Nostalgia

When Errol Flynn Skied at Alta

When Errol Flynn Skied at Alta

Many famous Hollywood movie stars came to Alta to ski during the 1940s. Two of the best known were Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland, but most famous of all was Errol Flynn, the swashbuckling leading man. My uncle, the late Sverre Engen, was Alta’s Ski School Director in 1946 when the legendary action hero visited Alta for a ski outing.[Read More…]

by March 17, 2023 6 comments Nostalgia, Ski History, Other News
How Alta Has Changed in the Past Fifty Years. Or Not.

How Alta Has Changed in the Past Fifty Years. Or Not.

I am often asked how Alta has changed in the past 40 or 50 years. This question always excites me, as my career began at Alta in 1974, so my personal journey weaves into the larger tapestry of the Alta story.  That includes several decades as the resort’s public relations manager, working with the media. In a November 1970 article[Read More…]

by February 9, 2023 16 comments Other News, Nostalgia
Skiing History Magazine

Skiing History Magazine

The May-June issue of Skiing History will hit the mail around May 13 (a Friday, of course)., but will be posted online about a week ahead of that. Look for these articles: -Skiing Schruns and the Montafon Valley: The old smuggling route between Austria and Switzerland where refugees escaped during World War II. -Marco Tonazzi, the Vail-based entrepreneur recalls his[Read More…]

by April 14, 2022 0 comments Nostalgia, Ski History
Now in the Park City Museum, this "subway" car used to transport skiers into the mountain, where they would enter an elevator and travel to the base of the Thayne's chair.

The Skier’s Subway: Most Unusual Lift in Skidom

Park City, Utah started as a mining camp in the 19th century, transferred business from silver mining to skiing in the early 1960s and never looked back. These days Park City Mountain Resort, owned by Vail Resorts, has about 1,200 miles of underground tunnels and shafts and mining structures all over the mountain that you ski by and over along 348[Read More…]

by March 31, 2022 0 comments Other News, Ski History
1958 National Ski Association Certification Meeting at Alta

Your Next (or Last) Ski Lesson Can Be Traced Back to Alta

The origins of the Professional Ski Instructors of America’s (PSIA) harmonized approach to ski instruction in the United States can be traced back to Alta. When skiing was first taking hold as a participation sport around the Intermountain region in the mid- to late-1930s, ski instruction was informal; limited to tips provided by anyone who had been on a pair[Read More…]

by March 17, 2022 2 comments Nostalgia, Ski History
Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. Generally, the pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. This Englishman was instrumental in formalizing ski racing in the early part of the 20th Century. 1908, He founded the Alpine Ski Club in 1908, and in 1911[Read More…]

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. Generally, the pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. In the 1930s the hill pictured here was a popular New England ski location. The first reader to correctly identify its name and location will receive the new[Read More…]

Skiing History Magazine (March/April)

Skiing History Magazine (March/April)

The March-April issue of Skiing History magazine is scheduled to mail at the end of February. Here’s what you can look forward to: A major tribute to Spider Sabich, the charismatic racer who helped put World Pro Skiing on the map and was shot to death at age 32. Spider will be inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame[Read More…]

by February 17, 2022 0 comments Nostalgia, Ski History
Source: Utah Ski and Snowboard Archives

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. Generally, the pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. This image is from the Utah Ski & Snowboard Archives, which preserves the history of skiing in Utah and the Intermountain region. The extensive collection contains thousands of digitized[Read More…]

Meet 96-Year-Old Ski Legend: Junior Bounous

Meet 96-Year-Old Ski Legend: Junior Bounous

Ski industry icon Junior Bounous, 96, is a mover and shaker whose passion is to keep people skiing throughout their lives. In a nutshell, he tells seniors: Just “keep moving.” Junior’s career spans nearly eight decades with a list of accomplishments and awards longer than both my arms: Intermountain cross country and national gelande jumping champion, national race course setter,[Read More…]

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. The object pictured here was made in the kitchen, but its nothing you’d want to eat. It was available throughout New England in the 1960s and 70s. One more[Read More…]

Skiing History Magazine

Skiing History Magazine

Covid-related delays at the printer and post office caused the November-December issue of Skiing History to mail a month late. The online version posted right after Thanksgiving, and you can read it here. Here’s what you’ll find: Aspen’s Anniversary: 75 years ago, Aspen built its first chairlifts and opened for business. Most of us are familiar with the story of[Read More…]

by January 6, 2022 0 comments Other News, Ski History
Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. This picture, submitted by The New England Ski Museum, shows a chair that serviced a New England area in the 1950s. It was the upper of two lifts that,[Read More…]

Where are these skiers?   Source: New Mexicao Ski Museum

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage you to visit and to support. This image was submitted by New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame and New Mexico Ski Museum, located outside Albuquerque, at the base of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway.[Read More…]

