The unbearable whiteness of skiing

Pacific Historical Review

Volumn 65, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 583-612

  Coleman, Annie Gilbert ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 5644237723     PISSN: 00308684     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3640297     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. June Simonton, Vail: Story of a Colorado Mountain Valley (Denver, 1987), 167.
2. The tribe agreed to perform a rain dance and let it be called a snow dance. It worked. Ibid., 84.
3. Rick-Richards, Ski Pioneers: Ernie Blake, His Friends, and the Making of Taos Ski Valley (Helena, Mont., 1992), 58.
4. Historians have produced amazingly little scholarship on tourism in the West since Earl Pomeroy's In Search of the Golden West (Lincoln, 1957). Anne Farrar Hyde's An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture, 1820-1920 (New York, 1990) traces the use of European analogies in describing and marketing western landscapes. Hal Rothman's forthcoming book entitled Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the 20th Century American West (Lawrence) promises to explore the economic and environmental impact of tourism in the West. See also Kerwin L. Klein, "Frontier Products: Tourism, Consumerism, and the Southwestern Public Lands, 1890-1990," Pacific Historical Review, LXII (1993), 39-71. Klein's article explores the relationship among economics, environment, and western culture; Patricia Nelson Limerick gave another regional and cultural interpretation of tourism in "Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West," a speech delivered at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, on March 11, 1994. As tourism and skiing have shaped western culture, so has culture shaped tourism and skiing, especially in Aspen, Colorado. James Sloan Allen articulates the connections among Walter Paepcke's Container Corporation of America, advertising, modernism, Great Books, Goethe, and the Aspen ski culture in his The Romance of Commerce and Culture: Capitalism, Modernism, and the Chicago-Aspen Crusade for Cultural Reform (Chicago, 1983).
5. Historians have produced amazingly little scholarship on tourism in the West since Earl Pomeroy's In Search of the Golden West (Lincoln, 1957). Anne Farrar Hyde's An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture, 1820-1920 (New York, 1990) traces the use of European analogies in describing and marketing western landscapes. Hal Rothman's forthcoming book entitled Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the 20th Century American West (Lawrence) promises to explore the economic and environmental impact of tourism in the West. See also Kerwin L. Klein, "Frontier Products: Tourism, Consumerism, and the Southwestern Public Lands, 1890-1990," Pacific Historical Review, LXII (1993), 39-71. Klein's article explores the relationship among economics, environment, and western culture; Patricia Nelson Limerick gave another regional and cultural interpretation of tourism in "Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West," a speech delivered at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, on March 11, 1994. As tourism and skiing have shaped western culture, so has culture shaped tourism and skiing, especially in Aspen, Colorado. James Sloan Allen articulates the connections among Walter Paepcke's Container Corporation of America, advertising, modernism, Great Books, Goethe, and the Aspen ski culture in his The Romance of Commerce and Culture: Capitalism, Modernism, and the Chicago-Aspen Crusade for Cultural Reform (Chicago, 1983).
6. Historians have produced amazingly little scholarship on tourism in the West since Earl Pomeroy's In Search of the Golden West (Lincoln, 1957). Anne Farrar Hyde's An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture, 1820-1920 (New York, 1990) traces the use of European analogies in describing and marketing western landscapes. Hal Rothman's forthcoming book entitled Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the 20th Century American West (Lawrence) promises to explore the economic and environmental impact of tourism in the West. See also Kerwin L. Klein, "Frontier Products: Tourism, Consumerism, and the Southwestern Public Lands, 1890-1990," Pacific Historical Review, LXII (1993), 39-71. Klein's article explores the relationship among economics, environment, and western culture; Patricia Nelson Limerick gave another regional and cultural interpretation of tourism in "Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West," a speech delivered at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, on March 11, 1994. As tourism and skiing have shaped western culture, so has culture shaped tourism and skiing, especially in Aspen, Colorado. James Sloan Allen articulates the connections among Walter Paepcke's Container Corporation of America, advertising, modernism, Great Books, Goethe, and the Aspen ski culture in his The Romance of Commerce and Culture: Capitalism, Modernism, and the Chicago-Aspen Crusade for Cultural Reform (Chicago, 1983).
