- Émile Allais
Émile Allais (born
February 25 ,1912 ) is a former French Alpine skier who realised at hat-trick of victories in the 1937 championships inChamonix . He is considered as the very first well-known French Alpine skier. He was born inMegève .Biography
He won Bronze medals in downhill and slalom at the Garmisch winter olympics held in 1936, the first to feature downhill skiing disciplines. In 1937 he was world champion at Chamonix. He created the École Française de Ski which taught innovative French methods characterised by parallel turns, controlling the speed by sideslipping, and turning by "ruade" [French: kick, back kick] , i.e. kicking the backs of the skis up and pivoting on the tips while rotating the body in the direction of the turn. This is still now the biggest
Ski school in the world in terms of numbers of ski teachers. It is present in every single French ski resort and even abroad.After a spell in North and South America (Squaw Valley and Portillo) Allais held the post of technical director at
Courchevel from 1954 to 1964 where he introduced many ideas from the USA regarding slope preparation and piste security. He later worked as a technical consultant for other resorts, notablyLa Plagne andFlaine . One of the Saulire couloirs at Courchevel is named after Allais.In December 2005, 93 year old Allais made the trip to the
French Senate inParis where he was honoured along with a number of other ski instructors. His whole life has been all about skiing. He learned his skiing early. He raced all over Europe then coached the French Olympic skiing team for seven years. He fought World War II on skis. He even courted his wife at a ski meet.External links
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/Allais-aged-94-skis-on/2006/02/18/1140151845084.html "Allais, aged 94, skis on" from The Age, February 18, 2006]
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