Volume 32 Number 3 May-June 2020

Glen Plake: Evolution of a Rebel

Author:

By Edith Thys Morgan

At 55, Hall of Famer Glen Plake is an enduring—and iconic—ambassador for the sport of skiing, its downhome roots and honoring its past.

Criss-crossing the country on the Down Home Ski Tour with wife Kimberly. Photo Elan/Peter Morning.

The Two Worlds of Sir Arnold Lunn

Author:

By John Fry

"If not for the mountains my religion would be much too arid," confessed the celebrated convert, apologist and controversialist.

(Photo above: Lunn in May 1925, when with Walter Amstutz he made the first successful ski ascent of the Eiger. Photo courtesy New England Ski Museum)

The paths to faith are many, and they can be eccentric. Such was the conversion of Arnold Lunn in 1933. A British mountaineer and ski pioneer, Lunn was already famous then for his invention of the slalom race.

The Sour Cream Sierras

Author:

By Jeff Blumenfeld

Thousands learned to ski at the Borscht Belt hotels of New York's Catskill Mountains.

Starting in the early 1950s, hundreds of thousands of Americans learned to ski not on the slopes of major resorts like Sun Valley, Stowe or Aspen, but at more prosaic ski areas and resort hotels with names like Big Vanilla at Davos, the Concord, Gibber’s, the Granit, Grossingers, Homowack Lodge, Kutsher’s, Laurels, the Nevele, the Pines and the Raleigh. These were among the Borscht Belt hotels in the Catskills, about 90 miles northwest of New York City.

Aspen Confidential

Author:

By Jay Cowan

Skiing put Aspen on the map. But bad behavior keeps the town in the news.

In one of the best known and most scandalous ski towns in the world, it’s inevitable that some of the headlines spill over onto the slopes. But scandals were a regular feature of Aspen’s existence from its start in the 1880s as one of the richest and wildest silver mining camps in the West. The most notorious early stories often concerned money, sex, drug abuse and murder, which is still the case today.

Departments:

Ski Life: Bob Cram on Resort Planning

From SKI Magazine, February 1968

Readers Respond: May-June 2020

Two Bulls and a Blunder

The lead poster in Everett Potter’s “Off the Wall” article (Skiing History, March-April 2020) was a 1932 classic by Johan Bull, best known as a popular artist in The New Yorker. He was the father of ski-country architect and ski-resort planner Henrik Bull (1929–2013), long a stalwart member of ISHA. From time to time, Henrik wrote for SKI magazine and then for Skiing Heritage, and often helped us out with lengthy translations from old Norwegian books and newspapers.

Short Turns: Pro Tour, Jake Burton memorial, Ski art

World Pro Ski Tour draws star athletes but suffers short season due to COVID-19.

The World Pro Ski Tour never got to the meat of its season, which would have seen seven-time gold medalist Ted Ligety contending with silver-and-bronze Olympian Andrew Weibrecht for $150,000 in championship prize money.

Commentary: Paradise Lost

Author:

By Jackson Hogen

Finally perfected after 30 years, the carving ski failed to gain a following in North America. In its place, we got a ski that has made resort slopes less safe.

(Photo above: Modern “shaped” skis were originally developed to help racers achieve the pure, carved turn—eliminating the braking effect of skidding. Ron LeMaster photo)

Skiing History Week Back on Track for December in Sun Valley

Skiing History Week, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been rescheduled for December 9–13, 2020, in Sun Valley, in partnership with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Please join us at the 28th Annual ISHA Awards banquet, to be held December 10, 2020, at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Remembering Skiing Pioneers

Corkey Fowler, Howard Peterson, Bob Lazier, Herman Dupre, Bob Tucker, Dick and Carol Fallon, Gary Speckmann

See https://www.skiinghistory.org/lives

Ads From the Past; Coming Up in Future Issues

On the Cover:

Austria by Paul Kirnig (1891–1955), circa 1930. This classic travel poster sold for $1,750 in the annual vintage ski-poster auction hosted by Swann Galleries in New York City held in February 2019 (swanngalleries.com).

Digital Magazine Flipbook:

Volume 32 Number 3 May-June 2020

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At 55, Hall of Famer Glen Plake is an enduring—and iconic—ambassador for the sport of skiing, its downhome roots and honoring its past.

"If not for the mountains my religion would be much too arid," confessed the celebrated convert, apologist and controversialist.

Thousands learned to ski at the Borscht Belt hotels of New York's Catskill Mountains.

Skiing put Aspen on the map. But bad behavior keeps the town in the news.

Two Bulls and a Blunder

World Pro Ski Tour draws star athletes but suffers short season due to COVID-19.

Finally perfected after 30 years, the carving ski failed to gain a following in North America. In its place, we got a ski that has made resort slopes less safe.

Skiing History Week, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been rescheduled for December 9–13, 2020, in Sun Valley, in partnership with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.