. ski history : Ye Olde Brief History of Skiing in Cham - 16 November 2003 - 21:53
-200 millon years. Alps are formed through tectonic processes...
1896. A native of Chamonix whose name varies depending on who is telling the story (a Tairraz, Couttet, Simond or Charlet?) brought down the first pair of skis to the valley. Everybody was a bit sceptical on the use of the wooden planks...
1902. Dr. Michel Payot, fed up with wading through knee-deep snow, adopts skis. It is he who makes this unusual mode of transport popular in the valley, and increases its credibility by creating the "Club des Sports" in 1905.
1903. The inevitable Dr. Payot and the guide Joseph Ravanel Le Rouge, complete the first important ski trek in the range between Chamonix and Zermatt. Their continuing mission: to ski where no man has skied before!
1908. Chamonix hosts the 2nd international competition and with it gives birth to its second vocation. Driven by sportsmen such as Alfred Couttet and by the hoteliers, this summer resort will do all in its power to be amongst the best winter sports resorts.
1924. Chamonix hosts the first Winter Olympics, which mobilise the whole valley. 16 nations, 300 competitors, 6 disciplines, 30 000 spectators, 90 journalists, a whole host of scares and a wealth of enthusiasm for the competition which is covered worldwide. But the local athletes lack the training of their nordic counterparts and have to make do with bronze medals.
1937. Chamonix hosts the first Winter Olympics, which mobilise the whole valley. 16 nations, 300 competitors, 6 disciplines, 30 000 spectators, 90 journalists, a whole host of scares and a wealth of enthusiasm for the competition which is covered worldwide. But the local athletes lack the training of their nordic counterparts and have to make do with bronze medals.
1938. James Couttet, a true native of Chamonix carries off the World Downhill Championships at Eldenberg. At 16, this is the start of one of the longest careers in skiing. Three times victorious in the Kandahar, 17 times French Champion, leader of the French Team at the Saint-Moritz Winter Olympics, in which most of the team is from Cham! Throughout the different disiplines, 12 competitors hail from Chamonix.
1948. Chamonix hosts for the first time the Alberg Kandahar, the oldest international downhill competition. Created initially in 1911, it owes its success to the determination of an Englishman, Arnold Lunn and its name to an English Fieldmarshall. The event is now held each year in either Chamonix, Saint-Anton or Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The next time it will be held in Chamonix is in the year 2000.
1954. Lucienne Smith-Couttet is victorious in the giant slalom world championships. She is the first French woman to gain a victory in this discipline.
1962. The World Championships are held just a stone's sthrow a away from the birthplace of Charles Bozon who takes the major titles in the competition. A mountain guide by trade, he was to lose his life in 1964 in an avalanche. A road in Perpignan bears his name and a trail from the summit of the Brevent. Since that date, Chamonix has no longer hosted international alpine ski competitions apart from the Kandahar.
1981. I start learning how to ski in Chamonix. The city will never be the same!
1997. After twenty years, the Chamoniards are once again on top of the world. Karine Ruby's victory in the Nagano Olympics shows that once again in emerging disciplines (as in their times, the skiers), Chamonix's sportsmen and women lead the way.
2024. Due do global warming, most of the snow is now gone, and skiing is only possible once a year...
Altered Cheesy text from the Chamonix Magazine [xt] ski