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About the Author
About the Author
I am a third‑generation Idaho native and a graduate of Idaho State University in Pocatello, where I earned degrees in Business and History. A fully certified Level III member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America for 50 years, I spent 25 years with the Sun Valley Ski School and continue to work as an adaptive ski instructor and trainer in Sun Valley and Boise, Idaho. I have skied from more than 100 Idaho peaks and at nearly every major ski resort in the United States, as well as in New Zealand, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Canada. My writing has appeared in publications such as Idaho Yesterdays: Journal of Idaho and Northwest History, Sun Valley Magazine, Rock and Ice Magazine, and Tom Lopez’s Exploring Idaho’s Mountains, among others. My photography has been featured on two magazine covers.
This history represents the culmination of four decades spent traveling through alpine skiing’s most storied regions and interviewing many of the sport’s most influential figures. Among them are Friedl Pfeifer, Austrian ski pioneer and Sun Valley’s second Ski School Director; Otto Lang, Austrian innovator and Sun Valley’s third Ski School Director; Andy Hennig, author and Sun Valley alpine‑touring pioneer; Alf Engen, Utah and Sun Valley ski pioneer; Dick Durrance, America’s first ski champion to compete successfully against the Europeans; Willie Hemling, Sun Valley instructor and World War II 10th Mountain Division veteran; Leif Odmark, Sun Valley nordic and alpine pioneer; Toni Sailer, one of Austria’s greatest ski champions and a winner of Sun Valley’s Harriman Cup; Konrad Staudinger, 50‑year member of the Sun Valley Ski School and longtime Assistant Director; Rainer Kolb, Sun Valley’s eighth Ski School Director and a leader in Austrian ski instruction; and “Iron” Mike Hughes, a 50‑year member of the Sun Valley Ski School—just to name a few.
Sun Valley's Alps Above / Count Discovering Sun Valley below
Without question, Sun Valley’s role in the development of world alpine skiing is unparalleled. Its ascent into the history books was propelled by a remarkable gathering of extraordinary individuals, ambitious in nature, intriguing in lifestyle, who funneled their talents and passions into the snow‑covered alps of the Wood River Valley.
Sun Valley’s Austrian heritage has endured the test of time, producing phenomenal successes and shaping the course of skiing worldwide. Time and again, its mountains became the proving grounds, revealing what techniques, innovations, and traditions would thrive, and what would fade into history.
In 1892, Mathias Zdarsky of Lilienfeld, Austria, founded what is considered the first alpine ski school in Europe, and possibly the world. Credited with writing the first illustrated ski manual, Lilienfelder Skilauf-Technik, as well as the first treatise on avalanches, Zdarsky is often acknowledged as the father of alpine skiing. A stern military disciplinarian, he continued teaching until the age of 72 and, in his later years, even survived an avalanche that left him with more than 80 fractures.
Zdarsky’s “Lilienfeld Technique” was based on the principle that by angling the tail of one ski away from the fall line, a skier could slow down, steer, and control the otherwise perilous dash downhill. Speed and navigation were further aided by the use of a single long pole, dragged between the legs or to the side like a canoe paddle, while a low crouch helped maintain balance.
The skis of Zdarsky’s era were of Norwegian origin, very long, made entirely of wood, and lacking metal edges to grip the snow. They were fastened to the feet with a simple toe strap, allowing the heel to lift freely. Travel was primarily cross‑country, with only occasional semi‑controlled downhill runs attempted by the most daring alpine enthusiasts.
The story of Sun Valley’s alpine skiing legacy begins far from Idaho, on the slopes of Austria’s Arlberg Region, in the quaint alpine village of St. Anton. Before 1930, skiing in Europe was largely confined to the Nordic disciplines of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. With only rare exceptions, the art of skiing downhill (alpine skiing) was virtually nonexistent.
That changed with Hannes Schneider and his revolutionary “Arlberg Method.” Born in Stuben, Austria, in 1890, Schneider learned to ski at a young age and quickly distinguished himself. As his skills advanced, he traveled to St. Anton to work as a ski instructor at the Hotel Post, where he began shaping the future of alpine skiing.
