1After the First World War, international skiing was not yet structured. [1] There was indeed no international referent organisation, even if meetings between representatives of national associations had already taken place under the impetus of the Scandinavian countries or in Central Europe. It was not until the first major international event in Chamonix, in 1924, with the “Semaine internationale des sports d’hiver” (Arnaud, 1991), that the world of skiing became institutionalized as an international federation was created. Initially, it was the Scandinavians who occupied the key positions and had a great influence within the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS). Thus, the first President, Ivar Homquist, was from Sweden and his successor, from 1934 to 1951, was the Norwegian Nikolai Ramm Östgaard. This predominance of northern European countries was largely due to the technical progress of Scandinavian skiers over their European or North American counterparts. This hegemony was no longer relevant at the end of the Second World War with the election of Marc Hodler as president in 1951. Swiss skiing then took an increasingly important place on the international scene, thanks to the reversal of the balance between the different modalities of the practice.

2Marc Hodler’s trajectory alone seems to embody the history of skiing in the twentieth century. After a 47-year term at the head of the FIS, between 1951 and 1998, the Bernese was undoubtedly the sports leader who remained longest in a major position in international sport. Far from being an isolated case, this trajectory captures in itself the whole ambition of Swiss skiing, bringing together images of sports tourism, champions, competition organisations and above all the commitment of leaders up to the highest level of the discipline’s administration. In fact, Marc Hodler was not an isolated figure, he represented the "head of a huge network" that we will try to describe precisely for the decades between the 1920s and the late 1960s.

3While the literature on "networks" (Lemercier, 2005), "elites" or other "cartels" in Switzerland was rich (Humair, Mach, Guex, Eichenberger, 2012; Mach, David, David, Ginalski, Bühlmann, 2016), no historian has taken a specific interest in Swiss sports networks, and especially never in the case of skiing. Some recent research highlights the links between private interests (mainly tourism) and sports interests, whether in the large Grisons resorts (Seger, 2006) in the Montreux region (Guex, Roy, Sauthier, 2012) or in the Swiss Jura (Cala, 2019). However, these studies highlight local, sometimes regional dynamics, without ever trying to identify "national" frameworks or to focus on the places of sociability that are the umbrella organizations of skiing in Switzerland. At the same time, the work of Laurent Tissot and Cédric Humair discusses the development of tourism in the Alps, particularly from an economic perspective (Humair, Tissot, 2011; Humair, Gigase, Lapointe Guigoz, Sulmoni, 2014; Gigase, Humair, Tissot, 2014), but without first exploring the archives of the ski world. Similarly, for neighbouring France, the work of Pierre-Olaf Schut (2013) or Olivier Hoibian highlights the networks of actors existing around the development of mountaineering (Hoibian, 2006), but they do not focus on "alpine skiing". Pierre-Olaf Schut also noted, with Eric Levet-Labry, the importance of some tourist networks in the acquisition and organisation of the 1924 Chamonix Olympic Games (Schut, Levet-Labry, 2014), something confirmed by recent initial research on St. Moritz, especially for 1928. However, some of this work also reviews interesting elements of the theme, and also takes into account the commemorative works of the main Swiss ski-clubs. [2] These include those of Thomas Busset, who studied the spread of skiing in Swiss territories and the development of an economy around the ski factory (Busset, 2005; 2016), or those of Peter Engel on the early media coverage of skiing (Engel, 2013) or more recently on Swiss candidatures for the Olympic Games, even if the book was based on an "internalist" reading of the dynamics of sports organisations (Lacotte, Kiuri, Stricker, 2017). Anne Philipona Romanens discussed the army’s role in the democratization of skiing, particularly in the canton of Fribourg (Philipona Romanens, 1999). Discussing the rise of the Swiss ski, Grégory Quin lays down milestones around the dynamics that prefigured the professionalization and institutionalization of ski teaching in Switzerland from the interwar years (Quin, 2017), further explored in a recent publication with Sébastien Cala on the determinants of the emergence of "alpine" skiing modalities (Quin, Cala, 2019).

4Therefore, our work wishes to highlight the links that united the various actors in skiing at a national level as well as some more supra-regional dynamics that allowed the development of the discipline and its tourist economy in particular.

