from November of that year, stocks were sold the board culture like for instance Steve Caballero. The Mutix, history's first customizable ski, has opened out in North America. the door to new ski sensations. Just as was the case a hundred years ago in Abel Rossignol's workshop, the "magic of skiing" is indeed still there. Emile Allais in as their illustrious predecessors. In the late 1990s David "Bouviax" the 1930s chose his rough strips of woods that he would plane down. Bouvier, freeride and freestyle team manager, used Rossignol skis with In Rossignol's racing workshop decades later, "When I came to the money poached by his snowboarder colleagues from their own budget. company, Roger Abondance told me ‘here, make yourself a pair,’ " "I skied with Reks, twin tips 153 cm long, then with Pow'Airs. More than remembers Jean-Luc Gaydon. "So I greased the bottom of the mold like anything we wanted to dream up a real freestyle ski." Culturally closer to buttering a cake pan. It was a women's giant slalom. I put the base, the snowboarders than to alpine skiers, this freestyle descendant dreamed fiberglass, the metal, the core. It was my ski." up, with Bob (Rossignol snowboard shaper) and Julien Régnier (mogul (1) Encyclopédie du ski (Ski Encyclopedia), collection edited by Jean-Jacques Bompard, Hermé. skier), a ski inspired by the snowboard. "And the idea was around, it's (2) "Le ski en crise, le grand cirque blanc: du profit à la compétition" (The Ski Industry in Crisis, the Great White Circus: from Profit to Competition), by F. Di Ruzza and B. Gerbier , published in time had come." Skiers went to the snowboarders to come up with a ski 1977 by PUG (out of print). with slanted sidewalls and twin tips, with two BC and FS models, (3) Interview in Traces Magazine, Winter 1998/1999 issue. (4) Article by Hélène Pilichowski, Dauphiné Libéré of June 4, 1986. that rubbed traditionalists the wrong way, but which had some crucial (5) Article signed by Maurice Woehrlé, former research director of Rossignol Skis, in "La recherche supporters in the hierarchy. Faithful to its origins, the Scratch was sur le ski dans l’entreprise Rossignol" (Ski Research in the Rossignol Company), La Revue pour l’histoire du CNRS (Review of CNRS History), No. 2 - May 2000. manufactured on both the ski and snowboard production lines at the (6) L'Équipe, November 1977. Artès factory in Spain; the Triple Hybrid Core (THC) came from (7) La Tribune de Genève, December 1986. (8) Rossignol annual report 1980/1981. snowboarding, while the edges were manufactured on ski-making (9) Rossignol annual report 1989/1990. machines The Scratch quickly attracted skiers and by November of (10) "Les Pulls Rouges" (The Red Sweaters), by Gilles Chappaz, published by Glénat.

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MAKING ROSSIGNOL THE WORLD'S LEADING SKI BRAND WAS THE NUMBER ONE OBJECTIVE. THE SECOND WAS MAKING THAT FACT KNOWN. A MOUNTAIN OF ADVERTISING ARCHIVES, TREASURES OF CREATIVITY, PORTFOLIOS FULL OF VISUALS, PRESS ADVERTISING, BROCHURES, AN ARRAY OF GRAPHICS, SOME OF WHICH WOULD MARK GENERATIONS OF SKIERS. ADVERTISING? ANOTHER EVENT THAT LEAVES NO MARGIN FOR ERROR...

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'épopée Rossignol coïncide avec l'histoire du ski, en représente même l'exemple le plus réussi. Depuis cent ans, la marque épouse ses hauts et ses bas, avançant au rythme de ses innovations, devenant finalement la plus grande marque de ski du monde et même un peu plus que cela... Elle commence en 1907 avec des copies de modèles norvégiens découverts par les militaires. Jusqu'en 1939, c'est la “ préhistoire ”, les premiers skis en bois massif qu'il fallait maintenir en forme entre chaque utilisation. En 1939, la technique du contrecollage ouvre une ère d'innovation technique correspondant à la naissance des sports d'hiver : premières stations et début du tourisme hivernal, premières médailles d'or d'un filon qui est loin d'être épuisé. En 1956, suite à des difficultés

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Innovation

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orporate culture

TECHNOLOGY IS WHAT IS SEEN THE LEAST BUT THAT DOES THE MOST. INNOVATION IS THE INTUITION OF CERTAIN PEOPLE - ROGER ABONDANCE, MAURICE WOEHRLÃ&#x2030;, MAURICE

LEGRAND - MATERIALIZED IN A SERIES OF MEMORABLE SKIS: OLYMPIC 41, ALLAIS 60, STRATO, ROC 550, 4S, DUALTEC, WHICH ALL MARKED STAGES IN THE MODERN SKI'S DEVELOPMENT.

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The Radical R 11 Mutix is one of the latest creations originating from the Rossignol laboratories. Innovation through offering personalization, this ski offers two types of sensations depending on the size of the radius arm: short turns (typical of slalom) or long turns (typical of giant slalom). A small curve on the snow, but a giant turn for the ski.

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It was in 1939 that Abel Rossignol made the first great innovative advance in ski technique: lamination, which resolved the problems of the behavior and solidity of skis in the solid wood which had been used until then.

1971

Rossignol devoted 1.5% of its total turnover to research.

here is a new Rossignol identity on the snow. You sense the snow, but you don't feel the grains of it getting into your socks, you're on the razor's edge. This comes from materials and a manufacturing process, it's a way of polymerizing skis, of choosing raw materials... There are 50 ways to make a ski. Rossignol has its way and it’s unique," explains Alain Zanco, the young skier who was delighted that his father had got him into "the holy of holies", the Rossignol of the 1970s; he later became head of the "advanced research studies" group, then product approval manager.

and understood their potential; moreover, it was the first project on which Laurent Boix-Vives worked after his purchasing the Rossignol company in 1956. Emile worked on the wood and metal sandwich structure, adjusting stiffness in flexion and playing with the side cuts: "At the beginning skis were still riveted because we couldn’t manage to glue the edges. Naturally there were other problems, for example the fact that Zicral was too brittle and broke. We first made the Métallais and then we went on and designed the Allais 60."

Let's go back in time. At the end of the 19th century, skis were made out of solid wood. They were made principally in Norway where Sondre Norheim defined, in the 1860s, the convex shape of the "modern" ski: tip and tail larger than the central part (the waist). The use of skis spread throughout Europe, with the help of the military personnel who used them, and the first manufacturers appeared, often woodworkers. Such was the case when, from 1907, Abel Rossignol cooperated with the military to make solid wooden skis for its personnel in his Voiron factory (Isère). Abel the woodworker gained his know-how from a perfect understanding of wood and partnered with Emile Allais, a star athlete interested in the making of his skis.

THE 1960S: THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN SKI

Together with Abel Rossignol, Emile wanted to resolve the problems of solid wood bent with steam: the edges of the ski’s underside wore out quickly, the ski warped with moisture, the front of it was very fragile, and glide was limited. In short, the ski didn't last and its behavior was difficult to reproduce. The laminated ski, the Olympic 41 (based on two patents from 1939 and 1941) was the first great innovation in the history of the ski: the wood was split lengthwise, glued and pressed, in this way becoming manageable and consistent. Based on the old principle of leaf springs, Abel began with a first layer 200 cm long, then layered over it another 160 cm long and finally a last one 100 cm long; it was all then planed to create an assembly with a varying thickness, thicker under the foot and thinner at the extremities. Technical innovation had begun and it would not stop. "A lot of things happened between 1940 and 1960; the foundations of modern skis were laid down," considers Jérôme Noviant, the brand's current ski product manager. In the 1950s, metals seem to resolve the problems of stiffness in torsion and the ski’s solidity. Head, an American aeronautical engineer, in 1951 proposed his patent for the metal ski, the "Head Standard", which did not have a great commercial future. His ski had the modern "sandwich" structure: wooden core, upper and lower blades in metal (an aluminum alloy, Zicral for the most part) and assembled by gluing. Allais discovered Head skis in the United States

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While Head had opted for an amateur ski, Allais was creating a competition ski that could perform on hard pack. He did well - the victory of Jean Vuarnet at the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley with the Allais 60 virtually launched the "new formula" Rossignol. "Competition brought out innovation. From the beginning of Rossignol, innovation came by way of competition," adds Jérôme Noviant. The stiffness in torsion of the ski permitted racers to discover new longradius turns (carving turns). Very stable in big curves, this ski was the star of downhill. At the start of the 1960s, another material was going to lastingly revolutionize the ski, more profoundly than even metal: fiberglass. "Whereas Zicral (and in more general terms, metal) has the same characteristics in every direction, fiberglass can have very different properties in the length and in the width of the ski. We can therefore associate longitudinal stiffness and great flexibility against lateral strain." (1) Even if it has evolved (it is now triaxial), fiberglass reinforced with epoxy, inaugurated in the Strato in 1965, is still present in 2008 in modern skis like the Radical Mutix. The Strato would take advantage of fiberglass to evolve both behavior on snow (lighter) and the manufacturing process; about 30 elements were assembled in a single mold, which permitted reproducing the ski’s characteristics and above all industrializing on a large scale. The Voiron factory was no longer sufficient to meet production needs, so one got underway in St-Etienne de Crossey in 1967 and by the end of the year doubled its production capacity, going from 700 employees to 2,800 by the mid-1980s (it would close at the end of 2007). Molded constructions marked the turning point from empirical, craftsmanship-based work to mass production. Little by little, wood and mixed metal-and-wood skis disappeared and the expertise of woodworkers was replaced by that of engineers working on composite materials that were easier to use and more consistent: fiberglass, carbon, aramid, Kevlar, polyethylene.

Between the Allais 60 and the Strato, Gaston Haldemann, a Swiss engineer, filed several patents for a ski with a hollow core, the development of which ended with the Fiberglass (which would evolve into the Swiss Team). "It was a complete innovation because this ski was molded, in a single operation. The pressure needed to put the ski's different elements into their proper place came from inside the assembly, by inflating three air chambers enveloped in epoxy-reinforced fiberglass textile. It was only some years later that this technology resulted in the manufacture of very successful fiber-metallic skis, but in a certain way it did the groundwork for the Strato," indicated Maurice Woehrlé. AT ROSSIGNOL INNOVATION IS IN THE GENES

1963, and called the "study and methods office." "For example, we had a machine that permitted us to evaluate the number of flexions necessary for a ski to lose its ‘camber’," explains Laurent Boix-Vives (2) . "Because a ski, whether it is made out of wood or metal, undergoes irreversible mechanical fatigue. We now consider a ski is excellent if it stands up to 13,000 flexions (metal ski) or 7,000 flexions (wood ski) before breaking. This performance improved each year." It was over this unit, with a budget huge for the time, that presided the two "Momos", Maurice Legrand and Maurice Woehrlé, the engineers who guided the brand's innovation for over 30 years.

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here is a Rossignol identity. This comes from the materials and the manufacturing process ... There are 50 ways to make a ski. Rossignol has its own, and it's unique." Alain Zanco, product authorization

The history of the ski, and therefore the history of Rossignol, underwent a revolution in the 1960s: "With the new materials, research became massively and essentially important to companies. Research was conducted on introducing innovative materials and new manufacturing procedures. In 1971, Rossignol devoted 1.5% of its total turnover to research. There were 25 people in the research department and 20 in the experimental prototype workshop, and about 50 in the competition department. Out of a total staff of a thousand people, about 10% worked in innovation." (1) In 1987, the company devoted a little less than 3% of its turnover to its research programs. The Rossignol research laboratories were created in

As for competition, it was Roger Abondance who worked there until the 1990s, the key man on whom "rested the future of our competition skis, his bright ideas making our slalom and giant slalom skis the best in the world," admits Daniel Mornet (3). From 1966 to 1971, Rossignol's entire growth was linked to fiberglass. Its share in total ski production went from 22% in 1966 (a significant

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Competing in the 1960s with the other great French name, Dynamic, for the honors in innovation, Rossignol was phenomenally successful in turning technical innovation (skis in metal, in fiberglass, made by injection methods...) into commercial success.

year since the technique was mastered and marketing advanced after the French victories at the Portillo World Championships) to 70% in 1970. Rossignol became in 1972 the world's leading manufacturer. It would overtake its great rival of the 1960s, Dynamic.

We had prestigious names like Bill Koch, winner of the first official World Cup in 1982," says Dominique Locatelli, Nordic project head. Just as for alpine, over the next 20 years the ski industry market dropped from 3 million pairs sold annually to the 1.8 million today.

The Roc 550, just like the Strato in its own time, offered innovative behavior and manufacturing procedures. Its polyurethane foam core gave a softer touch on snow and was an advantageous replacement for wood (which was too changeable and too sensitive to water). Its manufacturing method was a new one: injecting this foam into a mold (the in-situ, or injection method still used today). As it cools, the foam solidifies all the elements of the ski's structure into place at the same time. The injection procedure invented for this ski caused the workers a few scares at the beginning, remembers Henri Deborde,

The years 2000 would give a second wind to the Nordic "made in Rossignol" which would explode in snowskating with its new Xium model. "We built a strong biathlon team with Poirée, Vittoz, Bjørndalen, a new technology for skis (Dualtec) and a new production facility in the Spanish factory," he continues. The Dualtec permitted fluidity in parallel tracks (with the cap) and efficiency in the edges' grip (thanks to the lateral sidewalls). Technological innovation and results in competition, the tried and true Rossignol recipe to "mark its territory." The Xium settled Rossignol for good as a Nordic ski brand.

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The decade of commercial success and worldwide growth in the 1970s would be favorable for research and in particular that on a vibration. The Rossignol engineers worked in the late 1970s at correlating ski vibration with its behavior on snow, using more and more precise methods of measurement: laser, electronic chronometers measuring down to one ten-thousandth of a second and even the internally-developed radar based on that used by the police. The VAS (Vibration Absorbing System), internal and external, resulted from this research and Rossignol took a few more steps ahead of its competitors. Rossignol doesn't just make skis. In the 1980s two adventures began to broaden the winter sport’s domain: the monoski and the snowboard. The monoski was identified by two of the brands salespeople, Jean-Carl Carpano and Pierre Faye as the new direction skis were going into and Roger Abondance and his racing department were receptive to the idea. He was the one who made the first prototypes. He asked that they not be exhibited at the Grenoble trade fair. People were interested though, and 250 monos were made to respond to the demand. "The first models people were making in their garages were designed for deep snow. Made of foam and fiberglass, they were very fragile in torsion: in deep powder it was fabulous, but on the packed snow of the trail, it went in every direction." With the help of Pierre Poncet, Chamonix monoskier, Abondance developed a multipurpose monoski with the wood and metal sandwich construction; several hundred of them were brought out in Spring 1981: the famous "Soleil", "Diabolo," "Faits d' hiver" monoskis: their graphic design impressed skiers. In less than three years, Rossignol became number one worldwide in monoski, having started from zero. In celebrating its 100 years in the ski industry, Rossignol is also celebrating its 20 years of snowboard. Lateral snowsliding developing from the skating and surfing "board culture", innovative in relation to the other "new snowsliding" methods like the monoski, and breaking

echnological innovation and results in competition, the tried and true Rossignol recipe to mark its territory." Dominique Locatelli, Nordic project manager

the current quality manager: "It was an adventure, developing this procedure; the workers slept alongside the machines, taking a shower and going back to work in the morning." NEW RIDES In the 1970s, skis softened their curves while "engineers wanted a solid ski, one which would last, but which was not too rigid underfoot," commented Adrien Duvillard, head tester until 1994. "It was not until the ST Comp that we understood the need for a ski that was flexible underfoot; this was the first easy ski and wonderfully manageable." The first Rossignol cross-country ski model, launched in 1976, was oriented for competition, a company tradition. These first skis were fine-tuned by the team of alpine ski engineers with Ian Larsson guiding the Nordic ski aspect; having joined as a cross-country technician, he was the future head of alpine competition. Jean-Paul Pierrat’s victory at the mythic 1978 Vasaloppet was a shock for the Scandinavians who took this reference competition for granted; it was also a dazzling validation of the new Rossignol cross-country skis. "The Nordic market was at its strongest at the time and the high point was Lake Placid (Olympic Games and World Championships in 1980) and the Oslo World Championships in 1982 where Rossignol collected 12 medals.

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Innovation is essential to Rossignol's development, just as are competition and production capacities, considered Laurent BoixVives on buying the brand in 1956.

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from ski technique, it crossed the Atlantic in the 1980s. Rossignol's first and not very successful attempt was with the "Avion" model, in the winter of 1986/1987. It would not be until 1989 and the arrival of alpine snowboarding champion Eric Rey, as technical advisor, that the brand would take a leap forward in its boards’ performances. Up until then, it was skiers who developed snowboards. In the early 1990s, Jean-Carl Carpano, mainspring of the beginnings of the monoski,

on the other side of the Atlantic.

