trade as a very young man, and where also he
learned to ski and ski race. In 1958 — the same
year Bad Gastein hosted the alpine World
Championships — he left home because he’d
heard they were looking for Austrian ski in-
structors at a new ski area in Vermont called
Sugarbush. “I wasn’t really planning on staying
here [in the States],” Hans says, laughing at the
50 plus years he’s remained.
Hans met his wife in Sugarbush, and the two
spent the next decade bouncing between North
and South America as ski instructors in Ver-
mont, Sault Sainte Marie, Chile and Argentina.
He also coached ski racing and even coached the
Chilean national ski team at the Squaw Valley
Olympic Winter Games in 1960. He fell in love
with the Tahoe area, and when a chance to run
the Sugar Bowl program presented itself eight
years later, he moved the family to California.
Hans instilled a deep-seated love of ski racing
in the family. Hansi and Toni remain involved
with the sport coaching young racers — and
their own children — at Sugar Bowl and Squaw
Valley. Two of their three sisters, Barbara and
Heidi, were also U.S. Ski Teamers and NCAA
standouts. As one might imagine, the collective
Standteiner ski racing experience has endowed
each with keen perspective on how the sport
translates to life beyond the slopes.
“I remember we had something called pinup
day in architecture school,” Toni says. “Each stu-
dent would pin his or her work up for everyone
to see and then take critiques from each of the
other students. Some people couldn’t handle the
criticism and didn’t quite get that the critiques
were there to make them better architects. I
remember thinking that I was OK with being
critiqued because I’d been coached my entire
life as a ski racer. Coaches are always critiquing
your technique so that you can improve. Then,
of course, there’s the clock, which is the ultimate
critic. It all forces you to accept degrees of fail-
ure so that you can recognize ways to improve.”
Hansi’s advice is directed at aspiring coaches.
“Managing athletes is really the key,” Hansi says.
“At every age and every level, you sometimes
need to take a step back and recognize the needs
of each individual, then develop a platform
to work with. I spent time with coaches who
didn’t necessarily understand that, so it’s been
a big part of what I’ve done as a coach over the
years.”
Hans’s advice is particularly fitting coming
from someone of his generation. “There are so
many kids who are stuck to computers and tele-
visions these days,” Hans says. “We need to teach
them to love to be outside. I think the most im-
portant thing is to enjoy the sport. Not everyone
can be a world champion, and parents should
remember that when they put their kids in a ski
program. Let them enjoy it.”
Meet the rest of the Mountain Forge artisans and see
more work at mtnforge.com.
ROLE MODEL
and the Anvil
Squaw Valley closed each spring,
“At the risk of getting my father in trouble with
labor laws,” Toni says, “we were learning the
[blacksmith] trade by the age of 12. It was fun and
fascinating for us. We started by sweeping floors,
drilling holes, and helping with installations, and as
we got older we were doing work in the forge.”
Decades later, the talented family members have
their expertise in a variety of ways that complement their snowsport lives. “Of course we’ve
done a lot of stuff locally,” Hansi says. “But the
Forge has also designed trophies for the Winter
X Games, ski and snowboard cross events, and
Jeep King of the Mountain events.”
Their most treasured work, though, comes in the
form of a memorial they designed for their late
friend and freeskiing pioneer Shane McConkey.
“Shane was a good friend of ours, and after he
passed we built his urn and memorial sculpture
— an eagle — with input from his family,” says
Toni. “That’s the kind of project [that’s deeply
personal and rewarding].”
COURTESY M T. FORGE ( 4); JP MAR TIN PHOTOGRPHY (URN)
The Standteiner family’s work appears in homes and businesses
throughout the Golden State.
Some examples of the Mountain
Forge artistry (clockwise from
top left): an interior railing in
Glenshire, Calif.; a lantern; a leafy
baluster; a nature-inspired balustrade in the Tahoe area; and an urn
holding the ashes of late freeskiing legend Shane McConkey.
