staff report
What’s the greatest invention from the 20th century? Personal computers, cellphone, digital cameras, GPS, and Google might spring to mind, but for some of us, few innovations beat the joys of buckled ski boots and step-in bindings.
Skiing has come a long way from soggy, double-laced leather boots and bear-trap ski bindings. Before Hannes Marker pioneered releasable bindings, spectacular injuries were not uncommon — or as Bob Hoye said in the story “Skiing for 70 years,” “I knew a guy who suffered a spiral tib, fib and femur. All on one leg and in one crash.”
Skiing gear has definitely evolved, and while no one can control the risks a skier might take, at least the equipment makes the sport safer.
The same goes for skier transport. Remember rope tows? Poma lifts? T-bars? The first chairlift, designed by Union Pacific engineer Jim Curran for the 1936 opening of Idaho’s Sun Valley, must have seemed like a godsend for skiing — and it was.
Take the following excerpt from Taos Ski Valley’s history, “In 1957 a Poma [platter] lift went up Al’s Run [one of the steepest ski runs going]. … The lift pulled passengers along the ground at twice the speed of a modern lift. … Small people were lifted completely off the ground in certain spots and hung spinning in the air.”
Today’s skiers are treated to faster, more comfortable chairlifts and high speed detachable quad (four-person) chairlifts that eliminate long lines and “chair bang” — that bruise on the back of your legs you get from being hit hard from behind by a fast-moving chair.
And grooming? A few die-hards may long for the days when skiing required skill to navigate through icy ruts, giant moguls and huge holes, or sitzmarks, left behind by less skilled skiers. Maybe a few miss seeing numerous bamboo poles with flags dotting the slopes, a warning to skiers bare spots are ahead.
The rest of us are grateful for mountainwide snowmaking and grooming machines that leave a fluffy “corduroy surface” — perfect for cruising.
Ask any old timer, they’ll tell you: Skiing just keeps getting better and better!