Hannes Schroll
Encyclopedia
Hannes Schroll was an Austrian
Alpine ski racer
and founder of the Sugar Bowl ski resort
in Norden, California.
, called Bischofshofen
. Later on he began helping his mother run a small (pen·sion) in the mountain village of Alpbach
in the Tyrol east of Kitzbuhel
, attending to guest. After his father fashioned a pair of http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechanix/2-1929/barrel_skis.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/07/16/barrel-stave-skis/&usg=__GLy93UasfeOrkU8_qVtVH6EB2rY=&h=1055&w=841&sz=138&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=xg_XU5PuIJ2jLM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarrel-stave%2Bskis%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1barrel-stave skis] for him, he won his first village race, receiving his first pair of hickory skis as a prize. Unconfirmed reports by Newspaper and Magazine articles have stated that Schroll had won up to 100 ski races, before arriving in America.
during skiing competitions. After winning the steepest race in the Italian Dolomites
in 1934, the Marmolata
, he was elected by Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to represent Austria at the 1935 U.S. National Downhill Championships and given a ticket to come to America. When he arrived by boat he did not speak any English.
Schroll then went on to win both the U.S. National Downhill and Slalom open combined category at Mt. Rainier, Washington in 1935, on wooden skis. It was the first international race of its kind, held in the US to include both European and American skiers. Seven thousand people attended that year, as radio broadcasters carried reports of the events and the skiing conditions all across the US. Schroll was awarded the Silver Skis trophy.
Donald Tresidder
who was park president of Yosemite at the time, was a spectator at Mt. Rainier that particular day and invited Schroll to become the new ski school director in Yosemite at Badger Pass
, in California, by hiring Schroll on the spot. Schrolls popularity at Yosemite and among skiers, more than doubled the number of skiers the next year coming to ski at Badger Pass. Schrolls popularity grew so much that photographer Ansel Adams
once included a picture of Schroll, which he had taken in Yosemite of Schroll, for advertising.
It's been said that Schroll had an Austrian Accent
and would admonish students in the following way while giving them skiing instructions: "My zhtudent, you are zhtanding like a Chrizhtmaz tree! You are going to have to bend your kneez zooner or later, zo vhy not zave uz both zome time by bending zem now?".
after an invitation by his friend Bill Klein came for him to look at some property in the Sierra Nevada that went on the market in 1937. Schroll became president of the Sugar Bowl Corporation with the financial assistance from Hamilton McGaughey a local realtor and ice-skating champion George Stiles and several families that assisted in several other ways. Stocks were sold in the company to raise enough funding to build a ski lodge, a chair lift and several chalet
s. Schroll is noted as playing a vital part of Sugar Bowls success by greeting guest and even entertaining them in the lodge in the evenings. Schroll also coached Dick Buek
at Sugar Bowl when he was a youth, who later went on to compete in the 1952 Winter Olympics
in Oslo
and he was then later inducted into the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
in 1974. Schroll himself was inducted into U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1966.
Walt Disney
recorded yodels of Schroll for the animated short Disney cartoon The Art of Skiing
in which Goofy goes to Sugar Bowl to learn how to ski. The yodel that goofy makes in the cartoon has become to be known as the Goofy holler.
sister Maud Hill in 1943, she passed away 18 years after his death, she was 94. They had two children together, a daughter in 1944 and a son in 1947. Schroll lived in his Chalet
at Sugar Bowl along with his wife Maud until moving to a small farm house in Palo Alto, California. Later on moving to a larger ranch in Hollister, California where he raised and trained race horses until his death in 1985 at the age of 76.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
Alpine ski racer
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
and founder of the Sugar Bowl ski resort
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...
in Norden, California.
Early years
Schroll grew up in an Austrian village near SalzburgSalzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, called Bischofshofen
Bischofshofen
Bischofshofen is a city located in the Salzach valley in the Alps, in the District of Pongau, in Salzburgerland, Austria.The city is an important railway hub and lies at the Tauernautobahn, a highway route through the Alps....
. Later on he began helping his mother run a small (pen·sion) in the mountain village of Alpbach
Alpbach
Alpbach is a village in Western Austria in the state of Tyrol. Its geographical location is , at 975 m above sea level. Alpbach had a population of 2,549 in 2003....
in the Tyrol east of Kitzbuhel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
, attending to guest. After his father fashioned a pair of http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechanix/2-1929/barrel_skis.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/07/16/barrel-stave-skis/&usg=__GLy93UasfeOrkU8_qVtVH6EB2rY=&h=1055&w=841&sz=138&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=xg_XU5PuIJ2jLM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarrel-stave%2Bskis%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1barrel-stave skis] for him, he won his first village race, receiving his first pair of hickory skis as a prize. Unconfirmed reports by Newspaper and Magazine articles have stated that Schroll had won up to 100 ski races, before arriving in America.
