My Spring Skiing Hat
I started my collection of pins and patches from ski areas about 30 years ago, when I began writing about skiing for the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York. It gave me the opportunity to visit many ski areas, and whenever I went to a new ski area, I would purchase a pin and a patch.
Mike Roth’s pin-filled hat
That created a problem – where to put them.
I started by putting them on my ski coat but that became a pain since I wore more than one ski jacket and moving them would have been a nuisance. Before helmets were even thought of for skiing, I would ski in the spring wearing my hat, but I never thought of putting the pins on it. Until my pin collection started to become voluminous.
So, the hat became the object of consistency, for spring skiing. Everywhere I went, it always attracted comments and questions from fellow skiers.
In airports, prior to TSA and screening, there were no problems at all. Now, my pin-filled hat has to pass through the x-ray machine to see if there are any sharp objects hidden within, besides the actual tiny pins that pins the pins to the hat.
There have been lots of comments – both from other passengers and from TSA personnel – as I would go through the airport and go through security, but no one at security ever stopped me, just lots of conversations. A few times, people in the plane would approach me and actually give me pins that had meaning for them, like Olympic pins. Once, in St. Moritz, I was given a pin from 1920’s of the St. Moritz Ski School.
These pins used to poke me in the head until I found a locking device at a motorcycle rally. Now, all these sharp pins have been ground down to being flat and there are no more scratch marks on my balding head.
Historic Photo of Mike Roth
Currently, there are about 120 pins plus on my hat. The biggest issue today is that my hat weighs more than ten pounds and is no longer comfy to wear skiing or otherwise, so it is semi-retired at this point. I’m thinking it should be donated to a ski museum somewhere, including because some of those pins are from areas that have since closed.
I am still missing a few pins from way back when I first started to ski, such as Brodie Mountain, Homestead and Rock Candy Mountain. Most recently added Snowbasin, Diamond Peak and Mount Rose to the collection, but there is no room on the hat. So, I think I am going to have to get a bigger 10-gallon hat to make more room.
But it’s a daunting prospect to remove 120 pins and then reload them, and a new hat still would weigh more than ten pounds.
BTW – the photo is from Killington about 40 years ago. I still have that wind breaker shell, which I purchased on Rush Street in Chicago in the late 60’s. It still fits – because I had to take out the seams and add more girth.
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Fun article. When we skied with soft hats I used to pin my very modest collection of pins on the hat. And we used to ski Brodie all the time with the family. So many fun St. Patty’s Days there! Our son still works in the ski industry and has always collected all things skiing—just dont recall any pins. Will check in with him. Brodie was one of his favorite mountains.
Thanks,
I miss you my friend. Vicki
Hi Rich, I have my ski pins in a framed (without glass) thrift store frame and took it to a frame shop to have them put foamboard inside the frame. I also purchased material to put on top of the foamboard. I also have flat metal trees nailed to the wooden frame to embellish It. It serves as a great memory reminder of past ski trips.
My collection is not nearly 10 lbs. but I have pins from all over the Northeast from the last 45 years. Funny not the biggest or best but Brodie was my favorite lots of green snow and I do have the leprechaun pin proudly on the hat. My question is about the pin attachments you found at the motorcycle rally. I would love to change the backs of the pins out for similar reasons. What are they?
John, I took many lessons on Tuesday nights there, instructor was Jack Kirby (can’t believe I remember his name) loved skiing there.
I will see if I can find the package of the holders, and let you know what and where you can find them, they were a small cylinder with and allen set screw.
It was very unfortunate when Jim Kelly decided to sell off Brodie, I understand his interests were more in the golf course that he built just down the road, but the agreement that was laid out at the sale that would prohibit future development of the land for skiing Should it ever be sold off is unfathomable. It was in a great location, easy access. once it closed I worked myself back towards butternut and have skied there ever since.
Actually John, after all these years I have never skied Butternut. maybe next year I will try to get over there just to try it out.
John, pin lok is the name on the package. 12 in a package. Phone
301 469 7445. If you send me your email I will take a picture of the packaging label
What you described I think might be available at a Disney store. I got some of the barrel/alan set screws while at Disney World in the late 90’s.