5We would derive these analyses, from the institutional archives of the FIS, of the Interassociation Suisse pour le Ski (IASS), the Association des Ecoles de Ski Suisses (AESS), but also from the Fédération Suisse de Ski (originally called Association Suisse des Clubs de Ski (ASCS)), from the Musée du sport suisse, the National Committee for Elite Sport (CNSE), the Comité International Olympique (CIO) and the St Moritz Tourist Office (Kur - und Verkehrsverein). We would follow a chronological plan, in order to examine successively the interwar period, the years leading to the "1964 debacle" (Quin, 2018) and finally the consequences of this failure. Therefore, we would firstly highlight how the Swiss ski networks were built in the interwar period, around different but mutually reinforcing approaches. Thus, Swiss ski leaders often had common geographical anchors, sat in common institutions (which they helped set up during this period) and were involved in promotion of tourism changed dimension, under both the influence of an economic slowdown and technical development around the first infrastructures allowing the practice of downhill skiing. The second part would be devoted to the 1951 period, Marc Hodler’s election as FIS President, to the Swiss failure at the 1964 Olympic Games. We emphasise the strengthening of the Swiss ski networks both within international bodies and at the national level on both the political and industrial scene. Finally, we review the consequences of Swiss chess matches at the Innsbruck Olympic Games and analyse the importance of these networks in overhauling the Swiss sports system.

1. The development of Swiss networks around skiing during the interwar period

6Firstly, a brief overview of the beginnings of skiing in Switzerland contextualizes the subject and, above all, provides a better understanding of the situation and structures of Swiss skiing at the end of the First World War.

7Skiing first appeared in Switzerland at the end of the nineteenth century. The first ski club was founded in Glarus in 1893, under the impetus of members of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), including Christoph Iselin. Other ski clubs were organized from the beginning of the twentieth century, notably in Berne (1900), Zurich (1901), Davos (1903), Grindelwald (1902), Adelboden (1904) and Wengen (1904) (Busset, 2016, p. 26). While this list was certainly not exhaustive – a ski club was also founded in the Vallée de Joux in 1905 (Cala, 2018) – it was already interesting to note that among the first Swiss clubs, there were three ski clubs in the Bernese Oberland and one in Grisons. There were also British ski clubs from the same regions, such as the Davos English Ski Club (1903). The Swiss Association of Ski Clubs was officially created on 20 November 1904, and initially had 620 members. This number grew rapidly to 5,192 in 1914 and more than doubled to 11,600 in 1929 (AFSS, Ski, 1929: 12–13). However, this development was still limited compared to disciplines such as gymnastics or football.

8During this period, skiing became more democratic, particularly under the impetus of the army, which developed ski courses for its conscripts, as Anne Philipona Romanens (Philipona Romanens, 1999) noted. As a result, it was not surprising to find many ranks in ski structures at the end of the First World War. Thus, almost all of the male personalities mentioned here have military rank, something requiring future investigation comparable to the exploration of economic elites (Mach, David, Ginalski, Bühlmann, 2016: 55–58).

2. ‘White’ gold ringing and tripping (1951-1964)

22On the occasion of the 1951 FIS Congress in Venice, Swiss delegate Marc Hodler was chosen to chair the organisation (AFIS, Minutes, Congress, 1951: 24). He then became the third president of the federation following Swedish Lieutenant-General Ivar Holmquist and Norwegian Colonel Nicolai Ramm Ostgaard. Since the ‘presidency’ of the FIS consists of a president and a secretary general (FIS, Statutes, 1946, art. 16) and the practices had been in place since the interwar years, President Hodler would then be accompanied in his function by a secretary from the same country as himself, in the person of Arnold Kaech. The FIS headquarters then moved to the beautiful districts on the right bank of the Aare in Bern, to the premises of the Hodler family law firm. Arnold Kaech had been director of the very young Federal School of Sport in Magglingen since 1946, but he was above all an outstanding former skier and an active civil servant in the military administration, a field whose importance for the development of skiing was already well established (Peiffer, 2005), particularly in Switzerland (Giuliani, 2001; Busset, 2016).

23In fact, Marc Hodler’s election to the FIS was supported by a majority of 20 votes (against 16 votes for a French candidate), and was based on long-standing family ties within ski governing circles, and in particular around the figure of Arnold Lunn (Holt, 1992). Indeed, Elsa Roth was a close friend of the Lunn family and maintained a correspondence with Lunn’s partner. The two families were also involved in the first alpine ski races organized in the Lütschine region, notably around the Kandahar Ski Club (Lunn, 1969).

24In the 1950s, under the leadership of Marc Hodler, alpine skiing quickly gained greater legitimacy within the framework of the FIS, thus confirming Switzerland’s influence in international skiing. Indeed, in the 1950s, Elsa Roth’s activities were numerous and decisive, from the creation of the point counting system during international ski seasons, to her rather innovative proposal to develop a unified runway marking system at the international level (AFIS, Minutes, Congress 1946: 43-44).

