Skiing today v. back in the day

[highpeaksdrifter]

Do you think the skiing scene is better today or when you started?

When I was a kid there where long lift lines, limited snowmaking and of course the equipment was inferior compared to today. I started with leather lace boots.

Even though we like to look back nostalgically I have to say it’s now hands down.

 

[lloyd braun]

the scene is much better. In fact we should all be happy to be skiing today. The technology has stepped up and with that the global warming issues are real. So the weather is getting warmer and we are skiing the best equiptment made to date. Guess we are lucky.

the equiptment will get better but not at the rate the earth gets warmer. So with technology catching up right now and conditions deteriorating as we speak we (the now skiers) are reaping the most benefit that the earth will ever see in the sense of skiing.

 

[mattchuck2]

My only gripe about skiing today (as opposed to when I started) is too much grooming.

 

[riverc0il]

today, hands down without question. my biggest beef with skiing today is trail design, or lack thereof. trails are getting wider and straighter and flatter (not just grooming, but i mean litterally the trails are having the rolls taken out and flattened). but there are still plenty of places to find trails the way they used to be... it is just getting harder and harder to do so.

 

[AdironRider]

Today, but Ive havent really even been on this earth long enough to comment on the good ol days.

 

[AHM]

It was back in the day........................

Why you say: with all the Technology improvements in both soft goods and hard goods, high speed lifts, and snow making, just how could it be better "back in the day" vs now.

Back in the day (mid 60s to 70s) the sport was very simple, whether you skied Boyne Mt Michigan, Mt Holly, or Vail. The sport was not pretencious(sp), people didn't really care about what gear they had (jeans were oh so common on about everyone), there were no specialized cars to get us to the hill and it was so family oriented. The sport was not expensive and brown bagging was the norm. Parking was what was in the lot, there were no jittany's to haul people from their car to the lift--people walked and no one complained..............Stowe and MRG gave out blankets for the lift ride. Most people at the area and skiing were extremely friendly. Stashes were shared.

Today it is so gear oriented and the price of lift tickets are keeping people from enjoying the sport. Hand me down gear or used gear appears to be a no no. People buy the latest top end soft goods (goretex, etc) but then do not want to ski when the weather is nasty (rainy, windy, cold) even though they have on a 900.00 goretex outerwear (rough price of an Arcteryx minuteman shell and some Top end goretex pants). Kids are dressed in the latest gear, but want to play video games in the lodge. Back in the day, kids skied, people took lessons, and learned the proper etiquette(sp).

Does that mean I enjoy it less, absolutely not. The sport for me is a life style and I love every minute of it. Nonetheless, when I think about my childhood years (they tore down every jump we built--and today they put up 30 ft booters in the park for us), look at the photos in the base lodge of the 'loaf (the old cars, knowing Amos winter and crew hand cut Winter's way), I see how much of the innosence and simplicity have gone out of the sport. For that reason, I have started to ski tour a lot more...............and sitting in a hut at the end of the day, with gear drying around the wood stove and the heat of the ski house is dependant on stoking the fire, hauling water from the spring, and the cold floor in the morning sure brings back the simpleness of skiing back in the day.

But ya know, all that high tech gear makes the 9 ft avi crown in this picture, a whole lot easier to deal with...............

 

[snowkiter]

Yes, back in the day, I used to ski, but now I can ski and kite. Check out my Profile Photo.

 

[riverc0il]

AHM brings up a subject that is dear to my heart, and that is touring. earning turns really brings you back to where down hill skiing all began. doing it like it was done back in the day... except we have better gear and can go out on harsher days. most of the runs in tucks had first descents by people with 200+cm wood skis. gear and tech have certainly made the sport and the challenge more accessable to more people. but part of earning turns is getting back to the routes of the sport.

when looking back, we tend to have a certain romanticism with the past and it is easy to forget certain things. skiing was certainly never a poor man's sport. when skiing first started, it certainly was not the poor folks that were able to import gear from europe and arrange transportation and lodging and take a week or two off (things we take for granted and do on a whim now). we think nothing of that now, but that was a major hurdle seventy years ago to poor folks and there really wasn't a middle class when downhill skiing first came about. and i don't know if it it that much more pretencious now. bush used to be called mascara mountain. as a society in general, i think people are more "gear conscious" now in all aspects of life... the brand became a huge thing that developed throughout the nineteen hundreds, but has really come into its own and taken a life of its own and more recent times. i was born in 1978, so i can't speak for that far back, but i don't see skiing as being that much different now than it was in the 80s. it is still a family activity for many people, it is still expensive, you still need specialized gear to ski, and you still see people skiing in jeans (though that is a good change towards not as many, people enjoy the sport and come back to the sport if they are comfortable on the slopes. it isn't about being pretencious, it is about having the right gear to enjoy the activity). i don't buy that much has changed except the gear and the mountains themselves.

 

[Ski Diva]

today, hands down without question. my biggest beef with skiing today is trail design, or lack thereof. trails are getting wider and straighter and flatter (not just grooming, but i mean litterally the trails are having the rolls taken out and flattened). but there are still plenty of places to find trails the way they used to be... it is just getting harder and harder to do so.

I agree with this completely. It's harder and harder to find "classic" New England trails -- the long, twisty ones with all kinds of surprises around each bend (by the way, I started skiing in the late 60's)

However, I have to admit that I love high speed lifts. Sure, they get more people to the top of the mountain -- and that presents all kinds of problems. But I have to say I'm not sorry to lose that excrutiatingly slow, cold ride to the top.

