FAMOUS SKIING EXPERT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21304, 25 March 1939, Page 16

FAMOUS SKIING EXPERT

Nazis Release Herr Schneider TO OPEN SCHOOL IN AMERICA Skiing enthusiasts will learn with interest and satisfaction that Herr Hannes Schneider, the most famed instructor in the world who has been held in custody by the Nazis since last March, was released in February after protracted negotiations and has now arrived in the United States to establish his school at North Conway, New Haven. Herr Schneider, who is 48 years of age, has been responsible more than any other person for skiing's worldwide boom. Born at Stuben near the Tirolean border in the Alps, Hannes as a boy watched people attempting to ski down the long, steep, irregular Alpine slopes standing up straight in the ancient Norwegian fashion. To him it appeared foolish so he tried skiing in a crouch, taught his neighbours and then the guests at the village hotel. By 1920 he had developed the Arlberg technique and was recognised as the best ski teacher in Central Europe. His school at St. Anton am Arlberg became famous and attracted 3,000 pupils a year, including the late King Albert of the Belgians and his son Leopold, Prince Nicolas of Rumania, Prince Umberto, Crown Prince of Italy, and King Alfonso, the former monarch of Spain. In his spare tima, Skimaster Schneider made movies, “The Ski Chase,” “The Wonders of Skiing” and “Ski Rhythm,” which did a great deal towards popularising the sport the world over. The Japanese Government sent for him to teach its army officers to ski over frozen Asiatic wastes, and gave him the Sword of Honour in addition to £2500 and a fine silk kimono. The United States ski resorts imported all the Schneider-trained teachers they could get, and the Arlberg technique became the accepted skiing technique of the world. Nazis Appropriate School When Germany annexed Austria last March the Nazis appropriated the Arlberg School, deposed Skimaster Schneider, who is a Catholic, and held him in custody for an undisclosed reason. Ski enthusiasts throughout the world commenced an agitation for his release in which the Ski Club of Great Britain and sister organisations in America played a prominent part. After ten months of negotiations on the part of

Mr Harvey D. Gibson, a banker of the Manhattan Manufacturers’ Trust Company, his efforts proved successful and Herr Schneider arrived in the United States early in February to establish his skiing school at North Conway, New Haven. Mr Gibson hopes that North Conway will become the Arlberg of the United States and thousands of American ski enthusiasts yearn for the day when their compatriots will make as creditable a showing in international skiing as they do in tennis, golf, swimming and polo. Herr Ernst Skardarasy, who was the s’.iing instructor at the Chateau Tongariro last season, was a pupil of Herr Schneider.