25In the Swiss networks, the 1950s saw the development of a more economically orientated approach to alpine skiing, which was undoubtedly becoming a major tourist attraction in many winter sports resorts, from the Bernese Oberland to Zermatt and Grisons (Guex, 2016). These dynamics can be observed through the arrival in the ruling circles of new tourism promoters and traders linked to the sports goods industry (especially for technical equipment and clothing) and manufacturers of sports equipment officially integrated into AESS in 1945 (AAESS, Minutes, Central Committee, 22 June 1945: 1). While it would be too simplistic to consider sports retailers here as unique vectors of new economic interests - most of them were also ski instructors and former elite skiers - it was no longer possible to ignore these new interests.

26In the IASS committee of 1951, under the chairmanship of Hugo Brandenberger - whose activity began in the 1930s - Marc Hodler combined functions in the ski networks, until he himself constituted the heart of this network, plus Hans Leutert and Jack Ettinger. The last was an important figure in skiing in Graubünden. Former skier in the national team in the interwar years, director of the family sports store in Davos, Jack Ettinger represented a new generation of managers, whose interest in the development of skiing in Switzerland was coupled with a more objective commercial interest and in particular that of increasing the activities of his ski factory. Although he did not develop his business beyond the borders of the Grisons, he engaged Adolf Attenhofer in 1917, who developed his own brand from 1924 onwards, with international success (Hitz, undated; Triet, 2001). In 1952, the IASS committee also saw the arrival of Adolf Odermatt, director of the Hôtel-Bellevue Terminus in Engelberg and therefore very directly linked to tourism and economic interests, after having managed the resort’s ski school since 1950 (Hotel-Revue, 21 December 1950: 15), as well as Christian Rubi, whose involvement has been strong since the 1930s.

27Within AESS, the network of leaders also evolved. In 1951, the president was Dr Decurtins, director of the Schweizerhof Hotel in Lenzerheide, who had entered into an agreement with Christian Rubi to set up federal subsidies for tourists to attend ski schools (Quin, Cala, 2019). In 1951, the subsidy system seemed to be working to "combat Switzerland’s reputation for a high cost of living [and] to achieve freer tourism" (AAESS, Minutes, General Assembly, 1951: 3). In his annual report to the 1952 General Assembly, Decurtins reiterated his demands: "In Austria and elsewhere, ski teaching was encouraged in much more significant ways than here. This was why the president urgently appeals to the authorities for their continued financial support" (AAESS, Minutes, General Assembly, 1952: 1).

28However, the discussions did not only focus on purely economic aspects and, like the debates of the early 1930s (Quin, 2017), in the mid-1950s, an intense quarrel broke out between the ski leadership - IASS and AESS in particular - and instructor Josef Dahinden, who criticised the official method of teaching used since the 1930s, and in particular the method of turning it taught (Pieth, 1983: 33-34). While it would soon be necessary to deepen the dynamics of these debates, the discussions reveal in particular several contradictions that are still very strong in the Swiss sports system. Thus, in his annual report for the winter of 1954-1955, Hugo Brandenberger points out that it was possible to exclude:

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… the criticism affirming that the technique taught in Switzerland was the cause of the failure of our skiers. Technique was only one of the factors in competition. Fighting spirit, physical condition, the ability to react both physically and mentally, and luck are also factors of equal importance.
Performance today depends not only on physical qualities, but also on the ability to devote oneself completely and unconditionally to one’s sport. The athlete would have to follow a course of action from which his family and work would often suffer (...)" (AIASS, Annual Report, 1954-1955: 6).

30In 1954, Arnold Kaech also joined the IASS committee, where he met Marc Hodler, who was also secretary general at the FIS. Moreover, in the mid-1950s, the Swiss sports system was shocked for the first time by the discussions surrounding the sending of a delegation to Melbourne following the invasion of Budapest. What some have called a "boycott" was in fact a "non-participation", linked to the still rather slow functioning of the Swiss system (Tonnerre, Quin, 2017). For winter sports, geopolitical tensions were even less acute, beyond the debates surrounding the reintegration of Austria, Germany and Japan into international organisations (Dichter, 2017), but since his election as president of the FIS, Hodler had also tirelessly recalled the terms of the agreement reached between his institution and the IOC immediately after the war, allowing ski instructors in particular to be qualified beyond the Olympic regulations on amateurism (AFIS, Minutes, Congress, 1946: 14-15). Inspired by the exclusion of Swiss "instructors" during the 1936 Olympic Games, Marc Hodler’s approach reflected a form of modernity in skiing circles with regard to the new economic challenges of international sport.

