In 1935 Seattle native Al Nydin had the idea for a magazine about skiing. Until that time most ski periodicals and annuals were association-published. In publishing America’s first independent, commercial magazine, Nydin used the title SKI. The first issue appeared in January 1936.
For a long time it was speculated that no surviving copies of the premier issue of SKI Magazine were in existence. But Seattle ski historian Kirby Gilbert has a copy, which he scanned for the International Skiing History Association’s website, www.skiinghistory.org.
SKI was renamed Ski Illlustrated, moved to New York City at the time World War II broke out, and was resuscitated in 1948 in Hanover, NH by publisher William Eldred, who combined Ski Illustrated, Western Skiing, and Ski News under the present title SKI Magazine.
For a nostalgic look back at what a ski magazine looked like 75 years ago, see attachmed below to view all 36 pages of SKI’s premier issue, including the stories and advertisements.
NOTE PLEASE: This is largish .pdf file and may download slowly on some computers.
This website contains an index of all articles in SKI Magazine from 1941 to 1993.