Schneider’s method transformed skiing from a daring pastime into a structured sport, laying the foundation for the techniques that would eventually spread across Europe and, later, to Sun Valley.
For Hannes Schneider, the true seduction of skiing lay in the downhill run. His revolutionary teaching method transformed the ski turn, making the challenge of excessive downhill speed manageable through a systematic progression, beginning with the snowplow and culminating in the rotational parallel turn.
As a result, alpine touring, walking up the slopes to ski down, soon gained worldwide recognition. From the early 1920s until 1939, when Schneider was exiled from St. Anton under Nazi occupation, his Austrian instructors stood at the forefront of alpine instruction and competition.
Schneider’s principles spread rapidly, influencing nearly every ski school and resort in Austria and across Europe. Many of these institutions evolved into Hannes Schneider ski schools, carrying forward his legacy and cementing his role as one of the most influential figures in the history of alpine skiing.
Zdarsky in Lilenfeld Austria Above/ Ketchum Idaho Skies 1890 Below
Hannes Schneider
White Ecstasy / (The Ski Chase)
In 1931, Dr. Arnold Fanck’s film White Ecstasy (The Ski Chase) showcased the dramatic alpine scenery of St. Anton while featuring Hannes Schneider and his instructors performing alpine touring and ski‑jumping feats that remain spectacular even by today’s standards. Often regarded as the “extreme skiing film” of the 1930s, White Ecstasy revealed the remarkable expertise of the world’s best skiers and fueled a growing global fascination with downhill skiing.
Fanck’s pioneering work inspired a generation of American ski filmmakers, including Dick Barrymore and Warren Miller, both of whom began their careers on the slopes of Sun Valley. Following Fanck’s lead, Sun Valley’s third ski school director, Otto Lang, brought alpine skiing to Hollywood audiences with his filming of ski scenes in the 1941 movie classic Sun Valley Serenade.
By the early 1930s, alpine skiing had become so popular that it was even suggested as an event for the 1932 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. At that time, Austria’s alpine ski team included a remarkable roster of athletes: Rudi Matt (later Sun Valley’s assistant ski school director in 1952), Hans Hauser (Sun Valley’s ski school director from 1936–1938), Friedl Pfeifer (director from 1938–1947), Sigi Engl (director from 1953–1972), as well as Toni Seelos, Willi Walch, Leo Gasperel, and Guzzi Lantschner.
Despite the growing enthusiasm for downhill skiing, the 1932 Olympic Committee, still heavily influenced by Nordic traditions, restricted the skiing events to cross‑country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping. Alpine skiing would have to wait until the later Games to gain official recognition on the Olympic stage.
Upper Left Hitler at 1936 Garmisch Olympics / Lower Left Seelos at Garmisch Games.
Toni Seelos
Emile Allais
By the mid‑1930s, several of Hannes Schneider’s instructors crossed the Atlantic to the United States, establishing their own “Arlberg” ski schools, including the one at Sun Valley. Among them, Otto Lang founded the first official Hannes Schneider Ski School on the slopes of Mount Rainier, Washington, bringing Schneider’s revolutionary teaching methods directly to American skiers.
Alpine skiing’s popularity grew so rapidly during this period that by 1936 it was officially introduced as an event at the Winter Olympics in Garmisch, Germany. This marked a turning point in the sport’s history, elevating downhill skiing from a regional passion to a recognized global competition.
The 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen marked the historic debut of alpine skiing as an official Olympic event. At the same time, the Games became a stage for Nazi Germany to project its growing influence in international affairs. Seeking to consolidate control, the German‑dominated International Olympic Committee imposed a ban on ski instructors, classifying them as professionals and therefore ineligible to compete.
In protest, the Austrian government announced a boycott, withdrawing many of its leading athletes, including Friedl Pfeifer, Rudi Matt, Sigi Engl, Hans Hauser, and Toni Seelos. Yet Seelos’s immense popularity ensured his presence at the Games, though not as a competitor. Instead, he was appointed as a non‑competing slalom forerunner, a symbolic role that underscored both his influence and Austria’s absence.
