Category Columns

With all this at-home time I’ve been watching more movies, both old and new. One of those was “Downhill Racer” which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season. It actually came out in late 1969, but most of us didn’t… Continue Reading →

So who invented the first release ski binding? A Norwegian immigrant living in Oregon, Hjalmar Hvam, was recovering from a broken leg as the result of a skiing accident. It wasn’t his first! Frustrated, he decided to design a binding… Continue Reading →

If we compare the skiing experience from the RetroSki days to today, one of the big differences is the amount of technology we see on the slopes. Tickets are scanned, runs are tracked, and then there are the ubiquitous cell… Continue Reading →

What are you doing this Saint Patrick’s Day? For 45 years here in Stowe the answer to that question usually was “we’re going to McCarthy’s!” This will be the first Saint Patrick’s Day since McCarthy’s closed last fall so this… Continue Reading →

Stu Campbell was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. We’ll still claim Stu as a Vermonter since the family moved to Bennington when Stu was three years old. He learned to ski at nearby areas such as Bromley, Snow… Continue Reading →

Dave McCoy was born in 1915. After visiting the eastern Sierra region of California as a teenager, he was drawn to the outdoor life of the mountains which included fly fishing and skiing. He built his own first pair of… Continue Reading →

Back in January I showed a home movie of a ski trip I took with a group of friends in 1974. It reminded me of what was happening here in the United States independent of skiing which did affect the… Continue Reading →

A few weeks back, a video made the rounds on social media and was even included in the video edits of the weekly Chairlift Chat put out by Ski Essentials. The title of the video was “Why Ski Resorts Are… Continue Reading →

I love my helmet! No, it hasn’t saved me from any traumatic brain injuries, but it’s the warmest headwear for skiing I’ve ever found. Like many Retro-Skiers I was late making the move to helmets for skiing. However when I… Continue Reading →

You may be surprised to learn that the first American alpine skier to be successful competing against the Europeans was born in Florida! Granted, the fact that his family moved to Garmisch, Germany, when he was thirteen played an important… Continue Reading →