7. Historians have produced amazingly little scholarship on tourism in the West since Earl Pomeroy's In Search of the Golden West (Lincoln, 1957). Anne Farrar Hyde's An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture, 1820-1920 (New York, 1990) traces the use of European analogies in describing and marketing western landscapes. Hal Rothman's forthcoming book entitled Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the 20th Century American West (Lawrence) promises to explore the economic and environmental impact of tourism in the West. See also Kerwin L. Klein, "Frontier Products: Tourism, Consumerism, and the Southwestern Public Lands, 1890-1990," Pacific Historical Review, LXII (1993), 39-71. Klein's article explores the relationship among economics, environment, and western culture; Patricia Nelson Limerick gave another regional and cultural interpretation of tourism in "Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West," a speech delivered at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, on March 11, 1994. As tourism and skiing have shaped western culture, so has culture shaped tourism and skiing, especially in Aspen, Colorado. James Sloan Allen articulates the connections among Walter Paepcke's Container Corporation of America, advertising, modernism, Great Books, Goethe, and the Aspen ski culture in his The Romance of Commerce and Culture: Capitalism, Modernism, and the Chicago-Aspen Crusade for Cultural Reform (Chicago, 1983).
8. Historians have produced amazingly little scholarship on tourism in the West since Earl Pomeroy's In Search of the Golden West (Lincoln, 1957). Anne Farrar Hyde's An American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture, 1820-1920 (New York, 1990) traces the use of European analogies in describing and marketing western landscapes. Hal Rothman's forthcoming book entitled Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the 20th Century American West (Lawrence) promises to explore the economic and environmental impact of tourism in the West. See also Kerwin L. Klein, "Frontier Products: Tourism, Consumerism, and the Southwestern Public Lands, 1890-1990," Pacific Historical Review, LXII (1993), 39-71. Klein's article explores the relationship among economics, environment, and western culture; Patricia Nelson Limerick gave another regional and cultural interpretation of tourism in "Seeing and Being Seen: Tourism in the American West," a speech delivered at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, on March 11, 1994. As tourism and skiing have shaped western culture, so has culture shaped tourism and skiing, especially in Aspen, Colorado. James Sloan Allen articulates the connections among Walter Paepcke's Container Corporation of America, advertising, modernism, Great Books, Goethe, and the Aspen ski culture in his The Romance of Commerce and Culture: Capitalism, Modernism, and the Chicago-Aspen Crusade for Cultural Reform (Chicago, 1983).
9. Elliott West, The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains (Albuquerque, 1995).
10. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
11. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
12. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
13. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
14. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
15. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
16. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
17. David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class (New York, 1991), 13. See also Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race (New York, 1994); Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York, 1995); Alexander Saxton, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1990); Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York, 1993) ; and David R. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History (New York, 1994). For a broader discussion of ethnicity, see Ronald T. Takaki, ed., From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America (New York, 1994) and Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1979).
18. Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Minneaplis, Minn., 1993), 1. See also Phyllis Palmer, Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants in the United States, 1920-1945 (Philadelphia, 1989), chap. 7; and Elizabeth V. Spelman, Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought (Boston, 1988), chaps. 5-7.
19. Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Minneaplis, Minn., 1993), 1. See also Phyllis Palmer, Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants in the United States, 1920-1945 (Philadelphia, 1989), chap. 7; and Elizabeth V. Spelman, Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought (Boston, 1988), chaps. 5-7.
20. Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Minneaplis, Minn., 1993), 1. See also Phyllis Palmer, Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants in the United States, 1920-1945 (Philadelphia, 1989), chap. 7; and Elizabeth V. Spelman, Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought (Boston, 1988), chaps. 5-7.
21. Frankenberg, White Women, 11.
22. Kenneth Bjork, "'Snowshoe' Thompson: Fact and Legend," Norwegian-American Studies and Records, XIX (1956), 62-88.
23. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
24. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
25. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
26. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
27. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
28. See Jack Benson, "Before Skiing Was Fun," Western Historical Quarterly, VII (1977), 431-441; John B. Allen, From Skisport to Skiing: One Hundred Years of an American Sport (Amherst, Mass., 1993); Abbott Fay, Ski Tracks in the Rockies: A Century of Colorado Skiing (Evergreen, Colo., 1984); John L. Dyer, The Snow-Shoe Itinerant: An Autobiography of the Reverend John L. Dyer (Cincinnati, 1890); Leif Hovelson, The Flying Norseman (Ishpeming, Mich., 1983); Anne Gilbert, "Re-Creation through Recreation: A History of Aspen Skiing from 1870-1970" (1995), Ski Collection, Aspen Historical Society, Aspen, Colo. (hereafter cited as AHS).
