24 / 124
WELCOME
||
24
kamm race and the Kandahar race. She
also became Austrian champion no less
than four times and she participated
in the Olympic Games and the World
Championships. This skiing legend defi-
nitely knows how to arouse the curios-
ity of her audience by bringing scenes
from the past to life. Find out what it
was like to learn skiing on the Seegrube
in the good old days, or to participate in
big competitions and why she achieved
so much, but never won the world title.
Anneliese was witness of a movement
that took place in Tyrol: Part of the ski-
ing history was born here, on these slopes, on which we still speed
down. Follow the traces of the legends with us.
The early beginnings
It has been 130 years, since Innsbruck saw the first pair of skis. Julius
Pock, one of the most popular alpinists of his time, was among the first
to experiment with skis in this part of the world, which were back then 3
metres long, 8 cm wide and weighed 5 kg. His report from March 1892
sounds exciting as well as risky.
“The skis perform excellently on even or gently sloped snowfields, where-
as on steep or icy parts, they develop an unbelievable speed and make it
impossible to stop with the stick. If there is a danger of hitting an obstacle,
you can only save yourself by throwing yourself to the ground. It is rather
inconvenient to fall on the back, as if you cannot take off at least one shoe,
getting up is almost impossible. A conclusion that can be drawn from the
attempts is that the skis are mainly suitable for the lowlands and should
not be used on hills with a moderate incline. Even the best skier would
not dare to speed down one of our mountains, e.g. the Hafelekar, on these
snowshoes.” Well, as we all know today: Julius Pock was wrong. But how
could he have known? There were no guidelines, role models, or teachers.
It is therefore understandable, why most brave souls put their skis back on
the wall – the alleged fun failed to appear. However, some kept trying. One
of them was Alfons Siber, a painter from Hall in Tirol. Unlike many of his
contemporaries, he was convinced that skiing would supersede the back
then very famous tobogganing. While a lot of people laughed about his as-
sumption, there were just as many, who were very interested and therefore
Siber can safely be considered Tyrol’s first ski instructor. Alice Emilie Czel-
echowski, who later became a famous children’s book writer, was one of
his students and thus in 1896, Tyrol’s first lady on skis.
The first victim
Undeterred by the scepticism of the majority, there were a few en-
thusiasts, who took pleasure in this new sport, which back then was
more similar to today’s snow hiking
than to actual skiing as we know it.
In 1893, shortly after the skis had
started to exist in Innsbruck, the
wainwright Heinrich Engl presented
the first pair of skis produced in Ty-
rol. He built them at the request of
medicine student Max Peer, one of
the most active skiers of his time.
Max took the skis up to the moun-
tains in and around Innsbruck and
tested them. Unfortunately, this is
how he attained sad fame: Farmers,
hunters and foresters were aware of
the danger of avalanches, but not
the first skiers.
As there were no slopes, the ski-
ers had to choose their own line. On
the 18th of February 1897, Max Peer
and his friend went on a tour to the
mountain Saile in the Axamer Lizum. When he triggered an avalanche,
he wasn’t aware of the consequences. His friend reported how Peer
floated on the first waves of snow almost euphorically, until they even-
tually buried him. Max Peer is known as the world’s first victim of alpine
skiing. This accident led to the foundation of the “Voluntary Alpine Res-
cue Service” in Innsbruck.
ABOUT ANNELIESE SCHUH-PROXAUF
In 1958, Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf, together with her now deceased
husband († 2008) Max Schuh, founded the flight business “Aircraft
Innsbruck”, which in 1977 was the first private flight business to
receive authorisation as an airline.
In 1960, Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf set a new Austrian record for
gliders with an absolute altitude of 7170 metres. She also set
another Austrian record with 6400 metres of relative altitude
gain and the Austrian course record over 326 kilometres with a
return flight within a time of 6 hours and 15 minutes. Furthermo-
re, Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf became Tyrolean Tennis Champion
multiple times such as Austrian Vice-Champion, and in 1955, she
won a tournament in Nizza that enabled her to participate in the
Wimbledon Championships.
BOOK
RECOMMENDATION
An interesting journey through Innsbruck’s
skiing history:
„Skisport in Innsbruck. Von
den Anfängen bis ins 21. Jahrhundert“
by Anneliese Gidl/Karl Graf. Haymon
publishing house 2010, € 29.90
Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf war zu ihrer Zeit
eine der besten Abfahrtsläuferinnen Österreichs. //
Anneliese Schuh-Proxauf was one of Austria’s
best downhill racers of her time.