One for the record books: Matt's famous schuss

Editor’s note: Toni Matt's presence lives on today as the namesake of the Toni Matt ski slope, a fast and scenic run down the front side of Big Mountain at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The legendary Austrian skier helped design ski race courses and brought fame and credibility to the Big Mountain Resort and Whitefish.

PINKHAM NOTCH, N.H. — Thirty-five years after his death, and 85 years after his legendary schuss (straight down) of the 800-foot drop off Mount Washington’s precipitous Tuckerman Ravine Headwall, Toni Matt is making waves again.

Matt’s son Richard called April 5 to share the exciting news that he had succeeded in his efforts to get his father’s legendary and never-equaled schuss into the Guinness World Records Book.

“I wanted you to be the first to know,” said Richard, 67, who is the spitting image of his late father and whom I had met during Cranmore’s “Flight Without Wings” event in February 1989.

I struck up a friendship with Richard Matt in the months that followed, which culminated in Toni’s return to the ravine in April of that year on the 50th anniversary of his schuss.

Sadly, Toni — who had suffered eight heart attacks over the years — died at age 69 in May of that year.

His son, a resident of Woodbury, Conn., has carried on his father’s legacy — culminating with the big Guinness World Records news.

Richard said he had approached the editors at Guinness about his father’s achievement. All sorts of documentation was required. The fact that the event took place in 1939 presented challenges.

“They assigned a specific person to the project and me. I had to explain to him (he wasn’t a skier) what racing was all about back in 1939 — that it was the third American Inferno top-to-bottom race held, was on the old wooden skis, and what racing was like back then.

“I had to submit all sorts of data. I got a call about a week ago, and they said they were taking it under consideration — I reminded them that the 85th anniversary was coming up and that I wanted to make a media push about that. Then,” Richard shared, “I got word.”

That led him to write up and send along a press release about the big announcement:

“It’s official,” wrote Richard: “The Guinness Book of World Records has listed Austrian born Anton (Toni) Matt then age 19, as the official World Record Holder for the fastest Mount Washington, New Hampshire Inferno 4-mile ski race at 6 minutes, 29.2 seconds, 85 years after he set the world record on April 16, 1939.”

He says the editor he worked with said there was no guarantee it will make the print version of the annual book but that it would be listed on guinnessworldrecords.com — just type in “fastest Mt. Washington,” and Matt’s record listing will come up.

I have included a chapter, “The Race for All Time,” on the feat in my 2012 book, “The History of Cranmore Mountain,” parts of which I will share here. 

The 1939 Inferno was the third summit-to-base race held on Mount Washington, with Hollis Phillips of the Appalachian Mountain Club winning the first in April 1933 with a time of just under 14 minutes, and Durrance (1914-2004) winning the second inferno in April 1934 with a time of 12 minutes, 35 seconds.

A shortened race was held in 1935 from the summit to the floor of the ravine, but lack of snow kept it from running down to Pinkham Notch, so it was not termed an Inferno, according to retired executive director Jeff Leich of the New England Ski Museum in his book, “Over the Headwall: The Ski History of Tuckerman Ravine.”

Unlike two earlier attempts at hosting a 1939 American Inferno, Sunday, April 16, was nearly ideal, with bright skies, cold temperatures and high winds at the racers’ backs on the summit and corn snow below.

The conditions were an essential factor in aiding Matt in halving Durrance’s previous record. The other was simply Matt's incredible performance.

Up until 1939, the headwall in Tuckerman Ravine had generally been handled in a series of “check” turns. Matt, however, traveling at speeds approaching 85 miles per hour, took it in a single long arc, leaving the nearly 3,000 spectators assembled in the ravine literally awestruck.

“They tell me there were thousands of people there that day,” Matt told me in 1988, “but I never saw or heard anyone on my way down. I was too focused on racing.”

After arcing down the Headwall on his 7-foot, 6-inch wooden Northland skis, Matt roared over the little Headwall and down the wooded Sherburne Trail, reaching the finish at Pinkham Notch in a record 6 minutes, 29.2 seconds, a full minute faster than second-place finisher Durrance.

Matt later noted he had intended to make two turns, but the snow had felt so good, he simply pointed his boards downhill and went for it.

“I wasn’t very familiar with the terrain, as I had never skied the Headwall. I thought I had already gone over the Lip and that I was halfway down. Instead, I wasn’t even at the top yet,” Matt recalled, often joking in his talks about the race with his thick Austrian accent and good humor that “you’re lucky when you’re 19, stupid and have strong legs” and that he “couldn’t turn.”

Matt said he nearly lost control and came close to hitting a tree near the end of the race near the base of the narrow 1934-Civilian Conservation Corps-built Sherburne Trail in Pinkham Notch, but held on for the victory.

“The Sherburne Trail was very narrow. Maybe only 25 feet wide at most, and it was all grooved out, which could get you in trouble. The toughest part, though, was the transition on the floor of the ravine, because there was no such thing as course preparation in those days. It was like a plowed field,” Matt said, describing his never-equaled feat with some places approaching 65-degree drops.

Famed broadcaster, ski promoter and frequent Eastern Slope skier Lowell Thomas (1892-1981) witnessed the schuss. He said Matt vaulted down the Headwall “like a lead plummet, hitting 85 miles per hour as he came to the bottom, his skis shattering the icy snow.”

Tom Eastman is a reporter for the Conway Daily Sun in Conway, New Hampshire. He has enjoyed writing about the people and history of the White Mountains for more than 30 years, with ski history among his areas of interest. This extract has been reprinted by permission of The Conway Daily Sun. 

  
  

    Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington, 1930's (Photo provided by Richard Matt).
  

    A 1939 painting of the Inferno Race signed by Toni Matt (Photo provided by Richard Matt).