From Lienz to Jackson Hole and Back Again: the Austrian Ski Champion Josef “Pepi” Stiegler by Martin Kofler

Within the field of the Tyrolean Photo Archive‘s activities, one recent focus is Sports History. Few individuals loom larger for these activities than the Austrian skier Josef “Pepi” Stiegler from Lienz in East Tyrol. (1)  Stiegler became famous when he triumphed at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1964. Today, the estate of Stiegler is located at the Tyrolean Photo Archive TAP, an image archive founded in 2011, and I am its founding director. (2)

Pepi Stiegler is a central figure in the larger context of the ski culture transfer between Austria and the United States. In fact, already in 1960, Stiegler won his first medal: in “Squaw Valley, California,” later renamed to “Palisades Tahoe,” capturing a Silver in the Giant Slalom. (3) But there is more to the story of Pepi Stiegler, (4) and transatlantic ski culture was the centerpiece of a recent panel at the German Studies Association Conference in Arlington, Virginia.(5)  Looking ahead, a major exhibition, the first of its kind devoted to Stiegler, is scheduled to open at the Austrian Embassy in Washington D.C., in mid-September 2026 and is going to be transferred to Lienz in 2027.

Pepi Stiegler: The First 30 Years

Born on April 20, 1937, in Lienz, Josef “Pepi” Stiegler currently lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has two children from an earlier marriage to Carrie Domin, daughter Resi (1985- ) (6) and son Seppi (Josef) (1988- ). Stiegler himself is the son of photographer Grete Stiegler, while his father, Josef, worked as a bus driver for the Austrian Mail Service “Postbus.”

Photography runs deep in the Stiegler family. Indeed, Pepi Stiegler is also the grandson of Lienz photographer Hans Fracaro, and for a time, Pepi was both a professional photographer and a professional skier. Most importantly for his skiing career, Stiegler won a Gold medal in the Slalom and Bronze in the Giant Slalom at the Innsbruck Olympics.From June 1964 onwards, he was men’s coach at the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV), in preparation for the World Alpine Ski Championships in Chile (1966).

On September 10, 1965, however, Stiegler officially resigned from this position, as he had been offered an opportunity to become the first ski school director at a new resort being built in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Soon thereafter, Stiegler emigrated to the United States, working in Wyoming until 1994, where he later served as the “Director of Skiing.”

 

Stiegler and Lienz, 1964-

Stiegler had received a hero’s welcome in his hometown Lienz after the Olympic Games. Regional politicians and economists very much hoped to keep him anchored locally and offered to build a hotel, with the promise of a future ski school director’s job, at the Lienz Ski Resort Zettersfeld.(7) 

 

 

Hotel construction soon began, though remained a shell for several years, while retaining the name “Pepi-Stiegler-Haus,” before it was bought and completed by the Austrian Alpenverein in 1969, which owned and ran the institution until 1989. Today, the site is “Hotel Hoch Lienz” and privately owned.

With Pepi firmly situated in Wyoming and the United States, (8) Stiegler initiated the “sister cities” relationship between Jackson Hole and his hometown Lienz. When this partnership was finalized in 1970, Stiegler invited politicians and tourist pioneers from his hometown to Wyoming for the very first time.

Over the years and decades (9) Pepi has delivered energy to this transatlantic partnership.  He remained in close contact with the mayors of Lienz, Hubert Huber and Helga Machne (the latter of whom he had known as a skiing instructor at Boyne Mountain/Michigan (10) ). More recently, Mayor Hannes Hibler and the current Mayoress Elisabeth Blanik have all made ceremonial visits to Jackson (1986, 2001, 2009, 2018).

In return, Stiegler visited his hometown regularly as did delegations from Jackson Hole (Picture 9). The most important persons of the “Sister City” relationship were Stan Klaasen in Wyoming and English professor Emil Erhardt (11) in East Tyrol with almost 30 organized student and adult groups travelling from Jackson to Lienz.

In addition to this political contact, there have been artistic, together with student exchange on different levels, even as the intensity of this exchange has declined with the deaths of Klaasen and Erhardt.[xi] But there is always the future, and in September 2026, another Lienz delegation is going to visit Jackson again …

 

“Kemmts holt bold wieda amol.” Looking Ahead to the 2026 Exhibition and Beyond

For many years, Pepi was known as one of the best skiers in Jackson Hole. In 1993, however, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and in 2016 he had a serious accident. These days he gets by, though he is taken care of by his life-partner Becky.

In September 2025, co-curator Hannes Richter and I visited the Stiegler family. We received a warm welcome, and upon leaving, Pepi said goodbye, or not exactly “goodbye” but rather “Kemmts holt bold wieda amol” (or “come again soon”).

And indeed, we will be returning in May 2026 to do more research in preparation for the photo exhibition “Alpine Ambitions” at the Austrian Embassy, opening on September 17, 2026.

There is much to tell and learn about Pepi Stiegler, about the partnerships between cities in the United States and Austria, and about how since the 1930s, Austrian ski champions, ski entrepreneurs, ski teachers – also people like Hannes Schneider and Friedl Pfeiffer — have brought their personalities, skills, and expertise to the United States to promote skiing and to create the great ski resorts of America.

(1) As helpful introductions: Dick Dorworth, The Quiet Legend, in: Ski, November 1995, 89-92; Wade McKoy, Mr. Discipline. Pepi Stiegler, from the Best Run of His Life to the Best Powder on the Mountain, in: The Skijournal, Vol. Eight, Nr. Three (2014), 66-81; in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Stiegler; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Stiegler; https://www.olympia.org/athletes/97851.

(2) See: Martin Kofler, Fotografien als historische Quelle, in: Michael Forcher/Meinrad Pizzinini (Hrsg.), Tiroler Fotografie 1854-2011, Innsbruck-Vienna 2012, 216-231.

(3) Kurt Jeschko (Red.), Olympia 1960. Ein Bericht über die VIII. Olympischen Spiele in Squaw Valley. Offizielle Publikation des Österreichischen Olympischen Comités, Baden bei Wien 1960, 39, 44, 50f.

(4) For a short overview see: Julian Steiner, Hannes, Pepi, Sigi & Sepp. The Story of Austrian Pioneers who brought skiing to the U.S., in: Austrian Information, Vol. 69, Summer 2016, 6-10.

(5) Tiroler Tageszeitung, 11 November 2025; online: https://www.tt.com/artikel/30921318/wie-ein-tiroler-ski-ass-die-usa-eroberte-neue-fotos-zur-karriere-pepi-stieglers-gefunden.

(6) https://en.wikipedia.orf/wiki/Resi_Stiegler.

(7) Osttiroler Bote, 13 February 1964; Tiroler Tageszeitung, 11 February 1964.

(8) Ben Cannon, At Home with Pepi, in: Jackson Hole Weekly, 12.08.2009.

(9) Tiroler Tageszeitung, 5 June 1997.

(10) Ben Cannon, At Home with Pepi, in: Jackson Hole Weekly, 12.08.2009.

(11) Stan Klassen, Jackson shares rich history with “Sister City“ Lienz, Austria, in: Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum Chronicle, Vol. XXVIV, No. 1, Spring 2009, 1, 5; https://www.dolomitenstadt.at/story/transkontinentale-freundschaften/; https://www.dolomitenstadt.at/2018/07/17/cowboy-und-tirolerhut-lienzer-zurueck-aus-jackson-hole/; https://osttirolerbote.at/aktuelles/aktuelle-audio-beitraege/lienzer-besuch-in-sistertown-jackson-hole.