SABINE DETTLING BERNHARD TSCHOFEN TRACKS THE AND THE CULTURE OF SKIING

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SABINE DETTLING BERNHARD TSCHOFEN

TRACKS THE ARLBERG AND THE CULTURE OF SKIING

HERAUSGEGEBEN VON GUSTAV SCHODER AND BERNHARD TSCHOFEN IM AUFTRAG VON SKI.KULTUR.ARLBERG 1880-1913

DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

The ski pioneer, Anita Klette, born in 1890 in Dresden, who in 1927/1928 was acquainted with AN IDEA. and came to love Zürs, skiing in 1907. GETTING THERE. GOING UP. SKI TOURS AND SKI SLOPES. STAYING THERE. Since Fritjof Nansen masterfully demonstrated the exceptional advan - tages and assets of the Norwegian snowshoe in his memorable book, Auf Schneeschuhen durch Grönland , there has been rapid and widespread growth in the number of passionate followers and devotees to the sport. 9 Mitteilungen des Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenvereins, 1892

AN IDEA. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE SKI

The utilization of the ski as a mode of transportation snowshoes. The things are over two meters long and no one has has a long history. Indeed, Walther Flaig, an Aalen- the scantest idea of how to use them.” 5 In 1891, “around this time, born native of the southern German state of Würt - as the ski began to gain footing,” 6 a German language translation temberg and alpine author, claims, “the ‘world of Fridtjof Nansen‘s work The First Crossing of Greenland was history‘ of skiing in the snowy Nordic territories of published as Auf Schneeschuhen durch Grönland . The work Eurasia,” is truly “thousands of years old.” 1 For gene - chronicled the travels of the Norwegian explorer, who in 1888 rations, northerners used the ski as a means of daily had embarked on a 40-day coast-to-coast expedition across locomotion in territories dominated by ice and snow. Left: Advertisement for Nan - Greenland‘s inland ice belt, primarily on ski. Three years later, sen‘s Auf Schneeschuhen durch In many regions of the , low mountain ranges, and Nansen‘s book demonstrated to a wide public audience not only Grönland adorns the back cover the surrounding alpine upland, the ski was an established the transportive potential and functionality of the ski, 7 but also of Mathias Zdarsky‘s Alpine infected countless readers with a newfound excitement and Above: Tour of the Valluga on mode of transport for priests, rangers, doctors, mail carriers, and (Lilienfelder) Skilauf-Technik in 2 interest in the budding sport. 8 [...] Easter 1905. Hermann Schwarz - hunters, whose daily lives were dependent on regular travel. 1903. weber of Freiburg with Karl The long planks gained ground in the “wild mountainous region” Old guard Alpinists also discovered the usefulness of the two Dörrer and Josef Mattes on the of Tannberg, located “between Schröcken and Arlberg.” 3 It was long planks in “conquering” the "familiar peaks” during the Valfagehrjoch in the Alps. here, in the small town of Warth in the late winter of 1894/1895, winter months. 10 Summer tourism in the Alps had become the FRIDTJOF NANSEN 11 Upper right: Johann Müller, that the parish priest Johann Müller sent a letter of instruction "public property of the masses” and the “gods of solitude,” Priest of Warth am Tannberg. * 1861 Kristiania, N † 1930 Lysaker, N and payment to Scandinavia. Two weeks later, the priest recei - a solitude high in the stony world of the Alps, which traditional Right: Fridtjof Nansen as a ved his response in the form of a large package, unwitting of Polar researcher, zoologist, geographer, mountain climbers yearned for and exalted, had been “expelled skiing hunter circa 1890. 12 “what kind of novelty” he had brought to his home. 4 The con - meteorologist, oceanographer, author, from every corner” by the “machinery of ‘development‘.” The tents of this package were so new that the local newspaper, the university professor and rector, diplomat, Kempten-based surgeon and traditional alpinist, Max Madlener, Vorarlberger Volksblatt , reported on the long planks just a few and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. describes the Alpine winter. The mountains, he writes, now only days after their arrival. Under the headline, “Langen am Arlberg,” reveal their “ancient magic of the unspoilt, pure, and untouched” the article read; “A few days ago, the post delivered a pair of in the winter, “when the works of man, roads and steel cables,

30 31 Then, when a glimmering fairytale splendor and sacred stillness settles over peak and valley, then, wanderer, you have everything of which your world-weary heart might dream: A breath of alpine nature, like in bygone days, surrounds you...you inhale the air of past centuries, as the high peaks of the Alps are resplendent in their virginal seclusion. 13 Max Madlener, 1901

