Where alpine skiing comes from
From the Plaine-Morte to Barzettes
January 1911: eleven skiers, most of them British, spend the night in a hut below the Plaine-Morte to find out, next morning, who will be first to the bottom. What followed fits on one timeline, and Crans-Montana keeps turning up on it.
Crans-Montana
The world
Crans-Montana
The Roberts of Kandahar
On 7 January, skiers set off from the Plaine-Morte glacier and race down to Montana. Cecil Hopkinson wins in 61 minutes. Arnold Lunn organises the race; the trophy is given by Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, Lord Roberts of Kandahar. The 2027 organiser considers it the first downhill ever raced; some experts point out that other races already existed elsewhere.
The world
The first timed slalom
In Mürren, Arnold Lunn has skiers race between gates, judged on time alone, with no style marks.
1931
The world
The first world championships
Mürren hosts the first world alpine races: downhill and slalom, for men and women. Switzerland's Walter Prager wins the downhill.
1936
The world
Alpine skiing at the Olympics
In Garmisch-Partenkirchen there is one alpine event for men and for women: the combined, a downhill and a slalom added together.
1944
Crans-Montana
The Mont-Lachaux Trophy
After the war, the Mont-Lachaux Trophy brings the alpine elite up to the Haut-Plateau every winter. Together with the rise of skibob, crowned by world championships in 1969, it helps widen the Nationale.
1948
The world
Olympic downhill and slalom
In St. Moritz the downhill and the slalom become separate Olympic events.
1952
The world
The giant slalom arrives
The giant slalom joins the Olympic programme at the Oslo Games.
1967
The world
The World Cup
A circuit now runs all winter, with an overall ranking.
1969
Crans-Montana
Skibob world championships
Crans-Montana hosts the second skibob world championships: 120 competitors from 14 delegations, in junior, women's, elite and over-40 classes. Austria's Josef Pitzer wins the men's downhill in 2:18.04.
1977
Crans-Montana
Crans-Montana's first World Cup
The World Cup tour stops on the Haut-Plateau for the first time. Three more visits (1979, 1981, 1986) later, Crans-Montana lands the 1987 Worlds.
1987
Crans-Montana
The Crans-Montana Worlds
From 27 January to 8 February, the 29th World Championships. Switzerland wins 14 medals, including 8 titles out of 10, and the very first World Championship super-G is raced.
1988
The world
Super-G at the Olympics
A year after Crans-Montana, the super-G joins the Olympic programme in Calgary.
1992
Crans-Montana
The World Cup Finals
The season ends here: the last races, for women and men, settle the World Cup standings.
Crans-Montana
Tomba's farewell
The Finals return. On 15 March Alberto Tomba wins the slalom, his 50th and last World Cup victory, and retires the same day.
2008
Crans-Montana
Women's speed
After ten years without the World Cup, the plateau welcomes the women's downhill and super-G racers. America's Lindsey Vonn takes the first win.
Crans-Montana
The Junior World Championships
From 30 January to 5 February, the Junior World Championships are raced on the Nationale. Alexis Pinturault wins the giant slalom ahead of Vincent Kriechmayr. Wendy Holdener takes downhill silver, giant slalom bronze and the combined title. In the slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin, born in 1995, finishes third.
2012
Crans-Montana
Cuche's last super-G
The men are back. Neuchâtel's Didier Cuche wins the super-G at 37, and never races in Switzerland again.
2016
Crans-Montana
The Mont Lachaux, a women's stop
The women come back to the Mont Lachaux every winter. Lara Gut-Behrami, Sofia Goggia, Federica Brignone and Mikaela Shiffrin have all won there.
2022
Crans-Montana
The Worlds come back
Beaten by Saalbach-Hinterglemm for 2025 (bid filed in 2019), the resort tries again. FIS gives it the 2027 edition.
Crans-Montana
The Nationale sweep
For the first time since 1987, the downhillers race the Nationale on its original line. An all-Swiss podium: Franjo von Allmen, Marco Odermatt, Alexis Monney.
2025
The world
The combined becomes a team event
At the Saalbach Worlds the team combined replaces the individual combined. It joins the Olympics in 2026.
2026
Crans-Montana
The dress rehearsal
For the first time since the 1998 Finals, the Nationale and the Mont Lachaux host a World Cup weekend together, for women and men: the last full-scale test.
2027
Crans-Montana
The Worlds, forty years on
From 1 to 14 February, eleven races on the Nationale and the Mont Lachaux, with the same finish area as in 1987, at Barzettes.
History
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Photo credits
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