Toni Seelos navigated the slow, winding Olympic course, deliberately designed to favor German competitors, with remarkable skill, finishing a full five seconds faster than Germany’s Franz Pfnur, who ultimately won the gold medal using traditional Arlberg stem turns. As expected, the Germans dominated the 1936 Games, claiming eight of the twelve alpine events.
Yet the French secured a breakthrough bronze medal through their rising star, Émile Allais, a devoted student of Seelos. Under Seelos’s guidance, Allais developed exceptional skiing abilities that later provided a compelling alternative to Hannes Schneider’s Arlberg Method in the post‑World War II era.
Seelos’s influence extended beyond Europe. He coached the 1936 U.S. Men’s Alpine Team and trained extensively at St. Anton alongside Friedl Pfeifer, who would later become the second director of Sun Valley’s Ski School.
Harriman with Franklin Delanor Roosevelt
Harriman with Churchill Stalin and Molotov
Harriman with Truman
Harriman with John F Kennedy
Harriman with Bobby Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson
In an era defined by spectacular alpine resorts, Hannes Schneider’s touring ski schools, and only a handful of ski lifts, the concept of an American destination ski resort began to take shape. It emerged in the mind of one of the era’s greatest visionaries, a man whom John F. Kennedy once described as “holding more important positions and transcending more pivotal epics of world events than any other figure in U.S. history.”
Beyond his privileged upbringing, Averell Harriman proved to be an extraordinary figure. In business, he was an international banker, an early aviation pioneer, a railroad executive, and the builder of America’s largest merchant fleet. He was also among the first Westerners to conduct large‑scale business in the Soviet Union.
Politically, Harriman served as Governor of New York and twice sought the Democratic presidential nomination. He advised every Democratic president from Franklin Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter, shaping policy across decades.
Diplomatically, Harriman played pivotal roles during World War II as Washington’s Lend‑Lease administrator in London and later as ambassador to Moscow. In the decades that followed, he remained central to American foreign policy: negotiating the neutralization of Laos, concluding a nuclear test ban treaty with Moscow, and leading the U.S. delegation in peace talks with North Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict.
Arlberg of Austria
Sun Valley's Alps
Sun Valley Alpine Tourist on Lake Creek Ridge
With so many accomplishments to his name, one might view Averell Harriman’s role in developing Sun Valley as a minor achievement. Yet Harriman combined vision with immense ambition and refused to settle for anything less than the best. When he turned his attention to creating a destination ski resort in the American West, it was destined to become a leader in global skiing culture.
Harriman’s interest in skiing grew during his years as an international banker in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when he witnessed firsthand the popularity of European resorts. He observed that colleagues often spent their winter holidays in the alpine destinations of Austria and Switzerland, cultivating a lifestyle that blended sport, leisure, and prestige.
Upon returning to the United States and assuming the role of chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad, Harriman quickly began exploring ways to strengthen the company’s position against its competitors. His solution was bold: to build a world‑class ski resort that would not only attract travelers but also redefine America’s place in the global skiing community.
Sun Valley's Ruud Mountain Chair
To the south, the Santa Fe Railroad promoted winter travel in the sun, while to the north the Canadian Pacific advertised the beauty of Banff and Lake Louise. In between, Union Pacific had no standout attraction to offer. Recalling the popularity of Europe’s destination ski resorts, Averell Harriman began to wonder if a similar success could be achieved in the American West.
Harriman’s familiarity with the region stretched back to 1909, when he worked with a Union Pacific surveying crew in Island Park and Victor, Idaho, gaining firsthand appreciation for the grandeur of the western mountains. Convinced of the idea’s potential, Harriman launched a determined search for a ski resort that could rival Europe’s finest.
With the assistance of his Austrian acquaintance, Count Felix Schaffgotsch, Harriman eventually selected a remote valley in central Idaho—an American counterpart to Austria’s St. Anton and Switzerland’s St. Moritz. Thus, the vision for Sun Valley was born, destined to become the nation’s first destination ski resort and a global icon of alpine culture.
