Memorial to Arnold Lunn in Mürren, Switzerland. The text reads, "It was here in Mürren that Arnold Lunn set the first slalom in 1922 and organised the first world championship in downhill and slalom racing in 1931."

Sir Arnold Lunn (born April 18, 1888 in Madras, India^[1]; died June 2, 1974 in London, England) was a famous skier, mountaineer and writer. He was knighted for "services to British Skiing and Anglo-Swiss relations" in 1952. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 1495 KB) Summary Memorial to Arnold Lunn in Mürren, Switzerland. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1536x2048, 1495 KB) Summary Memorial to Arnold Lunn in Mürren, Switzerland. ... Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. ... Slalom from the Morgedal dialect of Norwegian slalåm: sla, meaning slightly inclining hillside, and låm, meaning track after skis. ... The downhill is an alpine skiing discipline. ... is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Madras refers to: the Indian city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, the former Indian state, now known as Tamil Nadu (Plural of Madra): Ancient people of Iranian affinites, who lived in northwest Panjab in the Uttarapatha division of ancient India. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Cross-country skiing (skating style) in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. ... An open crevasse. ...

Early life

His father Sir Henry Simpson Lunn (1859–1939), was firstly a Methodist minister and later founder of Lunn's Travel agency (that would become Lunn Poly), which encouraged tourism in the Swiss Alps in the tradition of Thomas Cook's famous travel agency in the early 20th century. Alfred attended Harrow School, followed by Balliol College, Oxford, and while he was there, founded and was sometime President of the Oxford University Mountaineering Club.^[2] Henry Simpson Lunn was the founder of the cooperative Educational Group in 1893. ... For other uses, see Methodism (disambiguation). ... Lunn Poly is the largest chain of travel agents in the United Kingdom. ... The Swiss Alps are the central portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. ... For other uses, see Thomas Cook (disambiguation). ... Harrow School, (originally: The Free Grammar School of John Lyon; generally: Harrow), is an independent school for boys (aged 13-18), and is located in Harrow on the Hill in the London Borough of Harrow. ... and of the Balliol College College name Balliol College Named after John de Balliol Established 1263 Sister college St Johns College, Cambridge Master Andrew Graham JCR President Helen Lochead Undergraduates 403 MCR President Chelsea Payne Graduates 228 Location of Balliol College within central Oxford , Homepage Boatclub Balliol College (pronounced... The Oxford University Mountaineering Club was formed in 1909, by Arnold Lunn, a student at the time. ...

Skiing

Introduced to skiing by his father, he became a renowned skier and invented the slalom skiing race in 1922. He was the founder of the Alpine Ski Club (1908) and the Kandahar Ski Club (1924), and was the organiser of some of the most prestigious ski races in the world. He initiated in collaboration with the Austrian skiing pioneer Hannes Schneider the famous Arlberg Kandahar Challenge Cup in honour of Lord Roberts of Kandahar. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment in the skiing field was the acceptance and introduction of the Downhill and Slalom races into the Olympic Games in 1936. The double-black diamond trail named for Sir Arnold Lunn at Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico serves as a fitting memorial. He was a long-standing member of the Committee of the International Ski Federation.^[3] Slalom from the Morgedal dialect of Norwegian slalåm: sla, meaning slightly inclining hillside, and låm, meaning track after skis. ... Johannes Schneider (1890-April 25, 1955) or Hannes Schneider was an Austrian Ski instructor of the first half of the twentieth century. ... Translated from the German-language entry de:Arlberg. ... Lord Roberts of Kabul and Kandahar on his Celebrated Charger (Harpers Magazine, European Edition, December 1897, p27) Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a distinguished British soldier and one of the most... This article is about the city in Afghanistan. ... Taos Ski Valley is a village located in Taos County, New Mexico. ...

Religion

Originally he followed his father's Methodism and, in fact, was at first a public opponent of Catholicism. After a debate with Ronald Knox, he gradually but completely changed his religious convictions, eventually embracing the Roman Catholic beliefs he once had deplored. In 1933, Knox himself received Lunn into the Catholic Church. Lunn remained a prolific and effective writer of Catholic tracts for the rest of his long life, and won the applause of fellow Catholic authors like Hilaire Belloc. As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic—from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1]—is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or... Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957) was an English theologian and crime writer. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Photograph of Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (27 July 1870 – 16 July 1953) was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. ...

Publications

His writings^[4] include:

• Guide to Montana, 1907.
• Oxford Mountaineering Essays, 1912 (editor).
• The Englishman in the Alps, 1912.
• The Harrovians, 1913.
• The Alps, 1914.
• Loose Ends, 1919.
• Cross Country Skiing, 1921.
• The Mountains of Youth, 1924.
• A History of Skiing, 1927.
• John Wesley, 1928.
• Now I See, 1933.
• Science and the Supernatural, 1935.
• Spanish Rehearsal, 1937.
• Communism and Socialism, 1938.
• Whither Europe?, c1940.
• Come what May - an autobiography, 1940.
• And the Floods Came, 1942.
• Mountain Jubilee, 1943.
• The Good Gorilla, 1943.
• Switzerland and the English, 1944.
• Mountains and Memory, 1948.
• The Kandahar-Story, 1969.

He was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and editor, from 1919, of the British Ski Year Book, and, in 1933, of Public School Religion.

References

• Black, Adam and Charles, publishers, Who's Who 1945, London, p.1688, where there is a very large entry for Lund.