31In 1955, Peter Kasper became President of SSEA, making him the third "Graubünden" to officiate in this position, even if he was not a hotel manager like his predecessors (AAESS, 1984: 17). On the other hand, he was Director of the St Moritz Tourist Office and, according to many corroborating sources, had played an important role in the organisation of the 1948 Olympic Games (Kasper, 1986: 18) and the development of the Grisons resort since the 1930s.

32At the beginning of the 1960s, a brotherhood of the Bernese Oberland emerged on the forefront of Swiss skiing: the Glatthard. In 1961, Arnold Glatthard, an experienced mountaineer, joined the IASS committee when the institution broadened its membership to obtain "a more equitable representation of the different regions of the country" (AIASS, Annual Report, 1960-1961: 4). Arnold Glatthard was the founder of the Rosenlaui Mountaineering Institute, the world’s first mountaineering school (Bernet, 2007). At the same time, he was also a trader in Meiringen, where he was highly integrated into local political life. A former coach of the Swiss ski team and himself a former winner of the Lauberhorn in 1935, he seems to have a profile at the crossroads of the challenges of Swiss skiing. At the end of the 1950s, however, it was his younger brother Karl who took the lead. Three years younger than Arnold, he was an outstanding example of the relationships that Swiss sports elites forged in the political, economic and military spheres at a key moment in the history of Swiss sport (Quin, 2018). While he was a colonel in the Swiss army - one of the most important elements if one wished to pursue a career in the administration or in Swiss sport - it was also through his marriage to the heir Margarita Elisabeth Wahlen (Stettler, 2007) that Karl Glatthard achieved positions of responsibility in the construction company "Wahlen" based in Berne,. He was a member of the City Council of Bern between 1956 and 1967, and was also elected to the Grand Council of Bern from 1962 to 1967, before becoming a National Councillor between 1967 and 1971. Above all, he very quickly became involved in various sports committees and institutions, notably the National Association for Physical Education (ANEP). President of the Swiss Ski Federation since 1963, he introduced more modern management, inspired by the governance models he knew in his professional environment, with in particular a clearer distinction between the administrative tasks of the secretariat and the more technical areas related to the athletes and their training, for example around the duo Elsa Roth-Adolf Ogi since 1964. Glatthard was also a member of the Military Sports Commission, the CFGS and the Military Ski Commission. Karl Glatthard and Marc Hodler formed the main focus of Swiss skiing successes in the second half of the 1960s. At the same time, the economic success of Swiss winter tourism in the late 1950s and early 1960s was growing, as was the enthusiasm for skiing in Switzerland according to various media at the time, including the Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne which stated:

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… skiing was experiencing a craze, popularity that was growing every year. And it was certainly not this season, when everyone was eagerly awaiting the achievements of the world’s elite skiers, gathered at the Innsbruck Olympic Games on 29 January next, that would put a brake on the movement. Especially since the Swiss society was experiencing an economic growth. (Nouvelle Revue de Lausanne, 29 November 1963)

34Despite this, the Innsbruck Olympic Games would be the scene of a failure that would not be without consequences for skiing and Swiss sport in general.

3. From the failure in Innsbruck (1964) to the Berchtesgaden’s Downhill (1967)

35In the history of sports in Switzerland, and particularly of skiing, the year 1964 must be considered as a turning point, particularly because of the failure of the delegation at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck - Swiss athletes did not obtain any medals - and all the transformations that the sporting, political, economic and educational authorities would undergo following this "debacle" (Quin, 2018; Hug, 2018). Indeed, these Olympic Games were presented by the press as an affront to the population, and experienced as such by some elected officials and in many circles leading Swiss sport. As Federal Councillor Paul Chaudet pointed out in his editorial published on 9 February 1964 on the front page of Sport, elite Swiss sport must now receive better support from the state (Sport, 9 February 1964) and since 17 February 1964, several questions were submitted to the National Council, such as that of Erich Weisskopf – from Bern –, which targets biathlon in particular:

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The results of shooting with a weapon of war in the cross-country skiing discipline have been dismal for Tell’s sons (...). There was a concern that incorrect conclusions might be drawn about our military value. Was the Federal Council prepared to take measures in the future to ensure that the selection and training of Swiss delegations to international military championships was carried out in a careful, methodical and comprehensive manner ... (CNSE, Question Weisskopf, February 17, 1964).