29. Ibid.; Jack A. Benson, "Before Aspen and Vail: The Story of Recreational Skiing in Frontier Colorado," Journal of the West, XXII (1983), 52-61; E. John B. Allen, "Sierra Ladies on Skis in Gold Rush California." Journal of Sport History, XVII (1990), 347-353.
30. Ibid.; Jack A. Benson, "Before Aspen and Vail: The Story of Recreational Skiing in Frontier Colorado," Journal of the West, XXII (1983), 52-61; E. John B. Allen, "Sierra Ladies on Skis in Gold Rush California." Journal of Sport History, XVII (1990), 347-353.
31. Ibid.; Jack A. Benson, "Before Aspen and Vail: The Story of Recreational Skiing in Frontier Colorado," Journal of the West, XXII (1983), 52-61; E. John B. Allen, "Sierra Ladies on Skis in Gold Rush California." Journal of Sport History, XVII (1990), 347-353.
32. Friedl Pfeifer with Morten Lund, Nice Goin': My Life On Skis (Missoula, Mont., 1993), 14; see also Paul P. Bernard, Rush to the Alps: The Evolution of Vacationing in Switzerland (New York, 1978); and Charles M. Dudley, Sixty Centuries of Skiing (Brattleboro, Vt., 1935). There is also evidence that inhabitants of the Bloke plateau and Vipava region of Slovenia had a highly developed ski culture before the nineteenth century and as early as the sixteenth century. See Dolfe Rajtmajer, The Slovenian Origins of European Skiing," International Journal of the History of Sport, XI (1994), 97-101.
33. Friedl Pfeifer with Morten Lund, Nice Goin': My Life On Skis (Missoula, Mont., 1993), 14; see also Paul P. Bernard, Rush to the Alps: The Evolution of Vacationing in Switzerland (New York, 1978); and Charles M. Dudley, Sixty Centuries of Skiing (Brattleboro, Vt., 1935). There is also evidence that inhabitants of the Bloke plateau and Vipava region of Slovenia had a highly developed ski culture before the nineteenth century and as early as the sixteenth century. See Dolfe Rajtmajer, The Slovenian Origins of European Skiing," International Journal of the History of Sport, XI (1994), 97-101.
34. Friedl Pfeifer with Morten Lund, Nice Goin': My Life On Skis (Missoula, Mont., 1993), 14; see also Paul P. Bernard, Rush to the Alps: The Evolution of Vacationing in Switzerland (New York, 1978); and Charles M. Dudley, Sixty Centuries of Skiing (Brattleboro, Vt., 1935). There is also evidence that inhabitants of the Bloke plateau and Vipava region of Slovenia had a highly developed ski culture before the nineteenth century and as early as the sixteenth century. See Dolfe Rajtmajer, The Slovenian Origins of European Skiing," International Journal of the History of Sport, XI (1994), 97-101.
35. Friedl Pfeifer with Morten Lund, Nice Goin': My Life On Skis (Missoula, Mont., 1993), 14; see also Paul P. Bernard, Rush to the Alps: The Evolution of Vacationing in Switzerland (New York, 1978); and Charles M. Dudley, Sixty Centuries of Skiing (Brattleboro, Vt., 1935). There is also evidence that inhabitants of the Bloke plateau and Vipava region of Slovenia had a highly developed ski culture before the nineteenth century and as early as the sixteenth century. See Dolfe Rajtmajer, The Slovenian Origins of European Skiing," International Journal of the History of Sport, XI (1994), 97-101.
36. City of Aspen Proclamation, n.d., Andre Roch biography file, AHS.
37. Schneider and Pfeifer were Austrians politically opposed to Hitler; Blake was a Swiss/German Jew. See Pfeifer and Lund, Nice Goin'; Richards, Ski Pioneers.
