A British History of Skiing

Regulations issued by the Norwegian Army for prizes in regimental ski races in four classes, the precursors of the modern biathlon, slalom, downhill and cross-country. These were aligned with some manuscripts published two years earlier which had also included a terrain jump, carrying a rifle, as a sporting discipline.

The first recorded ski race takes place in Tromsø, Norway over a 5km course and was won by a Lapp in 29 minutes. Skiing was long established at this time in rural Scandinavia as a form of transportation and in the military.

The world's first mountaineering club, the Alpine Club founded at Ashleys Hotel, London, on December 22nd to promote the exploration of the Alps, at that time exclusively a summer activity. Many luminaries of the early years of the Ski Club of Great Britain were also keen ski mountaineers and members of the Alpine Club.

The first ski club in the world, the Trysil Skytte og Skiløberforening (Trysil Shooting and Ski Club), is founded in Norway in 1861.

Johannes Badrutt established winter holidays in St Moritz, Switzerland, targeting the English upper class who had formed the majority of summer tourists. Within a decade the winter season was busier than the summer. Subsequently Davos and Grindelwald also opened hotels over the winter season and guests would ice skate, toboggan and - towards the end of the century - begin to practice ski running (as skiing was then termed).

Sondre Norheim introduces the Telemark ski, which first introduces the concept of edging as opposed to sliding.

The Davos Tobogganing Club formed with Addington Symonds, the literary critic, Davos resident and author of Our Life in the Swiss Highlands, as President.

The Cresta run established in St Moritz and a competition with Davos organised, which Davos won. As Arnold Lunn would later say Whenever the British appear the organisation of sport begins.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes in the Strand magazine that Ski-ing opens up a field of sport which is, I think unique. I am convicted that the time will come when hundreds of Englishmen will come to Switzerland for the ski-ing season.

Henry Lunn organises an exploratory winter sports tour to Chamonix.

The Ski Club of Great Britain (SCGB) is founded on 6 May 1903 during a dinner at the Hotel Café Royal in London attended by 14 men (although women were not excluded from membership). E.C. Richardson was appointed the first Club Secretary with E. Syers and E.H. Wroughton constituting the first committee. The first rules of the Club were modelled on those of the Figure Skating Club, with which Syers was connected.

First winter sports package holiday organised by Henry Lunn, the father of Arnold Lunn, in Adelboden, Switzerland, largely targeting ex-pupils of elite English schools.

In January the first British ski race took place in Adelboden, subsequently known as the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club Challenge Cup, awarded on the combined result of a Nordic ski race, a skating competition and a toboggan race.

Davos English Ski Club and Davos Ski Club founded. In December a presentation at the Davos English Ski Club proposes the format of a ski test.

Ski Running, by David M. M. Chrichton Somerville and Willi Rickmer Rickmers and Ernest Cushing Richardson is published, dedicated to the SCGB. The book was to go through many editions in subsequent years and provides the first comprehensive English-language guide to skiing.

Identifying itself as, in effect, the sport's governing body, SCGB creates different classes of ski tests and qualification and allows other ski clubs to affiliate to the SCGB and receive benefits such as representation at annual general meetings and appointment as judges for SCGB ski tests. The tests established by the SCGB included a Third Class Test, and both Second and First Class tests in either ski-running or touring on a range of snow conditions. The tests were not compulsory for members of the Club, but roughly a quarter of the membership took at least the Third Class Test and with it earned the right to sport a tie or badge associated with their level of achievement. Participation in ski tours organised by the Club could also be contingent on a proven level of proficiency.

The Public Schools Alpine Sports Club was established by Henry Lunn with the purpose of reserving hotels for the use of people with public school, military or university backgrounds. After success in Adelboden, the Club exclusively reserved, or bought, entire hotels for the winter season in a dozen other Swiss villages. Although presented as a club, the organisation was, to all intents and purposes, a travel agency for well-heeled skiers.

The Year Book of the Ski Club of Great Britain first published and edited by E Wroughton (later E.C. Richardson), a predecessor publication to the long running British Ski Year Book. The Club organises dinners and lectures and establishes a library.

SCGB has 121 individual members, 30% of the male members were reverends and 44% were in the military. 16 members were able to issue test badges in Adelboden, Davos or St Moritz.