Ski jumping was a separate adventure at Rossignol. It was a number of individual decisions which, outside the usual circuits for decisionmaking (Boix-Vives was not immediately informed), led to a gold medal at the Albertville Olympic Games and other great victories. It was Pierre Heinrich, the former ski jump and Nordic combination program manager until 2006 and the t the time, the woodworker drew a rough shape current biathlon manager, who refreshes our memory: "In early 1987, the new French on the wood and gave it to his workman. And Ski Jump Team coach came to see Rossignol, saying: ‘you're the biggest manufacturer in the now he gives him a file on a memory stick." world, you should be making skis for jumping.’ Henri Deborde Ian Larsson and Roger Abondance, in charge of competition, asked him to bring them all the existing skis: Fischer, Kneissl, Elan and took over the snowboard marketing and Eric "Bob" Bobrowicz, who Atomic. They cut open the skis and made their own models. For over two had worked on the ski injection procedures, took over the technical years they worked hard: the ski was too heavy, sometimes breaking on landing. responsibilities. The small team would orient snowboarding towards Abondance was fed up, and said: ‘We’re going to stop the copies and make a ski ourselves!’ He haunted the jumping hills and came out with a ski ten years freestyle. "Rossignol had understood very well that snowboarding was something separate and hired people from that milieu," explains Jan ahead of its time, light, and with Isocore foam instead of wood. For the first time he had used carbon fibers, which made the skis very responsive in the Recorbet, former freestyler, and who had worked as product manager. A team was set up, with a healthy proportion of Scandinavians and air and overall vibrations which made it very fast on the take-off track." It Americans. The first typically freestyle pro model in 1992, the Dave was through the Nordic combination that Rossignol started getting Seone, marked unabashedly the beginning of the modern snowboard, competition results: 1991 world champion title at Val di Fiemme for the Norwegian Fred-Bore Lundberg, and the 1992 Olympic twin leaving behind the last cultural links to the ski. The links between wins with Fabrice Guy and Sylvain Guillaume. The ski’s technological the two remained strong, as witnessed by the creation of the first Scratch skis, completely influenced by the snowboard. The American advance was confirmed with Martin Schmitt (30 World Cup victories, subsidiary was very involved in the choice of ranges and graphic four times world champion, twice winner of the "overall" World Cup design, until 2006, the date at which design began to be done entirely category) and Sven Hannawald, the only jumper to have won all four

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stages of the Four Hills Tournament in 2002. The "ski jump" program was stopped in 2006. Dualtec was "both a response to the Salomon monocoque ski and a chance to offer a top-of-the-line injected ski," specifies Roger Abondance, who dreamed it up. As is often the case in innovation, the idea was in gestation since 1983 (like the Mutix, THE innovative ski of the 2007/2008 season, which harked back to a 1999 project), it was simply waiting for the right conditions for its time to come. In this way Dualtec was able to profit from machines with digital controls, which made it possible to shape the ski and improve the transmission of energy to its edges with its structure combining the monocoque and the classic sandwich. In the following decade, efforts were concentrated on shape with parabolics, the Bandit family (which required an industrial updating of the molds to be able to make larger skis) and the freestyle Scratch, as well as on the boot-binding-ski interfaces. The latest step to date: ski customization with the Mutix and its external control. Today the research unit is no longer called the "studies and methods office" but the "R&D department" and employs about a hundred people. Its goals have evolved - one of its main objectives is to gain in productivity - as well as its tools: "At the time we were 15 people with pencils on our ears who drew all day long. The woodworker drew a rough shape on the wood and gave it to his workman. And now he gives him a file on a memory stick," emphasizes Henri Deborde. When he bought the company in 1956, Laurent Boix-Vives knew that innovation would be crucial to his development strategy. In 2007, the world changed and innovation remained indispensable, "because in a very competitive economic climate," analyzes Jérôme Noviant, "it is only innovation that can help us move forward." 2107 is on the horizon... (1) "Le ski en crise, le grand cirque blanc : du profit à la compétition" (The Ski Industry in Crisis, the

Above

2008-2009: a big year with lots of innovations, especially: the Dual Camber to change ski camber in an instant, the evolution of the Mutix, Sensor 3 technology and Harness Pants - pants with an integrated harness.

Great White Circus: from Profit to Competition), by F. Di Ruzza and B. Gerbier, published in 1977 by PUG (out of print). (2) Interview with Ski Français Magazine, 1963. (3) Interview with Ski Magazine, February 1987.

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THE WORLD LEADER IN SKIS LAUNCHES SKI BOOTS Following a diversification strategy for its products, Rossignol decided in 1989 to broaden its offering by positioning itself in the ski boot market. The announced objective was to offer a complete range of quality products for all skiers and market segments in order to reinforce the brand's position worldwide. With this goal, Rossignol could count on the know-how of its subsidiaries Lange, Trappeur and Caber, three manufacturers with worldwide reputations. As an indication of how important this new commercial challenge was, Laurent Boix-Vives personally involved himself into the promotional campaign by presenting the first model to the general public. "Rossignol's activity is already diversified. Number one worldwide in skis, we decided once more to reinforce our presence internationally. Introducing a range of Rossignol ski boots is an important new stage in developing our brand and our company."

“I

Boix-Vives

ntroducing a range of Rossignol ski boots is an important new stage in developing our brand." Laurent

itself on the top-of-the-range market. From a technical point of view, the Course K offers several technological advances, including reversing the shell’s flaps (reversed overlap) which reduces the space between the foot and the shell and gains precision. The asymmetrical diagonal strip from the R900 is here again, but this time reinforced with Kevlar®. Crowned with its racing victories, its success was immediate. Acclaimed by the skiers, it permitted Rossignol to enter the elite world of racing ski boot manufacturers. While the Course K is for skiers preferring performance over comfort, Rossignol has broadened its range with a model offering revolutionary technology, and which has permitted the company to achieve 480,000 pairs sold over the 1995/1996 season: the MID. MID: THE ARTICULATED COLLAR REVOLUTION Introduced to the Group in 1987 by Lange, the "MID Concept" permits combining the ease of rear-entry with the precision of four buckles, thanks to an articulated collar. As this collar pivots back, it makes it easier to put this ski boot on and off and also facilitates movement. But above all, the MID inaugurates a major line of development for the company: a range of products specifically for women's morphology. As such, the MID offers a version with a lower, adjustable and more flexible collar that fits the characteristics of a woman's foot. And if today all Rossignol ski boots are available in a women's version, the MID range is the foremother. The MID concept very quickly became a reference for skiers preferring the right balance between comfort and performance. It also promoted a return to the buckled ski boots of the mid 1990s, skiers progressively abandoning rear-entry boots. SALTO: THE ADVENT OF BI-MATERIAL INJECTION

R900: CHOOSING TO RENEW R900, a four-buckle ski boot range, counts on performance whereas this sector of business is still dominated by the idea of rearentry ski boots, characterized by the ease with which they are put on and their comfort. The market positioning for the R900 is "The Advance", referring to this new model's technological advance. In this way Rossignol is betting on the renewal of the four-buckle ski boot still used in competition, and the skiers’ aspirations to return to a more precise ski. The great novelty of the R900 is a diagonal reinforcement strip in rigid material to control strain on the shell when the structure is stressed in flexion. This diagonal band therefore becomes one of the essential elements of the Rossignol ski boot visual identity. This performance commitment and return to the four-buckle ski boot is a success, because Rossignol achieved the sale of 200,000 pairs since the second year of marketing. The arrival of two complementary ranges in the early 1990s: the Course K for a higher performance level and the Mid for a better comfort/performance compromise, two ski boots which are going to definitively establish the brand as one of the most active and innovative on the market. COURSE K: A BOOT WITHOUT CONCESSIONS In 1993 Rossignol launched a race-type 4-buckle ski boot range; its yellow color corresponding to the famous Rossignol Yellow Power communication campaign, which became a symbol of success: the Course K. This model has won numerous trophies (gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games for men's slalom with Hans Peter Burras and gold medal for Kalle Palander for slalom in the 1999 Vail World Championships) and allows Rossignol to legitimately position

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Four-buckle ski boots are gradually re-conquering the general public market. Nevertheless this category of ski boot remains the symbol of performance to the detriment of comfort. This constraint has led the company to dream up a new way of designing ski boots. The Rossignol research department decided to create a bi-material injected ski boot, using rigid plastic for the ride and a more flexible plastic for comfort and ease of entry. This innovation gave birth to the Salto model. On the strength of the success of this first range, Rossignol continued its work of associating materials and soon devised the use of other elements to make up the ski boots. SOFT: THE ALLIANCE OF EXTREMES With the arrival of the snowboard, a snowsliding sport easier on the feet, and the development of skis toward shorter models that are more fun, carving skis, the ski boot market has also had to renew itself. The experience accumulated in the area of bi-materials therefore motivated the company to turn to combining new components. "After having dreamed up the Salto, we decided to go even further and devise other combinations. So we thought, why not replace the flexible plastic with another material? And why not leather?", says Pascal Roux, marketing head for the alpine ski boot department Rossignol then launched itself into an ambitious gamble: associating plastic materials with the structure made out of synthetic materials or leather. Launched on the market in the early 2000s, the Soft rapidly met with wide success. The market shares for this type of ski boot quickly achieved 40% of adult sales for the company and allowed to Rossignol to sell over 500,000 pairs of boots during the 2003/2004 season. Nevertheless, several factors would contribute to the return to all-plastic boots.

"The very delicate fine-tuning implied high manufacturing costs. Certain competitors launched sometimes disappointing models, which also tarnished the image of this type of boot. Looking back, we realized that comfort hadn't achieved the level we hoped for," analyzes Pascal Roux. "We are therefore still gradually returning to the concept of the traditional four buckles."

Above

Six emblematic Rossignol boots, from top to bottom and from left to right: The R900, the Course K, the Mid, the Salto, the Soft and the Sensor 3. In twenty years Rossignol has become the symbol of innovation in the service of the technical.

SENSOR 3: DIRECT TRANSMISSION In a market once again preferring classic four-buckle models, Rossignol decided to concentrate on precision, reinvesting in the area of performance, and created Sensor 3 technology, a concept based on foot morphology, especially on the three major weight-bearing areas (first and fifth metatarsals, heel). To limit the space between the foot and the shell, Rossignol used a new type of sole at the bottom of the anatomical shell, permitting direct contact between the lining and the three weight-bearing areas. The Sensor 3 system has been

introduced in three ranges: the Radical range for racing, the Zenith range for trails and the B Squad range for freeride. The Sensor 3 concept reflects Rossignol's current intention to position itself in the field of performance. In this way four-buckle ski boots and their virtually unchanging concept continue to survive all the inventions of these past decades. Rossignol has a very highly technical ski boot unit, capable of presenting innovative and complementary ranges on the market that has become more and more segmented between the various types of skiing.

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Above

From left to right: - 1996: John Piccard and the junior program - Ski collection Fall Winter 07 / 08 - Magali, Sophie and Florent at Jonathan & Fletcher - IBEX logo - 2008: For the French Ski School in Aime la Plagne

APPAREL: A NEW CHALLENGE. Rossignol's first steps in apparel were materialized in 1996 with the "Junior Program": an extension of the high level reached in skiing, and of the yellow 7S skiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success in racing, worn by more than 2,000 young people by offering them a line of technical accessories and apparel. Between speed suits, anoraks and rain outerwear, it is the windbreaker which became the key item in the collection, bright yellow, symbolizing performance and of the podium. The apparel adventure was launched. It was Jean Holvoet, then merchandising and licensing manager, who was entrusted with developing apparel. This development would head towards the new snowsliding sports, incarnated at the time by the snowboard. Through a line of technical clothing, Rossignol Technical Outerwear, two programs were established: a Racing ski program, following in the footsteps of Rossignol's principal activity, and its racing department, and a more innovative program, the Snowboard line. It was in this way that the first logo was created, inspired by the Alpine ibex (capra ibex), created by Fred Renaud, artistic director of the publication Freestyler. The Snowboard line would then become known under the RS logo, with the first Gore-Tex apparel, and a label recognized at snowboard racing competitions and events. Rossignol's commitment to Freeride for snowboarding and skiing began from here.

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From 1999 Rossignol equipped the "Bandit" team with Yan "Bullit" AndrĂŠ, Yvan Dieng, Pat Ferriz and Johana Watson, and began a series of photo campaigns in Argentina to shoot the new collections. Faithful to its principles, Rossignol dressed the best: Hugo Harisson: world freeride champion in 1999-2000-2001; Manu Gaidet who took over in 2003-2004-2005; and Xavier Delerue, snowboard winner in 2008. Rossignol would even go so far as to involve its riders in designing its apparel, even giving them a place in the design office themselves. Manu tested, suggested, and participated in the design, developing the MG jacket and pants on the "Bandits" theme he appropriated for himself; then Florent Lassalle, Rossignol designer, offered him the "Chevalier" theme. In this way a Rossignol proved that technical apparel in Gore-Tex and Windstopper can also create a look and an identity. AN ADVENTURE AT THE HEART OF CREATIVITY It is at the Jonathan et Fletcher studio in Annecy that this involvement and complicity between riders, designers and Rossignol product managers expresses itself to give life to the most ambitious projects. Indeed from 1996 it has been entrusted with the design and development of Rossignol apparel products. It is the first office to have IT equipment for 3-D apparel design. In this way it has developed Rossignol ergonomics, the first step towards comfort. Then resistance trials were organized for product safety, and performance trials with suits tested in wind tunnels. With a great deal of inventiveness, enthusiasm and a bit of boldness, style is studied as well, prototypes are designed and then created in a few hours - tested, it dreamed up, innovated. And materialized! In this way Anne Bauvois, a mountain guide, showed up one day with a harness she had put together and sewn by hand to a pair

of pants; Manu and Xavier immediately validated her idea, and Magali Vauge, R&D head, took things in hand; the prototype was made within a week, tested, approved... and presented at the 2008 ISPO where it received the award for best outdoor product of the year. Still with the same idea of mountain professionals being the best judge of apparel made for them, a partnership was signed in 2001 with the Society of Chamonix Guides to test the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest discoveries. In 2007 Rossignol signed a license agreement with Jonathan et Fletcher to create an entity that would develop, manufacture and sell outfits to professionals, the "Mountain Pro Division". Ski schools have an image and are demanding partners; thus equipped they set themselves apart with their innovative style.

Above

From left to right: - Wind tunnel trials - Harness pants - 2008: Chamonix Mountain Guides uniform - Manu Gaidet - Xavier De Le Rue - Manu and Xavier, Fall Winter 08 / 09 collection

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Above

From left to right: - 2001: Johann Grégoire, Doriane Vidal wearing Jean Charles de Castelbajac. - 2004: Sketch of Christian Lacroix for Emilio Pucci. - 2007 - Logo for the 1907 vintage range

THE UFO EFFECT In the late 1990s the new laser cutting and fusing techniques imposed new and very functional styles for all the brands. But the desire to keep the spirit and very essence of winter sports through pleasure, fun, the magic of landscapes and the grandeur of nature all oriented Rossignol towards something new: co-branding. In this way a new project in collaboration came into being in collaboration with designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. It consisted of dressing the French Freestyle Team for the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002, and creating a new trend. Doriane Vidal, future silver medal for the snowboard half-pipe event and Yohann Grégoire, 1999 world champion in mogul skiing, were called on for the technical specifications. Doriane was quickly in sync with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and went to Paris for fittings. The French snowboard icon was conquered by this ultra creative and festive artistic world. The results were impressive and broke fashion conventions to reinvent new ones, daring bright colors and cuts close to the body, successfully combining the technical with the aesthetic. In the fall

he results were impressive and broke fashion conventions to reinvent new ones, successfully combining the technical with the aesthetic.

the entire Rossignol team was dressed in these bright outfits, and at Christmas a fashion show was organized on the Paris Hôtel de Ville skating rink. "Today every one is doing Gore-Tex prints, but at the time it was really innovative. It was like a UFO had landed on the Champs Elysées. We finally realized that this is what was influencing things at the time. Today we are at the heart of what has been done with Rossignol," says Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. The success of the first collection allowed Rossignol to stand out from the competition. Moreover, this joint project facilitated positioning Rossignol in foreign markets, such as the United States, Germany, Austria and Asia. The Castelbajac label provided both a certain renown and respectability, but it also breathed a real creative energy into the company. BACK TO THE FUTURE

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Delighted with its collaboration with Castelbajac, in 2004 Rossignol announced the launch of another line, with Emilio Pucci. The Italian brand, known for its superb silk prints, is not so far from the world of snow and mountains: the Marquis Emilio Pucci, who designed the ski outfits at the beginning of his career, was a member of the Italian Ski Team in the 1930s. Taking into consideration that the artistic director was none other than Christian Lacroix, the famous French designer, here again, the partnership resulted in spectacular, ultra feminine and very colorful collections which were a sensation in the world of technical apparel, proving that Rossignol had done well in choosing well-known partners. In 2005 Rossignol was bought by Quiksilver, the outerwear giant, bringing new dynamism to the apparel sector with the goal of winning market share. The establishment of the 1907 vintage line is part of this new strategy. The Group wishes to honor Rossignol's past while envisioning an opening into urban street wear. Fred Renaud, appointed to be Rossignol's artistic director, works to showcase the brands of values by giving priority, for example, to the logo of the time, the rooster, and the bluewhite-red signature colors for this 1907 collection. "We saw the importance of the vintage, but it was the celebration of the brand’s 100th anniversary that is really honored together with Rossignol's past. This reappropriating of the past has let us get a glimpse of a very legitimate ‘ lifestyle’," says Jean Holvoet. The apparel adventure can therefore continue by relying on the values which have made Rossignol's identity, enhanced by a combination of innovation and creativity.

Above

From left to right: - 2002: Doriane Vidal wearing Jean-Charles de Castelbajac at the Olympic Games - 2003: Jean-Charles de Castelbajac by Rossignol - Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's fashion show, "Snowllywood" 2004 (collection 05 / 06) - Pucci design for Zuzulova, Olympic Games, Torino 2006 - 2006: Emilio Pucci line by Rossignol - 2007: the 1907 vintage line - RS collection Fall Winter 06 / 07 - Spring Summer 2007 collection - Lynsey, Doriane and Claudia. Les Diablerets, winter 2007

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L skis

egendary

FROM THE OLYMPIC 41 TO THE MUTIX, ROSSIGNOL BUILT ITS PLACE AS

THE

ALLAIS

NUMBER

60,

STRATO,

ONE

4S,

WORLDWIDE DUALTEC,

WITH

BANDIT,

LEGENDARY

SCRATCH...

