History’s most influential steep skiers Part 1 – The Pioneers

Skiers can do some impressive things in the mountains these days. Technology has changed, allowing athletes at the forefront of the sport to both ascend and descend more efficiently and demonstrate near-death defying aerial maneuvres.

But before the age of rockered skis and double back flips, skiing the steeps was all about survival. The drive to become the first to ski some of the world’s most hazardous mountain faces has propelled these five alpinists into the book of steep skiing legend, at great risk to their own lives.

Stefano De Benedetti

One of Italy’s most celebrated extreme skiers, Stefano De Benedetti is credited with more than 80 first descents in the alps including the fabled “West Face Direct” route on Mont Blanc. Unlike many of the extreme skiers in that period, Benedetti did not continue pursuing objectives in to his middle years. In 1986, after 10 years of skiing some of the world’s most treacherous faces, he decided to quit after skiing Mont Blanc’s Innominata Ridge. The skis he used for the descent can be found in Turin’s Museo Nazionale della Montagna (National Museum of the Mountain).

Sylvain Saudan

Dubbed the “skier of the impossible” and considered one of the fathers of extreme skiing, Swiss-born Sylvain Saudan has 18 of the world’s most difficult ski descents to his name including Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Mont Blanc in the French Alps and Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. He invented the “windshield wiper turn,” which enabled him to pivot his skis down sheer face without catching an edge. Over the decades Saudan has skied dozens of steep faces and couloirs around the world – up to an exceeding 55 degrees – including Pakistan’s 26,470-foot (8,070m) high Gasherbrum I.

Anselme Baude

One of the most respected skiers in the Alps, Anselme Baud became a mountain guide in 1973 and was a major force in the development of extreme skiing in Europe along with fellow alpinists Patrick Vallençant and Jean-Marc Boivin, both whom perished in the mountains. Baude is the author of Chamonix – Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles Rouges – a Guide for Skiers and filmed his descent of the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey with Vallençant in 1977. In 2008 he was decorated with the French Legion of Honour award.

Bill Briggs

Unequivocally America’s most influential ski mountaineer, Bill Briggs shot to stardom in 1971 when he skied the Grand Teton in Jackson, Wyoming. It became the seminal event in the history of North American steep skiing, the same year that Sylvain Saudan skied Oregon’s Mount Hood. Prior to 1971, very little steep skiing had been done in North America and after disbelief from Jackson locals, he backed up his claim by flying over the Grand Teton the following day with a photographer from the Jackson Hole News. The image of the Grand with ski tracks on it has become on of the best selling posters in the North American ski community.

Yuichiro Miura

Japanese Alpinist Yuichiro Miura didn’t just want to be the first to ski Mount Fuji, he wanted to ski it so fast that he required a parachute to slow down safely. The idea came after he had used the parachute to safely brake after setting the speed skiing record of 172.084 km/h in 1964, only for it to be broken the next day. But Miura’s most notable feat was not about speed. In 1970 he skied Mount Everest’s South Col at an altitude of more than 26,000 feet, only to have his parachute fail due to turbulent winds. He hit a rock and slid for hundreds of metres, only to come to rest near one of the world’s deepest bergschrunds. In 2013 Miura also became the oldest man to summit Everest at 80 years of age.

Next week we visit the modern influencers of steep skiing in history’s most influential steep skiers Part 2 – The Contemporaries