Freeride pioneer Sepp Bildstein
Sepp Bildstein - a name that most people probably won't recognize at first. I was the same until recently. Nevertheless, he has probably influenced many people more than we might realize. Sepp Bildstein was a pioneer in the field of freeriding in two respects!
He was born at the end of the 19th century and is considered a pioneer who was ahead of his time when it came to skiing. He lived and acted according to the motto "higher, faster further" and was already skiing steep gullies in the early 20th century. He loved dusty deep snow and was not afraid of sharp rocks or jumping over rooftops. All this at a time when gondolas and lifts were just as much a foreign concept as helmets, ski goggles or hardshell jackets and pants!
It was precisely this passion for skiing that led him to build the first T-bar lift in Austria together with Emil Doppelmayr (I'm sure we've all read his surname before) after completing his technical studies in Graz in 1937. The Zürsersee T-bar lift was built in what is now the Vorarlberg part of the world-famous freeride mecca on the Arlberg around the two villages of Lech and Zürs. Over the following two decades, Bildstein built further T-bar and chairlifts, creating a ski circuit between Lech and Zürs. This is known as the "White Ring". It is here that the race of the same name is held once a year in honor of Sepp Bildstein.
