Fritz Steuri

Fritz Steuri (born 25 July 1879 in Grindelwald, Switzerland, died 5 September 1950 in Grindelwald, Switzerland) was a Swiss mountain climber and Nordic and Alpine skier. He was a three-time Swiss champion in cross-country skiing. In 1921, he took part in the first ascent of the Mittellegigrat (the northeast ridge of the Eiger).

Fritz Steuri came into contact with skiing in the early 1890s when he saw the Englishman Gerald Fox (who lived at Tone Dale House) skiing in Grindelwald. In 1898, he bought his first pair of skis from a Grindelwald manufactory. The first ski race was held in Grindelwald before the turn of the century, in which Steuri, who pursued regular ski training, took part with other locals. Even in his job as a postman, which he held from 1899 until he became a mountain guide, he rendered valuable services to skiing. In 1902, he was among the founding members of the Grindelwald Ski Club.

Fritz Steuri became one of the best skiers in the early days of Swiss ski racing. Especially in endurance or alpine endurance, as cross-country skiing was called, he was a leading athlete in the early twentieth century. In January 1903, Steuri won the Grindelwald ski club's second race in downhill skiing and came second in both ski jumping and endurance. In January 1904 he won the third club downhill race. In February 1903, Steuri won the "International Cup in alpine endurance" organized in Adelboden by the Ski Club of Bern, which he also won in 1904 (again in Adelboden) and 1905 (in Zweisimmen). From 1904 to 1906, he won three consecutive major Grindelwald endurance ski races.

After the founding of the Swiss Ski Federation on 20 November 1904, on 21 and 22 January 1905 the first Swiss ski championships ("Erstes Grosses Skirennen der Schweiz") were held in Glarus. Steuri was the Swiss champion in endurance. On the 20-kilometer route over the Pragel Pass with 560 meters slope and 1160 meters down, he came in first of 32 participants in a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 7 seconds. In 1906 in Zweisimmen and 1907 in Davos Steuri was again the Swiss champion in endurance, whereupon he was asked not to participate in this race to offer other athletes a chance to win.

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