38. Schneider and Pfeifer were Austrians politically opposed to Hitler; Blake was a Swiss/German Jew. See Pfeifer and Lund, Nice Goin'; Richards, Ski Pioneers.
39. David Emmons emphasized the significance of European immigrants to the history of the American West during the mining era in his The Butte Irish: Class and Ethnicity in an American Mining Town (Urbana, 1989), and called for further exploration of the variety of European immigrants and their roles in western economy and culture in "A Trip through Western Time and Western Space: A Review Essay," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, XLV (Spring 1995),64-68. Skiing offers one avenue through which historians can see the cultural impact of certain European immigrant groups - and of their immigrant identities - on the West.
40. David Emmons emphasized the significance of European immigrants to the history of the American West during the mining era in his The Butte Irish: Class and Ethnicity in an American Mining Town (Urbana, 1989), and called for further exploration of the variety of European immigrants and their roles in western economy and culture in "A Trip through Western Time and Western Space: A Review Essay," Montana, the Magazine of Western History, XLV (Spring 1995),64-68. Skiing offers one avenue through which historians can see the cultural impact of certain European immigrant groups - and of their immigrant identities - on the West.
41. This raises an as yet unexplored issue: the degree to which skiers "fled" to European-styled resorts in response to growing racial tension in American cities. Ski resorts may have represented an escape from a "corrupted" society, mirroring a much older characterization of the West as pristine, pure, and the place where easterners could get away from it all. Indeed, the very function of resorts - whatever their ethnic or racial make up - has been to offer their clientele a rather isolated setting for rest and relaxation, from which they could return to their "real" lives rejuvenated. I have, as yet, little evidence to support the conclusion that white vacationers used ski resorts to escape urban or eastern racial tension, but the question deserves more study.
42. See Richard Wightman Fox and T.J.Jackson Lears, eds., The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American History, 1880-1980 (New York, 1983); and Martyn J. Lee, Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption (New York, 1993).
43. See Richard Wightman Fox and T.J.Jackson Lears, eds., The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American History, 1880-1980 (New York, 1983); and Martyn J. Lee, Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption (New York, 1993).
44. Skiing thus offers historians a. way to explore the relationships among gender, sexuality, consumer culture, and sport. For a recent examination of gender, sexuality, and sport, see Susan K. Cahn, Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women's Sport (Cambridge, Mass., 1994).
45. Artur Kuen, a German engineer, came to Buttermilk and Snowmass to build lifts after having built them for German officers during World War II; Willy Schaeffler also fought for Germany during the war before emigrating and becoming director of the ski school at Arapahoe Basin, as had Sepp Uhl before he came to instruct in Aspen. Artur Kuen, interview by the author, July 13, 1994, tape recording, AHS; Aspen Times, Aug. 28, 1993, p. 18B. Slovenian competitors were also welcomed under this rubric, and Yugoslavian competitors in the 1950 Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) Championships were especially welcomed in Aspen, because a number of mining families were from the same region as the skiers. Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 4, 1950. These examples demonstrate the cultural power of geographical boundaries and how they can override those drawn by governments and armies. Walter Paepcke, a Chicago businessman largely responsible for Aspen's revival as a cultural/tourist mecca, worked explicitly to reunify German and American culture by organizing a lavish and highly publicized celebration of Goethe there in 1949. While not a personal interest nor part of his initial plan, skiing came to play an integral role in Paepcke's re-creation of Aspen as a cultural center. He probably approved highly of Kuen and Uhl's incorporation into the Aspen skiing scene. See Allen, Romance of Commerce and Culture.