SCGB Snow Agents first report ski conditions from around the UK during the winter season. At this time the Year Book listed ski opportunities in Derbyshire, the Pennines, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and Scotland alongside those on the Continent.

The first Ski Show took place at the Crystal Palace, London.

The Scottish Ski Club (SSC) was founded. Just 50 people in Scotland were known to own a pair of skis and all were invited to join the new club. Fourteen men attended the inaugural meeting, including Dr Bruce, a scientist who lived in the observatory on Ben Nevis and used his skis to go up and down to Fort William.

First mountain cableway in the world opens on the Wetterhorn above Grindelwald.

The Alpine Ski Club created on 7th March to enable active ski mountaineers to exchange information and plan expeditions.

Vivian Caulfeild, a distinguished member of the SCGB and future recipient of the Pery Award, publishes the influential How to Ski. He denounced the use of a single pole for turning and instead promoted the shifting of weight from one ski to the other to turn. He notes that Whatever may be the reason, the fact remains that the average British skier has little or no idea of the superiority of good running to bad.

SCGB opens first club house at Caxton House, Westminster.

Sir Henry Lunn, knighted in 1910, incorporates the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club under the control of Alpine Sports Ltd which in subsequent years became Sir Henry Lunn Travel then, after a merger, Lunn Poly. At its peak, the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club, sent over 5000 skiers a year to the Alps.

Women forbidden from becoming committee members of SCGB and were to make up no more than 20% of membership, leading to dissent and soon, fragmentation of the UK ski community.

Winter resident Englishmen had informally reported snow conditions back to the SCGB from Grindelwald, Davos, and St. Moritz since the formation of the club. This became formalised in 1910 with the list expanded to thirteen villages supplying weekly snow reports for publication in the Times. The service was extended to the Morning Post in the 1925 and the Daily Telegraph in 1934

The first organisation dedicated to managing ski racing, the the International Ski Commission (CIS), was agreed on February 18, in Christiania (Oslo), Norway by delegates from ten countries at the first International Ski Congress.

Henry Lunn convinced the Lauterbrunnen-­Mürren railway authorities to run the mountain train during the winter season of 1910–11, providing convenient winter access to Mürren. The focus of SCGB activities in the Jungfrau shifts from Grindelwald to Mürren and specifically the Palace Hotel, owned by Henry Lunn's company, where Arnold Lunn takes residence.

Inaugural Roberts of Kandahar Challenge Cup held in Montana, named after the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club vice-president but organised under the auspices of the SCGB. In subsequent years the race takes place in Mürren. At this time racing included a combination of unprepared uphill, downhill and level ski terrain.

First issue of the SCGB Ski Notes and Queries published. Distinct from the Year Book, this publication was to be published three times a year with practical information and member participation.

Kandahah Challenge Cup relocates to Mürren.

The Roberts of Kandahar Ski Challenge Cup relocates to Wengen. By 1927 it is known as the Lauberhorn Ski Cup after the mountain it is run on.

In an article in the Ski Club Year Book, E.C. Richardson provoked controversy in an article on the emerging fashion for slalom races, which are characterised by a small number of gates and are judged entirely on speed, as opposed to traditional Nordic races which are judged on both speed and style.

Following the controversies within the SCGB, the National Ski Union and the British Ski Associations emerge as rivals to the Club, the latter under the auspices of Sir Henry Lunn.

Hannes Schneider uses the stem-Christiania turn in the Austrian Nordic-style national ski championships. The Arlberg technique, or Arlberg Crouch, became a fundamental difference in Alpine ski techniques from Nordic.

The Alpine Ski Club Guide, the first ski guide to the Alps, is published.

The SCGB provides ski test centres in Murren, Wengen, Saanemoser, Adelboden, Morgins, Davos, Lenzerheide, Pontresina and Villars. A total of 53 tests are undertaken.

First official Ski Championship of Great Britain held in Saanenmöser, Switzerland

Of the 5,432 members of the SCGB at the time of the outbreak of WW1, 1390 had been to one or other of 6 elite public schools, 847 were military officers,179 were clergy, 57 were MPs and 311 had titles.

