“Fantastic!” “Absolutely top class!” “Amazing!” This is the vocabulary of a man who has worked with superlatives throughout his career. A man who still wields adjectives the way Didier Cuche once did his poles. He is a man of words, sharp in his analyses, clear in his statements and always respectful in his tone. His voice is iconic; in fact, he himself is something of a national treasure. When his voice rang out over the radio, every child knew the sport was on. This unique, unmistakable voice belongs to Bernhard Schär – or Berni Schär, as everyone calls him. The same Berni Schär who commentated on every race on the Lauberhorn for Radio SRF for 30 years.
His first live radio broadcast would start at six o’clock in the morning, and he wouldn’t be working from the warmth of his hotel room. No, not Berni: he’d be up at the finish area in Innerwengen, broadcasting from the presenter’s booth and abreast of all the latest developments after a phone call with the President of the Organising Committee himself. “It’s what got me out of bed in the morning. I was the one who got to tell the nation about the latest events, bright and early and exclusively!” Even so, I ask, wasn’t it difficult being out there all on your lonesome? “I found that brisk walk at dawn gave me all the motivation and inspiration I needed for the whole day.” And anyone who has ever trodden the twenty-minute path from the village to the finish area will know what Berni is talking about: the magnificent scenery, bathed in the shadows of an early morning, maybe a light snowfall, perhaps already quietly heralding a bright winter’s day. The proverbial calm before the storm. Berni would soak up this atmosphere and a tingling sense of anticipation would set in. He’d be looking forward to a day of racing, of course. But there would be something else. A freshly baked apricot cake, warm and scrumptious, would always be waiting for him in the presenter’s booth. That and a steaming cup of coffee. A kind soul there knew that this simple gesture is what gave Berni the greatest pleasure of all. “That, for me, is the Lauberhorn!” he gushes, with more than a trace of emotion.
He can gush like no one else. But with him, it never seems exaggerated or affected. It’s genuine enthusiasm: for the sport, for the athletes, but also for all the work that goes on behind the scenes. When asked what else is “especially Lauberhorn” for him, the first thing he mentions is telling: “What really impressed me is the incredible number of people who work here to make an event like this happen.” That’s around two thousand people on race day. He then proceeds to list them all: the organising committee, the department heads, course section leaders, the military, civil defence, the numerous volunteers. “What a Sisyphean task it was at times! Clearing 4.5 kilometres of fresh powder from the race course. So many times the impossible was made possible. I have the utmost respect for that, and I take my hat off to them.”
But it is the downhill course itself that makes the Lauberhorn a legend. Take, for example, the narrow passages, such as the Kernen-S or Wasserstation tunnel, which make the course so special. “Where the Wengerenalp Railway crosses the bridge! That’s pure nostalgia!” he laughs enthusiastically. What’s more, nowhere else in the world does a downhill run start so high up, in such breathtaking scenery, and then lead through natural terrain, like the Hundschopf and Minschkante, for example. “It’s just unique! Incredible! Incomparable!” Schär enthuses once again. “The Lauberhorn has its own quaint, even ancient character, and it’s impossible to imagine the World Cup calendar without it.” And after the downhill comes the slalom. “That was always the moment for me: I really looked forward to watching the specialists. This slalom slope is the icing on the cake, the cherry on top. Only the best of the best win here. There was always plenty of drama!”
And he should know. He has seen them all, the racetracks of this world. Berni Schär, who spent three decades travelling with the World Cup team, has also reported on fifteen Olympic Games. He followed the crazy skiing family to sixteen World Championships, getting closer than almost anyone else. “We knew each other. The skiers would sometimes come over to me.” His respectful, friendly manner helped him to conduct authentic, lively interviews. “The mix of individual skiers was always appealing: you’d have Büxi, very bubbly, then Janka, who was more reserved. I was always struck by how the guys managed to give me decent answers and how they were able to concentrate and stay focused during the interview – despite the noise and everything going on around them.” Unsurprisingly, Schär doesn’t have a favourite interviewee. He liked them all, each in their own way. Friendships have also developed over the years. To switch sports for a moment, he has a very special relationship with Roger Federer, which has grown over a long, unrivalled sporting career. When Federer talks about Schär, it’s like he’s talking about a friend. The chemistry between the two is just right and they have great respect for each other. He still has a good relationship with Silvano Beltrametti, who had such a tragic accident in Val d’Isère in December 2001. “I think about him every day. He is a huge inspiration for me in terms of how to deal with a twist of fate like that.” It is significant that a section of the Silvano Beltrametti World Cup piste in Lenzerheide is named after the reporter. The “Schär Wende” was a gift from the organising committee to mark his retirement. “It truly is a special honour and a great compliment,” says Schär, visibly moved.
And there it is again, that voice that conveys such emotion and touches people as a result. Schär is simply infectious – his voice is infectious! That is his very special gift: bringing passion, joy, compassion and enthusiasm into your living room over the airwaves and via the digital network. I’m surely not the only one he was able to move to tears with his captivating manner, and that’s over the radio, mind you – no gestures, no facial expressions, just with his voice.
You almost forget how casually he plucks from the air all those figures and results from the many years and the names that go with them. He draws his knowledge from his own experiences and adventures, all stored in his head and held in his heart. For example, he doesn’t have to think (or google) when Franz Heinzer won the Lauberhorn: it was 1992. He remembers it clearly. “Heinzer was on top form back then and just dominated the field. That’s why his victory in Wengen was more than deserved – it had a sense of sporting justice to it.” Heinzer would later become Schär’s co-commentator.
But Berni Schär wouldn’t just root for the Swiss. He was much happier when a favourite was able to perform to their full potential on the Lauberhorn, regardless of their nationality. When a fair competition yielded the best as the winner. He is convinced that every racer wants a Lauberhorn win under their belt. For many athletes, victory on the course is right up there with a World Championship title.
Berni Schär deserves a title of his own. He is quite simply a master storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. “In the past, we didn’t have mobile phones, so I spent a long time on the mountain with a reel-to-reel tape recorder.” A live broadcast in the 1990s was very different to what happens today; now, armed with just an iPhone and the SRG reporter app, you don’t even have to leave the chairlift to conduct an interview. “I used to meet Fredy Fuchs in a small room on the Kleine Scheidegg for live interviews.” He pauses for a moment and thinks: “I wonder if that little room even exists anymore?” The room in question had a landline, which is what made it so valuable back then. It was a fixed location with a secure connection – even the coil cord connecting the handset to the telephone felt secure. The interview would begin with a call to the Zurich radio studio, then came the switch to the transmitter and only then did things get serious. Schär would ask his question into the receiver, hand it to Fuchs, who would then give his answer, speaking into the receiver, before handing it back so that Schär could ask his next question. All live. “That was a pioneering form of radio,” laughs Schär, remembering.
Wengen and the Lauberhorn have become a second home for Berni Schär over the years. “Yes, it’s always like coming home,” he says, adding: “It’s a huge honour for me that I can now return to the Lauberhorn to host the Legend Talks at Grimschbiel. I’m in my element here. This is my area of expertise. And it makes me so happy to be able to utilise all my experience again after 30 years. Even though I’m retired, I have the chance to shine again, to join with the athletes in sharing all the knowledge I’ve gained with a wide audience. And hopefully I can offer some meaningful messages and memorable moments. That’s a wonderful thing.”
And fantastic! And absolutely top class! To stick with Berni’s vocabulary until the end. Berni Schär has long since become a legend himself on the Lauberhorn. He no longer needs his personal section of the course. But there’s still one thing that could always and will always make him the happiest man in Wengen: a warm, freshly baked apricot cake.
Irene Graf, February 2024
