Category Columns

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 →

The first generally available plastic boots were introduced in 1965.  There was the Lange boot, a familiar name today, but there was also a less familiar name: Rosemount! The Rosemount company located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was (and is) a… Continue Reading →

For the past couple of posts I’ve been writing about leather ski boots.  Saturday, January 8th, I was on the Perry Merrill trail when I spied a pair, well actually two pairs, of leather boots!  I chased the couple down and… Continue Reading →

Henke Buckle Leather Ski Boot  “Are you still lacing while others are racing?”  Bob Burley was the first to identify this as the great advertising slogan used for the Henke Speed-Fit boot.  He also included the disparaging nickname racers of… Continue Reading →

It’s 10:30 on a clear mid-December morning with the outside temperature in the teens above zero.  I’m in the base lodge with my ski boots off sitting with my feet propped up as close to the blazing fire place as… Continue Reading →

At about the same time the Belknap chairlift was being built, Harvey Dow Gibson, one of America’s leading financiers, had a vision of making his hometown, North Conway, New Hampshire, into a world-class ski resort.  He had consulted with his… Continue Reading →