Rudy Amsler, Washington's Swiss Ski Pioneer

Wonderful!

So many wonderful photos and history, Lowell! Thanks!

Lowell,  what an unexpected surprise.  I do not think we have any shots of Rudi from our family photos so this is some nice memorabilia.  Coincidently I was just thinking of Rudi today as I was trudging out of Crystal Lakes Basin on my first tour of the season.  I'm very out of shape and I thought of him as I used the "rest step" that he taught me many years ago.  Thanks so much for bringing this to light.  I am very curious where this trove has come from.

I'll add a few more bits of (non-ski) history.  Rudi was very quiet and unassuming.  I remember asking Wolf Bauer about him and he had the same impression.  I often wonder if Rudy's experience in WW! caused that and was the reason he moved so far way from his home.  Rudi must have left his dental lab in the 1950s as my first recollection of him was walking to and from our little town of Bellevue every day for meals or groceries.  If my parents saw him we'd often stop and offer a ride but he almost always refused, prefering to walk and be by himself.  During this time he was an expert gardener and well known and sought after for his services.  He lived in a separate apartment at the home of one of our neighbors in exchange for taking care of the garden.  That home was sold and my family offered the small home that my dad had built for our family while the main house was slowly DIY constructed.  He lived with us from the early 60's til we moved away in 1971.  He stayed on with the new owners until his heart attack and death in about 1973.   I believe he was in his mid 70's then.  Incidently the buyers of our house (Stan and Ann Ditmar, now long gone) were quite involved in the outdoors and, I think, the Mountaineers.  Stan wrote a small booklet, maybe even publshed by them, titled something like Big Trees in Seattle Parks. 

Thanks again for posting this great history .

Eric

Is that rocker in Rudys skis in the pic of Van Trump Park?

Wonderful to hear more about the skier with the tie! But he died so young, mid-70's! What did he die of? I'm mid-70's too, and had my own wartime injuries in Vietnam. Among my weekly hiking group of just over 200 hikers, I am far from the oldest, but we lost quite a few of our group this year, mostly to cancers. Many were also longtime skiers.

Great post. So worthwhile to learn of skiers before us.