 

[ChileMass]

Overall better now IMO -

Ski technology and lifts are so much better now than in the 60s/70s. Boots, skis, bindings - so many more options, so much improved. Six-pack lifts provide terrific uphill capacity, shorter lines. I remember waiting 40 minutes at West (1000' vert) back in the day for a 10-minute ride in the old double chair for a 5-minute trip back down the hill.

AHM brings up a good point - skiing was a LOT cheaper back then. My family all skied (Dad, 7 kids), we had a season pass either in Maine or the old NY state pass (Gore, WF, Bellayre), and hand-me-downs happened every year. Contrast what it costs a typical family of 4 these days. That's one good thing long gone.

 

[snowkiter]

Overall better now IMO -

Ski technology and lifts are so much better now than in the 60s/70s. Boots, skis, bindings - so many more options, so much improved. Six-pack lifts provide terrific uphill capacity, shorter lines. I remember waiting 40 minutes at West (1000' vert) back in the day for a 10-minute ride in the old double chair for a 5-minute trip back down the hill.

AHM brings up a good point - skiing was a LOT cheaper back then. My family all skied (Dad, 7 kids), we had a season pass either in Maine or the old NY state pass (Gore, WF, Bellayre), and hand-me-downs happened every year. Contrast what it costs a typical family of 4 these days. That's one good thing long gone.

Actually, I think too much has been made of the improvements to ski equipment. Back around 1980, I took my dad's old wooden skiis from the late 40's, shaved the platform down and put on a Salomon step-in. Until I blew a screw-in edge, I could ski them and have as much fun as I do today with the shaped. I also mounted a pair of 210 tele skiis with cable bindings and skied them in the 90's. All new equipment has done would be make it easier for fat and out-of-shape people to ski.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Good Ole' Days?

There is no doubt that all the gear is better, the lifts are better (long freezing lift lines and slow lifts were not fun), the snow-making equipment is better, and for those who want or need it, the grooming is better. But, I do miss those times with my kids. Long drives, games in the car, laughing and playing on the trails, the joy of seeing each of them progress and and even surpass me in skill, and even really fun evenings in all sorts of restaurants, motels and lodges, laughing and kidding each other until Dad had to "order" everyone to "get to sleep!" Yes, the "good old days" were about the times we shared then, and now enjoy together as memories. But, I find that when I can get one or more of my kids to share a day or two with me on the slopes, we are even now making NEW "good old days" that I will always have to enjoy even when time stops me from actually tearing up the slopes. Keep in mind: "Any day on the slopes is better than any day at work, especially when you do it with a friend, or someone you love."

 

[koreshot]

For anyone still interested in skiing like its 20 years ago, take a relatively inexpensive trip out to the eastern block countries where dozens of forgotten ski resorts that are dirt cheap, rustic, and old school are still going strong (or at least around).

Two years ago I skied at a resort in the Caucasus range where they didn't even turn the lifts on, because with so few customers they couldn't justify the cost of electricity. We hired a groomer, for a whopping $60, to drive us up and down the 3,300 vertical feet and my cousins and I had the entire resort to ourselves. 3,000 acres of above treeline skiing with 3 people. Not every much competition for fresh tracks. Unfortunately the groomer ran out of gas after 2 runs

 

[2knees]

today by far. Never had to use lace up boots, but the old ski leashes that went around the lower leg could be nasty in a crash. You'd get that death windmill going with a released ski. Got tagged by one when i was a kid. that alone makes today better.

 

[JimG.]

I started at age 4 in the winter of 1962/1963. I had double lace up leather boots, skis that were long enough to touch my wrist when I held my arm up as high as I could, cable bindings and bamboo poles. My first lift was a rope tow. Even on my first day, I ignored my instructor who insisted we stay on the green slopes and wandered off to a black diamond slope. Went straight down and stopped at the bottom using a power wedge, then got to ride the chairlift back up. Nobody cared that I was 4 and skiing alone. I got back to the top and found my class...I don't think the instructor ever missed me! The snow was natural and there was little or no grooming.

The old days ruled! Someone said that new equipment makes it easy for out of shape people to ski. I agree, but new equipment has also allowed me to stay sharp and near the top of my game even as I get older. Other than that, I prefer the old days. High speed lifts, overgrooming of trails, electronic scanning, base lodges devoted more to business people than skiers, fancy food and shops, and the rampant inflation of prices you can keep.

 

[ChileMass]

......double lace up leather boots, skis that were long enough to touch my wrist when I held my arm up as high as I could, cable bindings and bamboo poles. My first lift was a rope tow.........

Ditto. Exactly the same........

 

[JimG.]

Ditto. Exactly the same........

Know what's funny...I can clearly visualize many ski days from that time in my mind, but I honestly couldn't tell you details of many of my ski days last season. I really do miss the old days.

 

[JimG.]

today by far. Never had to use lace up boots, but the old ski leashes that went around the lower leg could be nasty in a crash. You'd get that death windmill going with a released ski. Got tagged by one when i was a kid. that alone makes today better.

Pat, I think you would have loved the real old days...alot of folks skiied without goggles back then!

 

[Angus]

setting aside what big improvements in lifts and equipment, IMO the major improvement that's taken place in the last 20 years in clothing - synthetic fibers & lighter materials have made skiing on the coldest days in th NE possible in a relatively pain free way. when I started skiing in the mid-70's, there were many days I left the ski slope with moderate frost bite! & you were so bundled up, your movement was significantly restricted.

 

[ChileMass]

Know what's funny...I can clearly visualize many ski days from that time in my mind, but I honestly couldn't tell you details of many of my ski days last season. I really do miss the old days.

You're having a senior moment, dude. Maybe your helmet needs more padding - ??