At the 1987 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships - held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland - I didn't have a press pass so had to ski the course, outside of the fenced area.
I went with the aim of entering a ski photography competition, held by The Good Ski Guide (UK), and needed something special if I wanted to to win it.
On the day of the women's Downhill (Combined), the sun was out, the sky was blue and I was after a shot of a skier taking to the air. I searched for a good hill, with no trees in the background.
Once in position, I was soon joined by more sports photographers. Luckily, one of them had a partner on the brow of the hill who would raise a ski pole to signal a skier coming.
With the camera focused, ahead of the brow, and finger on the motor-drive, the rest was down to chance.
As luck would have it, my best photo of the day was of a lady in red; that looked awesome against the blue sky. This lady turned out to be Sylvia Eder, of Austria, who won the silver medal.
Although shot in landscape format on 35mm Fujichrome (those were the days) there was enough blue sky for the image to be cropped to portrait and used on the cover of The Good Ski Guide.
More info: tnot.es
Skiing In Crans Montana
Silver medalist Sylvia Eder, of Austria captured at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana and first published on the cover of The Good Ski Guide.
Source: pics.travelnotes.org
Skiing Ruthie's Run in Aspen, Colorado; one of the classic Downhill runs in North America
Aspen Mountain, known locally as Ajax, was founded in 1946; as the first ski area venture of the Aspen Skiing Company.
Ruthie Humphries made the initial $5,000 donation that enabled Aspen to host the first major international alpine ski championship held in North America; the 1950 FIS World Alpine Ski Championships.
In 1987, on a warm, sunny spring day in the mountains of Colorado, Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen (already the overall winner for the Ski World Cup series) made history in Aspen; by winning both the men's downhill and the giant slalom.
He was followed in second and third places by Swiss teammates Daniel Mahrer and Karl Alpiger.
Source: pics.travelnotes.org