History

In Hohenems, Anton Kästle creates the first pair of skis made entirely from ash and sets the wheels in motion for Kästle.

The small series production of ash skis begins in Hohenems, built by Anton Kästle and his first employees.

The Arlberg ski model is a huge success with ski racers. Production is halted during World War II (1937 - 1939), due to a shortage of resources.

At the end of the war, occupying forces appropriate the company and prohibit ski production in Hohenems.

WW2 is over and production of Kästle skis resumes.

Trude Jochum-Beiser wins the first ever gold medal on Kästle skis at the Alpine World Championships in Aspen, Colorado.

The Winter Olympics in Oslo position Kästle firmly on the international map, with no fewer than 3 gold medals on Kästle skis.

The Cortina Games turn into the Kästle Games. Aside from 3 golds for Toni Sailer, a further 18 Olympic medals are secured on Kästle skis.

Kästle develops ski construction that comes to be known by the acronym CPM (Compound Plastic Metal) – essentially the beginnings of the sandwich construction technique.

Josef Fischer and his sister, Selma Sturmberger (of Fischer Sports) take over the Vorarlberg Ski Factory from Anton Kästle.

Karl Cordin wins Downhill World Cup on Kästle skis. The ski racer from Vorarlberg is also ranked number 2 in the world that same year.

The Kästle Ski Factory, with its seat in Hohenems, Vorarlberg, becomes a limited liability company – Kästle Ges.m.b.H.

The ‘double arrows’ are introduced and are adopted as the new logo.

Kästle is the most successful ski brand at the World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, securing 7 medals.

Kästle launches the world’s lightest ever ski: The ‘Tour Randonée’, specifically designed for alpinists like Reinhold Messner.

Kästle takes home the overall World Cup Men’s title for the first time, thanks to Liechtensteiner Andreas Wenzel.

After securing a second overall World Cup title for Kästle, Pirmin Zurbriggen brings back two World Championship titles from Bormio.

Following his 1985 World title, Pirmin Zurbriggen secures the title again in 1987, making him two-time World Champion. He celebrates in Crans Montana on Kästle skis.

In addition to 4 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals won on Kästle skis at the Calgary Olympics, Pirmin Zurbriggen wins the overall World Cup title for a third time.

Company founder who started the Kästle story, Anton Kästle, dies on 19 October 1988.

The Austrian ski brand has new owners. Italian clothing and fashion house, Benetton, acquires Kästle.

Kjetil-Andre Aamodt (combination) and Tom Stiansen (slalom) secure two golds on Kästle skis at the Alpine World Championships in Sestriere.

The iconic ski brand disappears from the market, coming as a surprise for fans and ski enthusiasts.

Kästle makes a fantastic comeback thanks to a group of investors led by Rudolf Knünz.

Hollowtech technology revolutionises ski manufacturing. The comeback collection cleans up in ski tests and is awarded one accolade after another.

Chris Davenport skis the Alps’ four most iconic mountains (on Kästle skis of course) in the space of 10 days: the Eiger, Matterhorn, Mt. Blanc and Monte Rosa.

The expanded range now has 8 models, including the brand-new FX line.

Kästle freeride skis now feature the new Early Rise rocker technology for improved float in the backcountry.

Kästle goes back to its roots, where the story began: Hohenems is home to the company headquarters once again, with new and old employees back at the old site.

After 5 successful stops in the Freeride World tour, Lorraine Huber, from Lech am Arlberg, wins the Freeride World Champion title on Kästle skis.

Czech firm, ConsilSport, acquires a majority stake in Kästle. Together with its new partner, Kästle increases its product portfolio, expands into new markets and strengthens its global brand positioning.

Image: Bernd Knünz, Tomas Nemec, Rudolf Knünz, Vladimir Dusanek

With over 30 years’ expertise in the World Cup cross-country sector, Kästle is back on the Nordic scene with its own race division, three lines of cross-country skis and jump skis.
For the first time ever, Kästle takes real World Cup competition skis into series production, making unbeatable performance, maximum transfer of power and precision available to all speed-focused skiers.

Kästle acquires a manufacturing site in Nové Mesto na Morave. The Czech cross-country ski hub is now home to the Kästle Nordic centre of excellence – the Alpine one remains in Hohenems.

Kästle is back on the World Cup circuit. After several decades of dormancy, the brand participates in both Alpine and Nordic races once again.

With the TX series, Kästle successfully relaunches their storied ski touring line and becomes a member of the German and Austrian Ski Pool. The TX65 World Cup is the ski of choice for athletes like Stefan Knopf, who secures the first top 10 for Kästle in the Ski Mountaineering World Cup.

In February 2021, Kästle supported the Nordic Ski World Championships in Oberstdorf as the official supplier of the forerunners and officials. Each course was tested with at least one of over 100 Kästle skis, so one could say every race course was “Kästle approved.”

Kästle is breaking new ground in freestyle and ski cross arenas with new products specifically dedicated to freestyle, aerial, mogul and ski cross competition. Former Vorarlberg alpine ski racer Matthias Graf, after switching to ski cross, is following his new path with Kästle skis on his feet.

At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Canada won bronze in the Mixed Aerials Team competition. Kästle athletes Marion Thénault and Lewis Irving were part of this team. They were the first athletes to win a medal at a major event on Kästle again after 25 years.

Picture: Marion Thénault

Kästle expands the product range and launches alpine ski boots. True to the long-standing development principle "form follows function", the technical innovations stood in the focus of the product developers. "UltraFlat" buckles ("K_Release Technology") with ergonomic flash opening system are completely new on the market.

The year 2022 heralds a new chapter in the Kästle racing stable. With an expanded service team and the new squad around Olympic champion Ester Ledecká and double world champion Ilka Štuhec in the speed disciplines and Martina Dubovská in slalom, the Race Department headed by Rainer Nachbaur has put itself in a promising position on the road to Cortina 2026. ​

Picture: Ester Ledecká

The company continues to invest heavily in the modernization and automation of the ski factory in Nové Město na Moravě. A new grinding line lays the foundation for growing production capacities. Thanks to the construction of a large photovoltaic system, a large part of the energy comes from renewable power sources, which is an important milestone in Kästle’s ambitious sustainability roadmap.