Hermann Schwarzweber touring the Valluga, Easter 1905. View from the Ulmer Hütte over St. Christoph, the “Kracherl”, Kuchelspitze, and Patteriol. lay deep in the snow, when the cabins are deserted, and the guesthouses...are free from the noise of visitors.” He continues: [...] In this, Madlener is a man of his time. Simultaneous nostalgia for the past, coupled with an orientation to the future was Dr. med., Königl.-Bayer. Hofrat MAX MADLENER characteristic of European thought at the turn of the century. * 1868 Memmingen, D † 1951 Kempten, D Indeed, during this age of vast market expansion, industrial Medical doctor, Imperial Bavarian Councilor, ski growth, explosive technological advance, and new systems of skin inventor, founding member of the Alpine labor specialization and division, a pervasive sense of optimism Association, Bayerland Sector, surgeon, and chief in progress comingled and contrasted with a profound feeling physician at the Kempten District Hospital. of cultural despair. 14 The modern man was perceived as one who pursues material wealth as though in “a delirium.” Max Haus - hofer‘s version of this “civilized man” 15 worked in “factories, of - Dr. med., Sanitätsrat CHRISTOPH MÜLLER * 1873 Hof an der Saale, D † 1930 Munich, D fices, bureaus, and classrooms,” which were “poorly ventilated and often far too small” with an almost “prohibitive insistence.” 16 Councilor of Health, bestowed in honor, For this stressed and overworked man civilization quickly be - medical doctor for radiation therapy in Munich, 17 came wearying and he returned to nature. The neo-romantic and inventor of the Müller ski binding system. thinker represented in such thought and inspired by George Gordon Lord Byron, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Friedrich Nietzsche fought against all that, which appears to him as ugly 18 – indus - Max Madlener, Fritz Heimhuber, and Christoph Müller (from left) 32 on the peak of the Sonnenkopf (Allgäu Alps). Photograph by Eugen Heimhuber, 1902. 33 An artistically engineered mountain railroad leads from and Lake Constance to the Arlberg. This rail has the particular charm of carrying tourists with rucksacks and skis on a breathtaking ride through beautiful scenery before they are deposited at a height of over 25 1300 meters. Skiing begins and ends with a train station. Fritz Kurz, 1913

GETTING THERE. THE AND HORSE-DRAWN SLEIGHS

Railway tunnel in the Arlberg after an avalanche.

The Austrian teacher However, the benefits of the new system soon became appa - and alpinist, Ludwig rent as Arlberg and Tannberg were connected to the Euro - Purtschneller claimed pean railroad network by way of the train stations at Langen “Tourism, as with the and St. Anton, and thus became more easily and quickly entirety of the twen - accessible than ever before. 28 Author, sports correspondent, tieth century, is foun - and skiing pioneer, Carl Joseph Luther 29 summarizes the “those bathed in light” skiers and sun-worshippers. ded on technologies development: “If the Arlberg Railway initially paralyzed of transportation. The traffic through the Pass, it made express access possible and trialization and urbanization, materialism and greed, egoism and Lifestyle reformists, especially members of the youth move - train‘s whistle, like an opened up…such commercial opportunities, as had not decadence. In 1891, the author and naturalist, Leo Berg, descri - ments, the Wandervoge l 21 or the Lichtbekleidete n 22 propagated alarm clock marking existed in the very best of times.” 30 The railways provided bed the turn of the century as a “time of great yearning,” built escape from the civilized world. The country, the rural home, the dawn of a new age, transport for ski equipment in their cargo cars and, as they upon “this irrepressible exodus to the outdoors, this surge to the impassable terrain, sun, and light were the discoveries of the permeates even the had done for alpinists a hundred years prior, 31 offered vastly At the train station in St. Anton, 1907. wide world…this overthrow and want of betterment, this groping time. Within such a movement, even snow itself was imbued deepest and most reduced prices for skiers. An express train traveled between and awakening, this stretching oneself and longing,” for another, with new meaning as a weapon of winter, wiping away all traces insolated valleys of the Alps.” 26 The railway made such and Innsbruck. On Sundays and holidays during better world, 19 a world, which the modern romantic may find far of civilization‘s achievements and softly enveloping “the sins of travel possible, of which “in earlier times, one could have the winter months, it departed Lindau at two o‘clock in the away from civilization: modernity” 23 under its white folds. The wintery mountains, too, barely dared to dream.” 27 The development of the railroad Who is there among us whose heart has not blossomed in soul - adopted meaning for man as “a vat of filtered sun…nectar for the and the skiing boom in the Arlberg are fundamentally ful delight at the first awakenings of the spring, who has not lungs…the sensual pleasure of flushed skin.” At the turn of the connected to one another. The official launch of the pensively gazed into the silent night at the infinite stars, who has century, an entire generation decided, “to become more youth - Arlberg Railway on September 21, 1884 would mark the not felt within himself a shivering sense of the unending as he ful,” and adopt “be young, be fresh, and to longer be traditionally beginning of a simultaneous curse and a blessing for gazes upon a sunrise or sunset from a towering mountain peak…? respectable” 24 as their resounding motto for the dawning 20 th the people of the Arlberg region. Those living in towns Which soul has not exulted, as it passes with a fresh adventurous century. along the Arlberg Pass such as Stuben, St. Christoph, courage through meadow and forest, or along babbling brook, Nevertheless, the possibility of such cathartic journeys through and St. Anton were pained by the fact that traffic was high above the clouds, over glaciers and fields of snow, or in the impassable terrain to regions of deep snow and unsullied nature increasingly dependent on the railway tracks running peaceful, idyllic valley accompanied by the melodic sound of were dependent on one of modern civilization‘s greatest achie - through the Arlberg Tunnel. Thus far, they had been cowbells…leaving all worries at home, free from all inanities and vements: the railroad. economically dependent on the traffic that frequen - trifles, which so often in the grinding rhythm of daily life dull the ted the Arlbergstraße, a road connecting and precious core, which man in his truest form is and ought to be! 20 , which had been fully functional since 1824.

