A Val Gardena ski legend turns 80

The Val Gardena Ski Club can look back on a long history. It was founded in 1908 during the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the name “Alpine Ski Club Ladinia”. On the occasion of the Ortisei market survey, the first ski race in Val Gardena took place in the same year. The Sella Ski Club was founded in 1921 for the towns of St. Christina and Wolkenstein. After the Second World War, a joint ski club was founded in Val Gardena in 1946, which was particularly dedicated to promoting young talent. Since the 1930s, ski racers from the region have caused a stir at national and international races - especially Hans Nogler (1919-2011), who later worked as a ski instructor in Sun Valley and eventually ran a hotel of the same name in Wolkenstein.

In the 1960s, a new generation of racers from Val Gardena emerged, encouraged by the current coach Hans Nogler. One of them was a man who is currently celebrating his 80th birthday: Gerhard Mussner, who was born on October 5, 1943 in Wolkenstein. As a child, he experienced the difficult years of the post-war period, but also witnessed the tourism boom that made itself felt in the Val Gardena in the 1950s. The young skiers of that time admired Italian ski stars such as Celina Seghi, Zeno Colò and Vittorio Chierroni, who competed at the Italian national championships. The first FIS B races were held in Val Gardena around 1960, laying the foundation for the successful World Cup bid and the long tradition of racing on the Saslong.

Gerhard Mussner as a participant in the 1968 Winter Olympics (from a sticker album published for this event).

After successes in the youth sector and in FIS races, Mussner was called up for the Italian team at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Portillo, Chile, in the summer of 22, at the age of just 1966. As for all participants, the trip to South America was a special event in his sporting career. Just behind his teammate Ivo Mahlknecht, Mussner finished 14th in the downhill and finished the giant slalom in 32nd place.

In the Italian men's team, which competed in the first years of the Alpine Ski World Cup founded in 1967 on the initiative of Serge Lang, the people of Val Gardena set the tone with Ivo Mahlknecht, Carlo Senoner and Gerhard Mussner. The latter took eighth place in the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen in the first World Cup season. The following year he achieved his best World Cup placement with seventh place in Kitzbühel. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he was the second best Azzurro with eleventh place in the downhill and 17th place in the giant slalom. After another season in the Ski World Cup, he ended his career in 1969. In 1976 he built an inn in Wolkenstein on land he inherited from his father. This laid the foundation for today's Chalet Gerard hotel, which is now run by the two daughters.

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A Val Gardena ski legend turns 80

In the 1960s, a new generation of racers from Val Gardena emerged on the scene. One of them was Gerhard Mussner, who will be 80 years old these days.

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