Fastest Man on Skis
THE next time you are driving your car, look down at the speedometer; the chances are that its top is 110 or so. Your usual speed is probably 55 or 60 and, sometimes, on the parkways you may do 70. But how many times have you been willing to trust the car - and yourself - at 100 mph? The National Safety Council would frown, and yet, Ralph Miller '55 did it on two pieces of wood. In the summer of 1955 he was clocked at an even 109 mph on the mountain at Portillo, Chile.
The news that Ralph Miller had broken the world's skiing speed record was flashed on all the wire services. When it reached Hanover, it was accepted not so much in wonder as in appreciation. Ralph had been brought up in Hanover and some recalled that his father (Dr. Ralph E. Miller '24) had skied with his son in a rucksack before Ralph could walk. Others remembered how Ralph as a four-year-old had sent skiers scurrying on Oak Hill: "He'd just go up and down, up and down - and straight down every time!" He won his first downhill race at five and, while still in Hanover High School, he was a nationally known racer.
Ralph entered Dartmouth in 1951 and he now is a first-year student in the Dartmouth Medical School. In the seven years, he has crowded in his Army service, mountain climbing and a lot of skiing. He became an international racer, recognized throughout the skiing world as one of the best. He held the United States and North American championships in slalom, giant slalom and downhill and was a member of the United States team in the 1954 F.I.S. (international) races at Are, Sweden and the 1956 Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Derring-do has little to do with success for the international downhill racer. He knows the principal race courses and has skied them under all conditions; he has learned to be easy with speed. Ralph explains that it isn't a matter of how fast does a man dare to go but rather how much does he dare to check his speed; it is technique rather than courage. The downhill racer must shade a 50-50 chance of not falling in his own favor. Miscalculations in this matter are spectacular and final.
The top racer must also adapt himself to existing conditions. The day before the downhill at Cortina, Ralph and the other competitors were running the course on powder snow. That night the wind blew the snow away, leaving hard ice and a completely different mountain - "just as if someone had tipped up the course to make it steeper." Bumps that had been taken easily the day before shot the racers into space and turns that were easy had them clawing at the side of the mountain. Most of the competitors fell. That great Austrian, Tony Sailer, raced as much with his head as with his legs and only in one place - the spot where both Ralph and Chic Igaya '57 met disaster - did he almost lose his 50-50 balance. His time was the fastest of the day and yet, because of the conditions, it was slower than a race he had won on the same course the year before. He had won the Olympic downhill by running a slow race on a fast course.
Although our competitors are racing better all the time, they, as a group, have a lot of ground to gain before they will challenge Europe's best. And what do the Europeans have that we don't have? They have strong motivation and intense competition.
Most of Europe's racers come from small towns where skiing is the way for the young man to make his mark. If he is successful, he will travel the international racing circuit and, with a reputation established, he may be able to start his own ski shop or, perhaps, head a ski school. In Europe, the young racer has the best racers in his own backyard. He knows the men he has to beat and he works at doing it; like the mountains he has conquered, the top racers are always there for him to try.
Ralph is one of the most thoughtful and articulate of the great racers. Frequently he uses his hands to make a point - like a hot pilot describing a maneuver. And he talks about skiing for hours without mentioning Ralph Miller: Sailer is the best - right now - Buddy Werner of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, will be, if he can shade the other side of that 50-50 a bit more.
Skiers are now becoming aware of a new technique that the best racers have been using for some years. Last summer while attending the University of Grenoble, Ralph watched Georges Joubert teaching this new technique. Ralph is so enthused by Joubert's approach that he has written a preface for the English translation of Joubert's latest book on the new technique (Skiing ABC, $3.95, Editions Bressones, Bourg (Ain), France) and is serving as the distributor in this country. Commercial plug: Ralph's address is 9 Downing Road, Hanover.
Ralph has retired from racing. His medical school studies will permit only occasionally pleasure skiing. Like other fine American racers, his great interest now is in promoting junior skiing to develop a crop of United States Olympic Medal winners. To do this, he believes we will have to give the young racers an earlier start in the international competition; some fine young racers who had the potential have been held back too long. The young star should be ready for the start of the big competitions by the time he is 17 or 18 or he will never make it. And then, even if he is really good, all he can ask is some luck on shading that 50-50 chance.
Ralph Miller '55
