Elisabeth Hussey - Ski Club of Great Britain editor and historian

Elisabeth Hussey, who succeeded Sir Arnold Lunn as editor of Ski Survey, the magazine of the Ski Club of Great Britain, died December 2, 2017, at age 88.  From 1984 to 2008, Hussey was a member of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Sub-Committee for Alpine Citizen Racers. From 1992 she served on the FIS Committee for Public Relations and Media, which she chaired from 2002 to 2004. From 2007, she managed a history project for the FIS, documenting the timeline of the organization.

At age 18, in 1947, Hussey studied French Civilization at the Sorbonne, and on returning to London embarked on a career in publishing. Beginning in 1955 she worked as secretary to the editor of Autocar magazine, which instilled a love of fast driving. In 1964 she met Sir Arnold Lunn, and he hired her as assistant editor of the British Ski Year Book. She also worked for the editor of the club’s other magazine, Ski Notes & Queries. The two publications merged in 1972 to become Ski Survey, edited by Sir Arnold. Following his death in 1974, Hussey was named editor. Thereafter, she spent many weeks each winter driving fast cars from resort to resort across the Alps, and then across the American Rocky Mountain West.

As a tribute to her work in researching and documenting the history of skiing, in 2009 she was presented with the inaugural Marc Hodler Foundation Award (the FIS’ charitable foundation). At the time, the American ski historian John Fry described her thus: “Elisabeth Hussey is like Niagara Falls without noise, a person of immense, quiet energy.” 

Hussey served as president of the Ladies’ Ski Club, Vice-President of the Kandahar Ski Club, and in 1989 she was presented with the Pery Medal, the highest award from the Ski Club of Great Britain. In 2014, she published her book Biography of Sir Arnold Lunn, 1888–1974.