ABSTRACT
i stepped off the arlberg express at kitzbühel, in the French occupation zone of Austria, on the morning of March 15, 1947. Situated in the eastern Tyrol, about half way between Salzburg and Innsbruck, Kitzbühel had been one of Europe’s most fashionable skiing resorts in the prewar years, on a par with St. Moritz and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Its Grand Hotel was famous in the 1930s as the venue of the illicit romance of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Mrs. Simpson. The Hahnenkamm Ridge, from which most of the ski runs course down into the Kitzbühel Valley, rises to the southwest. There was plenty of snow and brilliant sunshine: ideal skiing conditions.
