It started off like any Wednesday morning. I have my son overnight on Tuesday nights and bring him to school on Wednesdays at 8:00 a.m. Then I go skiing. We got a late start on Wednesday morning, so I just left my ski stuff at home with plans to return & pick it up, then…
Myths and Half-Truths Cloud the Public Perception About Snowboarding, Safety and Fatalities on the Slopes Are the following statements true or false? Snowboarders are more likely to become injured and to cause injuries than skiers. If Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy had been wearing helmets, they would be alive today. Deaths on the slopes have…
Snow. When you really think about it, it’s the one essential component to our sport. Lifts? You can hike. Mountains? There’s always Nordic skiing. Skis? It wasn’t that long ago that they were fashioned out of barrel staves. It also wasn’t that long ago that skiing was less than reliable. n The actual origins of…
January 16, 1997. It was a beautiful day at Smugglers Notch. There was a clear blue, sunny sky and the temperature was about 20 degrees. I had shed several layers, finally finding comfort in long underwear, windpants, hat, goggles, gloves and a windbreaker. In the previous week, it had dumped powder galore. In the woods,…
We’re talking here about downhill skiing. (And whatever we say for skiers is equally true about taking pictures of those snowboarders who are crowding them off the slopes these days.) Before you take a picture of a skier on the slopes, you should consider the answers to three questions: How should I handle the camera…
‘Tis the season, the folks at the New York Institute of Photography are getting lots of letters from NYI students and other Web visitors about taking photos in cold weather. They’ve been kind enough to contribute this piece and another which discusses how to take great ski photographs, and that means going out in the…
When most people think of skiing today they think of high-speed quads, gondolas, multi million dollar lodges, computerized snowmaking systems and fifty dollar lift tickets. In terms of location, most people recognize either Vermont or Colorado as skiing meccas, home to conglomerate or corporate owned resorts. A vast difference from the day of the ropetow,…
There is a strange code of honor with ski bums. Some things that are considered “cool” to the die-hard skier are a mothers worst nightmare. There are guys who live in caves and old mines in the mountains above Telluride, all they own is their ski equipment and season pass. A good friend of mine…
The war is over, though as in most wars* there are still some snipers lurking in the woods and housing developments. So who won? Everybody. Instead of two dueling sports, arguing and posturing for domination — the industry is starting to see a real synergy between the two. Even though snowboarders still only accounted for…
