Otto Lang

Actor · Director · Producer · Writer

Zenica, Austria-Hungary (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)

January 21, 1908

Biography

Otto Lang (1908 – 2006) was a skier and pioneer ski instructor from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who lived and worked in the United States. After teaching skiing at a variety of smaller resorts in Austria, he joined the Hannes Schneider Ski School in St. Anton am Arlberg, one of the most prestigious ski schools of the era. Like many instructors who taught Schneider's Arlberg Method, Lang was eventually offered a chance to teach in the U.S., at Pecketts' on Sugar Hill in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He later moved out west and found ski schools on Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Mount Hood. He demonstrated ski techniques in Jerome Hill's documentary Ski Flight (1938) which premiered at Radio City Music Hall. His 1936 book Downhill Skiing was recognized in its day as the most comprehensive manual for skiing instruction for the fledgling sport. Ski Filmmaker Warren Miller and newsman Lowell Thomas both credited Lang's book as their inspiration for their interest in skiing.