In Her Father’s Tracks
An interview with Pepi Stiegler
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Photo: Jonathan Selkowitz |
Forty-four years ago Pepi Stiegler skied into Olympic history, winning a silver medal in giant slalom at Squaw Valley in 1960. Four years later he claimed gold and bronze medals in slalom and giant slalom at Innsbruck.
Last year Pepi’s 18-year-old daughter, Resi, continued her ascent in alpine ski racing, posting good results in World Cup and Europa Cup events.
The years between marked Pepi’s Jackson Hole persona—Ski School Director, Nastar Pacesetter, Race Camp Director, Director of Skiing, Ski With Pepi Clinics. Less well known, however, is his tremendous ability as an all-mountain skier.
In 1976 I witnessed Pepi ski Thunder bumps on a pair of 215 Kastle super-Gs. He sailed down the moguls, edging long-radius turns, his upper body quietly positioned over two jackhammer legs.
A couple years later he demonstrated his superior ability in Once is Enough couloir. As several highly skilled locals stood analyzing the tricky entrance, Pepi walked up and politely asked to go ahead. Permission granted, he unknowingly schooled them on advanced steep-skiing technique: a right turn on the exposed entrance; a teetering stop on the 60-degree, knife-edge drift; the drop into the narrow slot of rock-hard snow; the carve into linked turns down the chute.
No one else came close to that seamless display of precision skiing.
And no one else around here has an 18-year-old daughter skiing on the World Cup.
—Wade McKoy
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| Father and daughter in 1992 Photo: McKoy |
How does ski racing help one become a better all-mountain skier? Ski racing has little to do with all-mountain skiing. My opportunity to become good at that was associated with Jackson Hole and working on that mountain.
Did you do a lot of free-skiing when you were working there? I certainly did. We free-skied a lot, especially in the ‘60s. We didn’t have many customers, so our freedom to ski the mountain was tremendous.
I hear you’re doing a lot of ski-touring now. That’s my passion now. It’s heaven.
It gets you away from people?
Well, its not so much getting away from people. No, I don’t mind company. But it gives you the real beauty of nature combined with skiing. It’s a beautiful solution.
Have you free-skied much with Resi? No, unfortunately not. I skied with her when she was a child, but as soon as she got more serious in ski racing, she pretty much only skied with her coaches and ski club.
Have you been able to watch her race? I watched her in St. Moritz at the World Championship, in France at the World Juniors, at the nationals in Squaw Valley and Whitefish, and some lesser races in Utah. This year I won’t be seeing many of the Europa Cups and World Cups, unless on TV. She travels with the team pretty much exclusively. In fact, she wouldn’t want the parents around when she is going from one race to the other. That would bug her, which is natural.
Do you think you’ll subscribe to the TV station that carries ski racing?
My brother is really into ski racing, and he records everything.
What were Resi’s results last year? Her first result world-wide was a tenth place in alpine combined, and in the World Juniors she had two third-place finishes. She also had some good results in the first world cup in Switzerland. She skis a mixed menu—World Cup when they feel like it would be good for her, and they also put her in the Europa Cup.
Her coaches are grooming her for the future? Exactly, that’s exactly what they are doing.
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| Photo courtesy Jackson Hole Resort Archives |
So she has many years in her future of ski racing? That depends on her. She is just beginning, just moving to a higher level. She’s not quite there yet, and she’s starting into it with good timing: 18, 19, 20—that’s a terrific age. She needs some more experience and exposure to the tension of world competition. I’ve seen it in other racers, including John Claude Killy. It doesn’t matter what the talent is, if they’re not ready yet, it’s not going to work. You have to gradually become ready for it, and I’m not telling you that it’s going to be that way with Resi. One never knows what’s next.
What advice do you give her? (Laughs) Well, I don’t give her that much advice. She pretty much knows what it takes to succeed. Once in a while I tell her to calm down her emotions. You know girls, they can fly off the handle pretty quickly. I tell her to calm down, and that strength is in quiet. You can’t concentrate if you are fluttery. If you want to concentrate for a high-performance act, you have to start out very quietly.
What sort of advice did you get when you were racing? A good, intelligent coach will find some aspect in your skiing that will hold you back. And if he can pinpoint it and remove it, then maybe the racer makes another leap forward. My coach—Othmar Schneider, an Olympic champion in 1952—did that for me.
What was holding you back?
(Reflects) Well, to a large degree, possibly self-confidence. When a coach who’s an ex-Olympic champion takes you on and demonstrates that he is willing to help you advance, that’s a very powerful influence for your career. That means, well, this guy takes me seriously, and that really feeds your self-confidence. At the time I was bending over too much at the hips to be a good slalom skier, but that’s technical. When it comes to me giving input to Resi, that’s more like a father, that’s psychological, not technical. I couldn’t be a technical coach to Resi because a lot of technique has changed so much, you know. I’m not into crashing gates. I wouldn’t be qualified to tell her how to knock down a slalom pole.
As you were growing up in Austria, in Lienz, skiing was a part of your childhood. You took it to the competitive level when you were how old?
Not much before 14.
And how old was Resi? Oh gosh, it was accelerated. She got into racing much sooner than me. Years, years earlier.
A function of the times? I think so, times have changed. Also her circumstance had much to do with it—she started skiing at age two at Jackson Hole. I only started skiing at age six. You see the difference in sophistication? My father was standing there and he said, “Well, why don’t you go ski down.” And I skied down and crashed. Well, Resi was two years old, and her coaching was so much more sophisticated than what my father was able to do for me. It was so simple then, the equipment was so simple, oh god (laughs). I have this photo of her when she was five or six, and she already has the correct technique. I hadn’t even started skiing yet at age five. You see how things have changed? Everything is accelerated. But the whole world is that way, not just skiing.
The Jackson Hole Skier is a free visitors’ guide published annually and distributed at hundreds of locations throughout Jackson Hole, Cody, and other regional communities. To receive a copy in the mail, send $5 to Jackson Hole SKier, P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001.
Copyright 2004 by FPI (Focus Productions, Inc)., P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.
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