MODELS: EACH

HAS

ITS OWN STORY, BIG ONES WITH VICTORIES IN COMPETITION OR TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES, AND LITTLE ONES, THOSE OF ANECDOTES ABOUT ENGINEERS, PRODUCT MANAGERS AND TESTERS WHO SWEATED OVER THE PROTOTYPES.

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1941

Olympic 41

And abel created the modern ski

he Olympic 41 was the first modern ski. It gave Rossignol a considerable technological advance thanks to its structure of glued laminated wood. This principle, well-known to woodworkers, provided a solution to the defects in solid wood - rapid wear, warping on exposure to moisture, fragility of the tip, limited glide over snow, different behavior between any two skis. Abel Rossignol, who was a woodworker himself, therefore dreamed up a ski where the wood was split lengthwise, glued, held in a press and composed of 24 pieces in three layers of woods with different degrees of hardness (Hickory, Canadian ash and azobé). Lower layer, core, upper layer: this is the modern "sandwich" structure found in all skis to this day. That is how

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this major ski began. "Producing a ski today represents an exorbitant cost," comments Jérôme Noviant, currently ski product manager, designer of the modern version of the Olympic 41 (without those screwed-on edges!).The Olympic 41 was the first Rossignol ski to have a true base, first brown and then blue, which would send Henri Oreiller to victory in the downhill of the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz, then Lucienne Schmith, the first Frenchwoman to be a world champion at the World Championships of Åre (Sweden) in 1954. Until 1965 the Olympic 41 would remain a major factor in sales, even after the arrival of metal skis. Thanks to this ski, the Voiron factory would increase its production from several hundred pairs annually in 1941 to several thousand, ten years later.

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1960

Allais 60

Metal skis showered with gold

he general public discovered the Allais 60, one of the first "sandwich" skis with a wood core surrounded by two blades of Zicral, with the victory of Jean Vuarnet in the 1960 Olympic Games downhill in Squaw Valley. Linking an Olympic victory to a new material - metal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Allais 60 was the first commercial success for the "new" Rossignol under Laurent Boix-Vives in 1956. This ski gave it a technological head start of a good two years in leapfrogging over the Austrians who dominated the market and the podiums. It was, with the Strato, part of the grand era of the French ski in the 60s. It was Emile Allais who brought from the United States a metal ski produced by Head to inspire Abel Rossignol in the late 1950s. The Head ski was intended for amateur skiers, but Rossignol

would produce its own version of the metal ski in transforming it into a downhill racer. "I was in love with the Allais 60," claims Roger Abondance, the guru of the Rossignol racing department until the late 1990s; "it was like a piece of furniture, entirely handcrafted." It had hidden edges, a polyethylene base and was superior to the then dominant wooden ski, particularly in terms of its grip. For Adrien Duvillard: "It was, without a doubt, the most innovative ski. It was a ski with a behavior truly different from everything that existed at the time. You take an Allais 60 and todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downhill ski, cut them in cross-section and you will not see much difference in the materials and construction." There was such demand, especially in United States, that Rossignol had difficulty satisfying all the skiers.

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1965 Strato

Stratospheric!

“I

t was in 1962 that we decided to make an Olympic 41 with fiberglass above and below," explained Roger Abondance. "We needed a product to compete with Dynamic, Kneissl, Kästle and Head." One still refers today to the "Strato era". Its structure brought together fiberglass, a material used in aviation, with a wooden core. "It was the first composite ski, and it upset the order of things. It had a very sporty behavior, gripped well and also had more flexibility than the Allais 60 (the metal ski par excellence: heavy, long and not easy to maneuver). The Strato literally freed the skier," explained Alain Zanco, the longtime head of advanced research at Rossignol. It was a success with respect to behavior on snow (it "turned on a dime") but it was also a commercial, industrial and racing success. "It was one of the first to be produced in large volumes, in a single operation of gluing and molding in the ‘sandwich’. Like the 4S, it was one of the largest worldwide sellers for Ross," noted Jérôme Noviant. In early 1964, Roger Abondance presented to Laurent Boix-Vives the first (non-skiable) prototype of what was not yet the Strato. After the commercial success at the Grenoble trade show, it was necessary to produce marketable skis in only a few months. A real exploit. "I have never worked so hard in my life. We took the side cuts of the Dynamic VR 27 and we made the machine tools for the production - we had to invent everything. After testing with Adrien Duvillard and Maurice Woehrlé, we brought out the ski in November of the same year," continues Roger Abondance. In 1965, the skis were used by Annie Famose in the 1966 World Championship in Portillo (Chili), and at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo. "The Strato made Rossignol, and its technology brought the brand to the position of number one worldwide in 1973," proclaimed Roger Abondance proudly. Marketed until 1975, the Strato was the first ski to sell more than a million pairs.

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71 Roc 550

The foam core wakes up the competitors

he big leap forward in technology in the 70s was the replacement of wood by polyurethane in this ski's core. Rossignol (with Kneissl) was one of the first brands to meet the challenge with the Roc 550. Cheaper to make, with a more comfortable glide, it was the brand's revolutionary ski. "1970: Bayer (with which Rossignol still works today) had just perfected a polyurethane resin which in swelling and hardening produced a semi-rigid alveolar material capable of replacing wood in certain applications. Its resistance qualities seemed sufficient and its relative flexibility compared to wood was promising for performance on snow. The introduction of polyurethane was a decisive turning-point for the company. From that day forward, we became less and less woodworkers and more and more plastic specialists," said Maurice Woehrlé, R&D head at the time. "They were crazy years of discovery," remembers Henri Deborde. "Nobody knew anything about the foam's expansion in the skis. It was a liquid injected under high pressure which often spurted onto our arms or into our faces (which meant a quick trip to the infirmary!).We needed a foam with density equivalent to wood, which would expand in the mold, take its forum, and stabilize on opening and which would stand up to cold and impacts. Polyurethane allowed Rossignol to create a signature contact with the snow, a very light, pleasurable behavior." The Roc 550 won the 1970 World Cup and was on the podiums of the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Its successor, the ST 650, is a slalom ski, with the structure including woven fiberglass around a central polyurethane rod in the core (without metal), a construction producing an exceptional grip on hardpack and real aggressiveness. It won several medals in the 1976 Olympic Games at Innsbruck with Pierre Gros, Claudia Giodani (Italy) and Willie Frommelt (Liechtenstein). The Frenchman Patrick Russel did a lot to popularize these two skis.

1972

Swiss Team

Hollow core and great success

anufactured in the Swiss factories of Authier which Rossignol bought, the Swiss Team model was developed out of a patent by engineer Gaston Haldemann, called Fiberglass. It was a downhill ski unique in history: it was hollow and used high-performing resins and woven fiberglass textiles readied for gluing. In the beginning it consisted of three hollow tubes, then two, then only one, which were expanded during the polymerization of the resins. The manufacturing was complex and was stopped in 1988. "It had a nice touch on the snow," explains Henri Deborde. "It was nice and stiff in torsion and had an interesting lateral strain. But it was extremely difficult to adjust." Swiss Team triumphed on the podiums of the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo with three gold medals (Bernard Russi and Marie-ThĂŠrĂ¨se Nadig) and a silver one (Roland Colombin).

SM COMPETITION

First fiberglass, plastic and metal ski

he history of the SM Comp goes back to late 1975, the date when Roger Abondance made the first fiberglass-metal ski, then called the 3G. It became the SM Comp, gained a victory for Piero Gros at the 1976 Olympic Games and was marketed in 1979. With its fiberglass-plastic-metal "sandwich" structure, this giant slalom ski integrated all the technologies and materials discovered over the preceding 15 years. With an excellent stiffness in torsion, adapted to both steering in long turns as well as to the developments in deep powder, it brought victories to Christa Kinshofer (Germany), Cindy Nelson (United States), Peter Luescher, Peter Muller (Switzerland) and Perrine Pelen (France).

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1980

Silver 44

"The unbearable lightness Of being"

t was Rossignol's third cross-country ski model the first one dates back to 1976 - and it made a big impression at the time with its lightness. "It was built with Roycell filling material and Kevlar surrounding the components. With no lateral sidewalls, the core supported the ski," explains Dominique Locatelli, Nordic project head. This ski brought Rossignol athletes numerous medals in the golden age of cross-country skiing, the late 70s and early 80s, with in particular twelve medals at the 1982 World Championships in Oslo. A real exploit.

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Miss Rossignol

The favorite of japanese women

n 15 years over one million pairs have been sold and in the 1991/92 season alone, the winter of the Olympic Games in Albertville, 96,000 were sold, making it Rossignol's bestseller. It placed the brand in the leading position in the Japanese market. While it is remarkable from a commercial point of view, it is less so in technical terms, since it has no new structure, but flexibility and side cuts adapted to young Japanese women, the public for which it was specially designed.

1983 Diabolo

The mono goes green

fter the first prototypes Roger Abondance put together on the sly in the competition department, the monoski return to the hands of the R&D department. Maurice Legrand and Gilles Szekely designed the new skis and finetuned the famous "pin tail", a ski narrower in the back to make pivoting easier and improve reactivity on the trail. From the beginning the guiding principle was "multi-purpose", to bring the mono out of the deep powder ghetto and give it access to the track. It was one of the best-known models in the monoski era, during which Rossignol was number one worldwide, with its logo of a glass of lemonade and straw. A collector's item today, designed by Daniel Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Guyen...

86 The Avion

The snowboard takes off at rossignol

ossignol launched its snowboard in 1986-87 with this well-named board ("avion" means "airplane" in French): the trials on snow were catastrophic, the board was too long and too rigid, but the decision to market it was taken nevertheless. The person responsible for the project at the time, Pierre Faye (ski product manager), decided on an aeronautic design at the last minute, without thinking about it too much and assuming that the product wouldn't sell. Contrary to expectations, the Avion was something of a commercial success. This model was important for two reasons: it was Rossignol's very first snowboard and it showed, to the contrary, the future - more flexible and narrower boards with shorter tips. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s say that the Avion was something of a pilot version...

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1987 4 S

No more bad vibrations

The ski of all superlatives

his slalom ski reached one million pairs sold worldwide, winning numerous victories in the World Cup and at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, with Alberto Tomba (Italy), Erica Hess (Switzerland), Vreni Schneider (Switzerland) and Rok Petrovic (Croatia). With an internal and external VAS damping system, it included Kevlar for more weight. "It's the ski that everyone still talks about. The ideal combination of Kevlar, which softens aggressive skis, and VAS. We worked with the Vibrachoc company to develop it, to adapt it to what we wanted. We did a lot of trials to put the plate in the right place," remembers Henri Deborde. Result: new sensations of easy glide, "it pivoted quickly because we lightened the extremities, we changed the side cuts for a range of radiuses and freeing the torsion to eliminate aggressiveness." (Roger Abondance). In 1981 Rossignol incorporated a system into the internal structure of the First sport model and the FP and SM racing models consisting of steel wire and viscoelastic materials called VAS (Vibration Absorbing System), "which is to Rossignol what hydropneumatic suspension is to Citroen." (Maurice Woehrlé). In 1984 VAS became external (and added the latter "M", for multidirectional) on the 7S and the 7G, to finally realize all of the 4S Kevlar's potential.

t was unskiable, but it had something interesting about it." In this way Adrien Duvillard, head tester, welcomed the first prototype with VAS, a selective vibration absorption system: it got rid of the bad ones, and kept the good ones. "It provided specific damping," specified Adrien Duvillard, "to reduce negative vibrations and maintained the positive ones. If we' d completely deadened the ski, as we did on our 1956 Easyflex model which already had a rubber blade inserted between two elements of the ski, it would be heavy and not too easy to handle. A ski needs vibrations to glide and get around." Rossignol's engineers worked this way for a long time on the complex phenomena of vibrations, and the VAS would be the brand's big focus in the 1980s. In 1978 a research project on the question was launched by the French Ski Team and Rossignol developed highly developed methods for measuring speed. "We were convinced that all the sensations that we can group under the expression ‘touch on the snow’, as well as certain instability phenomena, result from common mechanisms," says Maurice Woehrlé. Three vibratory modes were identified: short-radius skidding turns, long-radius turns and frontal impacts on moguls. We then only had to attenuate one mode or another, depending on what the ski was intended for. "We worked on the layout of materials (ABS, phenol sidewalls, Kevlar) so that the skier would feel only the good vibrations," added Alain Zanco. The last VAS evolution would be the 7SK brought out in 1992, a slalom ski with a fiberglass and Kevlar shell, a micro-cellular core, VAS system and straight edges. It brought precision, powerful grip, vivacity and maneuverability.

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1992 Jumping Skis

Jumping skis win their laurels at the albertville olympic games

he Rossignol jumping ski never had a name, and if it had to be given one, it certainly would be that of Fabrice Guy or Sylvain Guillaume, gold and silver medal winners in the Nordic combination at the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games. They worked with Roger Abondance to perfect each of the different phases in the jump (in-run, take-off, flight and landing). One of the main changes made was to raise the tips by 2 cm so that the skis lifted off just at the take-off. The ski was made out of polyurethane injected with fiberglass particles, called Isocore. This material made it possible to lighten the product: it weighed 90 kg per cubic meter (as opposed to 600 or 700 kg per cubic meter for wood). For safety reasons, Abondance had asked for a material weighing 140 kg, because on hard tracks it could shatter. "It was the most wonderful medal of my career," added Roger Abondance. "They won in combination with my jumping ski and the Cobra snowskating board I had developed; I had tears streaming down my cheeks, it was the first time that that had happened to me. We had set ourselves a challenge: two and a half years before we didn't know anything about ski jumping and here we were Olympic champions in Nordic combination."

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Pro model

ery early on Rossignol snowboards were oriented towards freestyle. To improve Rossignol's image, a brand known more for its skis than for its boards, the American Dave Seone was hired. Dave's board was a novelty for Rossignol: it was the first one to be endorsed by a professional rider. It had a microcell core, the brand being the only one to use a material other than wood for its cores: the grip of the edge was improved, steering was more pleasant and vibration reduced. At a time when all snowboards came from the United States, it was a gamble for an American rider to associate with the French brand. The "Frenchie" coffee cup decorating the board was the symbol of this creative association.

1995

Excess Dualtec

A new generation of skis

t could be said that Dualtec was created twelve years before it officially was brought out," explains Roger Abondance as he proudly brings a cross-country ski out from the back of his garage. "In 1983 I had designed this ski with a platform for the bindings and a rib along half of the side walls but it was never marketed. It was the forerunner of the Dualtec. The idea stayed in the bottom of the drawer because we didn't have the ability to make molds to shape the ski. The arrival of machines with digital controls permitted us to do what we wanted." An advance in terms of behavior on snow, an industrial leap forward and the technological turning point, the Dualtec was important in all these regards, as the ROC 550 could have been. The entirely new technology combined the capacities of the monocoque ski (fluidity of evolution) and the "sandwich" (performance) thanks to the vertical side walls which provided powerful downward force. "We were looking to bring out a simple sandwich and Roger Abondance showed up with a ski design which provided the solution by making it possible to gain in grip, the pressure being transmitted more directly onto the edge. It was in fact a half-monocoque with straight side walls. We spent several months in finding the ideal shape for the cap," tells Henri Deborde. "Adrien Duvillard had sensed on the snow that it had potential, so we started over again as long as the ski didn't have a good grip. It's impossible to calculate this, we had to go through four or five molds to get there." Up until this ski, each new model took two years to develop; after the turning point of the Dualtec, only six months where needed (without counting the trials on snow which took at least one season). Excess Dualtec would be the winner in giant slalom from its first season in the 1995 World Cup: five places out of six on the podiums in the final ranking of the World Cup for men's and women's giant slalom, with notably Alberto Tomba (Italy) and Vreni Schneider (Switzerland). It won more medals at the 1996 Sierra Nevada World Championships, in men's giant slalom with Alberto Tomba (gold) and Michael Von Gruenigen (Switzerland) and women's giant slalom with Karin Roten (Switzerland).

The CUT Family Power steering for skis

idened tips and tails, narrow waists, quick take-off, playful behavior, these skis have permitted all skiers to try out turns and have made skiing even more fun. For Henri Deborde, "It's like in a car, we ease the driver’s work. It's the ski’s natural development, we reduce the waist and adapt the side cuts. It wasn't difficult to finetune them, we had all the knowledge we needed, but our machines were set too finely, we had to adapt our manufacturing equipment for skis that were wider, more concave, shorter." At Rossignol and Dynastar were the "carving" boards, the Rossignol Toon and the Dynastar Max series as well as other less typical models: Pacha (Rossignol) and Max 3 (Dynastar). All these models came from a first family of skis called CUT. In 1995 Jacques-Henri Rodet, American market manager, ask the engineers to work on parabolics for the Las Vegas trade show: "Otherwise, I won't sell anything." "We had six months to make them," remembers Alain Zanco. "Adrien Duvillard had validated prototype number 14 and then we calculated everything to launch a program to make them as efficiently and cost effectively as possible." There were four models, going from 99 mm to 104 mm at the tip, from the CUT 9.9 to the CUT 10.4. "There were three reasons for bringing these skis out," analyzes Jérôme Noviant. "To give amateurs the same sensations as the pros, to discover the sensations that snowboarders feel on turns and to give the skier pleasure again on the American trails which in the 1980s had become like highways." In racing, the skis would be validated brilliantly at the Sestrières World Championships.