34 Ski von Viktor Sohm Arrival circa 1906: With horse and sleigh and by ski. 35 morning. The afternoon express, which offered connections to Bavaria and Württemberg carried ski tourists back home. With this route, people living in cities close to the Alps like Heilbronn, Stuttgart, Ulm, Munich, and Augsburg gained “an additional opportunity for...ski trips...to the Arlberg area.” 32 Return tickets for a ride in these winter sports trains were “issued at drastically reduced fares in order to make travel to St. Anton or St. Christoph or Zürs or indeed to any of these inexpensive and snowcapped locations in the Arlberg possible for all ski enthusiasts.” 33 In 1900, Johann Bertolini, a developer based in the Bregenz Forest, completed the Flexenstraße. This road provided a route with reasonable conditions connecting Tannberg by way of the Langen train station with and Zürs. In turn, Wilhelm Wilhelm Pfefferkorn, Pfefferkorn, an innkeeper in Lech, made certain that his guests innkeeper of the Krone in Lech, provides for the comfortable arrival of his guests. enjoyed a comfortable arrival. Shortly after the opening of the Flexenstraße, Pfefferkorn established a regular public transport system of carriages to travel between Langen and Lech via Zürs. 34 “Whoever has a larger amount of baggage,” described Carl Joseph Luther, a reader of the newspaper, Der Winter , “may call for a simple sleigh to the station (may even be done by phone directly from the stations at Langen or Stuben).” 35 Small horse- drawn sleighs would transport skiers to Zürs and Lech. 36 Before the Flexenstraße was built, the only possible connection between Langen and the Tannberg area had been by way of the Flexenweg, a “narrow, steep, and winding” trail that was “basically impassable” 37 if not impossible or highly dangerous to traverse in the winter months. Indeed, at times of high ava - lanche risk, this old path “through the to Zürs and Tannberg was [like playing] a game of chance with your life and Regional Governor Adolf Rhomberg a hellhole to boot.” 38 A small pass through Schröcken to Tann - at the completion of the berg emerged from the Bregenz Forest, while the road from the Flexen-Lechtaler Straße, 1909. Lechtal to Tannberg 39 ended in Steeg. Up until 1908, when the Flexen-Lechtaler Straße, which led through the Tannberg bet - ween Warth and Lech to the Tyrolean border between Steeg and Langen was finished, 40 a small mountain path led through the pass, 41 which, because of its inhospitality was called “Beggars‘ Turnabout.” 42 The future, now secured through well-built roads and the connection of small mountain towns to the railway system, would lay in the tourist industry. Adolf Rhomberg, governor of the region, underscored this development in a Carl Joseph Luther informs speech marking the completion of the Flexen-Lechtaler Straße: Der Winter readers on travel The final stone is laid in a work...whose meaning far exceeds to the Arlberg. that of both countries‘ common roads! As of today, the Vorarl - berg Lechtal and the Tyrolean Lechtal, two wide and far-rea - ching regions, joined by the waters of the Lech, are now also bound by a masterfully built road, which, by way of the Langen Train Station, brings the Arlberg Railway closer to us. If we reach back in our memories, we may recall how just a few short years ago, this vast valley of the Vorarlberg lay far from any important tourism, and indeed, few had even heard its name. Today, with the road from Langen to the Tyrolean border completed, we can already observe a vast influx of tourists, which only as it grows year-by-year will we be in a position to truly appreciate this wondrous road‘s meaning. 43

36 April 1912: En route on the Flexenstraße in the deep winter. 37 JULIUS RHOMBERG * 1869 Dornbirn, A † 1932 Gargellen, A

Textile producer, direct progeny of the Herrburger & Rhomberg company founders, textile manufacturing company founder, co-founder of the Vorarlberger Papier AG, chairman of the Association of Vorarlberg Industrialists, and local councilman of Dornbirn.

