Skiing Since The 30s, She Has Seen Lots Of Changes.

In 1949, 23 year old Bebe Wood left her job at Dartmouth College and traveled to Idaho seeking adventure as a ski bum in Sun Valley. By then, she had already been skiing for about 10 years!  Thus began her long association with the ski industry. Today, approaching her 90^th birthday, she remains actively involved as a Host at Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire.

As a youngster in Marblehead, MA, she and her siblings taught themselves how to ski at a nearby golf course. By the late 1930’s her sister, five years her senior, had a driver’s license so they started going up to Cranmore in North Conway, NH. It was there that she became immersed in the sport.

Following graduation from college, she went to work at Dartmouth as medical secretary. She and her friend Jean Adams joined the Dartmouth Outing Club which was an opportunity for travel around Northern New Hampshire and Vermont—Stowe, Cranmore and Suicide Six. They also skied locally at the Oak Hill rope tow in Hanover. “The DOC was a wonderful experience”, says Bebe. “We all loved to ski, yodel and sing. We had a great time.”

In the winter of 1949-50 Bebe and Jean Adams headed west to be ski bums in Sun Valley. They worked as waitresses and had plenty of time for skiing during the day. Bebe also had time to be a Sun Valley model for a Life Magazine shoot there and appeared in a February 1950 issue. “We had the best time there,” Bebe says. “Dartmouth was connected to Sun Valley back then and we were able to ski with some top notch eastern skiers.”

During the following ten years or so there was not much skiing in her life as she and her new husband were starting a family and moving around. But in 1963 they moved to Bristol, NH. And that move heralded her return to skiing in a big way.

In 1964 she began her long tenure at Ragged Mountain where she directed the junior program for school kids. She continued in this role until the mid 1980s when Ragged closed. During the next few years, Bebe taught at nearby King Ridge in New London, NH where she was part of the ski school until Ragged reopened in 1989.

All along the way Bebe found time to become PSIA certified, a first aid instructor, make two trips to the Alps skiing in Switzerland, Austria an Italy and a return trip to Sun Valley.

Bebe retired from instructing in 2007 but continued as head the Courtesy Patrol until it was phased out a few years ago. Not wanting to be idle, however, she remains active at the resort today as a mountain host. You can find her in the base lodge greeting skiers and boarders, chatting with folks as come in for a break, checking with patrol on the latest conditions and dispensing all kinds of local knowledge and information about the resort and the general area.

Bebe stopped skiing five years ago at the age of 85. “Not because I can’t ski,” she says, “but because I’m now too afraid of getting hurt. I have no one to take care of me if I were to get injured. I do miss it, though.”

Bebe sees the evolution of equipment and technique as a positive thing that has made the sport much easier to learn and continue. “Sometimes the technical details get confusing but if the continued development of new equipment and technique makes the sport easier that’s good for its growth,” she said. When asked about other changes she’s seen, she said that in the old days skiers were just one big happy family. They sat around the fireplaces in old ski lodges and never complained about rope tows that wore out ski gloves or conditions that were less than ideal. Now she says, skiers want everything to be perfect. And there are so many people you have to be a little more careful.

According to Bebe, “It’s still a wonderful sport. It should be available in all schools free of charge so all kids have a chance to experience it.” She thinks there are more seniors skiing now than ever before. “New and better equipment keeps people going longer,” she says, and hopes that “more people being on the hill does not discourage older skiers.” She knows some seniors in their late 70s and early 80s who still ski, including some 10^th Mountain veterans. “But the group is dwindling.”

What keeps her coming back? Why does she continue to work even though she no longer gets out on the hill? Love of the outdoors, a desire to keep up with the sport and the people in it, the opportunity to meet new people with similar passions are just a few of the reasons. “You don’t have to be young to enjoy it. It brings family and friends together.” Of teaching she says, “I can still look at skiers and tell what they’re doing wrong. I can tell who has had lessons and who hasn’t.”

Approaching her 90 th birthday in a few months and summing up her lifetime involvement in a sport she loves, Bebe states, “I wouldn’t have changed a thing.” Including, or perhaps especially, her ski bumming year in Sun Valley. “If young people have a chance to be a ski bum, they should go for it. It’s an experience to always remember.”