THE GOLDEN EAGLE SKIING SPEED TRIALS

These were made possible by the existence of Kunama Huette and the Northcote Tow. Tony Sponar, a former Czech Olympic ski racer, told Charles Anton that the descent from the almost perpendicular Northcote Cornice to Kunama Huette was the best ski slope in Australia for reaching very high speeds. The upper half of the Golden Eagle Run is at an approximate gradient of one vertical to two horizontal (equivalent to the slope from the top of the Back Perisher straight down into Sun Valley). The average gradient of the Golden Eagle Run approximates that of the middle-third of the Mt. Perisher Two-Seater Chairlift, or that of the Crackenback Chairlift at Thredbo between the Kareela and Middle Stations.

Tony Sponar opened the course in August 1953 with a run that averaged 54.4 mph. In order to qualify for the Golden Eagle Award, skiers had to average more than 41.7 mph and instructors had to average more than 50.0 mph. In August 1956, instructor Helmut Tschaeffert completed the run at an average speed of 60 mph.  The fastest timed descent of the Golden Eagle Run was made in October 1962, by Lubor Vozab, with a run that averaged 61.9 mph.

In order to establish the typical top speeds reached by skiers on the Golden Eagle Run, four skiers were electrically-timedover a 100m section in the middle of the run in August 1955. All four exceeded 65 mph on this section of the run. The fastest was Christine Davey, the then unbeaten Australian Women’s Champion, at 74.12 mph (112.85 km/hr).

A TYPICAL AAC LODGE OPENING PARTY

The AAC had quite a few lodge opening parties in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Charles Anton, the AAC’s founding president, attended them all because he did so much work getting each project started and built, during which time he had got to know the project’s founding members quite well. AAC flags were hung in prominent places during the opening celebrations and all AAC lodges had flagpoles for displaying the club flag (Photo No. 17).

The AAC’s Patscherkofel Lodge, Mt. Buller, was built during the 1965/66 summer (Photo No. 18). Its opening party in May 1966 was last one Charles attended as AAC President, before his untimely death in Cooma Hospital on 17 September 1966, due to a rare form of meningitis, at the age of 49 years.

With a magnificent sense of the theatrical, Charles and his small son, Phillip, arrived on Mount Buller immaculately attired in Lederhosen, embroidered weskits and Tyrolean hats. Charles was always bubbling with enthusiasm at lodge opening parties and this often resulted in his being surrounded by young ladies (Photo No. 19). The 43 members and guests who attended the Patscherkofel opening had a great time and managed to squeeze into the lodge’s 30 beds, of which 14 were ¾ sized beds.

For several years following its opening, Patscherkofel Lodge (Photo No. 20) was the largest in the AAC. It was significantly extended and completely upgraded in 1987/88 such that the lodge was unrecognizable. The new Patscherkofel Lodge was opened by the AAC President, Dr. Noel Carter, in June 1988. Unfortunately, like Charles, the opening of Patscherkofel was Noel’s last AAC function and he also died within four months of the Patscherkofel celebration.