Federal Council of British Ski Clubs was set up with representatives of the Ski Club of Great Britain, the National Ski Union, the British Ski Association, the Scottish Ski Club, the North of England Ski Club and the Davos English Ski Club. The Federal Council assumed responsibility for the establishment and holding of skiing tests, the appointment of test judges, representation at international congresses, the holding of British Ski Championships and the determination of questions relating to amateur and professional status in skiing.

SCGB operations suspended during WW1.

SCGB based at 36 Victoria Street, London

After a break, following WW1, the first issue of a new series of the SCGB's The British Ski Year Book published, amalgamating several pre-war publications and edited by Arnold Lunn for the next 52 years.

Hannes Schneider starts the Ski School Arlberg in St Anton using approaches to instruction that he had learned during his military service in WW1 and pioneered the model for the modern ski school. Initially Arnold Lunn and Schneider shared an antipathy towards each other, Schneider seeing technique as an end in itself, Lunn seeing it as a means to an end. In addition, Schneider did not teach the Telemark turn, which Lunn saw as an essential technique in soft snow. but Lunn acquiesced in its decline to enlist Schneider's support in establishing slalom and downhill as the pre-eminent ski competition formats and the rivals ended as friends. Schneider was an ardent anti-Nazi and, after being imprisoned, relocated to the USA in 1939 where he continued to teach until his death in 1955.

First British Ski Championships to include a Downhill ski race alongside the traditional style competition, Wengen on 6-7 January 1921. Rules for Downhill published in the British Ski Year Book.

Arnold Lunn inaugurates the first modern slalom, using multiple gates, in Mürren on 6th January. “A fast, ugly turn is better than a slow pretty turn,” was Lunn’s dictum. Rules for the new slalom were agreed and documented in the 2023 Year Book of the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club.

The informal provision of SCGB ski reps is formalised, with an increased representation and specific duties assigned to reps to assist members enter tests, to liaise in the provision of guides and instructors and to arrange beginners' courses and tours. A committee representative based in Switzerland will visit local reps to provide a link with the SCGB Committee in London.

National Ski Union absorbed into the Ski Club of Great Britain

Ladies Ski Club formed in Mürren, followed by the formation of the Swiss Schweizerische Damen Ski Club.

Air Commodore Hugh Dowding (Later Air Chief Marshal, The Lord Dowding) appointed President. In the early years of the SCGB, the committees of the club were dominated by members of the Armed Services.

SCGB based at 4 Charles St, London

International Winter Sports Week, Chamonix. Later recognised as first Winter Olympic Games, the only ski events permitted were the traditional Nordic disciplines of Langlauf and Jumping.

SCGB are founding member of FIS in Chamonix, represented by Arnold Lunn. The FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) was founded on 2nd February during International Winter Sports Week by delegates from 14 countries in order to manage Nordic ski racing internationally, replacing the predecessor organisation, CIS.

The Kandahar Ski Club founded in Mürren by Arnold Lunn, in what is now his winter residence and the headquarters of his father's travel agency, the Public Schools Alpine Ski Club. The Club still exists today with a club house in Mürren and over 1500 members.

The Parsenn-Derby was founded by SCGB member, Fred W. Edlin, and organised by the Ski Club Davos (which still exists) and the Davos English Ski Club. The race was initially from Parsennfurka to Küblis but now starts at Weissfluhjoch and runs to Erezäss.

The Eagle Ski Club is founded in the Maloja Palace Hotel in Maloja, Switzerland to organise ski touring and ski mountaineering activities. The club had previously been the Maloja Ski Cub, but local terrain lent itself more to touring. The owner of the hotel was Henry Lunns’ holding company, Alpine Sports Ltd.

Amalgamation of the Ski Club of Great Britain and the British Ski Association, eliminating the need for the Federal Council of British Ski Clubs.

E.C. Pery, the Earl of Limerick, and later a decorated war hero is President of the SCGB (until 1927).

Downhill Only Club founded in Wengen on 7th Feb, affiliated with SCGB, to hold tests and provide an official rep in Wengen

The first international ski race took place on January 11th in Mürren between a team representing the Federal Council of British Ski Clubs and the Swiss Universities team. Switzerland won by 33 points to 17. Skiing was increasingly being adopted by the people of the Alpine nations and many were learning to ski almost as soon as they could walk. British skiers would never again be able to compete consistently with Alpine natives.

