Hexcel Skis and Graves Skis

Darn, I missed the Hexcel question in last weeks paper .I would have answered it .I raced on the Womens Pro Tour for 2-3 years on Hexcel skis and won races. I loved my Hexcels and never broke one. They were light, quick responsive and held well. They were hard to mount. I have a pair in the attic and am looking for a pair of Salomon 727 toe pieces to get them back in working order . I enjoy your articles!!

I bought a pair of Graves in the mid 70’s while on Ski Patrol in Central NY. They were touted as an “Eastern Ski” with very strong edges for the ice and hard pack. I signed up for a trip to Salt Lake City to ski Snowbird, Park City, Park City West and Alta. Everyone around me told me not to take the Graves as they would be too this and too that. Well, having little money to spare, I did take them and they were great in the powder with the very wide shovel. But what was a real surprise, was that Snow Bird Rentals only carried Graves skis – hundreds of them because of their durability and performance in the powder. I left with a higher respect for them and had a bunch of buddies on the trip singing a new song about Graves. Sorry to see them go out of business!

John Breen I each owned Graves skis while on Dutch Hill Ski Patrol in Vermont in the early 70’s. I cracked them and they were replaced. I recall that they also had a somewhat of a self-healing topskin. Heavy as all get out but on young legs I could make them sing down the Windmill and Christiana, likely still among the steepest trails in Vermont. ON big snowstorm nights (before illuminated night skiing), I skied in the headlights of the groomer that my dad piloted. I may still have an I DIG GRAVES sticker or two in a box somewhere – the stickers were generic looking – as if they were stamped rather tha printed !

I have a pair of Hexcel Silver 180s with Geze70 bindings that need a good home. They are in excellent shape – bought them in 1989, loved skiing them for 5 years, have been in their bag in a back bedroom since 1994. Any idea what they might be worth? You can contact me at 602-909-5156 or dawnsinclair@cox.net

I had a pair of the original Comps in 195 length for a few seasons in the late ’70’s. Mounted Tyrolia 350 bindings on them myself. Even with those heavy bindings, they were light and quick, and had a good grip on hardpack and ice. In powder though, they were narrow-waisted and stiff, and sunk to the bottom and stayed there with my limited powder technique. And with the light weight, they did not feel so stable at higher speeds. I made one trip with them to Aspen over Christmas, 1977 or 1978. On Christmas day I stopped at Gretel’s restaurant for lunch, and noticed a pay phone on the wall of the dining room. While at the phone calling my parents to wish them Merry Christmas, I noticed a luscious redhead at a table looking at me more than once. I’m pretty sure it was Jill St. John, the actress. She was a few years older than me, and I didn’t know she was single at the time. I watched her leave and get into a pair of Hexcels like mine, only shorter. Hexcels seemed to be the in ski with her group at the time. If I only knew then what I know now.

I am still skiing on my 35 year old hexcel skis. I refuse to give them up. I sure do get a lot of looks on the mountain. My response, would you like to try them? So far no takers. They seem to be afraid of them.

I enjoyed my green comps. they were fast and light,then I switched to the
gray-silver split tails,and did I ever get a responce of “do they work”.
I also own a pair of GOLD GRAFITE 203 gs I ski Killington in vermont.

Have a story for you guys (and some skis for somebody):

In about 1985, I was building a plant in Arizona for Hexcel / B-2 Program. Hub Zemke still had a press and was building a few skis still for Hexcel’s chosen customers. This was play employment for Hub and very low volume.

I needed his press and took it from him at an agreed time. During the transition, he built 2 sets of 185 Sundance skis for me. They are still new. They are in my sump pump room in Wichita, KS. I just put an ad on Armslist (Other, misc items) to sell these as part of my downstairs clean-up. I did just forward this information to someone on this site also who left an email.

I raced on a borrowed pair of Hexcel xc racing skis at the 1974 Jr. Nationals at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Another racer, Mark Wagner, also raced on Hexcels. We were the only two skiers racing on non-wood skis that year.

I have a pair of rare Hexcel Blue Ice Skis. Anyone interested in buying them?

I loved my Comps in 195cm I got in 1976. I also used work as a ski tech @ Oshmans in the late 70’s, and had to build the curing rack for these skis. The factory kit included the epoxy and the instructions in the article was spot on. Loved those skis and how light, and quick edge to edge they were.

I
have Hexcel Primer Cord 190 with Tyrolia 490 bindings. Very little use (3-5 times). Purchased in early 80’s. Interested in selling.

Wasn’t there Hexcel Skunk Works with a v-tail in the early eighties? I skied Hexcel Sundance, Burt retractable bindings and Scott boots. That was about fifty pounds ago.