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1996

Pow Air

The first freestyle ski

ightmare is the name of the first twin tip model developed in 1996 with Americans; it measured 80 mm at the waist. David Bouvier and Julien Régnier, two of the first testers, found it very wide and heavy. Julien, a Rossignol rider at the time, would involve himself in the development of this ski and shepherd it through the "new school" of freestyle skiing history. "This ski owes everything to the snowboard, a new snowsliding technique which gave this ski milieu something to think about," says Jérôme Noviant. "You take the best part of the snowboard and the best part of the ski to make something new. We broke with tradition with the twin tip, which wasn't a new idea but we updated it." It has been improved a great deal since then, in particular in relation to the lighter core of THC (wood, polyurethane, Roycell) which "bought more in terms of behavior, in particular by improving release and letting it pivot easily because its extremities are light." "There is very little inertia," comments Alain Zanco. A break between two generations, the Scratch scratched an itch and won gold at the X-Games with Candide Thovex.

99 I

t's a great story, this ski; its creation is linked to "a small group including product manager Pierre Faye in development, me and the freeriders (Brant Moles, Yann André et Pat Ferriz) who were pushing us for wider skis to land and plane in powder," tells Jérôme Noviant. "The problem was that our models put the entire manufacturing facility into question: we could only make skis 85 mm wide maximum in our molds. The Bandit range was therefore a strategic investment and there were those who were wondering if this wasn't just a crazy whim of ten people who were leading Rossignol to bankruptcy!" The Bandit XX, the first one of the name (184 cm long) innovated by redistributing flexibility and by side cuts with progressive radius. "It was a mix between the Pacha (soft carve slider) and carving. It was the first polyvalent and high-performing parabolic," adds Alain Zanco. For winter 2008/2009, Jérôme Noviant's team has wrapped up its seventh version of the Bandit which went from 68 mm at the waist for the first model, to 108 mm for the largest one this winter. A lasting freeride.

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2000 Xium

The snowskating renewal

hat goes around comes around: dreamed up as a cross-country ski, Dualtec technology (side wall and cap) finally did something for Nordic. In moving from Voiron to Artès (the Spanish factory), the Nordic team also changed production methods for this shorter ski, with the cap for fluidity in parallel tracks and lateral sidewalls to transmit force to the edges' grip. The biathlon stars (Poirée, Vittoz and Bjørndalen) proved how efficient the model was. "It was a real challenge both technologically, industrially and in racing terms," emphasizes Dominique Locatelli, Nordic project manager. "It meant we could make a place for the brand again in the world of Nordic, even though it had a very strong alpine connotation." Bravo to the artist!

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Radical Mutix

The first customizable ski

he Radical R 11 Mutix is in fact two skis in one. The first conclusive attempt at customizing snowsliding sensations, the Mutix makes it possible to choose its behavior, with the help of two arms and a booster: short turns (as typical of slalom) or long turns (typical of giant slalom). "With the development of short shaped skis, we have got to a situation where everyone uses the same ski size; it was on that basis that we worked on personalizing it," specifies Jérôme Noviant.

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2007 The Jeremy Jones Pro-Pow Model

ince its first versions, the pro models bearing the name of Alaska's freeride king, Jeremy Jones, are pure mountain experience. The latest, the sixth, uses ecological materials such as bamboo and one dollar is paid to the P.O.W. (Protect Our Winter) environmental foundation for each board sold. The novelty is that the smaller the board, the closer it is to twin tip freestyle geometry; the bigger it is, the more directional it is for heading into big turns. Designed for committed freeriders, it is important to note that contrary to skis, pro riders use mass-produced boards: Jeremy rides exactly the same board found in the store!

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years

Competition of

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Right-hand page

1937 World Slalom Championships in Chamonix. Emile Allais crosses the finish line by throwing himself forward, as today's racers do to break the chronometer’s tape sooner. Time was still kept then with hand-operated stop watches.

THE ROSSIGNOL STORY, BEGINNING WITH EMILE AND GOING TO LINDSEY, HAS ALWAYS HAD A SPECIAL CONNECTION TO COMPETITION, ONE OF ITS MOST IMPORTANT ASSETS. ROSSIGNOL HAS ALWAYS FELT IT HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN RACING AND TO WORK ON SKIS FOR IT. INDEED, IT DOES NOT SEE THAT SKIING CAN EXIST WITHOUT COMPETITION – THIS IS WHAT CONSTITUTES ITS PEDIGREE AND ITS SIGNATURE. IT IS IN THIS WAY THAT IT HAS LEFT ITS MARK ON THE WORLD'S GREATEST SLOPES AND TRACKS THOUSANDS OF TIMES. NO MATTER THE DISCIPLINE - ALPINE SKIING, NORDIC SKIING, ALL PERIODS OF FREESTYLE SKIING, JUMPING, FREERIDING, SNOWBOARDING OR SKIERCROSS ROSSIGNOL BEEN

THERE

HAS AT

ALWAYS THE

BEEN

GATES

THERE ALL

THE

EVENTS,

STARTING BIG

AND

LINE, SMALL.

IT IS THERE TO WIN, OF COURSE, BUT ALSO TO WORK ON THE IMPROVING AND EVOLVING ITS PRODUCTS; IT COULD BE CONSIDERED THAT THIS IS ANOTHER “COMPETITION” WHERE ROSSIGNOL HAS EARNED ITS SHARE OF STRIPES.

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1936

Emile

The day did not salute hitler

t was February 16, 1936, and a crowd in Munich had jammed itself into the stadium for the fourth Winter Olympic Games which the Nazi government had organized in Bavaria. France was to come close to a diplomatic incident that day. The Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels, had specially approved funds to transform the municipalities of Garmisch and Partenkirchen, to showcase the superiority of the German people over the rest of the world; this was to be a preamble to organization of the 11th Summer Olympic Games taking place six months later in Berlin. No fewer than 756 athletes (including 81 women) from 28 nations had been registered, and 235,000 spectators attended 17 events over 11 days under a cold, steel-gray sky. Goebbels had big ideas and worked with the organization so that the program would include an alpine event combining downhill and slalom, two disciplines in which German skiers excelled. The French team consisted of seven athletes: three from Megève (Emile Allais, Roland Allard and René Beckert), two from Chamonix (André Tournier, Emile Folliguet), and the Lafforgue brothers, René and Maurice, from the Pyrenees. "There were a lot of people," recounts Emile Allais who then had high hopes of reaching the podium after his Mürren World Championships medal the year before. "Two German racers leapt in front of me. There was so much applauding it just about paralyzed me - it was really intimidating. I had knocked down three gates before I got control of myself again." Despite his stage fright, Emile finished fourth in downhill in 4’58”8, about twelve seconds behind the immense Norwegian jumper, Birger Ruud, who bounded from a rock to trampoline ahead of him. Allais, very fast in the steepest sections, had to work hard as he came up to the finish. He questioned the waxing done by Karby, the Norwegian trainer for the French cross-country team. Ruud’s fellow countryman argued back: "My waxing was just fine, which can’t be said for French technique..." Emile then missed a double gate, but recovered to win third in slalom, thereby winning the bronze for the combined slalom and downhill. It was the first French Olympic medal in alpine skiing, but it also laid the groundwork for the first French affront to a Nazi Chancellor.

For indeed, another and more bitter battle was being waged here was so much applauding behind the scenes. The President of the International Olympic Committee, the Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, had only just barely just about paralyzed me. managed to persuade Adolf Hitler to remove the discriminatory signs forbidding "dogs and Jews" Olympic participation. Now that the moment had come for the podium, a new diplomatic issue raised its head: should Allais salute the Chancellor or not? The Federation’s heads were against it: Emile extending his arm in the traditional Olympic salute as he stood on the podium could pass for allegiance to the Führer’s regime. No ambiguity could be permitted in the troubled Europe of the time. "So, standing on the podium for the combination, I simply remained still and at attention." Three weeks after this strong-arming, Nazi Germany moved in to occupy the Rhineland; the following year the French skier responded to this in his own way: he imposed a new style breaking from Austrian technical dogma, and with it swept a historic triple win at the Chamonix World Championships, in downhill, slalom and combination.

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1948

Oreiller T

he ruin the world was left in following the Second World War also affected French skiing. The Swiss, however, had continued their development work during those dark years, and were ahead of the rest of Europe; they succeeded in imposing their Attenhofers in racing circles: a pinched design, with plastic bases. On the other hand, this only made the challenge more motivating, not only for Rossignol which was redoubling its efforts to catch up, but also for the new national team, a mix of old grumps and high-strung bantams that included a certain Henri Oreiller. He had a softsounding last name ("oreiller" means "pillow" in French), but he preferred his rough-and-ready nickname of "Riquet". He seemed to be a man of a different and more Romantic type, a lover of extreme sensations but also an avid epicurean with a ready smile. For Rossignol’s technicians, there was only one word for what he wanted from ski design: speed. This “downhill madman” always had his favorite glossy red skis with him, hurtling down the slopes without any apparent method, his chest thrown forward, on the verge of losing his balance - yet he was indisputably the fastest one. "He looked like a heretic, but he hung in there, passed everyone and won," Philippe Gaussot wrote of him.

One morning in February 1948, however, he was in anguish in his hotel room. New Olympic Games were being held in St. Moritz for the first time in twelve years, and a hundred hundred and twelve skiers were all waiting impatiently to have it out on the downhill slopes – and Oreiller just couldn’t find his skis anywhere. The Frenchman looked everywhere, went back to his room, emptied the cupboards, checked the cars in the parking lot, and overturned everything in the hotel, thinking that if this was a joke, it was in pretty bad taste. But, he thought, it was not a joke; someone was taking one last shot at destabilizing him just before the race. He had arrived the night before in irritatingly high spirits, advising fellow team members to not risk looking ridiculous by appearing in the same race with him. Someone had apparently thought to put him back in his place by stealing his equipment. "I can’t win without my own skis," he was heard to mutter between angry interjections. It was another tense hour before a bellboy finally found the precious skis, which suddenly and mysteriously made their appearance in a place where Riquet had looked for them only minutes before.

he "downhill madman" hurtled down the slopes without any apparent method - yet he was indisputably the fastest one.

Oreiller had got his smile and his confidence back, but now he was mad. He skied that morning like a crazy man, disdainfully preceding his rivals over the finish line by four seconds, and thereby giving something of a rough blow to his competitors’ morale. The skier dealt them a final blow two days later during the combination event, crossing the finish line in downhill a full five seconds faster than his nearest challenger. The French rose to their feet like one. Oreiller had not only just won the first French victory in skiing with a triple win of gold and bronze, he had also single-handedly freed French skiing of its complexes. James Couttet expressed it best with these words: "This acrobat has just rid us of our rigid academic ideas about technique." From that time on, victories were to just fall into his hands.

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1954 A descendent of the Couttet dynasty, married to a mountain guide, the Chamonix native Lucienne Schmith-Couttet was the first French world champion in history. She brought back two other medals from Ă&#x2026;re (Sweden) for giant slalom.

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1954 Already an Olympic medal winner in 1952 in Oslo (Norway), Christian Pravda became world champion in downhill at Ă&#x2026;re (Sweden) in 1954. A member of the famous KitzbĂźhel club, he broke the rules by becoming the first Austrian to ski on Rossignols.

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1960

Jean , the perfect shape of an egg

wenty-four years after his Olympic medal, Emile Allais was waiting halfway alongside the downhill slope at Squaw Valley, the Sierra Nevada ski resort that he had organized cleverly enough for it to snap up organizing the 1960 Olympic Games. His "French bantams" were at the top and at the ready. His stop watch in his hand, he intended to indicate their midway time to them: if they saw him squatting next to the slope, it meant they were running late; if he was standing up, it meant all was well. Number 10, Jean Vuarnet, was not very comfortable on his first curve, where he skidded a lot. The sight of Allais huddled down at the expected meeting point confirmed his fears: he had handled it badly and lost precious seconds. He got the message all right. Now the second part of the race had a section with a stretch that was a straight slope down. It was the moment to attempt the impossible. With his University of Grenoble coach, Georges Joubert, the Morzine skier had fine-tuned a new position very close to the ground. Seen from the side, the chest drawn down to the knees in a fetal position, it recalled the perfect shape of an egg, an aerodynamic form with indisputable advantages: very low resistance to air. But the position was difficult to hold. Jean Vuarnet had experienced this during the trials on the Alpine slopes. "I’ve got my skis flat to the ground and the force of the drop is sucking me in; my chest pressed down, I shoot through the air, holding the position to the bitter end, just not giving up; I'm down low with the air roaring in my ears, and I hurt." In the instant before he got to Squaw Valley’s straight drop, he felt torn between thoughts of extreme speed and the imagined skepticism of his waiting entourage. He had only a fraction of a second to make his choice, and he did it: he literally let his center of gravity drop down to his knees. As his speed increased, the terrain grew pitiless. His muscles stretched to the breaking point, he rode over the beating he was taking from the ground, lactic acid poured into his burning thighs. He hung in there, accelerated, holding his skis absolutely flat to the terrain.

Designed with an assembly of metal blades and wood ’ve got my skis flat to the ground core, the Allais 60s he was wearing were incredible. The and the force of the drop is sucking dumbfounded public watched a symbiosis forming as brilliant as that which combined the destinies of Henri Oreiller and me in; my chest pressed down, I the Olympic 41s in laminated and glued wood during the 1948 Olympic Games. Vuarent not only caught up with his shoot through the air ... competition, but crossed the finish line half a second before his rival Hans-Peter Lanig. The Olympic spotlight was on. In two minutes and six seconds, the world had just discovered a model (which would always be associated with the 1960s period of the French Ski Team), and a style (as universal as Dick Fosbury’s high jump or Jan Bokloev’s V-shaped ski jump). The impact was such that Rossignol's boss, Laurent Boix-Vives, made two major decisions affecting the brand’s international reputation: that of making major investments in competition and that of systematically depending on its champions’ advice.

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1962 A day for mountain

Guides

atching sight of the Mont Blanc on this winter morning in 1962, the Skiing World Cup organizers smiled slightly. The snowstorm that had been raging all night had calmed and despite the still gray sky, everyone was hoping the weather would improve. "Just about all the racers came downstairs in sweaters," remembers the receptionist of a major Chamonix hotel. On the French team, nobody was talking to anyone. "Like most of the people watching the sky that day, I was counting on it improving," remembers Guy Périllat. The youngest member of the French team was living a wonderful period of his life: at the age of only 22, he had brought home two Olympic medals and six victories from the great classic events. He was a favorite on the French team and - already - a model for others. He lived in Chamonix and was going to be on terrain he knew very well. So the way he dressed set the tone for all: everybody in sweaters.

Another Chamonix native with a bit more experience had seen what was working in the skies. A native of the valley (Périllat himself was from La Clusaz), Charles Bozon – "Charlot" - had just been promoted to become a mountain guide. He knew these clouds capping the peaks and put on a nice warm anorak. About fifty racers were at the starting line for the slalom. Well protected and accustomed to bad weather which had already surprised him in several races before, he gained in the first heat, by being hose were waiting their turn were more than a second ahead of the others to cross the line.

frozen, stiff as wood.

"Things got even more complicated around noon, with the second heat," tells Périllat. "With the snow coming down in big flakes, it was just possible to make out the gates. Those who were waiting their turn were frozen, stiff as wood." At the time the athletes had to make shift for themselves with such circumstances. As they waited in the wind, without the guidance of coaches or physical trainers, the racers did what they could to warm up. "I did steps, rubbed myself, and stamped my feet. Even so, I showed up at the starting line with rusty joints and a clumsy and inept body," said one racer, reliving the experience. In spite of the wind, Périllat kept his reflexes and enough nervous edge and aggressiveness to have an advantage. After a first mediocre downhill, there he was again with the best timing, beating out his friend Charlot who, relaxed in his nice warm jacket, had controlled the race from beginning to end. In this nasty weather, the results gave the advantage to the Chamonix natives: gold for Bozon, silver for Périllat. The French performance boosted research at Rossignol, which had not looked at slalom until then. With the help of the new champions, in record time its technicians came up with a new construction combining laminated fiberglass with a wood core, lighter and more responsive than the competing Dynamic skis the other slalom racers had been wearing. The brand got its revenge: on these Stratos "as high-strung as thoroughbreds", Périllat upheld the Rossignol name by winning once more at the Portillo World Championships (first in giant slalom, second in slalom) before letting victory at the Grenoble Olympics slip through his fingers (eight one-hundredths) to Jean-Claude Killy. "I had put my Stratos back in the cupboard," reflects the former champion.

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1968 Queens of the podium! Twenty medals and Olympic or world champion titles among the three of them. In the mid 1960s, the Canadian Nancy Greene, the French Marielle Goitschel and Annie Famose reigned over the international women's ski scene. Rossignol stands with them!

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1968 A pyrenees native since become businesswoman. A peerless competitor, Annie Famose knew her hour of glory during the south american summer of 1966 in portillo (chile) where she was honored as world champion in slalom. She is today perhaps the best example of a successful change in professions!

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1966 The very personification of winning and the culture of always doing better. A tireless perfectionist and supremely instinctive skier, Jean-Claude Killy symbolizes success and victory. It is normal that his path and that of Rossignol cross to achieve some magnificent victories.

