(born Feb. 25, 1912, Megève, France—died Oct. 17, 2012, Sallanches, France), French Alpine skier who was dubbed the “father of modern skiing,” largely for his popularization in the 1930s of the technique of skiing with the skis parallel rather than angled into a V shape, which allowed him greater speed, mobility, and almost reckless daring on the slopes. Allais was the first French skiing champion, the first skier to win gold medals in both downhill and slalom events at the same world championship (1937), and the first person to win the title of all-around champion skier in consecutive years (1937 and 1938). Allais skied as a child in the Mont Blanc region of the French Alps and competed in his first race at age 17. He earned his first world championship medals (silvers in the downhill and the combined) in 1935 and followed with a bronze in slalom at the 1936 Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ger. The outbreak of World War II (and an untimely broken ankle) put an end to Allais’s competitive career. After the war he returned to the slopes as a coach and ski instructor—in France, Canada, the U.S., and Chile—and as a founder of ski resorts as well as the world’s largest ski school, the École Française de Ski (later the École du Ski Français). He also designed and marketed modern skis and related paraphernalia, including then-innovative boots that fastened to the skis. Allais continued to ski in his 90s.