I bought 100 shares of common stock of the Graves Corporation on Jul 22, 1971. Can’t remember what I paid for them, but I did get a free pair of skis! Used them when a season pass holder at Mad River Glen. Wow, great on ice and came back with a terrific bounce! Really liked them, sold with other eqt. 20 years later.
Now I’m willing to part with my stock certificate. Anybody keen on framing a piece of sports/financial history can have it for $20, and, by the way, it’s certificate number 3. Only 2 certificates ahead of mine!

First to reply owns it.

I had a pair of Graves. They made a special pair for NSPS. Thye were blue with NSPS lettering on the tails, Stiff and stable. I loved them!

anyone ever heard of Century 3.5 honeycomb skis?

I raced Farwest 1969-1974 . from 1970 on I raced on prototype Hexcel comps. My Father was at the time director of Quality Control for Hexcel Corp. , a downhiller from Pacific Northwest, 1935 onward, Mt. Rainier Sliver skis Race was held form camp Muir to Paradise Lodge, 4.600 ft. drop. They shortened it for 1936 Olympic Trials held there to 4,000 feet. He won his class one year. you had to hike to start, no lifts! I broke a pair of prototypes at Squaw Valley during a race (Pepsi Prix) A to D race, 175 racers plus. My teammate who ran before me loan me her Rossignol’s Strato 102’s, same length 200’s same binding Marker rotormat w/ longthongs, We had the same Boots Lange Comps. The ski performed exactly like the Hexcel competition, a little damper and heaver. My Father told me in later years, the Hexcel competition is design wise a Rossignol Strato 102 , which is industry to industry norm. You pay for it. But the industrial engineering of the ski is what makes it different. Hub Zemke the designer of the ski and my father were both Industrial/structural Engineers for Hexcel. good old days!

I skied on Hexcel’s for about three years and never had a pair of skis last through the season. They broke or had core compressions and I went through about four pair a year. They had excellent warranty as they kept replacing the skis.

The last pair owned, I wish I kept as they were the Hexcel Ice skis and they had double edges on each ski.

Loved them when they worked!

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Thanks, Uwe Gamez

I have a pair of Hexcel 532 – HS if anyone is interested. Sofine_@hotmail.com

I skied a pair of my buddies Hexcel Comps and had to get a pair. Got myself some 200s w/ Solomon 555s. Loved them, high energy, light, turned like magic from bumps and shoots to groomers. Years later I traded them to that same buddy for a pair of 203 Dynastar Omeglass II Equipe’s , Marker M 40 Racing bindings and a pair of orange Lange XLR boots . More recently acquired a pair of 195 Hexcel Primer Cords which I am finally mounting up with my trusty old 555E bindings. Can’t wait to try them out on a steep cruiser

I skied for Masconomet High School in 1976 & 1977, and Joe Hurka — the founder of Graves skis — was our coach, largely because his son Joe — also a student at Masco — was a superb slalom skier and needed coaching at the pre-Olympic level he was skiing at. The unconfirmed rumor was that Joe Sr. was an Olympic medalist for three different countries, and had coached Jean Claude Killy and Spider Sabich. In addition to Graves skis, he also founded Humanic boots, and helped launch K2, and helped the Hanson brothers with their boot design. All this backstory sounds far-fetched, until you see the display on Joe Sr. at Cannon mountain’s skiing museum. He was quite a guy. He told me one time that his coach — in an effort to teach Joe and his teammates to ski with their knees together — asked his skiers to bring a $100 bill to practice and put it between their legs and ski to the bottom without stopping. I’ve always loved that story, and when I think of it I can hear Joe’s thick Czech accent.

During the late 70’s I skied on Hexcel Spectralites. I still think they were the best skis I’ve been on. Turned on a time and great in the bumps. Maybe it had something to do with me being 18. They did break down over the years and had to move on.

During the late 1960’s thru the seventies I skied every winter day in Vermont. In the very early ‘70s I was getting my Kneisls monogrammed with my name at the Mount Snow Ski shop and I noticed a few peculiar skis leaning on the wall. The peculiarlarity was that they had a raised double boot binding mounted on a single ski. They were the prototypes of Graves mono ski.
I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one….the manager of the shop knew me and gave me one to use, and somehow it became mine!
I skied like I was possessed (once I stopped falling !!) on this mono ski and was followed down the slopes and hooted to from the chairlifts. Even the ski instructors asked for lessons. It was the smoothest and most enjoyable skiing experience ever. I skied on it for a couple years and it was magical.
And, I STILL HAVE THE SKI ! As well as the Rosemont boots I had fitted for the raised binding……..Will I ever ski on it again?? I can only hope to feel that glorious smooth run once more….