Sir Arthur on Tour in the Alps

10 August 2021

In 1893, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1939) learnt a relatively unknown sport: skiing. Two ski pioneers, Tobias and Johannes Branger, showed him how.

One year after the Branger brothers had conquered the route from Davos to Arosa over the Maienfelder Furgga for the first time on 23 March 1893, they repeated this trip with Sir Arthur in 1894.

His account of this legendary trip in the “Strand Magazine” magazine in December 1894 was the first English report of a skiing experience. The response was overwhelming.  Sir Arthur laid the foundation for the ski boom in Davos (and Switzerland).

The text on the monument reads as follows:

(Quelle: www.davos.ch).

“In Tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). English author-creator of Sherlock Holmes and sportsman, who on March 23, 1894, crossed the Maienfelder Furka from Davos to Arosa, thereby bringing this new sport and the attractions of the Swiss Alps in Winter to the attention of the world. The perfect pattern of a gentleman”.