Attenhofer

Adolf Attenhofer was born September 19, 1892 in Davos and died March 29, 1955 in Zurich. He was an upholsterer trainee in Brussels (1914) and in Prague (1918) before getting a master of this profession (1918). 

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As an apprentice at the sport shop Ettinger in Davos he won the slalom/jumping combination of the Swiss Championship in 1917. At Ettinger, he developed skis, bindings, poles and among others elaborated a method to determine the location of the toe iron in relation to the skier’s ability. During his life, he was granted over 60 patents, some covering ski equipment, others clothing, shoe cleaners and even springs for mattresses. 

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In 1924, he opened a small sport article shop also manufacturing skis in Zürich, followed in 1934 by a factory in Zumikon, near Zürich—which became the largest ski producer of Switzerland. Besides alpine, folding and cross-country skis, Attenhofer sold ski equipment such as edges, bases (in the 40s Temporit, a fast one used by many racers) as well as clothing, sun glasses, and even ice axes. In the late 20s, the company acquired the successful Alpina bindings and in the 30s, the license for Splitkein (up to 21 parts of light and heavy woods glued together, innovated by the Norwegian company Oestbye in 1936). 

In 1947, Attenhofer bought the Ettinger factory in Diessenhofen/TG and merged the same year to the A. K. A. (Attenhofer, Kandahar, Allais) Company. At the Olympic Games in St. Moritz (1948), the Austrian ski team won five medals on Attenhofer skis and one by Swiss champion Karl Molitor—11-time winner of the Lauberhorn races between 1939 and 1948. At the Games of St. Moritz, he skied the slalom and the downhill with the same pair of skis—at that time an obligation of the Olympic Committee (these 220 cm full hickory skis can still be seen in the Molitor shop in Wengen). 

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Besides the model Splitkein (1936), at that time the Rolls Royce of skis, Attenhofer offered models such as the Favorit, Furrer-Topflit Spitzenflizer (one of the first with a synthetic base), Molitor, Special, Sport. 

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In 1951/52 Attenhofer launched the A15 (a laminated sandwich, wood core between two aluminum alloyed sheets, somewhat a copy of the Head Standard) and became the leading European manufacturer of metal skis. Followed the models the A15 Jet, the Jet Corvette A15, A15 Elite, the A15 Combination, the ALPINE Gomme-Patented England (a laminated wooden ski with a duralumin sheet at the bottom, latter covered by a plastic base with an inside textile structure, the edges glued), in the 60s the K (“Kurz” for short ski—170 cm long, 9/8/8.5 cm wide) and in the early 70s, the metallic Jet-LSK, Jet 11, Jet 22, Jet 33, Jet 55 RS, Jet 66 and the fiberglass skis Glasstar, Glasflex, Fiberglass, Topglas, A-06.