SCGB based at Chandos House, London. The Club library is reportedly in a deplorable condition.

Formation of Ski Club of India, affiliated to SCGB

SCGB reps in 28 resorts in Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

From May, Imperial Airways operate flights from London Croydon to Zurich, via Paris and Basle. A return flight is £15/15/-. Although scheduled flights by Imperial and subsequently Swissair are promoted to winter tourists, it is not until after WW2 that flights, and particularly charter flights, overtake trains as the dominant means of transport for Britons to visit the Alps.

The first skis with metal edges are marketed by the Austrian skier, Rudolf Lettner, enabling skis to edge on steep or icy slopes.

Winter Arrangements Committee set up to deal with the SCGB’s overseas activities

It was agreed to open the Hotel Viktoria, Zermatt, in Winter 1927/8 for the first time. In this context, the Visp-Zermatt Railway agreed to transport guests from Visp to St Niklaus. On New Years eve, 1927, 50 horse sleighs carried 180 English visitors from St Niklaus to wintry Zermatt. This first, though short, winter season was a huge success and represented the beginning of Zermatt winter tourism

Gerald Seligman, SCGB President from 1927-1929, was a notable glaciologist, and latterly founder of the International Glaciological Society and the Journal of Glaciology.

Arnold Lunn and Hannes Schneider join forces via the Kandahar Ski Club and the Ski Club Arlberg to organise the Arlberg-Kandahar race in St Anton. The slalom and downhill events constituted the first alpine combined events in the history of alpine racing with 45 racers from Austria, Switzerland, the UK and USA. The success of the race was to influence the FIS in the adoption of slalom and downhill. Until the introduction of the FIS World Cup in 1967, the A-K races were the most important alpine ski race oudside of the Winter Olympics and the World Championships. The A-K continues to be part of the FIS World Cup.

Inaugural, largely downhill, Inferno Race held in Mürren and organised by Arnold Lunn on 29th January with 17 competitors. Today it is held with 1450 amateur racers, with places in the race highly sought after.

Arnold Lunn appointed President of SCGB

The SCGB sends its first official representatives to the Alps, following several years of unofficial repping. The custom was for local hotels to provide free lodging on the back of the many bookings they received from English skiers, but for most other expenses the reps were not recompensed. Typically, the reps comprised either Local Administration Representatives (LARs), who focussed on membership and administrative activities, and Local Technical Representatives (LTRs), who focussed on proficiency tests. LARs and LTRs were also often also Judges, in respect of adjudicating tests up to one level or another. The tests included a Third Class Test, and both Second and First Class tests in either ski-running or touring. Although the Ski Club had been instrumental in establishing Downhill and Slalom racing, the ski tests concentrated more on technique than speed, with tests conducted on a range of snow conditions. The tests were not compulsory for members of the Club, but roughly a quarter of the membership took at least the Third Class Test and with it earned the right to sport a tie or badge associated with their level of achievement. Participation in ski tours organised by the Club could also be contingent on a proven level of proficiency.

International Ski Federation (FIS) provisionally approved the British rules for downhill and slalom presented by Arnold Lunn at a congress meeting in Oslo, despite the hostility of the host nation.

Arnold Lunn initiates the Arlberg-Kandahar in Austria, the oldest open competition solely based on Downhill and Slalom

Winter Olympic Games held at St Moritz. Nordic events only are permitted.

The first conveyances designed specifically for skiers are a funicular railway up Corviglia above St Moritz and a cable car in Engelberg.

In a sensation at the Zakopane FIS World Championship, two English women participated in the otherwise men-only 60 strong field. Doreen Elliott came 14th and Audrey Sale-Barker, later Countess of Selkirk, came 15th.

The first effective downhill binding is invented by Guido Reuge in Switzerland. It became known as the Kandahar, after the race of the same name.

SCGB move to 14 Great Smith Street, London with room for more staff and members, and the provision of a library.