38 Postcard from Julius to Pia Rhomberg dated November 5, 1903. Right page: Back of the postcard. 1900-1913

SNOW KNOWLEDGE AND SKIING TECHNIQUES

CHANGING SNOW. “MODES OF SKIING,” SKI COURSES, THE SKI, AND BINDING. SMOOTH, WOOD PLANKS, SKI SKINS, STEEL EDGES. The best snow and the most beautiful runs are, in my experience, mostly found in the forested areas, in the krumholz zones, and a bit further on. Windprotected alpine pastures, cirques, and basins also offer varying and often glorious snow conditions. Mountain knolls, high plateaus, and ridges are only suitable for skiing directly after fresh snowfall, as the high, unrelenting winds often quickly blow away the 2 entire snow layer. Hans Biendl und Alfred von Radio-Radiis, 1906

CHANGING SNOW Georg Bilgeri

“Snow Consistency” 1 This type of snow is the “least conducive to skiing...as the skis Snow is not simply snow, and not every form of snow is appro - no longer have any control and slip on the icy surface.” Skiing priate for every skier. Indeed, early on, it was understood that on crusted and steep slopes is not unproblematic “as sideslip snow quality is of foundational significance and a deciding and unwanted downhill slides occur easily” and the “thin icy factor in the success or failure of a ski tour: [...] crust, through which one breaks with each step into the softer Snow is at its best when it is in “powder and crystal snow” form, snow beneath, is highly cumbersome.” The “ideal run, upon which is normally found in “the months of December to the end which the snowshoe has the best glide with the most control” of February, and often in the beginning of March.” Any later and is fresh snow on old snow, when “a slight layer of fresh snow the “snow is regularly exposed to the effects of higher tempera - falls on an old, stable snow layer” and, “without thawing, is tures making a qualitative decline unavoidable.” In turn, fresh thoroughly frozen, [this is especially ideal] when, during foggy snow “is rarely good for skiing as it is usually too loose and the conditions, a frost layer develops.“ skis sink too deeply. Climbing a mountain is thus quite exhaust- ing and the downhill ride is not particularly speedy.” Old snow, The Art of Reading Snow which develops “when the snow has settled” makes the “slope “Snow, this inventive artist of transformation, is, in the Alps, much more favorable,” while wet snow resulting from an influx a brutal and treacherous despot,” claims the author and politi - of warmer temperatures makes the slope “sticky and nearly cian Anton Fendrich 3 of Offenburg. “Whosoever calls himself impossible to ride.” Should the wet snow freeze overnight only a skier and, in the summer or winter, dares to approach the snow “to be thawed again during the day, a wet-grainy snow develops, of the high mountains, has lost his healthy common sense.” 4 which lends itself well to skiing. The run is, though also Initially, skiers understood natural phenomena like avalanches nice, a very different one from that in powder snow, to be fateful dangers, whose existence was determined by through which one may glide silently downhill.” outside forces: [...] Nevertheless, with time, “crust snow” forms.

ANTON FENDRICH Staves for winter hunting: * 1868 Offenburg, D † 1949 Freiburg i.Br., D The antecedents of the snowshoe and ski. Author, newspaper journalist, politician, member of the Bavarian Parliament as a Social Democrat, and editor of various alpine texts and handbooks. 73 [in these tours] we abandoned our old upright stance and increa - singly adopted a deep, crouched position. We coupled this crouching technique of descent with our stem-Telemark and thus, developed our own style with which we rode the largest and steepest of slopes...in many consecutive swings and with a high speed we descended and thus, with the low center of gravity, we achieved what was, for the time, a relatively high level of stability. 69 Arnold Fanck und Hannes Schneider

