Next year, the Eagle Ski Club will reach its 100th anniversary: it was founded by a group of British skiers staying at the very large Palace Hotel in the very small Swiss resort of Maloja (up the valley from St Moritz, and on the pass between the Engadine and Bregalia regions) in 1925.
Planning is underway for a number of special events and activities throughout 2025 to celebrate the centenary, to look both back on a century of ski-touring, and forward to the future. It is hoped that as many members as possible, young, old, recently-joined, and veterans of decades of touring with the club, will be able to participate in one or more events.
Centenary Meet - Arolla, Switzerland - 14-17 March 2025
A special celebratory alpine meet will be held at the Kurhaus Hotel, Arolla from 14-17 March 2025.
We have secured exclusive private use of the historic Kurhaus Hotel with special half-board rates for up to 130 guests. We anticipate a wide range of activities including day-tours, training and ski coaching sessions, talks, exhibitions, and a special celebratory dinner on the Saturday evening.
Centenary Symposium - Kingussie, Scotland - 15-16 November 2025
A special ski-mountaineering symposium will be held at the Duke of Gordon Hotel in Kingussie (near Aviemore) on the weekend of 15/16 November 2025. This will build on the successful symposia held at various venues in England and Wales over the last few decades, and will include lectures, workshops, training events, a dinner and the AGM.
London Dinner
A celebratory dinner in London, probably to be held in the autumn of 2025, will be intended to be particularly attractive to those members unable to travel to more distant locations. Further details will be made available in due course.
Centenary Merchandise
A range of club merchandise carrying a centenary version of the club's logo will be available later this year. On the basis of indications from last year's survey, initial items available are likely to include tee-shirts, neck warmers, ski-ties and woolly hats/beanies, with other items possibly added later. Items should be available for ordering via the website during the summer of 2024, for delivery in the autumn, with further orders being taken towards the end of the year.
Centenary Book
A special book will be published alongside the 2025 Yearbook to celebrate the centenary. It will contain a selection of articles from Yearbooks over the past hundred years, along with specially-commissoned articles on the history of the club, the development of ski-touring over the past century, and prospects for the future. The editorial team is being led by Pete Boyd, assisted by Stephen Goodwin and John Barnard.
Other Centenary Events and Activities
A number of other events and activities are in various stages of planning, and further information will be announced in due course. These include:
- centenary postcards, to be distributed with the 2024 Yearbook, which members will be able to return from wherever they get to during the centenary year, as a record of the diversity of the club's activities
- "world ski tours" organised by members in different parts of the world
- "micro-adventures" and other ski challenges through the year
- charitable activities in furtherance of the club's initiatives on climate care and the encouragement of youth and diversity in the club, possibly in association with other relevant organisations
An event at the club's birthplace of the Maloja Palace Hotel is also being discussed. The centenary working group, in consultation with the club's main committee, concluded that Maloja's relatively poor transport links, and limited touring and other opportunities (which would be likely to restrict the potential attendance) rendered it unsuitable for the main celebrations in the Alps, which will now take place at Arolla. We hope, however, to be able to organise some smaller-scale event at Maloja.
The club's Archivist, John Barnard, is co-ordinating the various events and activities, with the assistance of special working group of volunteers. A survey to assess members' interest in different ideas was carried out in the late summer of 2023 (a report on its results is available here) which, along with informal soundings taken at other club events (such as this year's Argentiere meet) are being used to help develop the plans.
If you would like to help with the organisation of any of the events or activities, or have ideas of your own, then please contact John Barnard (archivist@eagleskiclub.org.uk; 07985 465330).
(Updated 6 April 2024; JMB)