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1972 The

Swiss Rossignols

n the "vintage years", it was the Swiss who dominated speed in skiing. An astounding competitive energy prevailed, with the Swiss Ski Team downhill racers competing with each other for places on the podiums. Bernhard Russi, on his red metal Allais Majors, was the best: light, solid and fast. The “kid from Andermatt” was winning everything at the 1970 World Championships. In Switzerland, the rather patriotic Haldemann brothers kept a close eye on things in their ski-making factory in Stans. They imported Rossignol skis to Switzerland, but they were also pretty good at working with their hands; they had watched films of downhill racing events over and over again, and they were sure that metal was already passé. Late at night, after the workshop closed, they secretly designed a flexible ski made 100% out of carbon fiber. "It was a ski that was fast on flat terrain, turned easily and gripped ice well. A ‘calm’ ski that banged around less than the metal ones," remembers Bernhard Russi. Bought by Rossignol in 1970, the Haldemann Brothers factory gave the brand a chance to establish itself lastingly in the country. It created a "Swiss Team" competition version that was to equip Swiss champions for the four following years. "We could feel a real revolution happening under our feet," continues Bernhard Russi. "Until then, we had had to accept the imperfections in fast skis, especially their instability on the ice and hard tracks. With these ‘Swiss Teams’ we really had complete control." When he started the downhill event at the 1972 Sapporo Olympic Games, the young champion was feeling completely confident. "I was sure I was wearing the best skis of anyone. It made a crucial difference; in my other World Championships it had been my competitors who had had the very latest skis." Sixty skiers stood at the starting line of the Mt Eniwa run, but it was racer number four, Russi, who used his efficient glide and style to prove his immense talent to the world, finishing in 1 minute, 51 seconds and 74 hundredths, which he qualified as "a good race - not perfect, was sure I was wearing but okay". Coming in second just sixty hundredths behind him the best skis of anyone. was the explosive Swiss racer number nine, a certain Roland Collombin. made a

“I

With the stop watch for only judge, the Olympic Games crucial difference." became the place for a battle without mercy between the two men. Roland Collombin was two years younger, a modest but ambitious athlete who won his titles with discreet class. "He was the stronger of the two at the time, and I admired him a lot. I was trying to copy certain things in his style, but it wasn't working because I didn't have his morphology," confides Russi. On the most difficult slopes, Collombin pushed his fiberglass Swiss Teams to the limit. He won silver at Sapporo, snapped up the gold at the June 1973 and 1974 World Cups, accumulating eight downhill victories at the most prestigious World Cups. "My career lasted so long thanks to Rolland," admits Bernhard Russi. "He wasn't just an opponent; he was what I measured myself against as I trained."

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1973 He was nicknamed "La Collombe". A downhiller with a unique and different style, the Valais native Roland Collombin personified mountain values and the joy of skiing. A jump bears his name in the Val dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;IsĂ¨re following a memorable fall in 1975 that ended the career of this two-time winner of the downhill World Cup.

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1982 Swiss Erika Hessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name is in letters of gold in the book of Rossignol's greatest champions. Six World Championship titles, nine globes, thirty-one victories, eighty World Cup podiums, a real model of elegance and discretion.

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1976

Piero, from athlete’s skis to mayor’s sash

“H

e almost got me!" At the finish line at the Critérium during the first Val d’Isère snows, the Italian Ski Team's technical director, Mario Cotelli, was bursting with happiness. His young athlete, who had just reached his majority, had also just won one of the important events leading to the 1972 World Cup. Two firsts - he was the youngest winner, and also the first athlete to win the competition on his entering the world circuit - which made the delighted sports selector forget his corpulence, campaigning from the start for the young Piero Gros’ joining the national team so early. The prodigy, wearing number 45, had dominated the long and difficult giant slalom (1 min 54 sec) to come in second in the first heat and first in the second. Beginner’s luck? "One week later, I had won the Madonna di Campiglio slalom and stopped all the controversy," the champion sniffs proudly. The career of the Italian (with Alberto Tomba) who was the most faithful to Rossignol (from 1974, when he signed his contract to 1979, the end of his career, he skied all his races with the brand) confirms the talent that his patron sensed: that year, despite breaking an arm before the season, the young Piero ended second on the circuit; he dominated the competition the next year, winning five out of thirteen races (three giant slaloms, two slaloms).

His really won his laurels shortly thereafter; after having battled against his remarkable fellow citizen Gustavo Thoeni, the Piémont native conducted "a perfect race, a symbiosis of head and legs" on the 1976 Innsbruck Olympic slopes, where he won gold against the giant Ingemar Stenmark. "Standing at the top step of the Olympic podium is an incredible and fulfilling experience," says the champion simply. He had already been dreaming of it as a young boy on the family farm in Sauze d’Oulx, in the heart of the Via Lattea. He had found a ski in the woodshed that had belonged to his uncle Aldo, who had died a few years earlier. Just one. "When he saw what I could do with it, my father understood what my future would be. I was six years old when I got my first pair; they were bright red Italian Spaldings." The ski resort nearby was only just starting up, but there was plenty of snow. The young Piero put on his skis at every moment he could, "out of a sense of play as much as a sense of ambition," he admits. He was already dreaming of his own win when he saw Jean-Claude Killy win at Sestriere, but he would have to wait: his father wanted him to learn a profession, to be on the safe side. Yet when the 16-year-old apprentice carpenter won the junior Italian slalom and giant slalom championships one after the other, in a thick fog, his father could hardly do more than grumble on principle about his joining the national team.

tanding at the top step of the Olympic podium is an incredible and fulfilling experience

Piero Gros was upheld as a hero after his Olympic victory; he then returned to his country "to share the benefits of my influence." Sauze d’Oulx had been virtually unknown until then. He became its major from 1985 to 1990, pushed its advantages to develop its tourism business, and went on to establish a resort with twenty thousand beds, fifty hotels, as many restaurants, organization of the Turin Olympic Games freestyle event. Since then, the champion's aura has been a magnet for the ski milieu. "Whatever he touches turns to gold," says one of those close to him. Behind his microphone as a sports commentator, a profession he has been in for 15 years now, the former athlete savors the career he has had. "I have had an incredible life," he says evenly.

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1978

Jean-Paul, cross-country

Rebel

inter 1978. Jean-Paul Pierrat had just won bronze at the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships when he got to Mora, the Swedish village cut by the Vasaloppet finish line. After a failure the preceding year (he ended 11th after having collapsed 2 km before the finish line), he was dreaming of redeeming himself in this, the discipline’s mythic race. "In classic races against the clock in competition circuits, you go at your own pace," explains the former champion. "Training focuses on managing effort and continuity for top efficiency during the event. The ‘Vasa’ calls for other athletic skills. It's a long race (89 km) with a starting line that gives you two choices: imposing or being subjected to the group's pace." It was sleeting on this Sunday, March 5th. Pierrat got a slight material advantage from the start: for two years he had been helping Rossignol design its first technical cross-country ski collection. Up until the mid-1970s, most manufacturing was still done by Scandinavian craftsmen. A small company in the Jura, Vandel, opened the way to plastic, immediately taken over by the Austrian firm Fischer which then equipped most racers. For the French firm, there was no question of it giving up the market. "Rossignol had no experience with this sport but had a real intention to take it on. So we therefore felt our way into it, in the most empirical way imaginable. For months we tested, made, broke, swore, fought, retested... It was an incredible adventure." In the spring of 1977, the team had its model. At the starting line in Sälen, Jean-Paul Pierrat therefore knew he was wearing good skis, well waxed experienced that last kilometer in a state ones (he had adopted products developed by of concentration, surrounded by screams the little French company Vola), which would be effective in this sticky snow. The race got from the delighted, clamoring crowd. off to a slow start. The athletes at the front relayed each other in marking the trail for the 10,000 cross-country skiers following them. About thirty competitors were ahead of Pierrat until the first real difficulty came on the course. "I easily went to the head of the pack on the slope and gained an advance of 50 meters." What did he do with his advantage? Remembering the disastrous race of the previous year forced him to hold back. He let the others continually grow closer, fall behind and grow closer, until he was within 15 km of the finish line. That was when Pierrat made another break away from the pack. This time, nobody followed him. "I got an advance of about 20 seconds before I started reasoning with myself, telling myself to be careful about hitting The Wall, telling myself to pace myself. And nobody caught up with me."

Within sight of the Mora bell tower where he had failed the previous year, Pierrat definitively widened the gap, gaining close to two minutes over the knot of hardened athletes behind him. He was on the road to glory, and everyone knew it. The Frenchman was not unknown in Sweden, where he trained regularly. People knew his reputation for being a stubborn rebel, pugnacious but with a lot of heart. "I experienced that last kilometer in a state of concentration, surrounded by screams from the delighted, clamoring crowd." In five hours and twenty minutes and at the head of the muscular pack of Russians and Scandinavians, the Vosges native crossed the finish line, uplifting France to the rank of nations of cross-country champions.

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Elizaveta KOJEVNIKOVA (CIS) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Gold Medal - Mogul Skiing Øyvind SKAANES (Norway) 1991 World Championships, Val di Fiemme (Italy) - Gold Medal - 4 x 10 km Relay Pernilla WIBERG (Sweden) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Gold Medal – Giant Slalom 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Sweden) - Gold Medal - Combination 1998 Olympic Games, Nagano (Japan) - Silver Medal - Downhill 1991 World Championships, SaalbachHinterglemm (Austria) - Gold Medal – Giant Slalom 1996 World Championships, Sierra Nevada (Spain) - Gold Medal – Slalom - Gold Medal - Combination 1997 World Championships, Sestriere (Italy) - Bronze Medal - Downhill 1999 World Championships, Vail (USA) - Silver Medal – Slalom Xavier GIRARD (France) 1991 World Championships, Val di Fiemme (Italy) - Silver Medal - Nordic Combined K90 - 15 km Nelson CARMICHAEL (USA) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Bronze Medal - Mogul Skiing Jan Einar THORSEN (Norway) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Bronze Medal – Super Giant Slalom Leif ANDERSSON (Sweden) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Biathlon Relay Sylvain GUILLAUME (France) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Silver Medal – Individual Nordic Combined (K95 + 15 km) 1998 Olympic Games, Nagano (Japan) - Bronze Medal –Nordic Combined Team 1995 World Championships, Thunder Bay (Canada) - Bronze Medal – Individual Nordic Combined (K95 + 15 km)

Fabrice GUY (France) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Gold Medal – Individual Nordic Combined (K95 + 15 km) 1991 World Championships, Val di Fiemme (Italy) - Silver Medal –Nordic Combined Team Anne BRIAND (France) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Gold Medal - 3 x 7.5 km Biathlon Relay 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Sweden) - Silver Medal - 15 km - Bronze Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Relay 1993 World Championships, Borovets (Bulgaria) - Gold Medal - Biathlon Team - Silver Medal - 4 x 7.5 km Relay 1995 World Championships, Antholz-Anterselva (Italy) - Gold Medal - 10 km - Silver Medal - 4 x 7.5 km Relay - Bronze Medal - Team Corinne NIOGRET (France) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Gold Medal - 3 x 7.5 km Biathlon Relay 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Sweden) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Relay 1993 World Championships, Borovets (Bulgaria) - Gold Medal - Biathlon Team - Silver Medal - 4 x 7.5 km Relay 1995 World Championships, Antholz-Anterselva (Italy) - Gold Medal - Individual 15 km - Silver Medal - 4 x 7.5 km Relay - Bronze Medal – 7.5 km Sprint 1996 World Championships, Ruhpolding (Germany) - Silver Medal - Relay 1998 World Championships, Pokljuka (Slovenia) - Silver Medal - 10 km Pursuit 1999 World Championships, Kontiolahti (Finland) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Relay - Silver Medal - Individual 15 km 2000 World Championships, Oslo (Norway) - Gold Medal - Individual 15 km - Bronze Medal – 12.5 km Mass Start 2001 World Championships, Pokljuka (Slovenia) - Silver Medal - 10 km Pursuit

Myriam BÉD ARD (Canada) 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Norway) - Gold Medal - 15 km Biathlon - Gold Medal – 7.5 km Biathlon Sprint 1993 World Championships, Borovets (Bulgaria) - Gold Medal – 7.5 km Biathlon Sprint - Silver Medal - Individual Biathlon 15 km Elin NILSEN (Norway) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay 1998 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Sweden) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay 1998 Olympic Games, Nagano (Japan) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay 1991 World Championships, Val di Fiemme (Italy) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 5 km Relay 1993 World Championships, Falun (Sweden) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 5 km Relay 1995 World Championships, Thunder Bay (Canada) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay 1997 World Championships, Trondheim (Norway) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay 2001 World Championships, Lahti (Finland) - Silver Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay Knut Tore APELAND (Norway) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Silver Medal – Nordic Combined Team 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Norway) - Silver Medal – Nordic Combined Team 1993 World Championships, Falun (Sweden) - Silver Medal – Individual Nordic Combined - Silver Medal –Nordic Combined Team 1995 World Championships, Thunder Bay (Canada) - Gold Medal –Nordic Combined Team 1997 World Championships, Trondheim (Norway) - Gold Medal – Nordic Combined Team Fred Bør re LUNDBERG (Norway) 1992 Olympic Games, Albertville (France) - Silver Medal – Nordic Combined Team 1994 Olympic Games, Lillehammer (Norway) - Gold Medal – Individual Nordic Combined - Silver Medal – Nordic Combined Team 1998 Olympic Games, Nagano (Japan) - Gold Medal – Nordic Combined Team 1991 World Championships, Val di Fiemme (Italy) - Gold Medal – Individual Nordic Combined 1993 World Championships, Falun (Sweden) - Silver Medal – Nordic Combined Team

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1985 A woman with slalom in her blood! A skier of elegance, on the trails and in everyday life, the French Perrine Pelen incarnates victory and faithfulness to the brand. After having won the slalom World Cup, she gained the World Championship title at Bormio (Italy) in 1985, her greatest achievement.

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1987

"Top Guns"

A story

hance meetings can sometimes bring about something greater, and the symbiosis around the number " four" at that meeting occurring in May 1987 at Arcs with Serge Guillaume would lead to glory. At the initiative of Franck Piccard who felt he had been vegetating for five years on the French Ski Team following his victory at the junior World Championships, a small group of young athletes chomping at the bit went to ask their old coach about creating a "comprehensive" group to personalize their training program. They were the Four Musketeers of snowsliding (Luc Alphand, Denis Rey, Franck Piccard, all three having won junior Worlds Championship titles, and Jean-Luc Crétier), excellent in all disciplines (slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom, downhill), who stepped forward to be candidates. Four odd birds that at the time the Federation was sending from one group to another depending on the training calendar. "We wanted autonomy and real personal coaching," recounts Piccard. They would get it, not only because the idea appealed to the period’s technical director of the national team, Jean-Pierre Puthod, who let them have carte blanche; it also pleased the sports authorities, delighted to bring these live wires into line, and to Rossignol (which equipped three of the four racers). It was settled that there would be a single technician, Philippe Petitjean (nicknamed "Youl"), and a single coach, Serge Guillaume. They had a minimum of constraints and now equipment adapted to their needs; until then, the young bantams had had he Top Gun aura was in each of to race on skis designed for the heavier morphologies of the Swiss and the Italians then holding the titles. "It our careers until the 1998 Games. was like a State within a State," continues Piccard. "We skied with whomever we wanted: the Swiss, the best giant slalom specialists. Each of us learned lessons from the others in the greatest respect, and the trust that usually gets built up between the trainer, the technician and the racers after several years of working together, formed in only a few months. This osmosis created an incredible dynamic." The results were not slow in coming. From the first season the four began to play on all they had learned: twenty years after Jean-Claude Killy, France won the Olympic gold (Piccard, for the Super G) and places on several podiums of the world's greatest competitions. The crowds now looked for the "Top Guns", having renamed the four heroes after the American film of the same name. The state of grace would not endure. Because of less spectacular results (even though the group was ranked in the top five at the World Cup!), the two following seasons saw tensions surge forth that had remained contained until then. The Top Guns stood up to it, stood together, and even won a bronze medal at the Super G at the 1991 World Championships at Saalbach (thanks to Piccard) before finally exploding under the pressure. "But we were all right," confides Franck Piccard. "The Top Gun aura was in each of our careers, until Jean-Luc’s downhill victory in the 1998 Olympic Games." One year after Luc Alphand’s success in the World Cup overall ranking – a ranking at the top!

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1988 Vreni, vidi, vici! Vreni Schneider, elected Swiss athlete of the century, is a queen. Triple Olympic champion and triple world champion, she collects victories in the form of World Cups: fifty-five in all for a total of 100 podiums, and always with the greatest humility!

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175

1992

combination

The exploit of guy and guillaume

espite winning third place in ski jumping on February 11, 1992 (with an average of 86.5 m for the best two jumps), cross-country skier Fabrice Guy was worried; while the Japanese who had won first place in the two Nordic combination events at the Albertville Olympic Games would not be a dangerous competitor in the endurance event the next day, the smooth work of the Austrian Hรถfner, who had come in second, could play against him. His only chance was to place himself in the front within the first few meters of the race. The Jura native was therefore ready to scramble when he settled on the starting line. The tone was set as soon as the starting pistol fired. "The first strides were terrible," he remembers. "We were all at the extreme extent of our abilities." What the Austrians, including the awesome Klaus Sulzenbacher, had not taken into account, was that the route the course was following was particularly difficult. Fabrice Guy and his friend Sylvain Guillaume, who was also at the starting line, racer number 13, knew it well from having already trained on it. The climbs were hard, and the descents especially tortuous. It was impossible to lower one's guard to catch one's breath. Those who fell knew they had already lost the race. Having started by shooting off at top speed, the Austrians was euphoric. My skis seemed to were soon exhausted. The Frenchman with cross-country in his veins, his mother a ski instructor, his father a French 50-kilometer want only one thing: to go for champion, withstood it. At the sixth kilometer, he was alone at the front. His concentration was at its maximum. "I knew I was it. ahead, but I was afraid of falling." At a turn that had been hollowed out and softened on the first round, he almost went into the netting. "That calmed me down fast." The cross-country skier didn't need to force the pace anymore. He took advantage of the moment, looked for his friends in the crowd lining the track, found the unexpected support of the Austrian Ernst Vettori who had won gold the day before at the jumping event, and let himself be carried by the clamor of the crowd rising from the stadium at his arrival where without a doubt half of the people from his village of Mouthe were waiting for him. "I was euphoric. My skis seemed to want only one thing: to go for it."