37While National Councillor Weisskopf’s position highlighted several issues at the event, it mainly sought to place the debates around the military issue, support for elite sport and therefore the perogatives of Federal Councillor Paul Chaudet. This element of the subsidy was also at the heart of another question asked by the German National Councillor, who wondered whether it would not be appropriate, in particular, to entrust the military department, as part of its budget, with the preparation of certain sports of national interest? (CNSE, Question Germanier, 17 February, 1964) In fact, the debates therefore sought to discuss the general organisation of the Swiss sports system, and in particular the "political" support for elite and mass sport, given there was still no legal basis for the promotion of sport.

38One of the solutions mentioned at the time was the takeover by the Confederation of courses dedicated to "mass sport", in order to free ANEP from these obligations. Similarly, the Magglingen School could be more directly made available to top athletes, either through its instructors or accommodation and training facilities (CNSE, Report of the meeting between Paul Chaudet and ANEP, 16 April 1934: 1). In fact, all ANEP member federations were then interviewed to determine their needs and wishes to improve the functioning of the sport system. Each could then outline their needs and the different types of support that would better assist their best athletes. Thus, in his letter dated May 22, 1964, Karl Glatthard, President of the Swiss Ski Federation, pointed out that it was complicated for his best skiers to train in the best conditions when they still had to combine their sport and a professional activity (CNSE, Letter from Karl Glatthard to ANEP, May 22, 1964). In fact, skiing and football were undoubtedly the sports where semi-professionalism could exist, but it was still very limited and the Swiss were still reluctant to allow the emergence of a real professionalism in sport (Vonnard, Berthoud, Quin, 2018). As Director of the Federal Military Administration, Arnold Kaech, wrote, it could not "be a matter of following certain examples from abroad and nationalizing sport or creating ‘state amateurs’". (CNSE, Letter from Arnold Kaech to ANEP, June 17, 1964), words used on the front page of the newspaper Sport a few days later under the headline: "Does Switzerland need gladiators? " (Sport, June 19, 1964). Thereafter, a "study committee for the support of top athletes" was set up on 4 July 1964, with a first meeting planned for 14 July 1964. Among the members of this commission were several leaders who had been active for several years or decades in Swiss sports institutions, and whose selection was based above all on their skills in top-level sport. The steering committee was thus composed of:

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• Walter Siegenthaler (ANEP President)
• Raymond Gafner (COS President)
• Louis Perrochon (Member of the Federal Gymnastics and Sports Commission)
• Ernst Hirt (Director of the Federal School of Sport)
• Ernst Thommen (Director of the Sport-Toto Society)
• Marc Hodler (IOC member and FIS President)
• Dr Gottfried Schönholzer (Chairman of the ANEP Medical and Sports Commission)
• Rolf Bögli (ANEP Central Secretary) (CNSE, List of members of the ANEP Study Group on High Performance).

40The members of the steering committee were then responsible for deciding on potential members - such as Ulrich Frey, Karl Glatthard or Kaspar Wolf, as well as journalists from the main Swiss newspapers - who could join the subcommittees designed to reform support for top athletes. After some further discussions, ANEP decided during its Assembly of Delegates on 14 November 1965 to create a "National Committee for Elite Sport", which was considered more as a "working community" than as a new institution (ANEP, PV-Deputy Assembly for 1965). The model here was more that of the inter-association, in the same way as had existed for skiing since the 1930s (Quin, 2017), which was supposed to federate the wishes of its members. In fact, the various Swiss sports organisations and institutions shouldt be represented: ANEP, COS, CFGS, EFGS, sports federations, but also organisations such as the Sport-Toto Society, the EFGS Research Institute and the Swiss representation within the IOC (Quin, 2018). It was through these latter functions, having been an IOC member since 1963, that Marc Hodler was involved in these dynamics from the outset, also representing the interests of skiing in these discussions.

