We walk a mile – straight up – in the boots of the fearless women who paved the way for equal opportunity in the mountains.
The race is about to begin. A zigzag of gangly bamboo gates dots the slope, high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley where Switzerland’s snow-draped peaks touch a cerulean sky. At the top, the starter waves a large linen flag, ready to signal a skier on course. Side-stepping briskly up the hill, two dozen intrepid women are layered in sensible woolen skirts, well-worn plus fours, and wide-brimmed hats – keen to push, pole, skate, and tuck their ways to alpine glory. Spirits high and hair akimbo, they’re making good time – and they’re also making history.
Look closely, ladies and gents. Though it seems like 1923, this festive commemorative slalom actually took place January 23, 2023 – precisely 100 years to the day since the founding of the first women’s alpine ski club in the world. Back then, Lenin was in office and Yankee Stadium was about to host its first ballgame when a tiny band of the leading female ski racers of the day gathered in Mürren to form The Ladies’ Ski Club. Intended to encourage ladies to participate in skiing at the highest level, they were the sporting pioneers who helped make our lives what they are today.
Adventurous, aristocratic, and proudly British, The Ladies’ Ski Club was the original alpine disruptor, rocking the boat of a very male-dominated sport with a decidedly can-do attitude. In an early edition of its membership yearbook, The Ladies’ Ski Club Bulletin, skiing was deemed “…no harder than other forms of sport at which women excel, such as hunting four or five days a week, salmon-fishing, following beagles or playing in tennis tournaments.”
Then – as now – Mürren had no cars and guests arrived, sometimes for the whole winter season, via a tiny cog train. Tobogganing was a popular means of transport, as was walking. Under panorama of the Eiger, Manch, and Jungfrau, a typical ski day involved slogging uphill for up to five hours across ungroomed mountain faces, then hurtling down unprepared slopes in leather boots strapped to edgeless, long wooden planks – abandoning control in favor of the frisson of speed and the salty lure of danger. And jolly well loving it.
Who were these plucky trendsetters? Among the first was founder Lady Mabel Lunn, wife of skiing pioneer Sir Arnold Lunn. (The previous winter in Mürren, he’d organized the world’s first modern slalom, judged on speed, and, despite the prowess of his wife and her cohorts, women were barred from joining his other venture, The Alpine Ski Club, founded in 1908.) The Club’s first president, Lady Denman, was an active suffragette and would become Director of the Women’s Land Army during World War II. At least one member flew Spitfires, another captained the British Olympic ski team. Lady Raeburn helped to popularize The Arlberg Crouch (as promoted by Austrian ski-teaching guru Hannes Schneider). The lack of ladies’ races in 1929 didn’t faze Audrey Sale Barker and Doreen Elliott who rocked up at an international event in Poland, placing in the top 15 of 60.
“Our members have been trailblazers, outstanding community leaders, stubborn defenders of freedom, rights of women, and equality before all that became fashionable,” said current President Ingrid Christophersen. No shy thing herself, the former British alpine ski team member, coach, and FIS Technical Delegate was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to skiing. As imposing as she is stylish, her brilliant vintage costume for race day was a castoff from a Glyndebourne production of Eugene Onegin.
By 1928, the sport of ski-running was gaining traction and the club had attracted more than 50 members. A century on, around 300 members include all skill levels and a diversity of backgrounds – from regular soccer (football) moms to Sophie, Countess of Wessex. All are passionate about skiing – and they love a good party, too.
At a merry apres-race reception in Mürren’s Palace Hotel (erected in 1874, it was also the location of the inaugural meeting a century before) the Mauler champagne flowed rivers and the sparkling chat doubtless carried high as the Eiger summit.
Revelers came from all corners of the alpine world, including representatives of Norway’s Ladies’ Skade Ski Club, the world’s first women’s cross-country ski club, established in 1889.
“Our club founders were also pioneers in skiing,” explained Elfin Agdestein, former Norwegian Member of Parliament. “These ladies fought for the vote in 1913, and the building of a new nation. Skiing was a big part of the fight and of our national identity.”
The progress continues apace. Unthinkable only a few years ago, women’s Olympic disciplines now include ski jumping and biathlon, for example. The LSC continues its work in funding female snow sports athletes, including Olympians.
“We are celebrating not just 100 years of ladies skiing around the Alps, having fun, looking beautiful,” continued President Christophersen. Over the din of conversation and many a celebratory cork pop, she painted a future for women’s skiing as exciting as its storied past: “We are documenting a social revolution. That is what skiing was about during the last 100 years and that is where the LSC will be heading the next 100 years.” Cheers to that.