46. Artur Kuen, a German engineer, came to Buttermilk and Snowmass to build lifts after having built them for German officers during World War II; Willy Schaeffler also fought for Germany during the war before emigrating and becoming director of the ski school at Arapahoe Basin, as had Sepp Uhl before he came to instruct in Aspen. Artur Kuen, interview by the author, July 13, 1994, tape recording, AHS; Aspen Times, Aug. 28, 1993, p. 18B. Slovenian competitors were also welcomed under this rubric, and Yugoslavian competitors in the 1950 Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) Championships were especially welcomed in Aspen, because a number of mining families were from the same region as the skiers. Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 4, 1950. These examples demonstrate the cultural power of geographical boundaries and how they can override those drawn by governments and armies. Walter Paepcke, a Chicago businessman largely responsible for Aspen's revival as a cultural/tourist mecca, worked explicitly to reunify German and American culture by organizing a lavish and highly publicized celebration of Goethe there in 1949. While not a personal interest nor part of his initial plan, skiing came to play an integral role in Paepcke's re-creation of Aspen as a cultural center. He probably approved highly of Kuen and Uhl's incorporation into the Aspen skiing scene. See Allen, Romance of Commerce and Culture.
47. Artur Kuen, a German engineer, came to Buttermilk and Snowmass to build lifts after having built them for German officers during World War II; Willy Schaeffler also fought for Germany during the war before emigrating and becoming director of the ski school at Arapahoe Basin, as had Sepp Uhl before he came to instruct in Aspen. Artur Kuen, interview by the author, July 13, 1994, tape recording, AHS; Aspen Times, Aug. 28, 1993, p. 18B. Slovenian competitors were also welcomed under this rubric, and Yugoslavian competitors in the 1950 Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) Championships were especially welcomed in Aspen, because a number of mining families were from the same region as the skiers. Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 4, 1950. These examples demonstrate the cultural power of geographical boundaries and how they can override those drawn by governments and armies. Walter Paepcke, a Chicago businessman largely responsible for Aspen's revival as a cultural/tourist mecca, worked explicitly to reunify German and American culture by organizing a lavish and highly publicized celebration of Goethe there in 1949. While not a personal interest nor part of his initial plan, skiing came to play an integral role in Paepcke's re-creation of Aspen as a cultural center. He probably approved highly of Kuen and Uhl's incorporation into the Aspen skiing scene. See Allen, Romance of Commerce and Culture.
48. Mary C. Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (Berkeley, 1990); Richard D. Alba, Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America (New Haven, 1990), 1-21; Werner Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity: Consent and Descent in American Culture (New York, 1986).
49. Mary C. Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (Berkeley, 1990); Richard D. Alba, Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America (New Haven, 1990), 1-21; Werner Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity: Consent and Descent in American Culture (New York, 1986).
50. Mary C. Waters, Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (Berkeley, 1990); Richard D. Alba, Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America (New Haven, 1990), 1-21; Werner Sollors, Beyond Ethnicity: Consent and Descent in American Culture (New York, 1986).
51. Pfeifer and Lund, Nice Gain', 61-62, 65; see Bernard, Rush to the Alps, for a discussion of early Swiss resorts.
52. Pfeifer and Lund, Nice Gain', 61-62, 65; see Bernard, Rush to the Alps, for a discussion of early Swiss resorts.
53. Samuel Bowles, The Switzerland of America: A Summer Vacation in the Parks and Mountains of Colorado (Springfield, Mass., 1869).
54. Pomeroy, In Search of the Golden West, 33. See also Hyde, American Vision.
55. Pomeroy, In Search of the Golden West, 33. See also Hyde, American Vision.
56. Andre Roch, translated by Ernest Blake, "A Once and Future Resort: A Winter in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado," Colorado Heritage, IV (1985), 17-23, originally published as "Un hiver aux Montagnes Rocheuses du Colorado," Der Schnee-Hase (1937). Roch was describing Mt. Hayden and the resort that the Highland Bavarian Corporation was hoping to build near the ghost town of Ashcroft. The project fizzled out with the onset of World War II, after which Aspen Mountain became the area's focus.
57. Andre Roch, translated by Ernest Blake, "A Once and Future Resort: A Winter in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado," Colorado Heritage, IV (1985), 17-23, originally published as "Un hiver aux Montagnes Rocheuses du Colorado," Der Schnee-Hase (1937). Roch was describing Mt. Hayden and the resort that the Highland Bavarian Corporation was hoping to build near the ghost town of Ashcroft. The project fizzled out with the onset of World War II, after which Aspen Mountain became the area's focus.