The Freiburg film director and author, Dr. Arnold Fanck, recalls “self made men”. 62 Learning the year 1908 and his time as a skier in the high Black Forest: to Ski among Friends “we youngsters...skied, one pole in each hand, with proud com - At the time, learning to ski prima - posure...downhill until that proud composure ended, mostly in rily meant finding a friend to a much less proud way.” 56 Generally, skiers that had mastered the introduce one to its secrets. bow-legged and polereliant style, the “schuss, swing…and fall In the winter of 1904/1905, the system” 57 for downhill skiing, could not cope with “forest, level geology and paleontology student terrain, and the steeper regions of the alpine foothills.” 58 in , and Max Madlener advised: [...] Snowplow Breslau native, Günter Dyhren - Based on such awareness and the belief that mastery of “the furth 63 found, “tours to join and a technique of the sport,” 60 was necessary for a skier in the high certain amount of guidance.” 64 In the beginning, mountains to find enjoyment in his activities, events were “everyone quickly becomes a ‘misery-loves- conducted “in which not only the basic elements of skiing, company‘ type of skiing instructor.” Indeed, but also its advanced intricacies [were] taught by experienced “very few skiers” learn by “loneliness and skiers.” 61 Yet the mastery of skiing demanded prior practice in self-teaching,” most likely because this type less difficult terrain. First mountain guides, then locals, and of learning is rarely successful. 65 In their Turning with two poles finally ski tourists obtained instruction for practice. At the “constant attempts to master skiing without same time, as self-taught skiers adapted to the unique chal - poles,” skiers gradually “favor the stem-turn lenges of the high mountain terrain, they developed their own and make a variety of compromises with it, Descent position techniques independently both from one another and from the snow plough turn, and the swing techni - the theoretical guidelines established by the Norwegian and que.” In addition, this process of compromise and adaptation Thus, simply by way of “adaptation to the difficult terrain while despite all my elegant swinging, fell far too often and was thus Lilienfelder schools. occurs “for the most part unconsciously,” as most skiers are on tour” and separate from the discourse on Lilienfleder and too tired to … maintain Schauffelberger‘s tempo.” From this “unaware or only somewhat aware of their own deviations from Norwegian techniques, “a generation of competent skiers” moment on, Fanck learned “security and the stem technique” the schuss and swing technique.” 66 According to Arnold Fanck, was born. 70 Indeed, Arnold Fanck and Walter Schauffelberger, from Schauffelberger, while the latter learned the swinging this was because skiers “condemned ski-theoreticians and large an experienced high-terrain skier from Zurich, developed their technique. Thus, “after only a year,” both men “developed a very ski poles to the devil,” preferring instead to undertake “extensive ski climb and descent techniques, which were wholly depen - similar technique of descent,” in which the stem-Telemark ski tours” silently and, “in free-form swing or stem-turn,” while dent upon the terrain. Schauffelberger skied with the stem- played a major role. 71 racing through “their four thousand regions,” and joyfully “skiing curve technique, using two poles, and marveled at Fanck, It was around this time that these “inseparable touring comrades for the sheer sake of tempo and swinging momentum.” 67 Rudolf who mastered the slopes with “elegant Black of the winter” witnessed “two skiers in Davos” who, indepen - Dr. ARNOLD FANCK Gomperz recalls, “Back then, there was no technique,” and asks, Forest swings.” Reciprocally, Fanck observed dently of themselves, also skied “in the crouched position,” * 1889 Frankenthal, D † 1974 Freiburg i. Br., D “For what would we have needed technique? One wanted to Schauffelberger descend a slope with a two- yet with a “security and elegance using the Christiana, and Geologist, pioneer in mountain, sports, and labor and exhaust oneself, and then to find pleasure in the joy thousand meter height differentiation, a nigh not, as we did, the Telemark… [in such a way that] we had nature films, and founder of the Berg- und of a descent…as a reward for the effort and strain that had been unbelievable height for Fanck, using “many con - never seen it‘s approximate.” These men, the Engadine Sportfilm GmbH in Freiburg. Films included endured.” 68 Fanck added that “very few of us involved ourselves, secutive stem-turns and [with] an astounding Eduard Capiti and Johann Schneider, were “surely the best Das Wunder des Schneeschuhs (1920), Der Berg in writing, in the prevailing discussions and differences of opi - security and almost without stopping, while I, skiers,” of their time. 72 des Schicksals (1924), and Der weiße Rausch (1931). nion at the time,” instead, techniques of descent presented themselves during high skiing tours: [...]

82 Stemming 83 It takes years until your legs have memorized those swings so completely, that they are not lost and forgotten with every snow and 73 new terrain. Anton Fendrich, um 1920

