In search of the soul of skiing

P

Pajarito-Bred

New member
The latest SKI magazine (Feb. '05) has several great article on finding the soul of skiing (and what exactly, is that?)
Is it skiing at areas (not resorts?) where character counts more than real estate? The articles are Not available online at their website.

Ironic that I get this magazine as a result of buying my 10-day pass at Vail this year, king of real estate, high prices, paid parking, faux tyrolean villas (oh yeah, and great terrain, lots of high-speed lifts)
There's great articles on Mt. Bohemia, MI, Mad River Glen, Snowbird (not too new to have a soul-- especially now that even Alta has a HS Quad) and a story on finding lost, closed, ski areas.
I almost want to take a trip back east to ski MRG (I'd ski it if I could) Jay Peak, and other legends. But at least another Legend, A-basin, is planned for next week.

The soul of skiing for me comes from my childhood, skiing every weekend at small hills in Pennsylvania, trying grip the frozen rope, attempting to fasten my safety straps with my frozen fingers, lacing my boots with my steel lace-puller, and terrifying my mom and her friends by zipping thru the woods with my friends, and staying with 4 other families at the base of the hill in a creaky A-frame with lots of bunk beds and a huge kitchen table.

We moved out west to New Mexico in 1972 for a year, but the skiing was so great at the local hill that year that we never went back. I'm sure I would not have the same appreciation for the soul of skiing if my parents had not made a routine of taking us skiing every winter weekend day, at a place where we knew most everyone, knew every part the ski hill intimately, and most years, never skied anywhere else. (somehow the parents always seemed to find time to escape North to Colorado without us kids in tow)

Part of the soul of skiing comes from having a fantastic day on the hill with your friends even when (or partly because) the weather or snow conditons were miserable.

Did the soul of skiing vanish with the advent of halfpipes, rails, snowboards, High-speed quads, indoor plumbing, ski brakes, Gore-Tex, shaped skis, Camelbaks, buckle boots, the brutal mowing of poor, innocent moguls, warm dry microfleece, and paved parking? Only partly. It's also been re-invented.
No, I'm not going back to my straight skis-- although I do miss my Olin Mark IV's sometimes on dark, cold, winter nights.

Skiing the Plunge at Telluride lost a lot of Soul after the "new" front side lift was installed in the late 80's. Yeah, it was a pain to have to ride 4 slow lifts to the top to get to the Spiral Stairs, but the snow quality was always great, and the experience of dropping 3000 vertical feet into town on that isolated run with a few friends can not be repeated. Even worse is the bulldozer-induced destruction of Silver Glade and other expert terrain off the old chair six in the name of grooming for the intermediate masses. I haven't been back to T-ride in several years, even though it's day-trip distance away, because other areas I nearby don't hold the broken memories of times and places lost.

For me the Soul of skiing does not exist in artificial halfpipes, sliding on steel rails, or terrain parks-- but I know that would be a part of me if I could be there as a teenager. I am learning to appreciate finely groomed cordorouy, and I find it difficult to complain about 8-minute lift rides that take me up 2000+ vertical feet. I don't miss the long lift lines that were such a pain, waiting for the bullwheel to lazily spin the next chair around.

It's time to get out the wax and iron! See ya up on the hill!
 
P-B, my (ski) hat's off to you for an exquisite post. I've waxed wistfully on point many times over the years, so I'll eagerly await the replies of others.
 
Great post! I too remember the days of cable bindings, double lace up leather boots, and skis that were 3 feet longer than I was. I also remember skiing in blue jeans and the fashion faux pas of the mid 70's when everything seemed to be red, white, and blue or the neon madness of the late 80's early 90's.

I remember Scott and Rosemont boots; I remember freezing on the old Stowe single chair wearing 2 poncho blankets in -50 degree days without wind chill. I remember the group family ski vacations in the A-frame with bunk beds and the big kitchen where everyone gathered to hang out. I remember skiing with Mom and Dad, and I remember the joy of the day when I realized they couldn't keep up with me anymore.

I'll never forget family ski vacations to Arosa, St. Moritz, Zermatt, Davos, and many other places in the Swiss alps. I still look in amazement when someone asks me what it's like to ride a T-bar. I've skiied in weather that animals with fur coats would go into a cave to hide from.

Most of all, I love that everyday I ski I remember bits and pieces of my ski past and I realize how much I love this sport and all it represents.
 
i agree with marc, that was a tremendously well put sentiment regarding the soul of skiing. it's hard to add more to your statement, i think you really captured so much in so few lines.
 
My perspective is rather different. I never skied as a kid. I blew out my ACL my second day as a beginner at Baldy. I went there because it was the closest place, not figuring out that it was a poor choice for beginners. Baldy is clearly in the MRG/A-Basin mold, but it's sure a lot more enjoyable with the modern midfat or fat skis given its variable and constantly changing snow conditions.

With regard to Telluride, in its original form it had to be one of the world's most awkward layouts. The groomed trail was cut down skier's left of chair 6 to provide access to Prospect Bowl. Now you can stay on the upper mountain, alternating chairs 9, 6 and 12. Definitely an improvement IMHO. Judgment does have to be exercised in the upgrades. Chair 9 is still a slow speed double, and in the interest of snow conditions (that fragile SW snowpack discussed in another thread) it should probably stay that way.

With regard to Vail, it came into being because Pete Siebert observed the great potential in terms of terrain and snow (like Dave McCoy at Mammoth) and made his mountain vision a reality. If we don't like the haphazard way the real estate got developed later (also true at Mammoth), I prefer to ignore that and appreciate the great skiing. Skiing which is much better IMHO that in "authentic" towns like Aspen and Telluride where the ski areas were put in because the town was there first.