Far behind, another race was being played out for second place. His lifetime friend had made a spectacular climb up. "From where I was, one minute ahead, I could see he was putting everything he had into it, without holding anything back." It was a question of honor: Sylvain Guillaume had promised to bring back a medal in memory of his brother who had died three years before. He kept his word. "I was there to welcome him at the finish line. We threw our arms around each other, without a word. Our hearts spoke for us."

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1992 The symbol of polyvalence in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports, this talented and professional slalom racer, Swedish Pernilla Wiberg has not only won everything (World Cup, Olympic Games, World Championships), she is also one of the rare champions to have triumphed in every ski discipline - and always on Rossignols!

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2002

Four hills jumps for

lthough considered among the best jumpers at the time, Sven Hannawald was on the substitutesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bench when he started the 2002 season. Before the boldness of his German fellow citizen Martin Schmitt who finished first in the overall ranking at the World Cup for the two preceding years, the athlete looked like a beginner. "We weren't comfortable," remembers Pierre Heinrich who was then running the jumping and Nordic combination department at Rossignol. "He was scared and it showed."

In fact, half of the jumpers on the team were in the same situation. To help them move forward, Pierre Heinrich therefore dreamed up giving them a more stable ski made from fiberglass rather than the carbon that reacted too much to wind. "I wanted a tolerant ski, one that could absorb the jolts and jerking and reassure the jumpers." The engineers got to work, but when they delivered their prototypes the World Cup events had already begun. It was impossible to test them. At Neustadt, eight days before the Four Hills competition, Sven Hannawald was struggling to qualify for the sixth stage of the circuit. It was raining on the take-off track and he was in his flight posture bent well over the skis; he had once again the unpleasant sensation of slowing down before taking on speed. It was not a surprise that his first three jumps were all disasters. "Sven decided to risk everything to qualify, and before throwing himself into his fourth attempt he put on the just-delivered fiberglass skis," recounts Pierre Heinrich. It was a revelation; it was much easier to cling to the surface of the ski jump completely and slice through the air; the German made a perfect jump and landed close to 40 m beyond his previous landing point. His mouth hanging open at this sudden metamorphosis, his coach understood that his young athlete had just freed himself of his chains and now could deliver on his potential. One week later, uninhibited and sure of himself, erfect harmony. He wasn't jumping Hannawald came to the Four Hills tournament in a relaxed frame of mind. The event was nevertheless against the others, but for the worst one on the circuit: in six days, the best jumpers in the discipline would face off in the most himself. competitive German and Austrian stadiums. There was no time for preparation, no time to check anything out. To throw oneself into things under these conditions was a little like jumping with a blindfold on, and discovering what the winds were along the way as well. Fifty thousand spectators were watching the event rebroadcast live on a major German channel, adding to the stress. "It was a tournament that could be decisive in the career of an athlete. Sven nevertheless faced it in the calmest way imaginable. He gave the impression of being in complete harmony with himself. He wasn't jumping against the others, but for himself." After years of frustration, the boy had boldness to spare, and some catching up to do. When he got to the first of the four jumping hills at Oberstdorf, he was ready to go. "He didn't care much about winning. It was living these new sensations to the limit that counted for him at that moment."

Indeed, Hannawald, the dark horse, flew through the event with dash and grace. Four days later at Innsbruck, he even set a record on the brand-new Bergisel jumping hill by getting his skis to go 134.5 meters. "A crazy week," read the headline in Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Equipe at the end of the competition. Almost unknown seven days earlier, the German had just become a legend via winning four victories, a first that organizers had been hoping for 50 years.

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Sergey ROZHKOV (Russia) 2003 World Championships, Kanthy-Mansiysk (Russia) - Silver Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Biathlon Relay

Vincent VITTOZ (France) 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal – 2 x 15 km Pursuit

Michaël GREIS (Germany) 2004 World Championships, Oberhof (Germany) - Gold Medal – 4 x 7.5 km Biathlon Relay

Odd-Bjoern HJELMESET (Norway) 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal - 4 x 10 km Relay - Bronze Medal - 50 km Classic 2007 World Championships, Sapporo (Japan) - Gold Medal - 4 x 10 km Relay - Gold Medal – 50 km Classic

Gro Marit KRISTIANSEN (Norway) 2004 World Championships, Oberhof (Germany) - Gold Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay Julia MANCUSO (USA) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Gold Medal – Giant Slalom 2005 World Championships, Bormio (Italy) - Bronze Medal – Super Giant Slalom - Bronze Medal - Giant Slalom 2007 World Championships, Åre (Sweden) - Silver Medal - Super Combined Anna BOGALIY (Russia) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Gold Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay 2004 World Championships, Oberhof (Germany) - Silver Medal – 7.5 km Sprint - Silver Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay - Bronze Medal – 10 km Pursuit 2005 World Championships, Hochfilzen (Austria) - Gold Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay Ekaterina IVANOVA (Belorussia) 2004 World Championships, Oberhof (Germany) - Bronze Medal – 7.5 km Sprint 2005 World Championships, Hochfilzen (Austria) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay 2006 World Championships, Pokljuka (Slovenia) - Gold Medal - Mixed Relay Pietro Piller COTTRER (Italy) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Gold Medal - 4 x 10 km Relay - Bronze Medal – 30 km Pursuit 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal – 15 km 2007 World Championships, Sapporo (Japan) - Bronze Medal - Pursuit

Havard KLEMETSEN (Norway) 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal – Nordic Combined Team (HS 137 + 4 x 5 km) Wolfgang LOITZL (Austria) 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal - Large Hill Team - Gold Medal - Normal Hill Team Martin HÖL LWARTH (Austria) 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Gold Medal - Large Hill Team - Gold Medal - Normal Hill Team Virpi KUITUNEN (Finland) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Bronze Medal - Sprint Team 2005 World Championships, Oberstdorf (Germany) - Silver Medal - 30 km 2007 World Championships, Sapporo (Japan) - Gold Medal - Sprint Team - Gold Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay - Gold Medal – 30 km Classic - Bronze Medal - Sprint

Toby DAWSON (USA) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Bronze Medal - Mogul Skiing Roddy DARRAGON (France) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Silver Medal – Sprint Delphine PERETTO (France) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay 2007 World Championships, Sapporo (Japan) - Silver Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay 2008 World Championships, Östersund (Sweden) - Bronze Medal – 4 x 6 km Biathlon Relay Aino Kaisa SAARINEN (Finland) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Bronze Medal - Sprint Team 2007 World Championships, Sapporo (Japan) - Gold Medal - 4 x 5 km Relay Lindsey VONN (USA) 2007 World Championships, Åre (Sweden) - Silver Medal – Super Giant Slalom - Silver Medal - Downhill Jan HUDEC (Canada) 2007 World Championships, Åre (Sweden) - Silver Medal - Downhill Maria PIETILÄ- HOLMNER (Sweden) 2007 World Championships, Åre (Sweden) - Silver Medal – Giant Slalom Jean-Baptiste GRANGE (France) 2007 World Championships, Åre (Sweden) - Bronze Medal - Slalom

Kari TRAA (Norway) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Silver Medal - Mogul Skiing Sandra LAOURA (France) 2006 Olympic Games, Turin (Italy) - Bronze Medal - Mogul Skiing

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1988 If one really has to choose THE emblematic Rossignol skier, it would certainly be Alberto Tomba. Faithful to the brand since his first races as a child, the famous Bomba has offered Rossignol, on a platter, four Olympic titles, two World Championship titles, fifty World Cup victories and nine globes! What else needs to be said?

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189

1996 The giant of giant slalom skiers, Swiss Michael Von GrĂźningen, a model of precision and technical demand, will remain as one of the absolute masters of the discipline, forever. With four World Cups, two World Championship titles and 23 victories to his name, Von GrĂź is unique.

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1997

Lauberhorn,

Adrienâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event A

drien Duvillard had lost his memory after his accident on January 17, 1997, following which he was taken to the hospital in Bern; he remembered no event after that of his breakfast three days before. It was completely black for him. His fall in the final descent coming down the Swiss Lauberhorn, at the very same place where the Austrian skier Gernot Reinstadler had killed himself a few years before, had left him with terrible injuries: a cracked skull, pulmonary lesions, broken ribs, damaged nerves, fractured bones. "They told me I barely escaped coming to a tragic end."

The skier had nevertheless known the trail well, it being one of the oldest competition circuits that his father, a great amateur and professional champion, had spent much time demystifying over the course of their long exchanges. Inaugurated in 1930 at the foot of the Eiger, it was a long and complex descent, rather fast (106 km/hour on average with a maximum at 160) and spectacular because of a few legendary drops, including the Hundskopf, the famous Dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head, which called for 40-meter bounds between two rocks. "It has an impressive history. That history includes some major dramas. But technically, that descent is not the most difficult one on the circuit," acknowledges the skier. The day before the accident, he had finished third in the training. "I was in good shape and confident after this result which followed a good start to the season. I came down from my room and drank my coffee." As for what came after, Adrien Duvillard has never tried to remember. Moreover, he didn't watch the video of his fall until several months after the accident, and then he watched it only once. "I had the impression I was watching a stranger on the screen. I was dumbfounded by the incredible violence of it: the skier I was watching balanced himself very badly before jumping, was at a crossroads between my before being stopped dead by the frozen wall of a barrier sunk deeply into the ground. This sequence didn't remind sports activities and my spiritual me of anything. It was as if my repaired body wanted to intentions. forget what had happened to it." The MĂŠgeve downhiller took months to realize how lucky he had been. "I first had to wipe this out, put skis on as fast as possible and prove to myself that it was still possible to qualify for the Nagano Olympic Games." Despite their anguish, those close to him respectfully let him do this; he took another fall, a benign one, during the event, but reached his goal. After that, the athlete took a break to think things over. "It wasn't an accident that I took that fall," he speculates today. "I was at a crossroads between my sports activities and my spiritual intentions. I now understand to what a degree the boundary is maintained between the body and the spirit. This accident made me become more conscious. It was a test, almost a piece of luck."

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2002 " That should have been

my victory" I

n the winter of 2001, the death of RĂŠgine Cavagnoud put the morale of the French women's team at a low point. "I had lost my references and inherited an unmanageable fear," acknowledges Carole Montillet, her rival and lifetime friend that the Federation chose to be the French delegation's flag-bearer at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. To chase away the ghosts a few days before the competition, the downhiller disappeared for a whole week with her husband, "I don't even remember where." She was looking for something to shake her out of it. "Before the accident, I had brought my level up high enough to stand a good chance. I was looking for a way to be calm inside again after the accident, to be Zen." She accomplished what she wanted: despite recording a poor time at the training session (over 2 1/2 seconds late) the Villard-de-Lans club member regained her confidence. On the telephone she shared her joy with those close to her: the layout of the Olympic track looked good to her, she trusted her coach completely and realized the psychological barriers holding her back for so long were gone.

An unexpected event reinforced her sense of conviction that she would do well: because of the wind, the downhill was put off to the next day, February 12, 2002. "All of a sudden I learned I could check the accuracy of my timing, point by point. It was like a big rehearsal before the race," she remembers. That night she moreover had a relaxed dinner in a crĂŞpe restaurant. She was so confident that she accepted putting on a pair of skis that her Rossignol technician handed her, without even trying them first. "These skis are like fighter planes," he assured her. She went on: "The snow was hard, the way I like it, the sky was perfectly clear, no wind. I could was in a kind of euphoria. I feel I was in a spirit of conquest. So trading in my favorite skis for those, why not!" Moreover, once on the slope, fast, faster than usual, and I she forgot about them. "I had decided to forget everything that could bother me, going as far as doing a kind of mental scrambling to get rid of my fear of the void." The designers of the Windflower, the romantic nickname given to the Salt Lake City descent, had designed two big jumps where the racers could take off at speeds in the neighborhood of 140 km an hour. "Instead of the unpleasant sensation of dizziness that I sometimes had before, I was in a kind of euphoria. I was going fast, faster than usual, and I liked that."

Wearing the number 11, the skier gained an advance of more than a second and a half over her rivals. From then on, only one downhiller could beat her, the American Picabo Street, wearing the number 28. "It was the waiting that was the worst part of all. I was torn by contradictory emotions, between the certainty of having won and my remaining doubts." The day had begun too well to go wrong. "It was my race. It should have been my victory."

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was going liked that!

2002 A set of triplets, biathletes RaphaĂŤl PoirĂŠe, Ole Einar Bjorndalen and Ricco Gross smilingly represent the worldwide presence of Rossignol when they stand on the three steps of the Salt Lake City Olympic podium for pursuit racing.

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1991 One of the champions of which the brand is proud, Swiss Daniel Mahrer, a solid downhiller, is a monument to speed and impeccable commitment on all types of tracks. With his eight World Cup victories, he is among the greats in the discipline.

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2003 From the race of kings, the American Bode Miller has marked not only his time but also the history of skiing. Everything about him is larger than life: his temperament, his technique, his personality, his winnings... Winner with Rossignol of giant slalom and combined World Cup in 2004. Two gold medals winner in 2003 World championships.

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2006 The lady of major encounters, American Julio Mancuso knows how to get ready for the big day. Five times junior World Champion (an exception!), in 2006 she won the giant slalom at the Turin Olympic Games and has already collected World Championship medals. At the age of 24, she incarnates a future in solid gold!

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Désiré LACROIX

Georgette THIOLLIÈRE

Guy DE HUERTAS

Willi FAVRE

Adrien DUVILLARD

Albert GACON

Claude PERROT

Alain PENZ

Malcolm MILNE

Christian NEUREUTHER

Elisabeth CHAUD

Georges MAUDUIT

Britt LAFFORGUE

hey didn’t have the right to the Olympic or world championship podium spotlights with their Rossignol skis; nevertheless, they also have contributed to the brand's golden age by having an impact on their time through their talent, their personality or, quite simply, their skiing.

Bill KIDD

Roger ROSSAT-MIGNOD

Bianca FERNANDEZ OCHOA

Erik HAKER

Alexander ZHIROV

Christian GAIDET

Fausto RADICI

Franz HEINZER

Herbert PLANK

Jim HUNTER

Alain FEUTRIER

Ian PICCARD

Jocelyne PERILLAT

Henri DUVILLARD

Luc ALPHAND

Marc GIRARDELLI

Kiki CUTTER

Oswald TOETSCH

Paolo DE CHIESA

Patricia EMONET

Pierrick BOURGEAT

Konrad LADSTATTER

Maria-Rosa QUARIO

Rok PETROVIC

Jean-Pierre AUGERT

Adrien

DUVILLARD

Michael MAIR

Martin HANGL - Roberto ERLACHER - Richard PRAMOTTON

Tetsuya OKABE

Vladimir MAKEEV Valery TSYGANOV

2008 The new wave is represented by the American Ted Ligety and the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange who came into power in 2008. The first, already Olympic champion in combination at Turin, won the World Cup for giant slalom, while the second magnificently won three slaloms: Alta Badia, Wengen, KitzbĂźhel. The future belongs to them.

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2008 There is just no stopping Virpi Kuitunen. Triple World Champion (individually and in teams) in 2007 at Sapporo (Japan), the Finnish athlete won World Cups in 2007 and 2008 one after the other, a historic double win for the brand.

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2008 Go go Vonn! In 2008, twenty-five years after Tamara MacKinney, Lindsey Vonn, something of the specialist of speed events, becomes the second American skier to win overall ranking in the World Cup. She is the 52nd star in the US flag.

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years of

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Riding

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evolution THIS NEW REVOLUTION IS WHITE, A SNOWSLIDING

REVOLUTION, AND IT WILL SOON BE 30 YEARS

OLD, THE AGE OF ADULTHOOD, THE AGE OF

MAJORITY AND OF CREATIVE ENTHUSIASM. THIS CHANGE

UNDERCURRENTS

THAT

WAS

CLOSE TO WATER SURFING GAVE ROSSIGNOL THE CHANCE TO BEST USE ENERGIES FROM DIFFERENT TRENDS AND IMPOSE A MODERN, INNOVATIVE, UP-TO-DATE IMAGE. THIS IMAGE WHICH IT HAS HELD THROUGHOUT THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD HISTORY OF SKIING AND OF THE BRAND ITSELF. IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT THAT IN 2007 THE CENTENNIAL OF BOTH A CONSTANTLYCHANGING SPORT AND OF A UNIQUE COMPANY WHOSE FORTUNES FOLLOW IT SHOULD TAKE PLACE SIMULTANEOUSLY.

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Candide Thovex glued to the Scratch. The La Clusaz skier, became the symbol of the «French touch» in new school freestyle, is in particular one of the rare skiers to have won in three disciplines at the X Games. He joined Rossignol in 2004 and has participated in designing the famous Scratch range.

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Page de Gauche

France’s love affair with the monoski was in great part linked to Rossignol’s dynamic initiatives for this new snow toy. Here, one of the very first models, the «Soleil», with the graphic design announcing the dawn of the snowsliding revolution.

