It's not commonly known - it happened over 25 years ago - that a British skier became the world's fastest in April 1987.
Graham Wilkie from Surrey (his brother Stuart was also a very high performer in speed skiing at the time) raced the KL - Flying Kilometre - track at Les Arcs at a winning speed of 132 mph (213 km/h). It was a remarkable achievement in the face of intense international competition, and Wilkie didn't even have the following winter to bask in the glory. Michel Prufer snatched his record five months later in Portillo, Chile.
But Britain had a world skiing champion for a while, and he wasn't the only one in recent times - anyone know who the other skier was? [clue: female]
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 16-01-13 10:01; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
"Speed skiing is the ultimate sport, I skydive, I race motorcycles,I race horses, I PLAY GOLF"
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I was actually on the side of the course at Les Arcs when Graham won that title. He was airlifted into the start by a chopper, while we were standing on the face of the Aiguille Rouge having traversed across from the piste down from the top. Jumping up for joy at the result, the guy above me fell and cut my head with his skis. T'was rather steep where we were watching
I spent a week with the Wilkies in L2A in summer of '82 (or maybe '83). Freestyle course I was meant to be on got cancelled and found myself kicking around. They were in same hotel so I went up with them each day and spent a bit of time watching them train on L2A's speed course. Graham, especially, was a very focussed uncompromising individual and is now organising bail bonds for the criminals of California - Truckee I think - and speaks with a funny American accent! Got a feeling that Stuart went on to post faster speeds than Graham and was also world record holder.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Indeed ... here's Graham Wilkie explaining how to get a loved one out of a Californian prison in world-record time ...
I beleive he went faster when he was on top of a Jag.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Samerberg Sue wrote:
I the guy above me fell and cut my head with his skis.
What, no helmet?
After all it is free
After all it is free
Chris Wood741, We are talking about way back in the last century. Fartbags were not quite de rigeur back then either It was so warm in the sun I was actually bare-headed if I remember correctly and had to use mt Gloucester Ski Club hat to mop up the blood.
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Comedy Goldsmith, I've mentioned the other one at least twice before, in addition she was also probably our most successful ski racer of the 20thC and also raced motor cars, she certainly did better then any more modern lady racer with 2 podium WC finishes, in down hill, plus 4 Winter Olympics twice as Captain of the womens team in 64, 68, 72 and.... 1992 When she competed in speed skiing as a demonstration event
I can't find the details right now but I have an idea that she held the ladies speed skiing record for quite some time
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
D G Orf, and now she works for iRacing.com.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Its a brit from Sheffield who learnt to ski on the dry slope there (now closed) who holds the Slopestyle crown at the moment. Won the first event of the season in Argentina and the second event in Copper Mountain USA this week. Slopestyle will be in the 2014 Olympics and best chance for a GBR medal in skiing.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Actually, the female British skier I had in mind is Vaila Macdonald of Edinburgh. She was crowned World Extreme Ski Champion (Ladies) in Valdez, Alaska, 1994.
... you mentioned Divina Galica as having held the British women's ski speed record from 1995 to 2007. Although she had an outstanding career in British/international racing, I don't recall her winning a world record but stand to be corrected.
Divina is one gutsy and amazing lady. In terms of Winter Olympics she first competed for Britain at Innsbruck in 1964 (downhill, slalom) ... until 1992 (speed skiing) - a span of 28 years. In 1992 she was 48 years old, and she continued speed skiing until over 50.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Wed 16-01-13 10:24; edited 1 time in total
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Comedy Goldsmith, I'm not sure if she held the Womens world record or if it was only the Britis Ladies record different web sites say different things, she was certainly up with the top ladies competing in the Speed Skiing
Somewhere around I have some pictures taken I think in the 60's with Divina skiing with my father, no idea where they are though, think she was still a teenager when they were taken.
I'm sure there are very few winter sports men or women that have competed in Olympics in the 60's 70's and 90's (or over an equivalent period of time)
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
What's striking about Graham Wilkie and Vaila Macdonald is that neither received more than a blip of press coverage for their huge achievements, even in UK ski magazines ... and therefore hardly any fame or national recognition.
Hopefully this little cog in the search engines will help remind writers looking for British ski stories that we're capable of conquering the summits occasionally!
Another British skier, who would almost certainly have achieved world domination, is Mike Nemesvary. Born in Paisley near Glasgow, he won numerous Canadian, World Cup, European and British freestyle skiing titles in the 1970s and early 80s ... and was a specialist in complex ballet and aerial trick skiing. He performed stunts for the James Bond film 'A View to a Kill'.