With the Telemark, as with the shifts one‘s entire body weight… Christiana, the quick downhill inward, that is, to the left, then the descent is suddenly truncated and movement…will express itself in that the body is momentarily thrown to the right heel presses the back onto an almost sharp right or sharp left; the right ski, outward and to the thus, simultaneously, the skis are right, so that the front end of the positioned horizontally across the right ski passes the tip of the left ski slope in a right or very sharp angle to the left. The resulting position to the line of descent. This weight must be held until the right ski has Advertising poster for St. Christoph, circa 1910 shifting and the traverse positio - completed a 90° turn; only then ning of the ski occur simultaneously; at least, our sensual may one pull up the left foot. Here, it is especially important to perception would register it as such. It is thus almost impossible keep the ski from edging, which normally results in getting to satisfactorily differentiate and clarify the singular movements caught and falling. Wilhelm Paulcke. Der Skilauf , 1908 of the turn… The Christiana differentiates from the Telemark primarily in that In both cases, the characteristic placement of the skis and the it is not practiced according to a characteristic and regular body Ski Courses for Mountaineers: Teaching the Telemark Initially, mountaineers were introduced to the mysteries of shift in body weight from one ski to the other, supported by and ski position, but is rather based on the varying personalities and the Christiana , the Telemark and Christiana techniques, in order movement in the hip and heel, are of central importance. and styles of singular skiers...in addition; its performance is Skiing afforded joyful pleasure and provided for aesthetic lead ski tourists through the wintery mountain world. 75 The Addition-ally, and in both cases, the pressure of the snow provides dependent upon the variable terrain and types of snow... desire and freedom, only then when the practiced skier “under - Telemark and Christiana, wrote Anton Fendrich were “the names resistive force to the skier. Through it, the skis are forced to turn Let us imagine one would like to complete a left-facing Chris - stands the coupling of the beauty of the line and the movement of the two types of swing with which a quick descent may be in a new direction of movement. tiana on a moderately inclined slope, with limited speed and itself...into one delightful entirety.” 74 In place of a continued suddenly interrupted...but in truth, the Telemark is the one, For the most part, the Telemark turn is performed with powder snow. Beginning in the original position (both feet paral - foundation in self-education and knowledge by friends, a pro - which has earned the designation of a real swing.” Here, the the outer leg...out of the original position, in which both feet are lel to one another), one would push the left foot forward. By cess of organized ski education began which was not simply the skier “shifts out of the quick and straight-line descent into a parallel to one another, the right leg is brought forward with an using the heel, which, throughout the turn, ought never to loose result of a general and increasing advancement of skiing techni - highly characteristic sideways stance, which is very different abrupt movement, so far so, that the right foot is at about the contact with the ski, to push the back ends of both skis downhill, que, but also lay in an effort to educate on the risks and dangers from that otherwise used in the sport. The ‘Telemark‘ is a lovely same height as the left ski tip. This abrupt forward movement that is, to the outside right, the skis are positioned transverse to of skiing in the wintery high mountain terrain. flourish, with which the descent may be ended.” Conver - of the foot is the cornerstone of the whole turn…if this move - the slope. Thus, by maintaining a consistent parallel positioning sely, the Christiana is “not truly a swinging turn, but is ment has been correctly performed, then the resulting position of skis, the turn may be brought into its final position. more of an abrupt stop and the phrase ‘to turn about‘ of the body is as follows: the right leg is bent at the knee, body …is not an entirely improper description.” 76 weight rests…primarily on this leg. The left leg is slightly bent Hip movement is used to apply the main pressure upon the ski. (not stiff); the heel is lifted, while the ball of the foot continues …. to exert a slight pressure on the ski. The back is arched, the head By coupling the Christiana and Telemark turn, one is in the posi - held high, and the entire upper body faces in the direction of tion to…ski down a slope in sustained serpentine curves, or to descent. If in this moment, the first phase of the process, one end a descent with an S-curve. 77

84 85 86 87 [It] is the result of the hot energies from that certain ultraviolet ‘something,‘ which, strengthened by the reflections of the silver-white snow cover, roasts the skin, infects, burns, forms beautiful blisters filled with serum, causes them to burst, and allows the exhaustingly 215 self-washed skin to go to the devil. Walter Schmidkunz, 1927/28

