As a boy in the 1920s, Paul Goszyk skied the snow-blanketed mountains surrounding his home in Ustron, Poland.
His parents had six children and couldn’t afford to buy him skis, so his father crafted a pair from wooden boards and made poles using two sticks.
Goszyk and his friends used homemade gear to scale nearby peaks, race down forest trails and jump off a ramp built for their town’s youth ski club.
That was before 1939, when Germany invaded Poland — before Goszyk fought against the Nazis during World War II, and before he was captured and enslaved for five years. Through it all, his love for skiing endured…Â More info