Membership of SCGB is 4,070

In its inaugural year, the Pery Medal is awarded by E.C. Pery, the Earl of Limerick, to Arnold Lunn. The Pery Medal is now awarded by the SCGB to skiers of any nationality for outstanding achievement in any branch of skiing and recipients include E.C. Richardson, Audrey Sale-Barker, Jimmy Palmer-Tomkinson, Jimmy Riddell, Martin Bell, Franz Klammer, Hermann Maier and Dave Ryding.

Despite the opposition of the Scandinavian nations, Arnold Lunn persuaded FIS to adopt the SCGB rules for Downhill and Slalom racing, fundamentally changing the focus of ski sports from those associated with Nordic disciplines to those associated with Alpine disciplines. Arnold Lunn characterised this as the end of the Gothic or Golden Age of skiing, in which British skiers had enjoyed a dominate role in snow sports and a spirit of amateur enthusiasm had characterised the sport.

Sestriere opens in italy as the world's first purpose-built ski resort.

The Parsenn Funicular Railway opens in December 1931 in Davos, providing access to the Weissfluhjoch ski area and representing the first train designed specifically for skiers.

Inspired by the Arlsberg-Kandahar, the Hahnenkamm Race in Kitzbühel is run for the first time.

Sir Henry Lunn charters the first winter sports holiday flight.

The FIS held their first international Alpine races in Mürren, organised by the SCGB. Both the men's slalom and downhill were won by Swiss racers; Esmé McKinnon won both of the ladies' races.

Although the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid do not include downhill or slalom, Arnold Lunn persuades the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include the sports in the following Olympics, to be held in Germany.

Erna Low places an advertisement in the Morning Post. 'Winter Sports – Austria, fortnight, £15 only, including rail and hotel, arranged by young Viennese Graduette for young people leaving Christmas.' Erna Low Travel Service becomes one of the leading UK providers of all-inclusive ski packages.

France opens its inaugural ski cable car, the Rochebrune cable car at Megève.

First tow lift installed, at Davos (although a previous lift had been briefly operating in the Black Forest, Germany).

Walter Ingham launches his first 'Christmas Party Ski Holiday' to Austria to the British public. By 1936 Ingham had begun to organise ski holidays to France as well as Austria. The travel agency since 1963 has been part of the Hotelplan organisation.

Bjørn Ullevoldsæter patents the first composite ski, the method of construction to be used in all subsequent ski design and manufacture.

SCGB based at 3 Hobart Place, London. The club house had a cocktail bar and a restaurant, as well as housing the library, meeting rooms and administrative offices.

Downhill and slalom are included in the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and women are allowed to participate, for the first time. Controversy at the Games surrounded the status of amateur participation, and whether ski instructors or people who had competed as amateurs in professional races could be considered amateur, a requirement for Olympic participation. Although the SCGB considered ski instructors as professionals, which the IOC did not, the Club view was that competitions should be open to both amateur and professional skiers and the bigger distinction was between skiers brought up in the mountains and those who were not.

SCGB has 6000 individual members and 42 affiliated clubs, many of which were based in countries within the Empire.

Sun Valley Ski Resort in the USA opens, introducing many innovations including a chairlift and groomed runs using tractors with rollers on their trailers.

Citadin (French for townsman) races were designed by Arnold Lunn specifically to exclude skiers who grew up in the mountains. The first one was the Duke of Kent Cup, on 9th January held in Mürren. The format has proved popular and has been adopted in various countries and a Citadin committee is now part of the FIS Committee for Racers with Special Qualifications.

The British Ski Jumping Club and the British Langlauf Club were wound up and their respective functions and assets transferred to the SCGB.

Membership of SCGB is 7079, an increase of 918 over the previous year and 493 over the year before that.

The Council of the Swiss National Ski Schools in conjunction with the Swiss Federal Railways hold ski classes afternoon and evenings from October 17 until December 17th in Lilywhites store on Brompton Road, London.

Sir Henry Lunn, pioneer of winter package holidays, and E.H. Wroughton, founding committee member of the SCGB, die.

Austria is closed to British skiers in the 1938/9 season but severe cold weather and heavy snowfalls in southern England during December brought crowds of skiers out on Hampstead Heath and Richmond Hill.

