Martin Kofler

Alpine Ambitions: Austrians and the Development of American Ski Culture and Resorts

This public history project investigates the wholesale export of Austrian alpine expertise to the American ski mountains. It demonstrates that the modern U.S. ski industry is not merely a domestic success, but also a result of Austrian-American cultural and technical exchange. The project with physical photo exhibitions as well as digital distribution channels traces how Austrian ski pioneers—including Friedl Pfeifer, Hannes Schneider, Sepp Ruschp, and Pepi Stiegler—left Austria to become the “Founding Fathers” of iconic American landscapes like Sun Valley, Aspen, Vail, Mount Cranmore, Stowe, and Jackson Hole.

Martin Kofler (PhD in History/University of Innsbruck, M.A. in History/University of New Orleans) is Director of the Tyrolean Archive of photographic documentation and art (TAP) in Lienz/Austria since 2011 that keeps the photographs of Olympian Pepi Stiegler as a permanent loan.