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…]
A Ski Patrolman Rises To The Challenge. Before I ever had a ski lesson, I had become a ski patrol director, certified (the highest level) by both the National Ski Patrol and the Professional Ski Patrol Association. One morning while working at a small ski area (240 feet of vertical), I was called into the base lodge by the woman[Read More…]
[Editor Note: SeniorsSkiing.com is asking our readers to contribute to support our online magazine. Yes, we have grown in the number of subscribers and advertisers. But our expenses have also grown. You can help us defray some of these expenses by helping us out with a donation.] Support SeniorsSkiing.com by clicking here. ______________________________________________________ Esquire Magazine Published “The Snows Of Kilimanjaro” 84[Read More…]
Who owns a hat for 50 years? Well, if it’s a Moriarty hat, perhaps you understand why. Getting ready to shovel the driveway one cold morning last winter, I reached to the top shelf of the hall closet for a hat. My fingers felt the double-thick headband of my old Moriarty hat tucked up out of sight. I pulled it[Read More…]
There’s a lot of skiing literature from the past, some of which still has relevance. If you have a favorite that you’d like to share with other SeniorsSkiing.com readers, please write an appreciation and send it in. Our goal is a maximum of 500 words. Thank you, Susan Zangrilli, for this nice account of We Learned to Ski. Although equipment[Read More…]
Grabbing That Twirling Rope Was Not Easy. It was the early 1960s, I was in first or second grade and learning to ski at Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut. At the time Mohawk had just installed the first chairlift in Connecticut but most of the experiences I remember where on their numerous rope tows. The first thing newbies had to master[Read More…]
SKI Magazine Ski Testers Meet The Sundance Kid. Back in the early ‘70s, SKI Magazine (remember it?) developed a program called SKIpp that stood for “ski performance prediction” developed by the late John Perryman. He was a talented engineer who spent years in aerospace and worked with Howard Head at Head Ski Company. SKIpp had two parts, the laboratory analysis[Read More…]
An Undergraduate’s Parody Ski Song Led To An Academic Achievement. As an undergraduate at Michigan State University in the early 1950s I joined the ski club, and I learned, among other things (like how to kick turn), a bunch of ski songs. We sang them driving up to Caberfae resort near Cadillac and apres ski in a local[Read More…]
Our Next Mystery Photo Is Someone Who Became A Ski Celebrity. If you think you know who you think this guy is, write your guess in COMMENTS below, just scoll down. We’ll reveal the answer next week. Credit: SKIING Magazine Last Week’s Mystery Glimpse This is Olympian Picabo Street as a young racer. Thanks to the Alf Engen Ski Museum[Read More…]
Ski Suits Don’t Age, Just Their Owners. In 1974 while living in Vienna, Virginia, I had a midlife crisis. On December 27, I turned 40 with the thought that I had reached middle-age and would have to limit my skiing. In the past, while living in California, the family had gone skiing on my birthday. Now in Virginia, my nine-year-old[Read More…]
A Long Forgotten Incident Comes Rushing Back. In the late 70s, I was working at a ski resort and poor as could be. When the Head Maintenance Engineer asked around for someone to pick up a part for one of the chairlifts, I quickly volunteered. He probably figured I knew what I was volunteering for and wouldn’t have done so[Read More…]
Our Readers Search Their Attics For Old Ski Songs. Hear Them Now. Wow, what a response! Thanks everyone for comments and emails on our reprised article, Skiing Songs of The Sixties. We not only heard about ski song memories, we had some folks sending us (digital) recordings. We have to tip a pole to Boyd Allen, Exeter, NH, for taking[Read More…]
[Editor Note: Here’s an archive article that will bring back some memories. Back in the Sixties, there was a host of songs devoted to the relatively new and growing sport of skiing. This article from SeniorsSkiing.com August, 2014 highlights some of the songs and the singers.] Well, they called him Super Skier As he sat around the sun deck, For[Read More…]
Memories Live On Even If The Area Closes. Nothing can replace this family-based ski area in southern Massachusetts. But Blandford is now on the brink of being closed or sold. It has offered what mega resorts cannot offer. If kids got tired of skiing, they’d go off trail with their friends and build snow caves and ski jumps. When my[Read More…]
Back Road Scenery And Ski Slope Puddles Formed Indelible Pictures. I loved the scenic springtime drive to the slopes. Steam rose from little sugar shacks as the golden syrup was simmering inside. Horses stood motionless in frozen pastures and breathed clouds of fog into the frosty morning air. Christmas tree farms had fallen silent. Lichen-covered stone walls divided the winter-flattened[Read More…]
Ski buses, single-seat lifts, bear trap bindings, racing wipe-outs, skinny trails. From SkiPresse/Cycle Presse. Nostalgia.
After 7o Years Of Chronicling The Sport, The Venerable Publication Closes. The rumors are true. SKIING Magazine, like so many other classic magazines, has finally closed down after nearly 70 years of publishing. This is especially sad for me because I worked for SKIING in the early 1970s as a junior editor. It was there I found myself catapulted into[Read More…]
If You’ve Been Around The Ski Biz, You Will See Some Familiar Faces. Thanks to Cathie Judge for sending us this video commemorating the famous Harry Leonard Ski Shows, starting in the late 60s with lots of clips of several giants of the ski industry back in the day. Ski and Snow Board Show impresario and SeniorsSkiing.com advisory board member[Read More…]
This Throw-Back Cartoon Reveals The Stereotypes Of Skiing In The 70s. Credit: Walt Disney Productions (Of Course!)
Haunting Song Evokes Winter Night Snow Fall. Everybody knows Pete Seeger and his folk songs from archival ballads to anthems of struggle, the peace and labor movement, and the rest. What is not widely known is that Pete was a lyrical poet, and some of his lesser known works are rich with images and emotion. One of those is “Snow,[Read More…]
Check Out The Change In Equipment, Styles, Spectators Through The Years. Many thanks to the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance for posting this really interesting clip. The CSIA got it from Skitourowe Zakopane.pl., a Polish ski travel group enticing visits to the Tatra Mountains, the highest mountains in Poland and part of the Carpathian chain in Eastern Europe. In any case, it’s[Read More…]
Fifty Years Ago, Portillo Changed Everyone’s Idea About Skiing Below The Equator. At the time, it was a wild idea. Hold the FIS World Championships in Chile, at Portillo, at 3,300 meters, in the Northern hemisphere’s summer. Somehow, resort owner Henry Purcell convinced the FIS to award the 1966 event to the nascent resort. Despite a 1965 hurricane that destroyed[Read More…]
Clever Video Shows The Evolution of Dressing For The Snow. Thanks to the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame for producing this trip through ski history. Click below for a six-minute video clip. Perhaps you might remember wearing some of these outfits?
Kinda Catchy. Anyone know where this was filmed and when?
Long-Time Ski Patroller Remembers How Lift Blankets Made Mischief. Remember the good old days when we did not have high tech fabrics, boot heaters, hand warmers, and lots of layers to keep us warm as we rode up the single chair lift in our wooden skis with screwed on steel edges and Dovre safety bindings. The lift could be a very[Read More…]
