Category Columns

Alta, Utah, began as a silver mining town in 1865.  At its peak in the late 1800’s it had an estimated population of 8000 and about 180 buildings – 26 of which were bars.  Apparently the Utah liquor laws were… Continue Reading →

Last week, I wrote about how stretch pants helped increase skiing’s popularity during the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Indeed in-the-boot stretch pants were an integral part of the skiing “uniform” worn during that era. The upper body portion of the uniform… Continue Reading →

Following World War II there were less than 50,000 skiers in the United States.  By the end of the 1960’s there were more than 4 million U.S. skiers!  There were many factors that influenced that growth: better skis, safer bindings,… Continue Reading →

The Cubco was the creation of Mitch Cubberley, a mechanical engineer from New Jersey.  He started working on ski bindings in the early 1950’s and used his engineering know-how to address many binding-related issues.  His binding was a step-in; the… Continue Reading →

(Following was contributed by Ed Pearson via e-mail.) “All three of our children learned to ski at ages 2 &3 at a small mountain in upstate NY on the same pair of skis passed down from the oldest to the… Continue Reading →

So when was the Look Nevada toepiece created? It surprised me to find out that it was 1950!  The Look Nevada designed by Jean Beyl in Nevers, France, was way ahead of its time. To give some perspective, the first… Continue Reading →

The first successful all-fiberglass ski was the Toni Sailer ski in 1959.  Art Molnar and Fred Langendorf invented and built the ski in nearby Montreal.  There had been other attempts to build all fiberglass (plastic) skis starting as early as… Continue Reading →

Howard Head returned to Baltimore, Maryland, after his 1947 ski vacation in Stowe motivated to design and make a better ski.  He was an aeronautical engineer and knew that metal had replaced wood in airplanes because of its superior strength-to-weight… Continue Reading →

The word “ski” is derived from the old Norse word skíð which means stick of wood.  And for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, skis were just that: sticks of wood. The Norwegians not only get credit for the word, but… Continue Reading →

1968 Raichle Red Boot ad in SKIING Magazine The Raichle Fiber Jet (aka Red Hot) was the first boot to break the color barrier.  Introduced in 1968 the bright red Raichle Fiber Jet was a conversation starter in lift lines… Continue Reading →