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Test Your Skiing Knowledge

Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com will have a picture to help you test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage you to visit and to support.  This image was submitted by The New England Ski Museum, a non-profit based in New Hampshire with locations at the base of the Cannon[Read More…]

by September 29, 2021 21 comments Nostalgia, Home Top Box 3, Mystery Glimpse
Summarizing Skiing History Magazine’s Sept-Oct 2021 Issue

Summarizing Skiing History Magazine’s Sept-Oct 2021 Issue

Skiing History magazine, a project of the International Skiing History Association (ISHA), is published six times a year. Its collection of articles is always interesting. Click on ISHA’s “Take A Run With Us!” advertisement and register for a free digital issue. Better yet, support skiing history and ISHA by becoming a member! Membership is a terrific gift for any older[Read More…]

by September 28, 2021 2 comments Nostalgia
Anyone Lose A Moriarity Hat 35 Years Ago At Beaver Creek?

Anyone Lose A Moriarity Hat 35 Years Ago At Beaver Creek?

We Have It For You.   Here’s a note from Shelley Canalia, a reader, who has come into possession of this old hat with numerous pins from resorts and events. My brother is Anthony Isham West. Great guy, comes from a Nordic ski family on his Father’s side. In 1985-86 he was working at Beaver Creek in Vail. He found[Read More…]

by April 12, 2021 10 comments Remember When?
Return To The Rockies

Return To The Rockies

Part Five: Jan and Judy Move To Utah Our residence in Illinois proved to be similar to grad school in Indiana. I progressed in my academic career, we had another baby, and (sigh) there was no skiing. But a phone call changed everything. At SIU-Edwardsville, we were renting from a colleague on sabbatical, and we had just started looking for[Read More…]

by March 9, 2021 0 comments Nostalgia, Ski History
Jan, Judy, Erk, 1962.

Moving To Indiana Then Idaho

Part Four: Jan and Judy Find Lots Of Places To Ski. We returned from Norway in 1957 and headed to Indiana University. We skied Caberfae near Cadillac, MI, a couple of times, but otherwise, our four years at IU were devoted to my studies and having Bloomington’s New Year’s Baby in January 1960. Where and when would we ever start[Read More…]

by March 2, 2021 7 comments Nostalgia, Ski History
Sunburst Six as it approaches the summit. Credit: Okemo Resort

Okemo Mountain Resort: A Mom And Pop Success Story

The Muellers Saw The Potential And Took The Risk. When Tim and Diane Mueller purchased Okemo Mountain  in August 1982, it was a ski area with six Pomalifts and three double chairlifts. Under their mom-and-pop hands-on leadership, it became a year-round destination resort with summer activities and programs as well as a vastly expanded two-mile wide ski area with 667[Read More…]

by March 1, 2021 5 comments Ski History
Riding the rope. Harriet's daughter Alison, 5, in leather boots and wooden skis on Jiminy Peak's rope tow. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Don’t Tell Me To Stay Home

How I Was Reinvented As An Athlete. I learned to ski on a dare. Actually, it was a threat. When my husband announced he was going to learn to ski, I gulped. I thought skiing was something crazy people in the other side of the world did, but not here in Connecticut. “You’re going to do what?” I asked. “How[Read More…]

by March 1, 2021 1 comment Nostalgia
Judy in powder on her new skis and outfit.

Skiing In Norway: 1956-57

Jan and Judy Get New Ski Gear, New Snow Adventures In A Land That Loves Skiing. After breaking her leg on our disastrous first ski date in Michigan, my wife Judy was still a bit stiff  in the left leg when we arrived in Norway in late June 1956 to begin my Fulbright-student year studying Norwegian folklore.  But we had[Read More…]

by February 22, 2021 9 comments Nostalgia, Remember When?
Kruckenhauser was a ski photographer as well as a pioneer of the Austrian technique.  This photo is by him.

A Brief History Of Skiing “Style”

Author’s Note : I owe much of the following to a close personal friend. This is wholly my interpretation of his observations, it does not necessarily reflect or deny his views. In France In the 1940s/50s France and Austria began competing for increasing skiing tourism. The rivalry was both commercial and political. Each wanted a national “product,” supposedly better than their[Read More…]

by February 22, 2021 11 comments Ski History
Karl and June Acker took over from Janet and continued to expand the resort.

Women Played Integral Role at One of Nation’s Oldest Ski Areas

[Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Janet Davis Mead, June Aker, Verlene Belden All Kept Pico Going And Growing, Despite Obstacles and Challenges. Vermont’s Pico Mountain survived a war, two owners’ deaths, and a neighbor called Killington to become one of the 30 oldest continually operating ski areas in the country. It’s a feat[Read More…]

by February 15, 2021 12 comments East, Ski History, Ski Heroes
Model T Snowmobile

Model T Snowmobile

[Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] In 1922, a New Hampshire Ford dealer and inventor offered a kit to convert Model Ts to “Snowmobiles.” The kit sold for $400 at a time when the Model T sold for $300. The conversion included skis in the front and a second set of wheels in back[Read More…]

by February 15, 2021 1 comment Nostalgia