Skiing career
Schroll has been characterized as being very charismatic, funny and a larger-than-life social person that would often be heard YodelingYodeling
Yodeling is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound.The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln meaning "to...
during skiing competitions. After winning the steepest race in the Italian Dolomites
Dolomites
The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...
in 1934, the Marmolata
Marmolada
Marmolada is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites ....
, he was elected by Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to represent Austria at the 1935 U.S. National Downhill Championships and given a ticket to come to America. When he arrived by boat he did not speak any English.
Schroll then went on to win both the U.S. National Downhill and Slalom open combined category at Mt. Rainier, Washington in 1935, on wooden skis. It was the first international race of its kind, held in the US to include both European and American skiers. Seven thousand people attended that year, as radio broadcasters carried reports of the events and the skiing conditions all across the US. Schroll was awarded the Silver Skis trophy.
Donald Tresidder
Donald Tresidder
Donald Bertrand Tresidder was the fourth president of Stanford University.Son of Dr. John Treloar Tresidder , Tresidder was born in Tipton, Indiana. At the age of 20 he took a trip with his sister to Southern California. However, the railroad tracks were washed out and they went to Yosemite Valley...
who was park president of Yosemite at the time, was a spectator at Mt. Rainier that particular day and invited Schroll to become the new ski school director in Yosemite at Badger Pass
Badger Pass Ski Area
Badger Pass Ski Area is a small ski area located within Yosemite National Park. Badger Pass is one of only three lift serviced ski areas operating in a US National Park...
, in California, by hiring Schroll on the spot. Schrolls popularity at Yosemite and among skiers, more than doubled the number of skiers the next year coming to ski at Badger Pass. Schrolls popularity grew so much that photographer Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
once included a picture of Schroll, which he had taken in Yosemite of Schroll, for advertising.
It's been said that Schroll had an Austrian Accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
and would admonish students in the following way while giving them skiing instructions: "My zhtudent, you are zhtanding like a Chrizhtmaz tree! You are going to have to bend your kneez zooner or later, zo vhy not zave uz both zome time by bending zem now?".
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort
Schroll opened the Sugar Bowl Ski ResortSugar Bowl Ski Resort
Sugar Bowl is a ski and snowboard area in northern Placer County near Norden, California along the Donner Pass of the Sierra Nevada, approximately west of Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80, that opened on December 15, 1939...
after an invitation by his friend Bill Klein came for him to look at some property in the Sierra Nevada that went on the market in 1937. Schroll became president of the Sugar Bowl Corporation with the financial assistance from Hamilton McGaughey a local realtor and ice-skating champion George Stiles and several families that assisted in several other ways. Stocks were sold in the company to raise enough funding to build a ski lodge, a chair lift and several chalet
Chalet
A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...
s. Schroll is noted as playing a vital part of Sugar Bowls success by greeting guest and even entertaining them in the lodge in the evenings. Schroll also coached Dick Buek
Dick Buek
Dick Buek , born Richard Buek, was an American downhill ski racer and later a daredevil stunt pilot. A fiance of champion snow skier Jill Kinmont, whose tragic life story was made into the inspirational hit Hollywood motion picture The Other Side of the Mountain , Dick died in a plane crash at the...
at Sugar Bowl when he was a youth, who later went on to compete in the 1952 Winter Olympics
1952 Winter Olympics
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games, took place in Oslo, Norway, from 14 to 25 February 1952. Discussions about Oslo hosting the Winter Olympic Games began as early as 1935; the city wanted to host the 1948 Games, but World War II made that impossible...
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and he was then later inducted into the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
National Ski Hall of Fame
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum is located in the City of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the birthplace of organized skiing in the United States...
in 1974. Schroll himself was inducted into U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1966.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
recorded yodels of Schroll for the animated short Disney cartoon The Art of Skiing
The Art of Skiing
The Art of Skiing is a Goofy cartoon made by Walt Disney Productions in 1941. It has historical significance as the first cartoon to use the goofy holler, as well as being the short that led to the "How To" series, beginning with How to Play Baseball and continuing with How to Hook Up Your Home...
in which Goofy goes to Sugar Bowl to learn how to ski. The yodel that goofy makes in the cartoon has become to be known as the Goofy holler.
Personal life
Schroll married stockholder Jerome Hill'sJerome Hill
Jerome Hill was an American filmmaker and artist. He was born into the family of Louis W. and Maud Van Corlandt Hill, one of the prominent families of Saint Paul and heirs to the railroad fortune of James J. Hill, the famed “Empire Builder.”He attended St...
sister Maud Hill in 1943, she passed away 18 years after his death, she was 94. They had two children together, a daughter in 1944 and a son in 1947. Schroll lived in his Chalet
Chalet
A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...
at Sugar Bowl along with his wife Maud until moving to a small farm house in Palo Alto, California. Later on moving to a larger ranch in Hollister, California where he raised and trained race horses until his death in 1985 at the age of 76.