Silver Belt

The Silver Belt was an alpine ski race that was held from 1940 to 1975 at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort in the US state of California .

The Sugar Bowl ski area on Mount Lincoln in Placer County was opened in December 1939, planned and built by the native Austrian Hannes Schroll . Schroll decided to hold an annual race there, which was initially intended as a competitive event for the 1937 Harriman Cup in Sun Valley , Idaho . Due to the large amounts of fresh snow typically found in this area during the middle of winter, the competition was scheduled in April as the season's final event. The invitation race, in which many US and Canadian runners as well as numerous European riders took part, was held as a giant slalom and began at the summit of the 2,555 m high Mount Lincoln. The slope had a relatively small difference in altitude of just under 400 meters, but was one of the steepest and most demanding in the USA. The trophy was a silver belt (Engl. Belt silver ).

The first Silver Belt was won in 1940 by Friedl Pfeifer , who was the ski school director in Sun Valley at the time and, like Schroll, came from Austria, and the American Gretchen Fraser , who became Olympic champion eight years later. In the following three decades - interrupted by a three-year break during the Second World War - a large number of well-known ski racers from the USA joined the list of winners of the Silver Belt, while in some years Canadian and European participants were victorious. The Americans Jannette Burr and Linda Meyers as well as the Austrian Christian Pravda each won the Silver Belt three times. With the introduction of the World Cup in 1967, the importance of this race decreased and the interest of European racers in particular to participate in it waned. The Silver Belt was not held from 1972 to 1974 before it finally took place for the last time in 1975.

Winners list

year	Men's	Ladies
1940	Friedl Pfeifer	Gretchen Fraser
1941	Chris Schwarzenbach	Clarita Heath
1942	Chris Schwarzenbach	Catherine Henck
1943–1945: Not held.
1946	Alf Engen	Rhoda Wurtele
1947	Kristofer Berg	Ann Volkmann
1948	George Macomber	Brynhild Graesmoen
1949	Yves Latreille	Dodie Post
1950	Guttorm mountains	Jannette Burr
1951	Guttorm mountains	Sally Neidlinger
1952	Yvan Taché	Mary Jane Griffith
1953	Christian Pravda	Jannette Burr
1954	John Cress and Bamse Woronovsky	Jannette Burr
1955	William Beck	Babette Haueisen
1956	Christian Pravda	Sally Deaver
1957	Christian Pravda	Starr Walton
1958	Kenny Lloyd	Cathy Zimmerman
1959	Buddy Werner	Linda Meyers
1960	Tom Corcoran	Starr Walton
1961	Chuck Ferries	Linda Meyers
1962	Buddy Werner	Linda Meyers
1963	Willy Favre	Jean Saubert
1964	Léo Lacroix	Pia Riva
1965	Rod Hebron	Jean Saubert
1966	Philippe Mollard	Kathy Allen
1967	Scott Henderson	Lee Hall
1968	Rick Chaffee	Marilyn Cochran
1969	Eric Poulsen	Barbara Ann Cochran
1970	Eric Poulsen	Marilyn Cochran
1971	Pat Simpson	Cheryl Bechdolt
1972–1974: Not held.
1975	Greg Jones	Cindy Nelson

Literature and web links

• Seth Masia: Sugar Bowl's Silver Belt. In: International Skiing History Association (Ed.): Skiing Heritage. Vol. 19, No. 2, June 2007, ISSN  1082-2895 , pp. 31-33.
• Silver Belt, 1939. In: Donner Summit Historical Society (Ed.): Newsletter. Issue 16, December 2009, pp. 12-13.
• Sylas Wright: Silver Belt: Reliving the historic race. Sierra Sun, January 30, 2009; accessed April 15, 2012.
• Mark McLaughlin: Sugar Bowl's Silver Belt Race an era of challenge. Sierra Sun, March 3, 2010, accessed April 15, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ties Mark Meet At Sugar Bowl Closing Season. Reno Evening Gazette, Apr. 26, 1954, p. 15.