French Revolution

Emile Allais' one-track mind leaves visible traces--he is a skier. He grew up in the French Alpine village of Megeve, and there learned his skiing early. He raced all over Europe, won the 1937 downhill and slalom world's championships, 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.

Though he had studied under some of the world's greatest skiers (among them: the Austrian shepherd Anton Seelos), Emile was never quite satisfied with what he was learning. He began jotting down notes on new theories, would steal up a mountain even at night to try those theories out. Soon he had a style all his own, so fluid and effortless that in 1938 the French Ski Federation adopted it as official. It was a revolution in skiing technique. The French revolution has been spreading ever since.

Last week, U.S. skiers were getting a chance to hear more about it. Emile's new book--How to Ski by the French Method (New Directions; $6)--was just out; and Emile himself had arrived in the U.S. to teach advanced students at Idaho's great ski resort, Sun Valley.

Up to now, the U.S. has learned most of its skiing from the disciples of Austrian Hannes Schneider. Schneider's Arlberg method teaches beginners how to brake their speed, swoosh around trees, and turn --basing all movements on the snowplow (pointing the ski tips inwards to make a V) and the stem (pushing the back part of one ski out at an angle for a turn). Allais keeps his skis always parallel, controlling his speed by sideslipping, and turning by ruade (kicking the backs of the skis up and pivoting on the tips while rotating the body in the direction of the turn).

Allais' admirers insist that his method is swifter, simpler and safer--but so far, the U.S. is a long way from accepting it. Schneider himself still teaches at the Eastern skiers' mecca, North Conway, N.H. Most U.S. Olympic stars, including Slalom Champion Gretchen Fraser, are confirmed Arlbergians. Even Sun Valley isn't committed: it is teaching both methods.

At 36, Emile Allais is still serious about his work. When he isn't skiing, he is designing skis, ski boots and even goggles for skiers. He now spends half the year teaching at his own school in Portillo, Chile, hopes eventually to have a school of his own in the U.S. But he doesn't expect to convert the whole Western Hemisphere to the French method; his partisans claim more for his technique than he does himself. Says he dryly: "I do not pretend to have invented skiing."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.