Kandahar Ski Club — The Original Ski Racing Club, est. 1924

Arnold Lunn revolutionised skiing by organizing the first modern alpine races, including the British National Ski Championships downhill in Wengen (1921) and creating the first modern slalom race in Mürren (1922). Lunn wrote the racing rules and campaigned for international recognition, laying the foundation for what would become Olympic alpine skiing.

Arnold Lunn founded the Kandahar Ski Club on January 30, 1924, at Mürren's Palace Hotel, owned by the Lunn travel agency. The club took its name from the Victorian military hero Lord Roberts of Kandahar, who had sponsored a trophy for an early British race in 1911. The club's mission was to raise the standard of British skiing through racing and promote the revolutionary new sports of Downhill and Slalom against opposition from the international ski establishment.

On 29 January 1928, 17 British skiers, all but one Kandahar members, ski-hiked to Mürren's crowning summit, the Schilthorn (2970m), and raced down to the valley floor at Lauterbrunnen (800m) in a no-rules marathon, including flat and uphill sections, that they called the Inferno. This arduous descent over the longest downhill course (14.9km in its present routing) would later be revived by Ski Club Mürren and developed into an annual mass-participation challenge for 1850 amateur racers.

Persistent campaigning bore fruit in 1930 when the FIS Congress accepted Slalom and Downhill racing. The Ski Club of Great Britain, in the person of Arnold Lunn, was invited to organise Alpine skiing's first World Championship at Mürren in February 1931. Kandahar members dominated the British team, including 17-year-old Esmé Mackinnon, who won all three women's races.

Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936, the culmination of Arnold Lunn's years of campaigning. He refereed the Slalom while his son Peter raced as captain of the British men's team. Great Britain and the Kandahar had played a central role in bringing alpine racing to the world's biggest sporting stage.

The club lost 40 members during WWII, including Squadron Leader Roger Bushell who masterminded The Great Escape. Pre-war Kandahar star Jimmy Riddell founded the Middle East Ski School, training 20,000 troops in Lebanon. The club's membership included Lord Dowding, saviour of the nation in 1940, and Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

Kandahar took the lead in organising structured junior training for British hopefuls in the 1950s. This pioneering approach to youth development would produce many of Britain's most successful racers over the following decades, including Konrad Bartelski, Martin and Graham Bell, and later Dave Ryding.

Since the launch of the World Cup in 1967 Kandahar members have competed at the highest level, building to recent successes for Daniel Yule and Dave Ryding, whose victory in the 2022 Kitzbühel Slalom was the first World Cup win for a British skier. At an amateur level, the club maintains its traditions in Mürren, with the Scaramanga race for roped pairs at New Year and Kandahar Inferno Week in January, when up to 200 members aged 17 to 80+ take part.

The Amateur Inter-Club Championships (AICC), held annually in March, were founded by Cleeves Palmer (Kandahar Chairman from 2006 to 2011 and President from 2011 to 2018) in 2008 and inaugurated by the Kandahar Ski Club. They are another opportunity for members to indulge their passion for competitive skiing.

The Kandahar celebrated its 100th birthday in 2024, with Mürren remaining the club's home and The Oriental Club in London serving as its British hub. Celebrations marking the centenary included the publication of a book charting the club's remarkable journey from pioneer of alpine racing to the present reality of a thriving sports club that remains a creative force in the world of ski racing.