White Revolution. Peaceful, joyous, inspired. The appearance of the monoski in the early 1980s and that of snowboarding a few years later suddenly and profoundly changed the approach to winter sports. Mentalities had been overturned, and ski manufacturers had to be responsive. Rossignol, guided by Laurent Boix-Vives, simply launched itself into the monoski adventure, by letting two salespeople, Jean-Carl Carpano and Pierre Faye, start up the Group’s production. Jean-Carl Carpano likes to tell how it all happened: «We were doing a promotional tour in the Pyrenees with a 504 and a trailer filled with skis. It was a phenomenal Christmas and we were stuck for two weeks at La Mongie, even if back at the office people were wondering what we were really up to. We were staying with a friend, Joël Dabath, who had a Duret monoski. He had us try it, and we just loved it. When we got back to the factory, we convinced management to make protos.» Even though at that time the brand was still dominated by classic values, the alpine ski racing department magician, Roger Abondance himself, accepted fine-tuning what the French called a «shape» (English making its contribution to French snowsliding vocabulary) and a mold. He used racing

«W

e were staying with a friend who had a mono He had us try it, and we just loved it. When we got back to the factory, we convinced management to make protos.» Jean-Carl Carpano ski presses and made the first models. To start off and focus its research, the brand then had the benefit of advice from Pierre Poncet, one of the great monoski visionaries in Chamonix. JeanJacques Bompard, who joined the Rossignol Group in 1971 and became corporate secretary from 1983 remembers: «Mentalities were very different at the time. For example, people in Chamonix had things made in a handcrafted sort of way. This interested us, and accelerated Rossignol realizing it should do something, seize the opportunity. We signed an agreement with the Chamonix monoskiers, and especially with Pierre Poncet.» Unfortunately, he disappeared in a tragic avalanche accident in Chamonix, and we lost a precious adviser. Roger Abondance nevertheless continued to work on prototypes and developed a polyvalent monoski made in wood and metal sandwich, the famous «Soleil» model. Presented at the 1981 SIG, the Grenoble winter sports trade show, the model was a huge success. Five hundred units were ordered in one day of the trade show and several hundred came out of the factories by spring 1981, permitting Rossignol to make a brilliant entry into the world of

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the new snowsliding sports. SUCCESS AND DISILLUSION With the success of the «Soleil», the company developed a production line for the monoski alone and, this time, it was the research and development department that was responsible for improving the product. Laurent Boix-Vives was especially interested in this new snow toy. He even made a point of being present at the first French championship to encourage the riders. Maurice Legrand and Gilles Szekely, ingenious engineers, were responsible for designing the shape of the new models. In particular they finetuned the unforgettable «pin tail», narrower in the back, which made

pivoting easier and provided better responsiveness on the slopes. As for the nose, it was lengthened to avoid it getting jammed in powder. Among the pintail monoskis Rossignol developed, one model stood out: the «Diabolo». Its silk-screened logo of a glass of lemonade and a straw remains one of the most famous from the monoski era. Among all the monoskis developed by research and development, another model would be a sensation, the «Fait d’Hiver», a monoski for powder, with a straighter shape and a very flat nose. In two years Rossignol became the market leader and had established its new legitimacy as a modern and responsive brand. In this exciting period of effervescent inventiveness, in which snow became a playground, almost like what early skiing was in the 1930s,

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1986

snowsliding in powder brought in another invention that would supplant the monoski within a few years: the snowboard. One of the key dates in this transitory period between monoskiing and snowboarding was of course when the film «Apocalypse Snow» came out, filmed at Les Arcs in 1984 with Alain Gaimard as its guiding force and with Didier Lafond as its director. Rossignol sponsored the film and provided the monoskis required for filming. James Blanc, Pierre Béguin, Lino Ortuno, Claudie Blanc, Alain Didierjean, JeanYves Perry, Alain Revel and Philippe Lecadre were all so many talented and impassioned local figures who monoski marvelously; but this short film, which became cult, marked the arrival in Europe of snowboarding, especially with the very beautiful shots of Régis Rolland in action in the role of the «Glide Genius». In sponsoring this visionary film, Rossignol was at the right place at the right time for getting involved in the new snowsliding sports. A TIME OF DOUBT

oming from the United States in the mid-1980s, snowboarding was the beginning of a new era in the perception of snow sports. While the monoski looks like a close cousin to the ski, given the similarity of their respective technical aspects - at the end of the story the monoski is essentially a perfected version of two skis stuck together - , the snowboard, on the other hand, looks like a distant relative. Its lateral positioning indeed relates it more to water surfing and skateboarding. This difference is fundamental because as a consequence «board culture» is distinguished from «ski culture». Many young people, wishing to be different from the preceding generation, found in this an ideal way to set themselves apart. At Voiron, after the nevertheless convincing experience of the monoski, there were fears that this was just a passing fashion. The brand’s usual responsiveness was slowed by internal procrastinations, while at the same time small shops producing non-industrial work were appearing everywhere in Europe and in France. Facing a coming tidal wave, the company once more entrusted Roger Abondance with developing a prototype in the racing department. After the first trials, a technical debate began between the «Abondance team» and research and development which also had something to say. There was a divergence of opinions. Roger Abondance remembers that he refused to develop a model: «The prototype that I had fine-tuned in my department was a lot closer to what was made later. I was in contact with Régis Rolland and he had given me a fair bit of information. But I didn’t get the support, and we went for a product that to me seemed out-of-date and out-of-touch with what the market was asking for. So I dropped the project.» It was therefore the

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research and development department which alone took over the project, proposing a rather wide snowboard, with a long nose and decorated with a biplane. This first Rossignol snowboard was called the «Avion» (which means «airplane» in French). This first board, judged too rigid by its users, was soon left behind by the competition’s more flexible, narrower boards with shorter noses. Then came a few years of the company feeling its way as the new sport emerged that some still consider at Rossignol as a flash in the pan. This blindness was made even greater in that during the 1986/1987 season, ski sales reached historic levels. The internal corporate climate did not encourage taking a greater risk on an enigmatic market. It was in 1989 and with the arrival of alpine champion Eric Rey as technical advisor to Rossignol that the brand developed truly highperforming alpine snowboards. But there was already starting to be a division in the snowboarding world: in the United States; freestyle snowboarding had already dethroned alpine for a few years by then. FROM FREERIDE TO FREESTYLE At the dawn of the 1990s, the not even adolescent European snowboard market had its first growing pains. For many young snowboarders, alpine was too classic and therefore too close to skiing, and they started to prefer the more adventurous form coming from North America: freestyle, which was quickly changing snowboarding. While the United States had been enjoying this new way of surfing snow since 1983 (bindings with highbacks, rounded tails, the appearance of the first half-pipe trials, specialized magazines), Europe was running strangely behind, remaining anchored in the «light fun» and alpine vision of this sport. The general manager of the time, Jean-Marc Forneri, sensed a change in the wind and convinced Laurent Boix-Vives to put together on ad hoc unit, to decrypt the new snowboard trends. Through the emblematic Adrien Duviallard and Jean-Pierre Artus, manufacturing manager, Jean-Carl Carpano and Eric Bobrowicz («Bob» to close friends) were called on, as they had worked on the injection procedures for skis. They were entrusted with the problem child! This micro-unit – Carpano for marketing and Bobrowicz for the technical aspects - put their energies from then on into convincing the company’s executives of the seriousness of the new freestyle trends, despite alpine still recording big sales. The duo believed absolutely in what they were doing: «Rossignol was making stiff snowboards, while the trend was with tiny companies making freestyle boards in their garages. This sport was developing in a different way and it would take a lot of work to keep up with it internally. Bob and I put together a commando unit, and they gave us carte blanche. We did all the American trade shows to really get into it and make out the trends. It was a great experience.»

urning away from alpine, young snowboarders today prefer the more adventurous form come from North America: freestyle.

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Some of the riders who have made Rossignol’s reputation in snowboarding (from left to right and from top to bottom): Eric Rey - Franck Moranval - Eric «Bob» Bobrowicz – Kjersti Buaas - Jonas Emery - Jean-François Pelchat - Dave Seoane - Travis Rice - Xavier de Le Rue - Todd Richards.

The North American passion for freestyle snowboarding spread around the world and an entire generation of riders now identify themselves with this new snowsliding culture. Aleksi Litovaara on his pro model.

design very competitive boards, it was not enough to make a mark in board culture. Unique and creative silk-screening and graphic design was needed too. After searching in every possible direction, it was the American office’s proposal that won: an enlarged photo of grains of corn. «La Maïs» («the corn») became the brand’s standard board. Thanks to it, Rossignol achieved its first big commercial success in the freestyle range. After the historic success of the «Maïs», and faced with the need to follow market trends, which preferred wood-core boards, Rossignol decided to move production from St-Etienne de Crossey to Artès, in Spain, and switch from making uring the 1990s snowboarding was driven by a polyurethane to wooden boards. phenomenal energy. Soon all the Western countries The Artès site already produced bottom- and mid-range skis. were bitten by the same bug. The factory had earned a reputation for its robust skis and had the very latest in automated production lines, permitting manufacture in big volumes. The of a rider like Seoane, repositioned itself on the freestyle market and factory’s management, and especially its manager Joan Duocastella, were enthusiastic about the snowboard adventure and threw succeeded in getting on board with the snowboard trends of the time everything they had into the project. «They did everything to make BOARD CULTURE sure it worked. They were extremely competent people who really wanted to make beautiful boards,» remembers Jan Recorbet, who joined the After the wise strategic choice of the Dave Seoane Pro model, the unit sought to design a polyvalent board that could be the brand’s snowboard department in 1996. leading product. If Bob’s technical virtuosity made it possible to Snowboarders were ready and waiting with a critical eye, but the The unit quickly organized demonstrations throughout Europe with a few American freestyle stars (the BBB Jumping Circus) and decided to sponsor certain major figures in this movement: the American Dave Seoane and the Swiss Arlette Javet. The management had had the right reflex in giving Carpano and Bob carte blanche; now Laurent Boix-Vives came up with a new marketing tool: riders endorsing boards. Rossignol fine-tuned its first pro snowboard model, the Dave Seoane board, that it presented at the 1993 SIG. In this way from the 1994 season Rossignol, supported by the credibility

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Spanish-made product was faultless. «Right from the start, the thing that impressed me the most with Rossignol, was its boards’ ride quality. There has always been a board quality that few brands achieve, and even though the company has had its highs and lows, the products remain the best and that’s why I have always been faithful to the name,» confessed Jeremy Jones, a leading figure in association with the brand and an endorser of seven pro models. THE RESPECT OF ITS PEERS During the 1990s snowboarding was driven by a phenomenal energy. The taste for the sport took over the Western countries and became a world of its own, with its own codes, its own values. The need to create a high-performing team became a priority goal to accentuate Rossignol’s representation and image. And this was needed as quickly as possible, especially since the International Olympic Committee had just voted to permit slalom and half-pipe trials at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games. Nevertheless, Rossignol had to make its way carefully in the very special world of snowboarding. It was especially important to not appear arrogant as regarded the small emerging brands, while courting the best riders. To gain the respect of snowboarders, the brand itself had to show respect for their world. Jan Recorbert was responsible for putting together a European team; his Scandinavian origins eased contacts with northern Europe, the immense emerging snowboard market. In North America, it was Christine McConnel who was entrusted with creating the American

team and anchoring the brand in the country where snowboarding originated. lthough the alpine adventure was continuing with champions like Nathalie Desmares, Romain Retsin, Alexis Parmentier and Franck Moranval, the priority was indeed to consolidate a freestyle unit. Very promising young riders were engaged: the Europeans Aleksi Litovaara (Finland), Nita Arpiainen (Finland), Jonas Emery (Switzerland) and Tony Ross (France), the Americans Jeremy Jones (USA), Todd Richard (USA), Travis Rice (USA), Jean-François Pelchat (Canada) and the Japanese Tadashi Fuse. «I’ve been with Rossignol since 1995. I had won the Swiss junior championships and I managed to appear rather early in the specialized magazines. It was the Swiss representative of the time, Arlette Javet - who was also an incredible rider - who got me into the Swiss team. Then at the end of the season, she presented me to Jan Recorbet who was putting together our European team,» remembers Jonas Emery, the remarkable Swiss rider, at the origin of six pro models.

At the same time that Rossignol was conducting this highly targeted and coherent policy of sports recruitment, it also hired artists involved in the snowboard movement, to do its silk-screening. The second Dave Seoane pro model is worthy of note, for example, decorated by Jamie Lynn, or the very sophisticated designs for the «Diva», the top-of-the-range board for women. The brand was even sometimes (too?) avant-garde, for example as with the «Recyclée», a board with a base made from recycled materials which came out

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Dressed for the occasion by Castelbajac, Doriane Vidal bore the French flag and Rossignol aloft at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games, by winning the silver medal for half-pipe. The triple-winning world champion of the discipline therefore made it possible for Rossignol to achieve its first Olympic success in freestyle snowboarding.

“M

y most beautiful competition memory was when it was wonderful weather, the half-pipe was perfect and the crowd was there. Magic!”

Doriane Vidal

in 1996, well before the tidal wave of «green» products. «Ten years ago, this wasn’t in the air. People had the tendency to think that recycled products were of lesser quality. So we stopped after two seasons,» analyzes Jan Recorbet, looking back on the events. At the same time, Rossignol developed the «step-in» binding (invented by its subsidiary, Emery), which meant being able to put it on while standing up; its short but great success underscores the delicate cohabitation taking place between the ski and snowboard worlds. «It was new and was immediately a big success. Everyone was excited about it. But there was a problem of reliability in comparison with the traditional strap binding. And then it was a ski concept adapted to snowboarding, a thing for putting on the bindings standing up, like skiers do. Snowboarders therefore rejected it immediately for that reason,» explains Olivier Haupt, former alpine snow champion, today snowboard product manager. THE AGE OF REASON The recruitment of freestyler Doriane Vidal at the close of the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games was the start of a very beautiful partnership. The perfect muse, the Frenchwoman won the world championships for half-pipe three times (2001, 2003 and 2005); she also took home the silver medal from the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002: «My most beautiful competition memory was when it was wonderful weather, the half-pipe was perfect and the crowd was there. Magic!» remembers the champion, whose outgoing personality corresponded perfectly to the impact desired by the brand. Nevertheless, even though in a decade Rossignol had made a respected place for itself in snowboarding, its «ski image» still clung to it.

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t the start of the year 2000, the war between clans continued to rage. To stand out from the others, Rossignol came out with the RS snowboard, and did everything to establish it between 2003 and 2006. This decision meant creating a signature «RS snowboard». But what the brand gained in positioning, it lost in coherency. This is at least Jan Recorbet’s opinion: «When Rossignol came out with the RS they had to either go with it 100% or not do it at all. We dithered a bit. Rossignol already had its place and all we had to do was assume our name. You shouldn’t be afraid of what you are. Rossignol is a really wonderful brand and is really wonderful snowboard name.» Looking beyond this attempt, Rossignol was looking towards the 21st century with a real reputation as a reliable snowboard brand. Its image in board culture was consolidated by its technical creativity (for example, the invention of the THC - Triple Hybrid Core - core in wood and synthetic materials), its involvement in the artistic milieu (board graphics with talents from the skateboard movement like Evan Heckox, Greg Melchiano or the Marseilles artist Tabas) and its video productions supporting rider initiatives. Continually turned to the future, the brand surrounded itself with new ambassadors such as the young Norwegian freestyler Kjersti Buaas, the French freestyle champion Mathieu Crépel and the French four-time world boardercross champion and great freerider, Xavier de Le Rue. THE FREERIDE ERA The Early 1990s. Among the most noteworthy advances were «carving» skis, shaped for the demands of competition; they were a spectacular success. The movement, as symbolized by the downhill skis fine-tuned for the Bellevarde slopes and the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games, gave rise to parabolic skis. The technology of these high-precision skis was adapted to the expectations of the general public, and in this way responded to the expectations of amateurs wishing to use manageable

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Pyrenees rider Mathieu Crépil returns to the brand of his beginnings in 2005, and at the same time won the 2006 Ticket To Ride Snowboard Tour (TTR) on a Rossignol snowboard. After two world championship titles in 2007, in big air and in half-pipe, Mathieu endorsed a pro model and the Decoy apparel range.

Throughout the years Jeremy Jones has become the spearhead of Rossignol freeride snowboarding. He especially had a huge impact on the screen, filmed as he made his astounding moves down Alaska’s mountains; he also reset the standards for a discipline that had been outpaced on the market and by the media by freestyle.

“Y Jan Recorbet

ou shouldn’t be afraid of what you are. Rossignol is a really wonderful brand and is really wonderful snowboard brand.”

