palace hotel • wengen 1 - the DHO

FIFTY YEARS OF THE WENGEN SKI CLUB
by Dr. Felix Wulkan
Dr. Wulkan attended the celebrations of the Wengen Ski Club's Jubilee on
behalf of several Swiss newspapers and he has been good enough to let us
have a translation of his article published in the NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG.
We publish this condensation by kind permission of the Editor of that journal.
HE ski-club Wengen belongs
T to the oldest ski-clubs in
Switzerland and looks back on a
successful history which to a
certain extent is identical with
the development of ski-ing in
our country in general. The
most important epoches in the
five decades of existance which
the ski-club Wengen celebrated
a short time ago are the
following:—
It was Dr. Fritz Oetiker who
was stationed at Eigergletscher
as the railway doctor for the
building of the Jungfraubahn
who first brought skis into the
Lauterbrunnental. Hans
Lauener of Wengen was responsible
for founding the skiclub
Wengen which already in 1905 had its first
race. In 1909/10 the Wengernalpbahn brought
winter sports activities for the first time to the
stretch Lauterbrunnen-Wengen and this meant the
start of the winter sport season in Wengen. The
year 1925 witnessed the foundation of the D.H.O.
which having exclusively dedicated itself to alpine
discipline acted as a spur for the young folk of
Wengen to take on this new method of skirunning.
The D.H.O. became in course of time
the strongest section of the ski-club of Great
Britain and has today more than 800 members.
Between it and the ski-club Wengen a friendly
association has grown up and this has proved a
vital co-operation for the development of alpine
ski-running. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary
of the D.H.O. a few years ago and
especially in the recent celebrations of the skiclub
Wengen this point was especially brought
to the fore.
With the introduction of the "Combined
Lauberhorn race" in the year 1930 the most
successful period of the ski-club Wengen began.
This was not only due to the large number of ski
competitions which this club organised but also
because of the numerous successes of its active
members and thereby the Club gained a leading
position in Swiss ski-ing circles. Names like
Ernst Gertsch, von Allmen, Karl Molitor, Hedy
Schlunegger, Fredy Rubi and others were to be
read in the successful results of countless ski
races from the period 1934/54.
The ski-club Wengen celebrated
the 50th jubilee of its
existance by giving an impressive
ski demonstration in which
the start and development of
ski-ing technique and the clothing
of the last five decades were
displayed for one hour on the
Nursery Slopes in the centre of
the village. Skiers on barrel
staves and porters on skis
(Eigergletscher Post) were seen
in the original costumes of the
period 1905 to 1914. The first
military skiers and ski teachers
together with guests brought
one back to the time of the
foundation of the D.H.O. in
the year 1925. Ski teachers from
the ski school of Wengen which
was started in the early 1930's
demonstrated the technique of those days.
E. Gertsch and F. Graf who as the senior ski
patrollers of Switzerland and who had already
28 years of service showed the type of transport
used for rescue service during the first
years of their activities.
Ski soldiers of our time brought one back to
the present. Rescue services with Canadian
sledges avalanche dogs and special equipment
together with a demonstration in action by the
members of the D.H.O. showed the extent of
modern development. The ski school of Wengen
ended the proceedings with a demonstration of
classes 1-5 together with the class for children
and showed also an impressive group run and a
lively slalom competition.
Those taking part played before about twothousand
spectators, including Field-Marshal
Lord Montgomery; Sir Arnold Lunn; Sir Adrian
Jarvis, President of the D.H.O., and Ken Foster,
Founder Member. Christian Rubi, the technical
adviser of the Swiss ski school, showed himself to
be an expert commentator.
There finished up a joyous procession consisting
of about 150 participants wearing the very
varied apparel from the days of the beginning of
ski-ing in Lauterbrunnental. The display was
above all a very pleasant proof of the firm
connections of Wengen with its ski-club.
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