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Slopeside
poster with the tongue-in-cheek
warning:
"No snowplowing - Your
Bowlegged Brother is Watching"
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Photo courtesy Hunt / Newport
Daily Express |
But still they
came, in droves, to Jay Peak, all the way from Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
Ontario and Quebec, because their self-christened "bowlegged brother
from the mountain" promised that they would 'Learn To Ski in a Week'
or their money back (a promise he kept). Walter Foeger, by the way, was noticeably
bowlegged (a fact that had never prevented this rock of a man from winning
numerous top European ski races (e.g., the 1936 Hahnenkamm, junior division,
downhill and combined) and commanding ski troops). With good humor and good
showmanship, he often unselfconsciously made light of this distinguishing
feature of his to break the ice.
Across the face of skiing in America and Europe in the late 1950's
and early '60's, there was largely a uniformity in ski teaching (which exists
somewhat again today). Alone in the U.S., Walter Foeger had the courage to
challenge the current gospel of first snowplow then stem-christie and finally
parallel turns. It required a good deal of courage to brave the attacks and
criticisms his method would receive from the skiing establishment for daring
to go his own way. Gleaning from the various Austrian, French, and Swiss skiing
techniques he had been exposed to in the 1920's and 30's, Walter kept only
the best points of each and added his own. In a moment of serendipity he proposed
a direct teaching approach to the holy grail of skiers - parallel skiing.
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A
young pupil of the Walter
Foeger Natur Teknik Ski School
circa 1962 making
a parallel Turn-to-the-Mountain
(and wearing "beartrap"
bindings) |
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Photo courtesy Hunt / Newport
Daily Express |
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