World's First Chair Lift
With approval from the Union Pacific Board of Directors, Averell Harriman set out to build an American counterpart to St. Anton. Soon, a million‑dollar lodge and alpine village, Sun Valley, began to take shape. In 1936, however, ski transportation up mountains was still rare in both the United States and Europe. Aside from the occasional rope tow, J‑bar, or aerial tram (used mostly in summer), skiers typically climbed slopes on foot or on skis.
Just as he envisioned a luxury lodge, Harriman was determined to create a skiing experience in Idaho that could rival Europe’s finest resorts, and modern ski lifts would be central to that vision. Several methods of uphill transport were considered, but a design by young Union Pacific engineer Jim Curran captured the attention of both Charles Proctor, an early American ski pioneer who advised on Sun Valley’s first ski mountains, and Harriman himself.
By the summer of 1936, chairlifts were installed on Proctor and Dollar Mountains, followed the next year by another on Ruud Mountain’s ski‑jumping hill. Few at the time could have imagined how profoundly the chairlift would transform alpine skiing and ski instruction, revolutionizing access to the slopes and redefining the sport’s future.
Dollar Mountain Chair
Top Proctor Mountain Chair
Dollar Mountain Chair
Proctor Mountain Chair
To complement Harriman’s grand ski-lifts, a ski school was quickly established—an Austrian school steeped in Hannes Schneider’s world-famous Arlberg Technique. As Adolf Hitler’s Nazi aggression spread across Europe, many of Austria’s and Europe’s finest Alpine skiers fled to the United States. By 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, nearly all of Europe’s destination ski resorts had closed.
Sun Valley became a refuge for this extraordinary talent. Among those who arrived were Hans Hauser (Sun Valley’s first Ski School Director), Friedl Pfeifer, Sigi Engl, Toni Matt, Rudi Matt, Fred Iselin, Otto Lang, Andy Hennig, Florian Haemmerle, Sep Froehlich, and Victor Gottschalk.
Europe’s loss was Harriman’s gain. By attracting this “runaway” talent to Idaho’s slopes, he transformed Sun Valley into the world’s premier alternative for an authentic Arlberg ski lesson.
Hans Hauser
Friedle Pfeifer
Fred Iselin
Florian Haemmerle
Toni Matt
Rudi Matt
Sep Froehlich and Andy Hennig
Sep Froehlich
Otto Lang
Victor Gottschalk
Harriman’s vision for Sun Valley was ambitious, but not without gaps. Determined to recreate the feel of Europe’s finest resorts, he introduced the popular sport of Alpine Touring between 1937 and 1940. During these summers, high mountain hostels were built in the nearby Pioneer and Smoky Mountains, with sites selected by Alf Engen (Utah’s Wasatch Mountain guide) and Charles Proctor (an early Eastern ski pioneer).
True to Harriman’s spirit of innovation, Sun Valley’s ski school soon carved out a unique place in American skiing history. Alpine touring specialists Andy Hennig and Florian Haemmerle joined the staff, strengthening the program. Their influence was already felt in the winter of 1936–37, when Sun Valley hosted America’s first international alpine competition.
Following the example of Europe’s great resorts, Harriman launched his own race: the Harriman Cup. In March 1937, the event drew the world’s best skiers to Sun Valley. The race was held on an unnamed peak in the Boulder Mountains, just north of today’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area. This site, without lift service, was chosen over Proctor and Dollar Mountains because it offered the vertical drop needed for a true European-style downhill. (Baldy had not yet been developed.)
The course was formidable: a 3.5‑mile run with a 4,000‑foot vertical drop from a 10,500‑foot summit. Ski legends Walter Prager, Alf Engen, and Charles Proctor declared the 1937–38 Harriman Cup downhill to be the longest and most challenging course in the world.
Pioneer Cabin Present Day
Pioneer Cabin 1948
Dick Durrance and the Harriman Cup
Dick Durrance finishing his 4,200 vertical decent
To reach the starting line, competitors had to climb the snow-covered slope, either skiing or walking their way up. Sun Valley’s first ski school director, Hans Hauser, was the favorite to win. Yet when the times were tallied, victory went to former Dartmouth ski team member Dick Durrance.
