Pepi Sorrowhammer

Pepi Sorrowhammer
nation	Austria
birthday	August 6, 1932
place of birth	Kufstein
date of death	17th August 2019
Place of death	Vail, USA
Career
discipline	Downhill , giant slalom , slalom , combination
society	Innsbruck skier association
End of career	1960 (as an amateur)

Josef "Pepi" Gramshammer (born August 6, 1932 in Kufstein ; † August 17, 2019 in Vail , Colorado ) was an Austrian skier and entrepreneur who had lived in the United States since 1960 . As a ski racer , he achieved numerous victories and podium places in international races from 1956. In the USA he worked as a ski instructor and built a hotel in Vail .

biography

Gramshammer started skiing at the age of ten and went to Innsbruck as a 17-year-old , where he joined the Innsbrucker Skiervereinigung in order to get better training opportunities. The trained cheesemaker initially worked as a ski instructor in Igls , achieved his first podium in an FIS race in 1953 as second in a giant slalom in Innsbruck and was accepted into the Austrian national team in 1955. In the same year he completed his training as a state-certified ski instructor. Over the next few years he worked as a ski instructor on the Stelvio Pass during the summer months , and in 1957 also spent a summer in Australia .

Gramshammer celebrated their first victory in 1956 in a giant slalom in Obergurgl ; In 1957 he achieved numerous podium places and a victory in downhill skiing in Cervinia . In 1958, too, Gramshammer was often among the top three and won two giant slaloms in Obergurgl and Maurienne . For participation in the 1958 World Championship in Bad Gastein , however, these results, which he usually achieved in less crowded FIS-B races, were not enough. In the winter of 1959, Gramshammer won a downhill run in Chamonix , where he also came second in the combined. In addition, he achieved a third place in the combination of the Arlberg-Kandahar races in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . The best results of the winter of 1960 were only achieved towards the end of the season, including victories in giant slalom and a combination of the 3-tre races in Madonna di Campiglio , which is why he had previously failed to qualify for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley .

After the 1960 season, Gramshammer went to Sun Valley in the USA as a ski instructor due to the unsuccessful qualification for the Winter Olympic Games , where the Kitzbühel native Siegfried Engl was the ski school director at the time. In the USA he joined the financially lucrative professional tour and celebrated several victories. In 1962 he received the offer to act as a representative for the then newly emerging winter sports resort of Vail in Colorado . Gramshammer settled there and in December 1964 opened the Hotel-Gasthof Gramshammer, built on the European model, with his wife Sheika . His guests at the hotel and his ski students in Vail included a number of prominent personalities, including former US President Gerald Ford , whose funeral in January 2007 Gramshammer was one of the pallbearers.

Together with Erich Sailer and Andreas Molterer , who also came from Austria, Gramshammer founded the Red Lodge International Summer Ski Racing Camp near Red Lodge , Montana , where American youths are still being taught alpine ski racing to this day. He also held training programs for adults, the so-called "Wedel Weeks", and financially supported ski programs for the blind and disabled. He was also involved in the Vail Valley Foundation , which organizes the Alpine World Cup races in Vail and is responsible for the Alpine World Ski Championships , which took place in Vail in 1989 , 1999 and 2015 . At the first World Cup in Vail in 1989, Gramshammer was a member of the Executive and Organizing Committee.

successes

Victories in FIS races

• Giant slalom in Obergurgl 1956
• Departure from Cervinia in 1957
• Giant slalom in Maurienne 1958
• Giant slalom in Obergurgl 1958
• Departure from Chamonix in 1959
• Giant slalom and combination in Madonna di Campiglio 1960
• Giant slalom in Seefeld 1960
• Giant slalom at Krippenstein 1960
• Slalom and combination in Sestriere 1960

literature

• Anneliese Gidl, Karl Graf: Skiing in Innsbruck. From the beginning to the 21st century. Haymon, Innsbruck / Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-85218-591-0 , p. 152.
• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , pp. 108-109.

Web links

• Website of the Hotel-Gasthof Gramshammer in Vail (English)
• “The ubiquitous Pepi in the center of Vail” , derstandard.at from February 1st, 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christof Thöny: Pepi Gramshammer died in Vail. In: skionline.ch. August 17, 2019, accessed August 18, 2019 .