Content area
Full Text
1933-2017 Introduced to skiing before he turned three, Tunisian-born Jean Vuarnet revolutionised the way we moved across snow. In 1960 he pioneered metal skis and the aerodynamic deep-tucked "l'ouef" position, moves which took him to Olympic gold at Squaw Valley, California.
Returning to his family base at Morzine, a French Alpine village near the Swiss border, Vuarnet developed car-free Portes du Soleil ski resort and lent his name to antiglare sunglasses favoured by celebrities Mick Jagger and Miles Davis. But as Vuarnet, who died yesterday at 83, built his business, later adding publishing and ski fashions, his marriage to former ski champion Edith Bonlieu soured.
In Geneva, 68km from Morzine, Edith and their youngest son Patrick met Belgian homoeopath Luc Jouret, who encouraged Edith's interest in ecology and spiritualism. Jouret was the public face of the new-age Order of the Solar Temple, which he co-founded in 1984 with French-Canadian Joseph Di Mambro, introduced to alchemy and metaphysics as a former Rosicrucian. Both perished in a murder-suicide by 53 followers in three fires in villas in Switzerland and Canada in October 1994.
Vuarnet was born on January 18, 1933, in Tunis, where his father Victor opened a medical practice. Victor returned to his native French Alps...