Noldi Beck - Founder of Liechtenstein Ski Museum

Noldi Beck

Noldi Beck, founder of the Ski and Wintersports Museum Liechtenstein, died July 10. He was 65 years old.

Noldi's passion was skiing. For many years, he was active in the international alpine racing circuit. A racer himself, he went on to teach skiing and then worked as a ski tester for Völkl. He became the company's ski technician for Hanni Wenzel, who in 1980 won Olympic, World and World Cup championships. He selected her race skis, prepped and waxed them and set the bindings.

In 1989 he acquired an old Tyrolia 57 child's binding. He had no idea then that it was the seed from which would grow a comprehensive collection of more that 10,000 items of historically-significant snowsports equipment.

Beginning in 1993, the collection was on view in a small workshop, but it expanded and by 2001 was housed in an unparalleled ski and winter sports museum in  Vaduz, Liechtensein. In 2005, the museum was recognized by FIS as among the top 28 ski museums in the world.  --Luzi Hitz