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
Hi Billy! Hope you’re well. Come see me at Christy Hill if you’re ever in Tahoe City. Cheers, jb
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.
Mountain turns endure
Fifty winters shaped by grace—
Tracks outlast the snow.
I volunteered at the corporate ski challenge from 1982 for 2002. Werner was great to work with. I worked with Jörg on some of the race set-ups as a chief of course and participant racer coaching. I trained Masters with Jörg for several years.
What a very fun nice person. So sorry he is passed. RIP…
I have always wondered about who Jorg was when I see that trail sign. What a legacy…
Hello Mark and Andy,
Thanks for making the effort to publish Jorg’s story. He certainly deserved the recognition. I’m glad to see so many attended his memorial and am not sorry to have been able to attend.
Have a great summer,
Dee
I trained Masters with Jorg from 1993-2003. He was the consummate coach. He gave me tips that I still use today ski racing at 72! He would make what we called Jorgism’s. One example: one of the guys came down the slalom course and thought he had a smokin fast run. Jorg said to him “That vas very good Paul, don’t worry about the speed, the speed will come”🤣. He was always on the hill early to have the courses all set for us. It was wonderful to see so many people celebrating him at Alpine last Tuesday.
Vielen Dank,
Für diese tolle Zusammenfassung in Gedenken an Jörg!
Vieles davon wussten wir im fernen Deutschland nicht über unseren Onkel. Aber als kleine Verbesserung: Jörg ist mit seiner Mutter und seinen 3 älteren Geschwistern nach der Bombardierung von Dresden ins Allgäu geflüchtet und dort aufgewachsen.
Auch wenn wir ihn nur selten gesehen haben
vermissen wir ihn sehr.
English translation:
Thank you,
For this great summary in memory of Jörg!
Much of this we did not know about our uncle in distant Germany. But as a small improvement: Jörg fled to the Allgäu with his mother and his 3 older siblings after the bombing of Dresden and grew up there.
Even though we rarely saw him, we miss him very much.
I had a huge crush on Jörg back in the 1970s, when I was about 13–17 years old and he was my ski instructor. My dad volunteered with the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol, so he always enrolled us in Jörg’s advanced lessons—which meant we got to skip the lift line while continuing to improve our skiing. I hadn’t thought about Jörg in decades, so it was such a fun surprise to be reminded of him.
I was lucky to count Jorg as a friend both on the slopes and the golf course. But he had no better friend than Mo.
Jorg was taking a busmans holiday during a powder day about two decades ago and we were tearing up Rock Garden alongside one another in order to preserve the snow when we both collided with each other. I struggled to stay up while he continued to make perfect turns back to the lift. I got the only compliment ever on my skiing when he said “nice balance”.
I’m so sorry to hear this. Jorg and Werner taught me how to ski in the late’60’s. Jorg gave me my first lesson; How to fall, how to get up, and how to avoid another skier. Both he and Werner were the best. I still ski to this day. Jorg will be remembered.
As a 10-year old Nastar racer watching a 20-something-year-old Jorg ski the course, his skiing was like nothing I had ever seen. It still is. His technique was bulletproof but his style was unique to him. More than that, he was the soul of Alpine Meadows during the late-20th century. With all the changes at the mountain, I appreciate that there is a run named for him to remind me of those times.
He was also one of those people, like Bode and Mikaela, who was known throughout Tahoe and the larger ski teaching world by his first name. A legend.
There is a famous poster of Alpine Meadows from the early-70s. A lone skier on Arts Knob (?) in the spring, with the lake in the background (namelink). I have always believed the skier to be Jorg. Perhaps someone reading this can tell me if that is the case.
I used to hitchhike to work when I started in 1968 and if he saw me he would pick me up. One morning with fresh snow and clearing skies driving up the valley he pointed at Munchkins and said how he never got tired of the view. This made an impression on me, a young mountain crazy kid as I knew he came from the Alps!
Another time I rode up Summit with him first thing, when we got to the top he said follow me!
We dropped into a course he had set down the D8 and over the Face. When I got to the bottom of D8 he was completely out of sight!!!
He was one of the best skiers I have ever known and a great inspiration!
That is high praise coming from you Jim!
Met Jorg At Mt Buller in 89 impressive man. spent some time golfing on black sand greens on Magnetic Island also Australia. I will miss him didn’t know about the memorial. Even working Nextdoor. RIP