But on 18 May 1985 'Mike Nem' had an accident while training on a trampoline, broke his neck, and was paralysed.
Photo: Mike Nemesvary and Associates
That, however, was no conclusion to the Mike Nemesvary story ...
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Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Samerberg Sue wrote:
I was actually on the side of the course at Les Arcs when Graham won that title ... Jumping up for joy at the result, the guy above me fell and cut my head with his skis. T'was rather steep where we were watching.
It's a seriously steep piece of mountain, and it's boiled down to that slope - the KL track on the Aiguille Rouge - or the Roca Jack at Portillo - as to where skiing speed records can be claimed. As far as I know, there is no other accessible/practical slope in the world with the smooth consistent pitch to provide world-record speeds.
The steepness of the Aiguille Rouge was a factor in the death of a Swiss speed skier during the 1992 Winter Olympics, but he wasn't on the track and he hit a piste machine ...
Didn't Mike do the ski stunts for Roger Moore in the Bond movies? (The Spy Who Loved Me??)
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Comedy Goldsmith, Mont Fort in Verbier hosts a World Cup speed ski event each April and is keen to get the world speed record.
They groom it to the Nth degree and put a ramp out of the lift station to increase the length and steepness.
Last two years the weather has not cooperated....but watch that space, I think they will get it.
skimastaaah, nope but he did do the ones in A view to a kill for the opening pre title sequence, think he also did some trampoline work for the opening music credit sequence as well.
I think the snowboarding bit across the water in the same sequence was done by Tom Sims, who as no doubt many people will know was a great innovator in snowboard (and skateboard) technology
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 16-01-13 12:06; edited 1 time in total
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
While Vaila was extreme Extreme Ski champion I won a weekend holiday in Chamonix though the Daily Mail Ski Magazine, during which I was supposed to be photographed skiing by Jess Stock and have a day skiing with Vaila, who was then his girlfriend. Unfortunately just before I arrived she damaged knee ligaments doing a jump for photographers in the US, so I didn't get to ski with her, though we did have a meal with her and she seemed really nice (unlike her boyfriend).
ha ha, he can be errrr somewhat grumpy and sometimes misunderstood but was a major figure in the history of the UK ski industry.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Bode Swiller wrote:
[Jess Stock] ... a major figure in the history of the UK ski industry.
Indeed. For a long time the principal distributor of ski hardware - Nordica, Dynastar, Look - in the UK. And I have a comedic story involving his most senior marketing colleague meeting the Wilkie brothers (above) at a speed skiing event, only to discover that they had jumped ship to another sponsor and were skiing on the competitor's products. It was more like the eruption of Etna than a conversation.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Bode Swiller wrote:
but was a major figure in the history of the UK ski industry.
That could well be the case, and he did try to live up to the conditions of the holiday, skiing with us for most of a day in her stead and trying to photograph us (though the light was bad and he asked if we really wanted to do it still). However, he could be quite offensive at times, (though he made a reasonable start: my friend said "he is trying but you can see the joins"). For one thing, despite being a brilliant ski photographer he made clear he felt the arts were a con (I am an artist).
This was one of Jess's photos of me:
Last edited by After all it is free on Wed 16-01-13 13:14; edited 1 time in total
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dredgey wrote:
I read this as the worlds fattest skier!?
Well some of the Snowheads Lardies might be in with a good chance of winning the title...
Classic! This has never been said about the ski hardware industry.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Comedy Goldsmith wrote:
snowball wrote:
... he felt the arts were a con ...
Classic! This has never been said about the ski hardware industry.
What has the ski hardware industry got to do with it?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
snowball, before Jess became a ski photographer he was the most successful ski equipment distributor in the UK. Hence my attempt at ironic humour. He sold his company, Europa Sport, which was based in Kendal Cumbria in - I think, from memory - the early 1990s. His first venture was a great ski shop in Notting Hill Gate called ... The Ski Shop (although, if memory serves me correctly, it was founded by others). I seem to remember Jess managing the shop and founding Europa Sport at the same premises.
As Swiller has pointed out, Jess was hugely influential in several aspects of skiing. When I worked on Cairngorm he was very involved in the freestyle skiing scene up there, and all the competitions that went on (mid-1970s).
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Comedy Goldsmith, Wasn't Peter Clarke part of the Europa Sport Managers/Directors?
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Poster: A snowHead