John they are called pin lok phone 301 469 7445. I went on line and typed in pin lok and they are available thru many sources. Even temp which of course is the cheapest. They have a set screw and it comes with an Allen wrench
I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing Mike’s impressive ski pin collection! He has a unique passion for skiing and this amazing alpine pin collection is a perfect tribute to Mike and his love of skiing! He’s inspired me to count my ski areas, 339 and counting! Cheers ski friends
Heather
Thanks Heather, I will never reach your total. Hope you are well
I started collecting pins about 55 years ago and kept them on a scarf that hung in my room as a kid. After a move my pins got relegated to a cigar box. I had pins from Davos in NY which later became Big Vanilla before it closed. Killington when it was a single double chair to the top and many others from areas long gone.
As an adult and a father We continued collecting but I began to notice my collection dwindling. My son then 12 years old confessed that he was selling them off at twenty-five cents so that he could buy ice cream desert at the school lunch room. Collecting stopped around then but I still have some pins from long closed areas.
Well. There’s no relationship here but if you have abrodie one that your son wants for ice cream I will buy it!
I haven’t been skiing for 55 years but I do go on an annual ski trip with a group of friends and this season was year 37. I too collect pins and at first I put them on a hat but then I got some felt and now they are all on that. Some of the smaller ski hills don’t have pin but I’ve found a website where you can upload a graphic and they’ll make a simple button pin for about $1. I can roll-up the felt with the pins on it and take it on my ski travels but it doesn’t display the same as a hat.
I was t thinking of putting the hat in a plexiglass box at this point
Mike, Your article brings back wonder memories. My family started skiing in the 1950’s and my dad began collecting pins from the start – every area offered them. He bought a traditional tyrolean hat to pin them to and often wore it on nights out. He passed in his early nineties in 2008. Just looking at his hat keeps my memories fresh. Do areas currently sell pins? If so it’s certainly not well advertised.
I know the feeling.. each one has a special memory attached to it! Yes the areas still do. I just added snow basin to my hat a few weeks ago.
Haha, nice! I have a ball cap with ski pins, and I don’t wear it often, exactly for the reason cited, it weighs too much! As I get older, the weight of things start to matter.
I just just got a new helmet, highly-rated for impact, which looks like a beanie. That’s what the company that sells it says, AntiOrdinary. I think it looks more like a rastafarian hat. It comes with a knit cap that slips over the semi-hard shell. I think I’ll put my nicest pins on it!
Go for it!
I keep my pins on a racing bib – a large cloth one – from when I took a Steve Lathrup racing camp many years ago. It is heavy, but since it just hangs on a wall in my home office, that is OK.
Thinking of framing them now
John, pin lok is the name on the package. 12 in a package. Phone
301 469 7445. If you send me your email I will take a picture of the packaging label
I, too, have been collecting pins and patches for the last 55 years or so. I started collecting patches from all of the local Midwestern ski hills in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Minnesota as a teenager. When I started broadening my ski horizons in my 20s, I began collecting pins, but only from mountains that had at least 1,000 feet of vertical drop. To date, I have 65 pins from mountains in North America and Europe. I also have 30 patches from Midwest ski hills. One of my life goals is to ski at 100 lift served ski hills. I added 2 this season (Sunlight in Colorado and Sundance in Utah) to up my current number to 95. I have my pins and patches displayed in my home office. Five more ski hills to go to hit that magic 100.
Keep it going, I’m about 140 and looking for more opportunities
I used to collect pins from areas I’ve skied but my hat was getting too heavy & crowded. I use a USA 2002 Olympic beret from Salt Lake. I switched to patches and only get pins when I can’t find a patch. Instead of putting the patches on my actual ski coat, I got a military surplus Swedish parka that has a button-in heavy liner to put the patches on. I wear it “off the slopes” while on ski vacations. If it’s warm, I just take the liner out. I’m missing around 10 pins/patches or the 145 areas I’ve skied. The parka has worked out great. Trying to ski every State & Canadian Province that has a lift. 5 more to go: Newfoundland, Ontario, Minnesota, Labrador, & Yukon. Yes, I know that Yukon is a territory but I’m going anyway.
Mike, I have an idea. Take a picture of the hat with all the pins. Then, simply wear the picture.
Happy skiing!!!!
Funny guy!
Mike, My dad started collecting ski area pins in the 1950’s. At some point he purchased a classic tyrolean felt hat to which all pins were attached over the next forty years. My dad is now sadly gone almost two decades but his hat and pins have a place of honor in my house and are a great way to remember him. I think the first pin was from Dutch Hill, a small area in southern VT that closed decades ago. All the best, Dick