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The late 1980s and the early 1990s marked the gradual return of skiing as an alternative sport. It was the birth of freeskiing, which broke free from the official slopes to permit discovery of the wide open spaces. It was then that a new aesthetic of skiing began to affirm itself, with new skiers like, among others, Bruno Compagnet or Yvan Dieng, all captured by the new photographers.

and fun skis. Jean-Jacques Bompard insisted on the fact that «it was the to investing in an emerging market and following its most interesting coming together of several factors that brought about the parabolic ski. In the trends. Benefiting from the solid reputation of skiers like the French rush of working for the racing department, the research and development unit Pat Ferriz, Yan André, Anne Cattelin or the American Ken Kreitler, was able to define different side cuts thanks to better-performing materials and the brand reinforced its continuing vanguard identity. The early 21st greater liberty left to the engineers. This resulted in a successful alchemy.» century inaugurated the universal establishment of freeriding, which, sign of the times and the power of fashion, simultaneously like the snowboard, carried its own values, originality and unique there appeared a new way of going off-piste that was halfway beauty through images, whether in video or photographic form. To between extreme skiing and powder skiing: freeriding. In put its best foot forward at the world championships organized by a short, a discipline as old as the ski but with a new Englishriders association, the International Free Skiing Association (IFSA), language neologism for its name in French; it symbolized the brand, with its almost visceral attachment to racing, put together and stigmatized the desire of skiers to react in their own way to the a high-performing team. Two skiers under the Rossignol name would preeminence of the new snowsliding sports. It expressed itself both share the world crown for six years: the Canadian Hugo Harrison with the competitions in rough terrain and also by a new relationship and the Frenchman Manu Gaidet. They were the spectacular and to images, with especially the turbulent multitude of specialized emblematic spearhead of the continually evolving Bandit range. It magazines and the emergence of numerous video productions. was Eric Bobrowicz (that guy again!), who was given responsibility for In this regard, homage must be paid to all the directors, cameramen developing freeride skis and in particular the «B Squad» range. and photographers who participated in the Rossignol adventure into Like the snowboard, Rossignol athletes were regularly consulted in the new snowsliding sports. Photographers like Eric Bergeri, Mark the preliminary stages to get their advice on construction. «It was a new Gallup, Vincent Skoglund, Embry Rucker, Kevin Zacher, Adam Clark, way of working for us because, first, freeriders don’t communicate with the Steph Candé, Blake Jorgensen, Christoffer Sjöström or Éric Berger, and directors and cameramen Philippe Tremsal, Patrick omage should be paid to the directors, cameramen Armbruster, Justin Hostynek, Mike and photographers who contributed their artistic Hatchet Neil Hartman, Steve and Todd Jones, Thierry Donnard or Christian vision to the growth of snowboarding and freeski, Begin who contributed their artistic sense together with Rossignol. and personal vision to the growth of snowboarding and free skiing, together with Rossignol. A case of spontaneous generation, nevertheless hinted at by image pros like Pierre Poncet, Sylvie Chappaz, Christian Haase, Christian shaper,» explains Eric. «That’s how we did things on the ‘B Squad’. The first Pedrotti or the famous Lecadre and Revel, who stopped working in model was for Anne Catellin; it was 191 cm long. Then we developed it for service of the brand in the 1980s and early 1990s. Other forerunners of Manu and Hugo. I got the racers involved as much as possible to fine-tune a this «new» sport, the Canadians Trevor Petersen and Eric Pehota chose first ski that we could then develop for other ranges.» This complicity between Rossignol skis in the early 1990s, but these were necessarily giant slalom shaper and skier, already part of the Alpine racing ski experience with skis and not skis specifically designed for powder. Media attention Roger Abondance and his racers, Tomba, Piccard and others, would to this new kind of skier on the North American continent allowed give rise to ultra high-performing skis and in particular the famous Rossignol to enter into the modern age of freeskiing by imposing «B4s». Hugo Harrison relates: «It was very interesting working this way its great respectability, woven by over eighty years of experience and with Bob, he always had very good ideas. He would talk about concepts in a success in all areas of snowsliding. At the end of the 1990s, coming out really very simple way. He listened to my ideas, we talked about it a bit, he did with the «Bandit» range confirmed the brand’s know-how when it came what he was asked, we tested things on the snow, we gave them the results, we

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At Rossignol the freeski adventure brought gradually new faces who would contribute to establishing the manufacturer’s reputation at the heart of the ski revolution (from left to right): Kevin Rolland - Henrick Windstedt - Xavier Bertoni - Olivier Meynet - Lynsey Dyer - Arnaud Kugener - David Bouvier - Dan Treadway.

started all over and he came up with the asked-for ski. He knew exactly what to do. When I skied with B4s for the first time, I knew my way of skiing was going to change; I was very happy, Manu and I had the same ideas, so it was really pretty easy. Bob understood what we wanted.» Today the freesking range can count on a string of international star skiers: the Americans Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Lynsey Dyer, the Canadian Dan Teadway or the Frenchman Olivier Meynet. As for the Harrison-Gaidet duo, as involved as ever in producing images, they continued to leave their acrobatic traces throughout the rich and long history of the hundred-year-old company, and on slopes the world over. THE NEW SCHOOL FREESTYLE

t the same time as this freeride renaissance and rejuvenating growth of the snowboard, mogul skiing would take inspiration from their creative energy to breathe new life into freestyle, the modern development of artistic and acrobatic skiing by its initiators, Henri Authier, Nano Pourtier and disciples. It was the birth of «new school freestyle.» Two Rossignol skiers would see the potential of this new way of acrobatic skiing before anyone else: Julien Regnier-Lafforgue and David Bouvier. With their initiative and that of their voluntarily cooperative friends, Rossignol began a marvelous new adventure symbolized by the creation in 1994 of the first double-tip skis, the well-named «twin tips». It was shaper Eric Bobrowicz who was obviously called on to design this new type of ski: «One day I was talking with Adrien Duvillard and he said to me: ‘why don’t you make a ski with two tips?’ So we launched designing Reks. Very short skis (153 cm), which were marketed; but they didn’t sell very well - they were too strange.» Despite the failure of the Reks, skiers insisted, especially Julian and David, to push the brand to develop a new model with different side cuts. This time it was Henri Debordes and Jérôme Noviant who attacked the subject and in 1999 brought out the innovative «Pow Air». This ski was progressive inasmuch as it had plastic slide reinforcement underfoot at the edges to facilitate riding rails, this gliding on metal surfaces that new school freestylers love so much. Unfortunately, the Pow Air, which was a real step forward and closer

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Manu Gaidet, triple world champion in freeride, is also an experienced mountain climber and valuable team-player. A mountain guide, in particular he worked on developing the «harness-pants» (prize-winning at ISPO), the «B Squad» range and a line of apparel specifically for freeriding: the MG line

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to what skiers were looking for, remained too fragile. Gérard Pichot, international sales and marketing director, gave Eric Bobrowicz responsibility for developing the new twin tip ski. Bob confesses: «I got along really well with the freestylers, and especially with David Bouvier who told me about everything that was going on in their milieu. One day I was having lunch with Gérard Pichot, and I told him that the time was now, that the demand was coming. Three days later he called me: ‘You and Bouvier, go talk to marketing.’ And this was how we went hurtling into an incredible story, that of the Scratch.» Bobrowicz: «I made a first proto, and the second one was fine. It was a 188 BC, 90 mm wide at the waist and with inclined sidewalls. This model was then the reference for the rest of the Scratch range. It had a rather special, sober black and orange design on it. It started out really well.» Too easy, right? Almost like child’s play... The Scratch would benefit from the start, which was a significant help moreover, from very good competition results: the young American freestyler Tanner Hall won the big air event at the 2001 X Games on Scratches and did it again the following year by winning the slopestyle. The X Games are the reference event for teenagers. The «twin tip» phenomenon was on its way, and the Scratch, which began to be marketed in 2002, bit by bit became one of the brand’s emblems. The snowboard’ s influence, once again, had something to do with a reckless attitude towards approaching snow games. The Scratch is presented as a cross between the ski and snowboard. It is a vehicle for the technical demands of the former and the freedom of expression of the second. It is a happy combination of both, a joyful link between the two different plans in the world of snowsliding. It is not performance alone that is showcased, but more than that, style. This is brilliantly apparent in the visuals - videos, photos, graphic art - surrounding the freestyle movement. «Style makes the man,» said Georges-Louis Buffon. The Scratch would rapidly go beyond the closed circle of freestyle amateurs because, while the twin tip was of course originally for skiing backwards (and it’s not everyone who can do it!), its polyvalent behavior attracted numerous skiers. David Bouvier analyzes this enthusiastically: «Today everyone has a pair of parabolics, but twin tips are starting to replace them. People are starting to realize that in terms of pure skiability, twin tips have a way of behaving on the piste that is really a lot of fun. They make it possible to turn more easily and they are

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Tanner Hall joined the Rossignol team participated in developing the very first with skiers Julien Regnier Lafforgue and American prodigy in particular won two skis.

at the age of 15 and Scratch skis together Evan Raps. The young X Games with French

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Tanner Hall wins the X Games on the first Scratch skis.

much more tolerant in skating effects. And then you can always carve if you need to. All these advantages make it safer for the general public. What started off as a fashion phenomenon has finally enriched skiing in terms of pure behavior. The twin tip may end it by becoming ‘the ski’ just like the parabolic did.» More than ever, the Scratch had the benefit of the solid team behind it to promote it. There were not only some of the best freestylers in the world, like Arnaud Kugener, J.F Houle, Xavier Bertoni or the very promising Kevin Roland; it could also count on the most famous of all: Candide Thovex himself, who joined Rossignol in 2004. Candide is not only style incarnate, he is also a perfectionist of gesture and technique. He is therefore at the origin of a spectacular improvement of a certain aspect: weight. «Candide’s arrival marked the bringing out of the second generation of the Scratch,» explains Bobrowicz. «The only reproach he had to make concerning the ski, was its weight. So we worked on that specific point and developed the «Weight Reducing System - WRS». SOLIDARITY

f Rossignol today holds a special place in the world of mountain sports, it is because the company has been able to put itself into question, and trust enterprising minds in sync with their time. The managers, at different periods, who were able to understand the changes in society deserve attention, beginning with those who were able to decrypt and follow board culture. It is an art, being able to put one’s experience and knowledge to work for a different culture. It is probably owing to this that the freeski and in particular the Scratch range developed. Jonas Emery salutes this state of mind with these words: «In inventing the Scratch and developing all the marketing to go with it, this made it possible to make a much more stylish and attractive ski then it had been before. Therefore, a great many young people tried it without ever having ridden snowboard, but all while taking inspiration from the culture that goes with it. Which doesn’t bother me, because I tend to see the unity in everything; but it’s a point I think is important to emphasize, for the integrity of the board culture which influenced so many of today’s currents.» But beyond being a bridge between snowboards and skis, it was through the intermediary of freeride that Rossignol was able to become part of the mountain world. The brand in particular worked on a line of

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top-of-the-range technical apparel developed with Manu Gaidet (both free rider and mountain guide), and of course endorsed with his initials «MG». This collaboration gave rise, for example, to a patent for off-piste pants with a built-in harness. This attraction towards high altitudes is not new, but it became more important in 2002 with a unique partnership initiated with the Society of Chamonix Guides. By equipping the professionals of the world’s oldest society, and by clearly aiming for a positioning connected to the demands of mountaineering, the brand expressed its intention to gain an in-depth understanding of the terrain to develop technical products. Faithful to its philosophy, it wasn’t there for media impact. Rather, it got involved in mountain apparel out of passion. Xavier Chappaz, president of the Society of Chamonix Guides, is delighted with this special partnership: «It’s a company with a ski image, and which wanted to develop technical products, and then, it’s an old name, like the Society. We therefore decided to work together, but over the long term. In this world where everything goes at such an incredible pace, I like this image of faithfulness, where the time is taken to get to know each other. We’re happy to have a partner we know is on our side, who listens to us and who tries to meet our expectations. And then ‘they’ have made some beautiful things for us: a very beautiful pair of mountain pants, a very good backpack. Rossignol has a spirit of quality, of commitment, respect, humility, of sharing. These are the signposts marking the direction our relationship is going in. Management’s word means something, and they’ve proven it to us.» These words echo what Rossignol has succeeded in maintaining over the course of time: the very soul of an innovative and respectful brand. The start of the 21st century, the Voiron brand remains faithful to its reputation. PURE MOUNTAIN COMPANY In 2003, Rossignol, at that time managed by Jacques-Henri Rodet and Bruno Cercley, gets a new Brand signature: “Pure Mountain Company”, a project run by Sylvain Noailly, Marketing Director. With strong roots and leadership in skiing, Rossignol’s new phase includes product design and development for all year-round mountain sports. In 2006, a new brand visual identity was created. The ambition was to step into the future with respect to the past. Embracing the power and fortune of the classic ‘R’, created in 1965, the

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Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Candide Thovex immortalized at the 2007 Candide Invitational at a magic moment.

new logo presents a simple, quality message - “This item is made by Rossignol”. Products that are made by people committed to perfection, and who understand what the mountain requires: excellent value, high reliability, quality, attractive design. Yann Laphin, Communication Director, describes what the brand stands for and what Rossignol wants to embody and convey to skiers and snowboarders: «To most, the mountains are a part of the environment. Not for us. For us, the mountains are the blood that flows in our veins. This is the place where people can become who they were meant to be. We want to express that up here the air is different. Cleaner, cooler, fresher. It enables a sense of freedom and space that opens the mind and encourages adventure. Mountains deliver energy and inspire. Before, it was only about product and specs and design. And it still is, but now our innovations have a pulse, a human desire, and a meaning. We use this expertise to create technical gear to do the stuff we love to do. With our athlete-based R&D, our leading technology and our real connection to the mountains. Rossignol is not just the most respected brand, but a word that is synonymous with great memories, epic adventures and incredible friends. We aim to be known as the most progressive and authentic mountain brand on the market. » RIDEABLE ART

n 2008 Rossignol came up with an initiative that brought the skiing world and boarding culture closer together. When the company’s Scratch range was superseded by the totally new Twin Tips range of skis the idea of cozying up to the art world gained credence. As a result, Rossignol got together with Jérôme Katz’s Space Junk, an art gallery specializing in boarding culture, to give 7 artists the chance to create a work that would feature on its new freestyle products. This initiative resulted in the SAS, Seven Artistic Sins program. The concept? 7 skis and 7 artists, each creating a work of art on a given theme every year for one of the seven models in the range. The top boarding culture artists chosen include Caia Koopman, Andy Howell, Will Barras, Andrew Pommier and Steve Caballero, the living skateboarding legend and inventor of the Cabalerial. In addition to the range of skis, there is a lot more to the SAS project, such as exhibitions, a website, art performances during events, gallery books, etc. Further proof of Rossignol’s creativity and open-minded approach, establishing freeski as a totally crossover snowsport at the meeting point of the influences of art and boarding culture. According to David Bouvier, Sports Marketing Manager and in charge of the range, «The SAS project is also an opportunity for us to think outside the box. It’s like when you’re a kid listening to a hip-hop

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The S7’s new sigma profile (Rockered reverse sidecut in the tip & tail fused, with acontemporary sidecut and camber under foot) makes you to look at terrain in a whole new light.It allows you to ski new and creative lines. You can slash and smearwind-lips, pockets, pillows and spines that were previously out of play.

artist, you don’t quite get it. When you get older, you find out that he’s sampled a bit of Motown and you start listening to Motown. I hope that the SAS concept will encourage kids to check out an art gallery or two. These skis are meant to make you want to push it further.» Another great initiative on the part of Rossignol riders is that undertaken by Jeremy Jones in creating Protect Our Winter. This association seeks to unite main players in the world of winter sports in fighting against global warming. Jeremy Jones recounts: «Throughout my life I have seen the winters grow shorter and become warmer and warmer. We know now that the human race has its share of responsibility in this climate change, and it is therefore necessary to change our habits if we want to continue to have snow on the mountains. So, when I created the Jones Experience a few years ago, I wanted to give a percentage of the revenue to environmental causes and more specifically to the fight against global warming. That was when I realized that the winter sports community had no special structures in place for fighting against this problem. This led me to create POW, to increase awareness and inspire other riders to commit to the environmental battle, to support initiatives to reduce greenhouse emissions. Rossignol made it possible for me to start the POW undertaking, and it continues to give it flawless support.» The POW project is indeed among the initiatives encouraged by Rossignol to defend mountain values by supporting initiatives in ecology, solidarity, safety. Rossignol especially supports the associations «Mountain Riders Foundation», with its goal to protect the mountain, and «A Chacun Son Everest» (in English, «To Each His Everest»), the marvelous inspiration of mountaineer Christine Janin, to help children with illnesses. With its initiatives, Rossignol is continuing in the Pure Mountain Company spirit and beyond that, participating in the growing planetwide awareness of the disturbing phenomena of global warming. Jeremy Jones, the brand’s most faithful snowboarder, knows that it has an important role to play in this environmental challenge: «Rossignol can do a lot of things to reduce its impact on the environment, and that’s where we’re concentrating our efforts. We first have to straighten

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things here at home and then perhaps we can become an example for other snowsliding sport companies. I believe that the words Pure Mountain Company are meaning ful and we should apply ourselves to reinforcing this meaning and remaining faithful to it.» The path to be taken has been pointed out.

“T Jeremy Jones

he words ‘Pure Mountain Company’ are meaningful and we should apply ourselves to reinforcing this meaning and remaining faithful to it.” The ROSSIGNOL Legend

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freeride world champions Hugo Harrisson Xavier De Le Rue Manu Gaidet Henrik Windstedt

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Triple world champion in freeride, Hugo Harrison stopped competition after his last triumph in 2002. He has since been devoted himself to images, especially with the productions Matchstick and Les Nuits de la Glisse (in English, Nights of Snowsliding), contributing segments which have become legendary. Originally from Quebec, settled in Whistler, he joined the Rossignol team in 2000 and participated in developing the «B Squad» range with his friend Manu Gaidet.

In the history of French sports, few athletes have garnered as many laurels as Xavier de Le Rue. World champion in boardercross six times, X Games, Gravity Games, the Mount Baker banked slalom, the Xtrême de Verbier and 2008 world champion in freeride, to mention only his most prestigious successes, this Pyrenees native is already a legend.

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Henrik Windstedt, 2008 world champion in freeride, made it possible for Rossignol to carry off the world crown once again after one short year of no winnings. Often called the most complete skier of his generation, the ÂŤFlying SwedeÂť was junior champion in mogul, then one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best freestylers before beginning a prolific freeride career.

Just like his great friend and ride partner Hugo Harrison, Manu Gaidet has won three world championship titles consecutively, meaning Rossignol collected six world titles in six years. At the summit of his art, he decided to devote himself to images and the development of skis and apparel for Rossignol, while continuing to be a mountain guide.

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