Durrance went on to win the Harriman Cup two more times, in 1938 and 1940, becoming the first racer to retire the trophy. In recognition of his achievements, the mountain that hosted the inaugural Harriman Cup was named Durrance Mountain in the winter of 1938.
Meanwhile, change was on the horizon for Sun Valley’s ski school. Soon after, Hannes Schneider’s top instructor, Friedl Pfeifer, arrived to take the reins as the resort’s second ski school director.
During his ten years at St. Anton, Friedl Pfeifer rose to become one of Hannes Schneider’s top instructors and one of Europe’s finest racers. In the late 1930s, he won the Grand Prix de Paris and the Gross Glockner Championships three times, and twice earned honors in international races at Sestriere, Italy. In 1936, he captured the combined downhill/slalom title at the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar.
Like his mentor Schneider, Pfeifer fled Austria in 1938, just one week after the Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of Austria), to avoid conscription into the German army. His journey eventually brought him to Sun Valley later that year, by way of Australia.
Upon arrival, Pfeifer coached the U.S. Women’s Olympic Ski Team and raced on behalf of the new resort. By the fall of 1939, at Harriman’s request, he assumed leadership of Sun Valley’s alpine ski school, cementing his role in shaping American skiing history.
Schneider and Pfeifer
Hans Hauser
Sun Valley remained the world’s premier alternative for alpine skiing vacations until the winter of 1942, when its slopes and facilities were converted into a naval rehabilitation center during the Second World War.
Nearly all of Sun Valley’s skiing talent enlisted with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, serving as instructors and guides. While most joined voluntarily, some of the Austrian skiers, known for being outspoken, were compelled into service through more forceful measures.
Friedl Pfeifer
In December 1941, the FBI arrived in the small community of Sun Valley–Ketchum searching for German spies. They left with three arrests: Friedl Pfeifer, Hans Hauser, and Sepp Froehlich, all suspected of being Nazi informants. The men were taken to Salt Lake City for interrogation.
With Pfeifer’s sudden departure as ski school director, another of Hannes Schneider’s top instructors, Otto Lang, briefly stepped in to lead the school until Sun Valley closed for the war effort in 1942.
Eventually, authorities determined that these three outspoken members of Sun Valley’s ski school posed no real threat to national security. Each was given a choice: serve in the U.S. Army or face internment in North Dakota. Pfeifer and Froehlich joined the Army’s elite 10th Mountain Division, while Hauser, less fortunate, chose internment.
During the war, Friedl Pfeifer served with the 10th Mountain Division’s Reconnaissance Troops in Colorado. On several occasions, he visited the small mining town of Aspen and was immediately struck by its resemblance to his beloved St. Anton. Pfeifer vowed to return once the war ended.
True to his word, he came back to Colorado and organized a new Aspen Ski School, working alongside former Sun Valley instructor and 10th Mountain colleague John Litchfield and Percy Redeout. Aspen’s slopes opened to the public in the winter of 1945–46, though with only modest success.
The following winter, Pfeifer’s responsibilities grew dramatically. In addition to directing Aspen’s ski school, he was asked to co-direct Sun Valley’s skiing operations with Otto Lang for the resort’s post-war reopening. With the safe return of most of Pfeifer’s instructors from military service, Sun Valley quickly regained its position as the leading authority in American skiing.
Sun Valley's 1946 Ski School
With the Nazi surrender, Russian and American troops assumed control over much of Germany’s economic life, while France occupied Austria and its ski resorts. Quickly, the French emerged as Europe’s new skiing powerhouse. They introduced modifications to Hannes Schneider’s famed Arlberg Technique and soon dominated the reactivated European racing circuits.
Between 1946 and 1948, Austria, having lost much of its skiing talent to the war and to resorts in the United States, could do little to resist France’s rise as Europe’s alpine skiing leader. While French techniques advanced, the ski school at St. Anton struggled to recapture its former glory. Under the guidance of Rudi Matt, Schneider’s former head instructor, efforts were made to re‑establish an Arlberg presence, but the school remained only a shadow of its golden years.
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