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"SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT"--a skiing web manual: contents (topics at page bottoms of manual)
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A DEDICATION--
to Rudy Konieczny and his soldier fellows
by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478)
private ski lessons at Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, Arapahoe Basin

There are many to whom we skiers are indebted for advancements in our sport--the equipment innovators, the technique developers and instructors thereof, the inspiring racers and elegant athletes. And we have heard much about the early resort developers, many of whom were in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division in World War II and came back to open new terrain and lifts for us. But there was one even greater gift we were given. This is exemplified by Rudy Konieczny, an enthusiastic young ski racer who became a soldier to fight with the 10th Mountain Division. But Rudy did not come back from the war. Instead, a memorial plaque for Rudy is in the warming hut at the top of Massachussetts' Mount Greylock. His biographer Charles Sanders writes in The Story of Rudy Konieczny,

 "The real honor to Rudy and the other members of the 10th who failed to return home...is the one that we as skiers and boarders and snow sliders of every stripe who know of their sacrifice carry in our hearts. It is the knowledge we take with us every time we go to the mountains that once someone stood exactly where we are now standing, understood exactly the joy that we are now feeling and gave it all up to make our time here possible. To forget that is to deny ourselves their other most precious gift: the honor of being their legacy.

Rudy Konieczny from Skiing Heritage,
 September 2005

References:
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN: The Story of the Men of the 10th Mountain Division, by Beth and George Gage. First Run Features: New York, NY. 1995. 72 minutes, color VHS. Available from New England Ski Museum: exits.
MILITARY SKI MANUAL; A Handbook for Ski and Mountain Troops, by Frank Harper. The Military Services Publishing Co.: Harrisburg, PA. 1943.

This "A Dedication.." page last modified 01/06/2013 08:49:50 AM. Did you come here from a link on another website? For latest version of this page, copy to your browser: http://www.SkiMyBest.com/skided.htm. Copyright © 2013 William R Jones.