Category Columns

The village of Woodstock, Vermont, is nestled among rolling hills along the Ottauquechee River. In the 1920s as skiing became more popular, those hills drew skiers. There were several reasons for this: Woodstock had become a summer tourist destination so… Continue Reading →

It’s been awhile since I made it to Opening Day on the Mountain, but I was there last Friday! The WROD (White Ribbon of Death) was in pretty good shape and the crowd was not overwhelming. The temperatures were spring-like… Continue Reading →

The new ski season has begun! In the west, early snow has allowed several areas to open early. In the east, the Beast of the East, Killington, has opened and looks like it will be in good shape for the… Continue Reading →

A couple weeks back I wrote a column about Lena Gale Allen. This week I received a nice note from her son, Dana Allen. He included a copy of a letter from Lena that appeared in the Stowe Reporter in… Continue Reading →

How do you know which ski is right for you? While that was a problem back in the Retro-Ski days, there were relatively few ski brands, each with relatively few models. In the 1950s Head was the ski of choice… Continue Reading →

Last season I wrote a column on Stowe hosting the 1952 U.S. National Championships. C. V. Starr arranged to have top International skiers come to the U.S. such as Stein Eriksen to make the event even bigger. The races were… Continue Reading →

She was the overall World Cup winner for women’s moguls four times. She won a total of 21 World Cup mogul events. She is in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of… Continue Reading →

Where were you when you heard that Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race? OK. Maybe it isn’t an historic moment of that order, but as a part-time skiing historian I feel I should make note of it. I’m… Continue Reading →

It’s interesting how something that happens today echoes an occurrence in the past which in turn triggers many memories! I’m sure historians experience this often. This season FIS alpine skiing has offered a couple of examples. Earlier in the season… Continue Reading →

Barry Stone shared a story of his first visit to Val d’Isere that was so good that I asked if I could share it in my column. He gave me permission so here is the story in Barry’s own words:… Continue Reading →