41If the new committee was to encourage inter-federation work, then the dynamics also seem to start within the federations themselves, and in particular within the Swiss ski federation, one of the main targets of criticism, after the failure of 1964. Within the FSS, the administration, previously headed by Elsa Roth, would divide its tasks between pure administration - which remained under the direction of Elsa Roth - and technique which would revert to Adolf Ogi in 1964. Ogi then joined the Federation at the request of Elsa Roth, but with the agreement of Karl Glatthard, President of the FSS since 1962 and from Meirigen, where Adolf Ogi was director of the tourist office. From the outset, Adolf Ogi was appointed coordinator of the national teams, with the mission of bringing Swiss skiing back to the highest level in the alpine (and world) hierarchies. At the same time, Karl Gamma became director of SSEA in 1964, succeeding Christian Rubi. Gamma, like Glatthard, would become a great name in Swiss skiing, and more broadly in Swiss sport, with multiple positions: "Chief Instructor of the FSS (1963-1992), Director of SSEA (1964-1992), Chairman of the IASS Technical Commission (1965-1992), President of the International Association of Ski Instructors (1971-1987)" (Lerch, 2005), thus continuing a Swiss tradition of commitment at several levels.

Epilogue

42In fact, the networks that had been set up around skiing in Switzerland since the 1930s fostered the development of the discipline in many ways. Our analysis was certainly not exhaustive but already makes it possible to lay down some milestones around the dynamics that favoured the development of skiing, in terms of education, sport and of course economics. In fact, if skiing experienced a significant growth during the period studied, this was largely due to the fact that personalities from the tourism, sports, political and educational sectors came together in an important and polarised network around two major regions for Swiss and international skiing, namely the Bernese Oberland and the Grisons. The influence of this network through the FSS, IASS, AESS and FIS enabled the discipline to build the foundations of its sports and tourism development. While the analysis focused on the two regions mentioned above, research has been carried out on other Swiss regions, in particular the Valais (Zermatt, Crans-Montana, Laax or Saastal), Central Switzerland (Engelberg) or the Canton of Vaud (Les Diablerets, Villars or the Vallée de Joux). However, although major networks also existed in these regions, they had less influence than those from the Bernese Oberland and Grisons during the period under study.

43During the 1960s this Swiss ski network, structured around Marc Hodler, was still influential though there were important changes for international skiing and the rise of new players, particularly from the press and the media. The end of the 1960s saw the creation of an international circuit. Under the impetus of the managers of the newspaper L’Equipe, the FIS introduced the Ski World Cup in 1967 (Montérémal, 2007: 117-118). The press and media were then directly involved in the discussions and even took a prominent place in the structure governing the organization of the World Cup. In 1967 in Beirut, the FIS Congress approved, on the proposal of the Committee and in particular its President Marc Hodler, the creation of a "FIS Alpine World Cup Board", composed of FIS members, but also of two journalists, namely a member of the International Sports Press Association and another from the International Association of Ski Journalists (AFIS, Minutes, Congress, 1967: 87-88). The integration of media representatives into an FIS structure was certainly a turning point. This indicated a desire to increase and develop the media coverage of skiing, at a time when mondovision was booming and television was becoming more democratic (Alves, 2007: 28-32). While the international calendar had for several years included regular dates where the best skiers in the world competed, the World Cup fundamentally changed the international ski landscape. The winter tourism industry in the Alps then benefited from a new showcase, in addition to a social, political and economic context favourable to its development. As Montérémal points out, the socio-economic environment of the 1960s "is deeply marked by the increase in the purchasing power of the ‘middle classes’ and their access to mass consumption. Third -generation ski resorts, known as "integrated resorts", [were] built at high altitudes. The practice of [skiing was] … beginning to become more democratic" (Montérémal, 2007: 117).

44Not surprisingly, Switzerland was at the centre of the new international World Cup calendar with three stages at the beginning of January in the Bernese Oberland (in Adelboden, Grindelwald and Wengen). Switzerland, along with the United States, hosted the most competitions during the first FIS World Cup winter. The dates and resorts chosen meant that Swiss tourists could benefit from the media impact of the World Cup at the beginning of the winter season. New stages on Swiss soil - St-Moritz, Les Diablerets, Crans-Montana, Laax, Meiringen, Mürren, Ebnat-Kappel, Villars or Arosa – will then appear in the calendar from the 1970s onwards. Thus, for future research, it will be interesting to analyse the role of Swiss ski networks in the acquisition of further World Cup stages by these resorts, given a multiplication of Swiss bids, in particular from Graubünden or the Bernese Oberland, for the Olympic Winter Games (Lacotte, Kiuri, Stricker, 2017: 71 and following). Certainly, this preponderance of Swiss stages on the world circuit - in 1977, there were seven stages in the Swiss Alps – also contributed to the development of the "mountainous" and "snowy" stereotypes used by the Swiss tourism institutions. It was likely - though this must nevertheless be analysed - that this also favoured the alpine tourism industry in Switzerland and therefore a major part of the Swiss ski industry.