WW2 brought to an end an era that Arnold Lunn described as the Silver Age of Skiing. From 1939 normal SCGB activities were postponed and a small Emergency committee established. The members room and library continued to be available for use until they were bombed. Although Ski Notes & Queries was not published after October 1939 until hostilities ended, the Year Book continued to be published throughout the war and found its way to the 5th Army in the desert and to prisoners of war in Changi jail. Distinguished members of the SCGB in WW2 include Lord Dowding, Viscount Wavell, Viscount Montgomery and Viscount Alexander. Geoffrey Keyes VC and Geoffrey Appleyard DSO gave their lives in the conflict, the latter having been the last pre-war winner of the Roberts of Kandahar race. Roger Bushell, who was executed for escaping Stalag Luft III, once had a black run at St Moritz named after him for setting the fastest descent of the slope at the time. Prince George, the Duke of Kent, was the first patron of the Kandahar Ski Club and sponsor of both the Duke of Kent Cup and the associated Kent Qualification. He died on active service in 1942 in a flying accident.

With war almost over, the SCGB Year Book for 1944 is full of adverts from Swiss establishments welcoming back British winter tourists, although stranded service personnel and expatriates kept the SCGB activities running throughout the war. During winter 1943/4 Major How and Lt Boyle awarded 12 second class and 255 third class badges.

In February, the SCGB organised the downhill “Gornergrat Derby”. The men’s downhill run started from the Gornergrat, close to the Gornergrat Railway station; the ladies' run from the Riffelberg. The race was discontinued in 1967.

SCGB member, Donald Gomme develops the Gomme ski, the first ski with a metal (aluminium) layer. It was to perform badly at the 1948 Olympics and was discontinued.

Arnold Lunn resigns from FIS Council and Doreen Elliot a member of the FIS Ladies' Committee follows suit, in protest at Russian political manipulation of FIS. The SCGB declined to send replacements and did not do so again until 1951.

SCGB Membership 9500, rising from 7800 the previous year. Annual subscription rises from ten shillings to a pound. The club introduces a charter air service to Zurich for the winter season.

On 24th March, 52,000 spectators crowded Hampstead Heath to watch a floodlit ski-jumping competition, organised by the Oslo Ski Association.

In a letter to the Times, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein decries the move away from ski mastery involving varied technique on many terrains towards the decadence of fast skiing on prepared pistes, commending the SCGB for resisting this trend.

In the 1951/2 season, the SCGB Members Handbook Supplement identifies the following resorts with at least one Club Representative: Switzerland: Adelboden, Andermatt, Arosa, Champéry, Chateau D’Oex, Crans, Davos, Engelberg, Grindelwald, Gstaad, Kandersteg, Klosters, Lenk, Lenzerheide, Morgins, Mürren, St Cergue, St Moritz, Scheidegg, Villars, Wengen and Zermatt; Austria: Bad Gastein, Igls, Kitzbühel, Saalbackh and Zell-am-See; France; Megeve, Meribel and Val d’Isere; Italy: Cortina, Selva and Sestriere.

The SCGB moves to 118 Eaton Square, London, the home of the Club until 1996. The imposing four floor building had a restaurant, a bar, several receptions, the SCGB library and numerous meeting rooms alongside three floors of offices.

Arnold Lunn knighted for services to British skiing and Anglo-Swiss relations.

SCGB membership over 14,000, growing from 12,500 the previous year.

Glencoe Mountain Resort becomes the first commercial ski area in Scotland.

Bob Lange makes the first plastic boot, opening the way towards standardised bindings.

Snow groomers used for the first time at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, USA.

Reps were present in the following resorts: Villars, Seefeld, Zermatt, Kitzbühel, Mürren, St Anton, Geilo, Lillehammer, Zweisimmen, Zurs, Wengen, St Moritz, Saanenmoser, Morgins, Meribel, Melchsee-Frutt, Lenzerheide, Lenk, Klosters, Kleine Scheidegg, Igls, Gstaad, Grindelwald, EngelbergDavos, Chateau D'Oex, Champéry, Arosa, Andermatt and Adelboden.

Pery Medal winner, James Riddell and his wife, Jeanette, publish Ski Holidays in the Alps, a Penguin paperback providing the growing British ski market the first comprehensive guide to all the significant ski resorts in the Alps. The Riddells visited over 250 resorts and skied an estimated 5000 miles over 4 seasons whilst researching the book.

