Arlberg Technique - History

History

Hannes Schneider took a job as a ski instructor at the Hotel Post in Sankt Anton am Arlberg in Austria in 1907. He started developing various modifications to current ski techniques during this time, and the Arlberg technique developed through this process. During World War I he used the technique to train the Austria’s alpine troops, and fought with the Austrian army in Russia and on the Italian front. With the ending of the war, he returned to Hotel Post and continued to develop the Arlberg technique.

In 1921 the German filmmaker Arnold Fanck visited Arlberg and produced the world's first instructional ski film, Das Wunder des Schneeschuhs. This introduced the Arlberg technique to the world, and it was quickly taken up by ski schools. A follow-up film in 1931, Der weiße Rausch – neue Wunder des Schneeschuhs, followed the tribulations of two friends who travel to Arlberg to learn how to ski. This film was produced along with an instructional book, which was featured in the film. Stills from the film were also used to illustrate the book.

Schneider travelled to the United States in 1936 to demonstrate his techniques at a winter sports show in the Boston Garden. The demonstrations were held on a wooden slide that was covered with shaved ice. He repeated these demonstrations Madison Square Garden two weeks later. The techniques were soon taken up by US instructors.

Schneider was jailed during the Anschluss, but his US contacts led to his freedom. These efforts were led by Harvey Dow Gibson, president of the Manufacturer's Trust. Gibson had started the Cranmore Mountain Resort, a ski resort in his home town of North Conway, New Hampshire. Carol Reed ran a ski school in the town (at the time, schools and rentals were often 3rd party services, as opposed to being owned by the resort itself) and had hired one of Schneider's students to run it, Benno Rybizka.

Gibson bought the school from Reed, moving Reed to a newly formed Saks Fifth Avenue Ski Shop. He then wrote to the German Minister of Finance, Hjalmar Schacht, requesting that Schneider be freed to take the now-vacant lead instructor position. Schancht agreed, and Schneider arrived in the US in 1939. He continued to teach the Arlberg technique personally, while also introducing it at schools across the country.