58. Richards, Ski Pioneers, 103.
59. Ernie Gay, "Tough, Beautiful Taos," Ski, XXVIII (Feb. 1964), 82.
60. Simonton, Vail, 72.
61. Aspen Times, Dec. 6, 1984, p. C1. See also Stein Erikson, Come Ski with Me (New York, 1966); Fred Iselin and A.C. Spectorsky, The New Invitation to Skiing (New York, 1958); and Jean Claude Killy with Doug Pfeiffer, Skiing...The Killy Way (New York, 1971). Ski movies became popular in the 1930s and showed Americans the winning form of European skiers such as Otto Lang, Friedl Pfeifer, Stien Erikson, and Fred Iselin, contributing to their fame and status. These skiers appeared on film as instructors of technique, promoters of resorts, and as stunt doubles for bigger stars in the ever-popular ski chase scenes.
62. Aspen Times, Dec. 6, 1984, p. C1. See also Stein Erikson, Come Ski with Me (New York, 1966); Fred Iselin and A.C. Spectorsky, The New Invitation to Skiing (New York, 1958); and Jean Claude Killy with Doug Pfeiffer, Skiing...The Killy Way (New York, 1971). Ski movies became popular in the 1930s and showed Americans the winning form of European skiers such as Otto Lang, Friedl Pfeifer, Stien Erikson, and Fred Iselin, contributing to their fame and status. These skiers appeared on film as instructors of technique, promoters of resorts, and as stunt doubles for bigger stars in the ever-popular ski chase scenes.
63. Aspen Times, Dec. 6, 1984, p. C1. See also Stein Erikson, Come Ski with Me (New York, 1966); Fred Iselin and A.C. Spectorsky, The New Invitation to Skiing (New York, 1958); and Jean Claude Killy with Doug Pfeiffer, Skiing...The Killy Way (New York, 1971). Ski movies became popular in the 1930s and showed Americans the winning form of European skiers such as Otto Lang, Friedl Pfeifer, Stien Erikson, and Fred Iselin, contributing to their fame and status. These skiers appeared on film as instructors of technique, promoters of resorts, and as stunt doubles for bigger stars in the ever-popular ski chase scenes.
64. Aspen Times, Dec. 6, 1984, p. C1. See also Stein Erikson, Come Ski with Me (New York, 1966); Fred Iselin and A.C. Spectorsky, The New Invitation to Skiing (New York, 1958); and Jean Claude Killy with Doug Pfeiffer, Skiing...The Killy Way (New York, 1971). Ski movies became popular in the 1930s and showed Americans the winning form of European skiers such as Otto Lang, Friedl Pfeifer, Stien Erikson, and Fred Iselin, contributing to their fame and status. These skiers appeared on film as instructors of technique, promoters of resorts, and as stunt doubles for bigger stars in the ever-popular ski chase scenes.
65. New York Times, July 13, 1989.
66. Kingsbury Pitcher, in Richards, Ski Pioneers, 145.
67. My argument applies to destination ski resorts such as Aspen, Vail, Taos, and Sun Valley. Many ski areas in the West, however, including Colorado's Wolf Creek, Eldora, Loveland Ski Basin, and Cuchara Valley, catered to local skiers or day visitors from urban centers. These areas, unlike destination resorts, did not concern themselves as much with the European ski culture, generally charged less for lift tickets, and so were more accessible to middle-class skiers.
68. Pomeroy, In Search of the Golden West, 209.
69. Grand County Historical Association, Winter Park: Colorado's Favorite for Fifty Years, 1940-1990 (Winter Park, Colo., 1989), 155.
70. The Slippers-N-Sliders Ski Club, a primarily African American ski club and affiliate of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, supports an annual program called Ski for Kids in which inner city kids take lessons at Keystone resort. The Slippers-N-Sliders provide transportation, equipment, lunch, and clothing for the kids, over a thousand of whom have learned to ski between 1972 and 1994. Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 30, 1994, p. 28A.
71. Ibid., Feb. 14, 1995, p. 12A.
72. Ibid.; see also ibid., Feb. 15, 1994.
73. Ibid.; see also ibid., Feb. 15, 1994.
74. I should perhaps remind readers that emphasizing white images and courting white clientele is not the same as actively or consciously excluding minorities. I have no evidence of ski resorts explicitly discouraging or preventing minorities from skiing beyond the alienation that George Sisneros and Peter Totemoff reported. My conversations with resort developers support the view that they saw the whiteness of their resorts as normal and did not question the lack of minority skiers.