Vail opens as the first of a new generation of purpose-built ski resorts in North America.

In his book “The Englishman on Ski”, published in 1963, Sir Arnold Lunn reflects “In my youth British skiers were mainly recruited from old school tie strata, but as a result of the redistribution of incomes far more of our countrymen can afford a winter sports holiday and far fewer can afford to spend many weeks on the snow.”

The first SCGB Learner Rep's Course was held in St Anton 10th-21st December. There were 34 aspiring Club Reps and 60 travel agent reps, most numerously Inghams.

The British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI) established with a headquarters in Grantown-on-Spey to provide training and licensing of snowsport instructors and coaches.

National Ski Federation of Great Britain (now GB Snowsport) established with responsibility for national and international competitive skiing, promotion of the sport and representation of the sport to statutory bodies both in Britain and abroad. The NSF argued it should take over responsibility for British Ski Tests and with it the Ski Club reps. The debate led to acrimony and heated debate, but the Ski Club prevailed in continuing to run the British Ski Tests and retain the network of reps.

British Ski Racing, Artificial Slopes and Ski Instruction Committees of SCGB were abolished and absorbed by National Ski Federation of Great Britain

Rossignol releases its first fibreglass ski. By 1968, fiberglass had supplanted both wood and aluminum for use in most skis.

The ski World Cup circuit runs for the first time in 1966/7 and was won by Jean-Claude Killy and Nancy Greene. The FIS adopted the competiton in subsequent years. The media interest and TV coverage contributed to the explosive growth of interest in recreational skiing over the following 30 years.

Schilthornbahn opened in Mürren. The cablecar is used in James Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and the top station plays the part of a fictional Piz Gloria finishing school.

Grass Ski Committee was set up to attract new members to the SCGB by organising grass skiing activities in Britain (reconstituted as a separate organisation in 1978)

52nd and final edition of British Ski Year Book published

Ski Survey replaces British Ski Year Book and Ski Notes and Queries. The focus of the new journal is more on recreational skiing in general than the activities of the SCGB.

Earl of Limerick, E. C. Perry, appointed President of the SCGB, a post he held until 1981.

First rep-led holiday organised. Prior to that holidays had been run by companies such as Inghams on behalf of the Club.

Elisabeth Hussey becomes editor of Ski Survey after the death of Sir Arnold Lunn,

Ski Sunday first broadcast by the BBC

On 5th March Haircut 100 release their single, Fantastic Day. The B-side is an instrumental track entitled Ski Club of Great Britan. The father of Haircut 100's Nick Hayward was the barman and caretaker at the SCGB Clubhouse at 118 Eaton Square and fans often gathered outside in the hope of seeing him!

Ski Survey has a total circulation of around 15,000, but newsstand sales are only around 2000.

SCGB Winter Arrangements Limited was set up to carry on the activities of the Winter Arrangements Committee which had been organising the Club’s overseas activities since 1927. Ski Club Services Limited was set up to carry on all other trading and service activities of the Club.

Royal Mail publish a 26p commemorative stamp on 22nd March in the Sports series designed by Jake Sutton entitled Downhill Skiing (Ski Club of Great Britain)

Michael David Edwards, better known as Eddie the Eagle, became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping, finishing last in the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Elan introduce parabolic skis, allowing for shorter skis and shorter turn radius. Other manufacturers soon catch on.

SCGB launched the first ever winter sports website: www.skiclub.co.uk

Caroline Stuart-Taylor independently created the Fresh Tracks brand in 1990 as part of a larger tour operator called Newmarket Promotions. In 1993, she acquired the Fresh Tracks brand from Newmarket Promotions and created a company called Mountain Spirit which traded as Fresh Tracks. In 1996 she sold the Fresh Tracks brand to the Ski Club of Great Britain as part of the deal whereby she became Managing Director of the Ski Club of Great Britain (later in 1998 her title became Chief Executive, when the Ski Club was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee which did not allow for paid Directors) - in the 1980s she had been Director of Winter Arrangements. From 1996 Fresh Tracks operations were blended into the existing Ski Club of Great Britain travel operation, Ski Club Holidays, and for one year, 1996/7, it continued to have its own brochure, Fresh Tracks with the strapline 'The powder skiing specialists' . From 1997/8 it was incorporated within one brochure as the off-piste part of the Club's holidays. In 2004 Ski Club Holidays was rebranded as Ski Freshtracks.