Ernst Janner recommended, when one is far “from trafficked roads, to [at very least] bare one‘s upper body…and thusly enjoy the beneficial effects of bathing in the sun and air.” 211 Surén claimed that far too many people continued to sunbathe while entirely clothed, which led to sweating and dis - comfort: “even the lightest of fabrics,” he criticized, hinder the “effects of sunshine.” Thus, endeavoring “in any kind of clothes...to tolerate the sun‘s rays,” is useless and unsanitary – an opinion, which also applied to bathing costumes worn for sun bathing. However, Surén recognized the difficulties presen - ted by “prudery” and thus recommended a ‘nude The foehn wind roars through the dark treetops of the high apron‘ for lower body parts, which could also be forest. In the green-blue, wide, bright heavens, clouds, at once used by women: “I really don‘t understand,” he condensed into wild shapes, at once dissolved in torn plumes, As the twenties progressed, more and more people, who had postulated, “why women must necessarily cover race…the snow pulls heavily on the skis, while I, without haste, little in common with the prewar skiers, climbed the mountains their breasts.” 212 “Nude winter sports in the high wander home, toward the Hütte, which has been my home for on skis. The number of skiing guests in the Arlberg increased. mountains,” however, had its complications. “On weeks. Oh, and what a home! “Up to the Arlberg with the sports train. Many would say; any - the high points of the snowy mountains, the sun You valley folks, who make dull conversation in your salons, thing but that! The Arlberg is already crowded enough.” As early had a great deal of strength, especially as the snow reflects the Ski tours welcomed guests from the city to the “loving Hütte” who listen to jazz bands in your smoky cafes, do you know at all as 7:30 in the morning, there was “unbelievable bustle” in sun‘s rays and thus intensifies their effects on the body.” 213 The draped in the “glittering golden dress of the evening sun.” 216 The what a joy lives up in the mountains? But how could you know? Langen, “the line to Stuben… [was] kilometers long,” while alpine author and publisher, Walter Schmidkunz, 214 concretely ski hütte provided the base for ski tourism and lay at the heart For you, the winter is a necessary evil, a mixture of cold, snow roughly two hundred skiers traveled up “through the tunnel to and satirically describes the “ Fechsung ” so beloved in ski tourist of daily activities in the mountains. In the early morning, the slush, illness, and sullen mood; but we, who on willing – and the Reutlinger Skihütte.” 222 Wilhelm Lehner, who in 1907 had circles: [...] nichts anderes als ein haut- wie hirnmordender Son - sun first appeared “up there,” 217 and it is there, in the sun, “on the sometimes unwilling – planks flee the valleys, for us it is struggle first explored the wintery wonderland of the Arlberg, considered nenbrand. Diesen wandeln moderne Skiläufer „durch geschickte bench in front of the Hu ?tte” that the ski tourist would sit as and victory, youth and high joy. And the Hütte is the oasis the development critically: Salbung und zeitgerechte Mäßigung der ,Köchtelgelegenheiten‘ though he were a “king who will not trade his kingdom for all the wherein our magnetic urge finds daily abode. The Arlberg is one of the four or five skiing paradises. Should not ... zur idealen Fechsung ... um nach Urlaubsablauf als pfennig - treasures of the world.” 218 The magic of I have placed my faithful skis in the corner, the fire crackles, paradises‘ perfection be preserved? Instead, next to a small stock braune Helden nach Hause zurückzukehren, beneidet und wohl - the Hütte, clear, starry, nights, the warm the teapot hums…I lay, stretched long on the comfortable bench of excellent skiers, the majority of visitors who spread themsel - wollend angelächelt von sämtlichen kniefreien Bubiköpfen.“ 182 room, comforting solitude, comradery, until the quiet light of the oil lamp – yes, such prehistoric ves out are incompetent men and women, who have nothing accordion music, and song served to lighting still exists, city-dweller! – I pull old Goethe and Hölderlin to gain in these high bases, who would be much more at home provide escape and severance from the from the shelf while melting drops of snow drip evenly from my in the valleys and then would not take away mountaineer‘s peculiarities of urban civilization. 219 In dear comrade-in-arms in the corner and all the joys and sorrows accommodations. Constant ski courses, which at this height are the Hütte, within those searching for of life rest within my heart. Outside, clouds and stars wander nothing more than activities tailored for economic interest, the snow, the wish for escape, the joy of above my roof and the nightly mountain wind. Deep in the val - make for a continuous influx of beginners and retirees. 223 the peculiar, and the desire for quiet ley, the lights of the village greet me, the lights of men; but up reflection and good companionship is here it is quiet, quiet solitude, only my light shimmers and the 221 awakened. Sophie von Uhde, travel mountains and the forest and the peaceful night are mine. author from Munich and daughter of the painter, Fritz von Uhde, 220 references a stay in a ski hütte in the mid-twenties, which lasted a few weeks.

149 Or do you believe that I am in the habit of shaving less carefully while on a ski tour than I would at home? Or that I...change my clothes less often?...When we play tennis in the summer, or are on the golf course, or practice sport anywhere, there is a sportive culture. As soon as it ceases to be a cultured activity, then it is thuggish, violent, or otherwise equally unpleasant. Yes, con cessions are sometimes necessary. Yet when one truly has not been able to wash one‘s hands for twenty-four hours, the bathroom in the hotel is waiting. 249 Chlodwig Plehn Januar 1930 an der Ulmer Hütte.

