If there were no lifts...

[snowmonster]

I'd probably learn on some hill nearby then practice at the golf course behind my apartment. If I got good enough, I'd probably hike for turns somewhere in the Whites or Berkshires. Winter's too long a season not to be doing anything active.

 

[campgottagopee]

Nope, but I'd just spend more time hunting with my dogs so would still be in the woods in one way or another.

 

[riverc0il]

If lifts were never invented? Maybe, maybe not. I doubt even most turn earners would be skiers, really. Before lifts, skiing was pretty limited in scope... Mostly "outing clubs" that were doing it. And on pretty sub-par equipment by today's standards. Modern day turn earners can understand for sure that increased numbers and demand has increased equipment standards and innovation. I got into hiking after college so many skiing would have been the next logical progression if lifts were not around. But I definitely would never have picked up skiing from my parents. Dad used to always say "skiing up hill????" in a joking manner... but definitely something he never would have done.

 

[Brewbeer]

Not me.

 

[Harvey]

Do you mean if lift-serviced never existed?... I would guess that many of us would not be skiers. After all, it takes a fair amount of time on the groomers to pick up basic skills.

Coming from a cross country background, I see this differently. The skills you develop on the groomers are lift served skills. You don't need those kind of skills in the woods. You can certainly use those skills, but you don't need them. Skiing is at least two thousand years old, lifts are relatively new.

I started skiing at 30 and riding the lifts when I turned 40. There was no snow in the woods in November and I wanted to ski. My first lift served turns were on 210s in leather boots. More like slippers really.

Cool thread ideas.

 

[mangled_donkey]

i would own at bindings and skins...

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

probably...my grandparents were earning turns before lifts arrived, they passed it down to my mother, she passed it on to me. But skiing as we know it would be vastly different...you might still be earning those turns in leather boots on long wooden skis. The popularity of the sport that lifts helped spawn has vastly increased the pace of technological advancement.

 

[skidmarks]

Would you still be a skiier?

"If there were no lifts" I'm as much as a Nordic skier as not. If no lifts were to be had there would be no snowboarders. Skiers have been around long before lifts.

 

[x10003q]

"If there were no lifts"

Somebody on one of these forums would invent them ;-)

I feel better writing that statement. The thought of no lifts is a bummer.

 

[Hawkshot99]

"If there were no lifts"

Somebody on one of these forums would invent them ;-)

Would this forum exist?

 

[WWF-VT]

I would own one of these to get to the top of the mountain

 

[ERJ-145CA]

I'm pretty sure I would never have started skiing but if lifts disappeared tomorrow I'd have to hike or get a snowmobile.

 

[x10003q]

Would this forum exist?

There are forums for fighting spiders (google it). I am sure there would still be ski forums.

 

[Mapnut]

Before lifts, skiing was pretty limited in scope... Mostly "outing clubs" that were doing it. And on pretty sub-par equipment by today's standards.

I'd like to give an older person's perspective on equipment. Sure it was "sub-par by today's standards", but that doesn't mean skis were incredibly hard to turn and not much fun! I skied my first full season (1967-68, 16 years old) on probably 1948 all-wood skis with beartrap bindings and leather lace-up boots. Even starting as a beginner, by the 5th or 6th outing I could link skidded (probably stemmed) turns and cruise intermediate trails and have a total blast! And there were lots of expert skiers who could wedel down Upper Winter's Way at Sugarloaf, but by 1968 of course they had metal edges and step-in bindings. Assuming there are no lifts, the few thousand skiers of today would probably still have quality alpine touring gear.

http://www.snowjournal.com/page.php?cid=galimg28226 Me and my gear, 1968

 

[redalienx11]

100% yes.

yes. yes. yes.

 

[riverc0il]

Assuming there are no lifts, the few thousand skiers of today would probably still have quality alpine touring gear.

http://www.snowjournal.com/page.php?cid=galimg28226 Me and my gear, 1968

Since it is such high quality, that explains why I have never seen a single person skiing on gear that old in my entire lifetime....

The quality of AT gear has jumped HUGE strides in the past two years, let alone the past eight or so since Garmont up'd the antee with the Adrenaline, let alone... well, you get the idea. Perhaps there would still be quality touring gear, but without the demand and competition that today's touring numbers have produced, the quality of equipment and evolution of product would be significantly less. I am still amazed at how much has evolved in the AT world since I started touring not even half a dozen years ago.

 

[kingslug]

I have no idea. My wife taught me how but I don't know if she would have ever done it without a lift. Have to wonder since she learned from her parents who learned from theirs and so on...and all of them being Norwegian I guess if you trace it back all the way...they invented the damn sport...so who knows.