First Tracks: Documentary on Skiing Pioneer Friedl Pfeifer Comes to Whitefish

Before Friedl Pfeifer helped build Aspen, he was an Austrian ski champion on the run, a top European racer who fled to the United States rather than be conscripted into the Nazi military. When World War II broke out, he joined the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, training American troops in mountain warfare and skiing techniques at Camp Hale, Colo. Deployed to the Italian front, he was nearly killed in battle, just a mountain range away from his homeland. His career after the war reads like a roster of American skiing’s founding acts. Pfeifer formed the Aspen Ski Corporation, co-founded the resort and established its ski school, and created Buttermilk Mountain as a family-friendly destination. He served as head coach of the U.S. Ski Team at both the FIS World Championships and the Winter Olympics, founded the International Professional Ski Racers Association, and introduced head-to-head dual slalom racing. In 1980, he was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.

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