Most of the changes I have seen since 1976 have been positive. I don't miss Mammoth's 45-minute lift lines in the late 1970's. Snowcat skiing didn't exist in 1976. And I've already mentioned the equipment. My recent ski seasons are a lot more interesting than in the 1980's. I know because I have notes from every one of my 700+ ski days.

My only caveat is that we need to preserve the diversity of ski experiences and not homogenize everything. The demise of Mt. Waterman is the most serious "red flag" I've seen in this regard, although I realize that the closing of small areas might be a bigger problem in other regions.
 
Posts like this thread are why I love to read this forum. I however grew up in a different era. I'm only 27 but have skied since I was 5 so some of it still holds true. I remember the abomination that were rear entry boots. I remember thinking I was cool running bumps with my boots touching on a set of 203 Salomon 9S's that were as straight as an arrow.
I learned to ski in the east at small mountains like Peek n' Peak and Holiday Valley, the former of which really has no need for high speed as there is only 375 vertical feet to begin with. Even with their meager 750 ft Holiday Valley put a high speed quad up Mardi Gras and eliminated the only 17 minute lift ride I knew of around here. I remember skiing there with my buddy Knotty and waiting in line specifically to try to ride the long lift with a couple of girls, just because we knew we would have a captive audience. I grew up more over on Cross Counttry Skiing. My family own what we are pretty sure is the oldest cross country lodge in PA/Ohio/New York/West Virginia. Spending all winter every year at Wilderness Lodge leaves me with a ton of great memories like people walking in the door and asking what color the day was, referring to wax temp. I remember grooming trail with an ancient Bombardier snowmobile that had 2 tracks and 1 front ski. Needless to say stearing was an issue. I find it amazing how both sides of the skiing house have evolved over my lifetime. I do not think that terrain parks, pipes, and rails are taking away from the soul of skiing. Quite the contrary in fact. I feel that they bring it a new dimension and more depth. The trees and powder catches are still out there to be found. Those lone mornings in the bumps still happen. They just may be a bit more rare and harder to find, but perhaps that is part of the charm in them.

There is one part of old cross country skiing however that I will NEVER miss...

Klister

enough said.
 
Wow,
I'd forgotton about that book, which I read a few years ago, and then somehow forgot about. It's
Deep Powder Snow: Forty years of Ecstatic Skiing, Avalanches, and Earth Wisdom, by Dolores LaChappelle.
She is getting way up there in years, but if she's still out there skiing, it's in Silverton (where she lives, I think)
How my copy was lost from me is a long story, unimportant now that I can go buy it again!
The title says it all - I was going to try to describe my memory of the contents, but I'd better not.
There are a couple of good reviews on the Amazon site.
mmmmmmmmmmm
deep powder snow!
 
Pajarito-Bred":22pgfedn said:
Wow,
I'd forgotton about that book, which I read a few years ago, and then somehow forgot about. It's
Deep Powder Snow: Forty years of Ecstatic Skiing, Avalanches, and Earth Wisdom, by Dolores LaChappelle.
Click to expand...

Funny, I was just watching my copy of Greatest Snow on Earth: The History of Skiing in Utah this week -- hadn't watched it in years -- and she's interviewed extensively on the video.
 
I also have very distinct memories of the various incarnations of skiing. I do believe nostalgia is a wonderful thing as it tends to erase all those bad ski day memories, and only leave the good warm fuzzy ones, and some of those bad ones actually morph into good days somehow! I remember spending an entire day looking to buy one of those long ridiculous clownlike ski hats in the early nineties. Remember those?

Here are a few of my ski memories that keep the soul alive for me(and yes this is a great thread):

I grew up in Virginia. Not well known for its skiing, and the only reason that I was ever introduced to the sport is because my stepfather (I was age 9) was from Boulder, CO, and had decided that under no circumstance was he going to miss out on his favorite sport, and despite the fact that he had his own Brady bunch to contend with, he dragged us all for our very first day on the mountain (the youngest of us barely 5). My mother would have nothing to do with this. This mountain was Wintergreen, which is unbelievably tiny, and one can probably ski every slope within an hour. Even with the slow lifts. Well, my stepfather gets us all suited up, ski poles in hand and plops us on the top of a black diamond slope, and says "see ya at the bottom" and proceeds to ski away, and I'm not sure we saw him again for the rest of the day! This was a place (in the early 80s) where you could drop off your youngsters and pick them back up at 4, none the worse. We were wearing jeans (mine were soon coated with a crust of snow), and some of the ugliest ex-70s brown, orange and off-brown colored ski jackets. I got lost in the woods, which I will still say is the reason I'm wary of tree skiing, and managed to fall off the lift while getting off at least twice. The entire event was traumatic. Yet, I was the eldest and had a long running competition in everything with my 3 younger brothers. So of course, I would die first before quitting.

And that somehow started the love affair. Our family went on many trips out to Colorado (my stepfather was thoroughly disgusted by the slim pickings in VA) and I have sheepish memories of losing control as a teenager and running smack into my family who was waiting slopeside for me. I think my aunt still holds a grudge. I ran straight over her, proving, for those of you who think recklessness is confined to male snowboarders, that dangerous behavior can happen on ski's too, with rear entry boots, straight skis, a slow lift, and tons of powder. Somehow, on that same ski trip, I ended up lost again in the trees, with 8 foot drifts.

Today I mostly snowboard, I am safely conscious, and I complain about bad snowfall and overcrowding in Vermont, same as everyone else. Yet, really, I'm pretty sure the memories I make this ski season will sift through and become bright warm and fuzzy in the years to come. Oh, and yes, I still avoid tree skiing, whereever possible!
 
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