Ski+Board replaces Ski Survey as the journal of the SCGB, broadening the appeal of the SCGB to snowboarders as well as skiers.

SCGB headquarters moves to The White House, 57-63 Church Road, Wimbledon, London which contains a library, bar and admin offices

Snowboarding recognised as an Olympic sport at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano.

New limited company created to acquire the property and liabilities of the SCGB and to carry out the duties and activities of the previously unincorporated association.

SCGB celebrates it's 100th birthday. It has 27,000 members.

SCGB web site has one million unique visitors a year.

Ski Club Holidays rebranded as Ski Freshtracks.

SCGB Gold tests effectively discontinued.

SCGB launch of Ski Club TV, the first dedicated snowsports internet TV channel (now on YouTube).

SCGB introduces the Thomas Lang Schools Bursary to cultivate and promote active participation in snowsports amongst secondary school students.

SCGB has 25 staff, 250 reps and 34,000 members.

Kelly Gallagher with her guide, Charlotte Evans, wins first ever British Olympic Gold medal on snow in the Women’s Super G, Sochi Paralympics. The pair are awarded the Pery Medal and both receive MBEs.

SCGB Rep arrested in France for ski guiding.

Ski Club acquires specialist mountain adventure company, Mountain Tracks, to operate alongside the Freshtracks program. Founded in 2000 by Nick Parks, Mountain Tracks offers a programme which comprises off-piste skiing holidays, hut-to-hut ski tours, mountain and avalanche awareness training courses. And in summer they offer high altitude glacier trekking, alpine mountaineering.

Chemmy Alcott appointed SCGB President.

"SCGB sold the freehold Clubhouse in Wimbledon village, which had been purchased in 1997 following the sale at the same time of the 20 odd years remaining on the lease of 118 Eaton Square (sold in conjunction with the freeholder, the Grosvenor Estate with a 70 year lease for £2.5 million (the Grosvenor estate took 1.3 million and the Club 1.2 million with which it could buy a very good freehold building of character in Wimbledon village, The White House), 57-63 Church Road. The clubhouse was leased back for a year from 2017-2018. "

SCGB based at Connect House, 113-137 Alexandra Road, Wimbledon, London.

De Montford University takes over responsibility for the SCGB's extensive collection of books, photos, maps and artefacts.

SCGB loans items to the White Haus pub in Farringdon, London to create a SCGB-themed pub.

SCGB Ski repping cancelled in France following concerns raised by the ESF(Ecole de Ski Francais) in Val d'Isere. Individual reps and the SCGB were prosecuted for being in contravention of French law regarding taking people skiing for financial gain without recognised instructor qualifications, the financial gain being the provision og board and lodging.

Several ski resorts, notably Ishgl, identified as super-spreaders of COVID virus. Ski activities severely curtailed globally.

SCGB moves to serviced offices in Canterbury Court, Kennington.

Dave Ryding wins the 2022 Kitzbühel World Cup slalom, the first victory for any British athlete at that level in Alpine skiing.

Mia Brookes wins the slopestyle event at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia.

Ski participation begins to approach pre-Pandemic levels after 4 years of reduced activity.

Estimates of the number of people who ski at least once a year rise from a few thousand recreational skiers in 1910, a million by the mid-1930s (with the USA making up around half that number) through to 5 million by 1950, 35 million in 1975 and over 100 million on average since 2000. Approximately 8 million Britons ski each tear with almost 60% going to France.

SCGB Reps return to France. The following resorts had reps in the 2023/4 season: Andorra: Soldeu-Grandvalira; Austria: Ischgl, Kitzbühel, Mayrhofen, Obergurgl, Saalbach Hinterglemm, Soll, Zell am See; Canada: Whistler; France: Flaine, Les Arcs, Meribel, Tignes, Val Thorens; Italy: Cervinia, Champoluc, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Courmayeur, Madonna di Campiglio, Sauze d’Oulx; Spain: Baqueira/Beret; Switzerland: Grindelwald, Klosters, Mürren, Verbier, Wengen, Zermatt; USA: Jackson Hole