75. Denver Post, Sept. 14, 1995, p. 1C.
76. Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 9, 1993, p. 8A, Sept. 4, 1994, p. 12A; Denver Post, Oct. 30, 1995, pp. 1A, 13A; High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp. 10, 12. A recent sweep that the Immigration and Naturalization Service made of the Aspen and Vail areas netted thirty illegal aliens. Denver Post, Dec. 7, 1995, p. 9B.
77. Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 9, 1993, p. 8A, Sept. 4, 1994, p. 12A; Denver Post, Oct. 30, 1995, pp. 1A, 13A; High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp. 10, 12. A recent sweep that the Immigration and Naturalization Service made of the Aspen and Vail areas netted thirty illegal aliens. Denver Post, Dec. 7, 1995, p. 9B.
78. Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 9, 1993, p. 8A, Sept. 4, 1994, p. 12A; Denver Post, Oct. 30, 1995, pp. 1A, 13A; High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp. 10, 12. A recent sweep that the Immigration and Naturalization Service made of the Aspen and Vail areas netted thirty illegal aliens. Denver Post, Dec. 7, 1995, p. 9B.
79. Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 9, 1993, p. 8A, Sept. 4, 1994, p. 12A; Denver Post, Oct. 30, 1995, pp. 1A, 13A; High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp. 10, 12. A recent sweep that the Immigration and Naturalization Service made of the Aspen and Vail areas netted thirty illegal aliens. Denver Post, Dec. 7, 1995, p. 9B.
80. High Country News, April 17, 1995, p. 1.
81. Ibid., April 17, 1995, pp. 1, 8-10; Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 4, 1994, pp. 12A, 13A, 18A, Feb. 15, 1995, p. 10A.
82. Ibid., April 17, 1995, pp. 1, 8-10; Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 4, 1994, pp. 12A, 13A, 18A, Feb. 15, 1995, p. 10A.
83. High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp.1 and 13; Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 4, 1994, pp. 12A, 18A, Sept. 5, 1994, pp. 17A, 26A.
84. High Country News, April 17, 1995, pp.1 and 13; Rocky Mountain News, Sept. 4, 1994, pp. 12A, 18A, Sept. 5, 1994, pp. 17A, 26A.
85. Simonton, Vail, 166-167.
86. Ibid., 167.
87. The resort's first owner, Robert O. Anderson (owner of the Hondo Oil and Gas petroleum empire), was eager to boost tourism in New Mexico and opened it for business in December 1962. He sold Sierra Bianca to the Mescalero Apaches for $1.2 million even though the area was valued at more than $2 million; Hondo Oil and Gas presented the difference to the tribe as a gift. See Ernest Gay, "Renaissance Man of the Southwest," Ski, XXVIII (Dec. 1963), 194-195. Sunrise ski area, near the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Show Low, Arizona, is owned by the White Mountain Apache tribe.
88. Gay, "Renaissance Man," 195; Ray Heid, telephone interview by the author, Oct. 3, 1995. Throughout the 1960s various Indian tribes sought economic opportunity through Indian-owned businesses, so purchasing a ski area was in fact consistent with contemporary strategies for increasing tribal autonomy.
89. Heid interview, 1995.
90. Taos Ski Valley advertisement in Ski, XXXII (Dec. 1967), 97.
91. See Jill D. Sweet, "'Let 'em Loose': Pueblo Indian Management of Tourism," American Indian Culture and Research Journal, XV (1991), 59-74; and Hal K. Rothman, "Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the American West," unpublished manuscript, 1994.
92. See Jill D. Sweet, "'Let 'em Loose': Pueblo Indian Management of Tourism," American Indian Culture and Research Journal, XV (1991), 59-74; and Hal K. Rothman, "Devil's Bargains: Tourism and Transformation in the American West," unpublished manuscript, 1994.
93. Taos Ski Valley ad, 1967. This is the same ad which promoted the European atmosphere and amenities of Taos Ski Valley.
94. Sylvia Rodríguez, "Ethnic Reconstruction in Contemporary Taos," Journal of the Southwest, XXXII (1990), 549.