160 161 1928-1945

PACE AND MYTH

SKI RACING AND HOLIDAY ENJOYMENT HOLIDAYS IN TRANSITION WORKING ON THE MYTH THE ARLBERG SKI PARADISE THE DELIGHTED, COLORFUL SKIING COMMUNITY SCHATTENSEITEN FROM DAILY LIFE INTO THE WAR “HANDING OVER THE SKIS“ SKIS ON THE FRONT The encroachment of modernity, the joy of life, and exultation the battle against Cultural Bolshevism in his governmental pro - of industrial, scientific, and industrial progress, resulted in a gram. 10 By the end of 1932, Papen, along with his party comrade, “resolute resistance to...the powerful movement of cultural the centrist politician Dr. Ludwig Perlitius, presented a request pessimism and critique of civilization.” 1 Nonetheless, German to the national government, which demanded that “State and culture was deeply divided, and alongside this delight in moder - cultural policy be led in such a way, as that...those values and nization, a simultaneous sense of “malais in modernity” grew. 2 rights guaranteed by the constitution to the German people are The two trends stood in contrast to one another, created by and protected and in turn, developed as the basis for all educational fueling “deep alienation and hostility” and reciprocally denying work.” 11 each other‘s cultural qualities. 3 In , a similar duality emer - In 1933, Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler touched on the discussion ged, as differing cultural ideologies existed in fear, ignoring and concerning Cultural Bolshevism: “The world of bourgeois tran - battling against one another. 4 The cultural and clerical elites in quility is rapidly disappearing.” Thus, his goal was to achieve a Europe interpreted the pleasure-oriented lifestyle as a sign of political “detoxification” of public life. The “national social and cultural deterioration. 5 Incendiary terms to describe government,” claimed Hitler, must “undertake,” “a sweeping the perceived threats from the west and east were “Americaniza - moral rehabilitation” of the “national body,” a “political and moral tion,” and “Cultural Bolshevism.” 6 In Austria, as in Germany, detoxification” of public life. 12 From 1933 to 1945, “from begin - conflicts and clashes between supporters of these differing ning to end,” the National Socialist regime actively pursued this trends became part of daily life. 7 agenda and its “primacy of politics.” 13 The national community, The general acceptance of the Democratic-Republican order in turn, pursued an essential course of self-examination to disco - waned, and election results clearly indicated that since ver whether it was truly in accordance and living in agreement the mid-twenties, the faced a strong, anti- with the National Socialist program, social structure, and its lea - Republican majority. 8 Of course, the initial conditions of the ding representatives. 14 Non-conformance with the regime, like two young states had been anything but ideal: emerging from the rejection of Nazi ideology, resulted in exclusion from the authoritarian monarchies, both countries lacked a democratic community and could end in execution. The “Führer principle” tradition and there were no broad socioeconomic classes, which dictated who had the right to make decisions for what purpose. 15 might have provided a foundation for a democratic system. 9 Ultimately, the Führer‘s dictatorship was a rampage, destroying In mid-1932, Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen institutionalized most of the progress that had been made by modernization. 16

172 Skiers on the Flexenstraße near Zürs protect themselves from the sun. 173 Whenever someone calls skiing simply a sport, then each time I listen with a strangely sensitive aversion – a mixture of regret and anger. Sport is a much too narrow word for the infinite vastness of 17 the thing. Henry Hoek, 1935

Viktor Sohm‘s gold medal commemora - SKI RACING ting his participation in the 3rd Inter- AND HOLIDAY ENJOYMENT national Race of the Ski Club Arlberg, January 6th and 7th, 1906.

From Ski Tourism to Sports the essence of skiing in 1913, A pure sport, a sport that at no other Sepp Bildstein, a Bregenz-born time was anything but a sport is simply student at the Technical Insti- inconceivable. Every sport began as an tute in Vienna, 21 noticed that ski activity before it became a sport...as athletes had stopped “storming work or amusement or both. 18 mountains, rushing through val - As the alpine practicability of the ski leys, descending.” 22 This “sportive was increasingly acknowledged, two daring” had ‘truly, no other li - methods of skiing developed. From mits” than “skill, which through skiing alpinism came Ski tourism, whe - Postcard, “At the finishline” in St. Anton, 1906. goal-oriented training could al - reby one traveled in order to ski and in ways be increased.” 23 Only he which the alpinist-like motive of nature and a love of the moun - who has “at his disposal the best pair of lungs for the mountain, tains remained. This in turn became the sport of alpine skiing, the strongest knees for the valley, who without regard to health which was marked by high-level performance in the competitive and bones, and in a short period of time is able to achieve the fight for victory. most that is humanly possible” has a chance at winning. 24 Writing in 1930 and recalling the time around 1901, Rudolf Soon, however, the voices against uphill racing multiplied. Gomperz wrote, that “that pure sporting moment…the power Rudolf Gomperz turned against it “not simply because to of the competition [was] completely [missing]…” and that those do so is rational, but also because of health concerns,” 25 and were beautiful times when “there were no boundaries between Mathias Zdarsky was of the opinion that uphill competitions sports and tourism, where tourism meant sports and sports were “under all circumstances, complete nonsense.” 26 meant tourism!” 19 The earliest competitions on skis were in the Thus, acknowledging the “harmful and unworthy within this tradition of ski mountaineering; alpine endurance competitions type of ‘race,‘” uphill runs were significantly re - with long-distance runs including climbs and descents were, for duced or abandoned altogether. 27 example, a foundational part of Arlberg racing. In 1906, the race was more than sixteen-and-a-half kilometers long with a height differentiation of more than a thousand meters. In 1911, the twelve-kilometer-long senior‘s route was structured according to “Nordic role models…in the middle of the steepest slope there was a little jungle –‘along the Norwegian tradition.‘” 20 Examining

Above: Karl Gruber ski jumping at the beginning of the twentieth century. 174 Below: Postcard “Arrival of the long-distance champion” in St. Anton, 1909. Pictured: Rudolf Gomperz (center, with hat). Karl Gruber‘s tour log.