Skiers’ iconic slalom photos

In rummaging through my photos, I noticed that many of my skier friends’ pictures showed them giving their very best, brushing a slalom gate with their shoulders, thus rendering their very best impression possible. 

Why slalom? Because this was the most extreme, most representative and sought-after activity among my ski instructor peers. 

Slalom was the key to ski instructors entry exam, including both the “Auxiliaire” and “National” certification levels in France, and was a form of training taken very seriously by all aspiring ski instructors. 

The gates were made of solid wood at the time, hurt a lot when a skier hit them hard with their upper body or knee, had no hinging mechanism yet, and were encouraging a “reverse shoulder” motion that often was exaggerated and set pretty much the standard for style at the time. 

Further, slalom training courses were fast and easy to set up, took the least footprint on the slope and often were set with only one pole instead of a full gate. 

This set the right mood to feel just like Jean-Claude Killy or Annemarie Pröll!