Many people have been asking if we would be writing anything about Jörg Dutschke at Unofficial Alpine Meadows. Truth be told, I am probably not the right person for that job. I have never been a ski racer, except for a few runs on the NASTAR course on Coin Op at Squaw Valley sometime in the early 70’s. I got a bronze medal. Later in life I learned that it was about the same as a participation trophy. I have taught many kids how to ski, but I have never been a ski instructor through PSIA. About the only thing Jörg and I shared in common was a passion for skiing and a love for Alpine Meadows.
I briefly chatted with Andy this week, and his involvement in ski racing was about equivalent to my own. But we are dedicated to preserving the history of Alpine Meadows at this site, so I am taking on the challenge of finding some words to describe Jörg’s legacy at Alpine Meadows. Rather than resort to ChatGPT, I’ve been scouring the internet and chatting with people myself.
But ultimately, I hope that this post just serves as an anchor point. I am hopeful that others with greater connections to Jörg will take a moment to share some thoughts by adding a comment to this post. This site has always been about building community at Alpine Meadows.
A Quick Biography of Jörg
Jorg Dutschke was born in Germany around 1941 and settled with his mother in a small town in the Bavarian Alps, which was also the hometown of Alpine Meadows legend Werner Schuster. Jörg became friends with Werner’s younger brother Jürgen, with skiing being the thing they shared in common. In 1963, just a a couple of years after the opening of Alpine Meadows, Werner Schuster was hired as the ski area’s first ski school director. Fun fact: The run Werner’s Schuss at Alpine Meadows is named for Schuster, and yes, he does still ski it.
The dates are a little jumbled as I have combed through internet archives, but I will give it a shot. Schuster brought his younger brother Jürgen to Alpine Meadows to teach skiing in 1965. In 1967, they convinced Jörg to also become an Alpine Meadows ski instructor.
Through the early part of his ski instruction career, Jörg Dutschke served as an advanced level ski instructor, eventually earning a coveted PSIA Level 3 certification. When a race department was developed at Alpine Meadows, Jörg was a natural fit to lead the race lessons. Later in his career, he became the national pacesetter for the NASTAR public racing program.
Jörg enjoyed teaching skiing enough to make it a year round thing. When the season ended at Alpine Meadows, he packed his bags and taught skiing in Australia for 17 seasons at Mount Buller. He also served as the chief examiner for the Australian Ski Association for three years.
More recently, many will remember Dutschke for his role in running the Masters Racing program at Alpine Meadows from 1988 until 2005. That program frequently operated on the Twilight Zone run at Lakeview. After 50 years of service at Alpine Meadows, Jörg was offered a chance to name a run on the mountain. You now see the “Jorg’s Legacy” sign on the right side of the run that is also called Twilight Zone. Although I never met the man, I am usually inspired to make some better than average turns on that run in his honor.
Eventually, a long life of skiing caught up with Dutschke and his knees called it quits first. Jörg stayed active in the area driving shuttle bus for rafting companies in the summer and reportedly for the ski area in the winter. He took up the sport of golf and moved to Reno as his kidney’s began to fail, requiring weekly dialysis.
Jörg Dutschke passed this April at age 84. He left little in the way of family but was very close to Alpine Meadows compatriots Chip Lambert, Mo Mailhot and Werner Schuster. A memorial service was held at Alpine Meadows this week with hundreds in attendance.
There probably needs to be some corrections here. So much of Jörg’s life happened “before the internet” so it is tough to find details. I would be happy to make corrections. Please do use the comment form below to add your own stories about the man, and share this articles with others that may not know about the Unofficial Alpine Meadows site. Helpful tip: To make the “umlaut O” character in Jörg’s name, first type option-U to get the umlaut then hit O.
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Mark,
Each time you or Andy post a commentary here, I stop whatever else this retired guy might be doing to read it, enjoy the merits of your writing and allow the happy or sad feelings to percolate and as they will do.
Then, magically there is always a moment where all other thoughts evacuate and all that rests in my mind (as I am typing now) are the happy vibes, family memories, untold joys and deep soulful connection to our community of passionate Alpine Meadows skiers, workers and friends. God Bless Jorg. Thank you !
Thanks Greg, you said what I was thinking and I could not have said it better!
I started teaching skiing on weekends at Incline where Jürgen was the director. I taught there for three or four years and then “graduated” to Alpine where Werner was the director. There was a regular flow of instructors who moved from Incline to Alpine with Jürgen‘s recommendation. I never interacted much with Werner. He was always around in the background. Jörg and Jean were the two instructors who mentored me and got me through the certification. I spent many sundays when it was quiet with a group of new instructors on Kangaroo with Jörg. Jörg also loved to coach racing. We would run gates on the side of Kangaroo. Jörg would change them up and show us the technique to attack every style. He loved to set a combination right at the lip of the drop off on the right toward the bottom. You had to be on speed to catch the turn or blow through the gate. On the NASTAR course we would get to run them before or after the regular session. Jörg loved to set a gate where you had to step up the hill coming into the gate to get the best line. He was much taller than I was so his step was longer then mine. I never got the gold pin when he set course. Last time I saw him was several years ago. He was driving the shuttle in Alpine Meadows before the Mountaineer. We caught up on the old crew: Werner, Jean and Jürgen.
My first season patrolling at AM was 78-79, and early in that season Jörg made an incredible impression on me. After a day of new snow, we had a couple missing people reported, and after a second sweep at the end of the day tracks were found heading off the back of Wolverine towards 5 lakes. A couple patrollers followed them and eventually found the missing couple, and for a bonus found another unreported two skiers. In the meantime Jörg finds out what’s going on and wants to to help. I’m on the ridge relaying radio calls when he heads off the back around 7 pm (and very dark). He reaches them very quickly. The patrollers and “guests” were trying to figure out the best way to return to the area. Jörg grabs the “guests” gear, puts it on his shoulder and turns around and breaks trail and post holes up a few hundred feet vert back to the ridge. It took him an hour or so, and he left all the gear with me and headed back to the base area. A couple hours later, it’s close to midnight, patrollers and rescuees make the ridge. All are safe, and uninjured, and I had a new hero. What a powerful, giving, and understated man. He was much more than a racer and instructor.
I later had great experiences outside of AM with him, he joined me in Sydney, Australia, to watch a Tina Turner concert. And more recently I had the privilege to golf a few times with him. What a great guy and I’m so sorry I couldn’t make his celebration of life. He’ll always be that guy plowing though the snow with 5 pairs of skis over his shoulder with that grin that said it all. RIP
Great post on Dutschke! Back in the early 70s on my day off, Dutschke would occasionly have a children’s class. Classical!!!!
Another memory… Jorg set a course for the Friday ski school race with maybe 17 gates down Blue, Dutschke did the course in 3!
Also, one day Bob was riding Summit, at top of the bowl Dutschke dropped over making perfect turns down the “ice rink” snow with no spray and perfectly carved turns! Anyone else would have taken the slide of their life!
It was a great tribute on Tuesday!
Great man, great mentor. I remember him well. May his memory be a blessing.