ISHA Treasure Chest, Wildcat Polecat Run, Hemingway Excerpt, Jan’s Series Wrap, Gift From COVID Year, Shared House Tips, Nordic Colorado.
“There Is Much Weather In A March Day”: Irish Proverb.
Indeed, March has us betwixt and between. We had some beautiful mid 60s to 70 degree days early on in New England, then an abrupt switch to zero degrees and wind chill driving the sap up in the sugar maples around the farm. We march into spring hoping for those bluebird days and t-shirt skiing, and maybe that’s in the offing, based on the cockamamie fluctuations we’ve been seeing. There has been that huge, record-breaking dump of snow in Colorado for a potential season extender. We know I-70 and I-25 (see above) were a mess heading out of Denver. Pent-up demand is everywhere.
The new snow and cold temps are treasures for those chasing these coming weeks of spring skiing. A surprise, considering the wobbly start of the season in the Rockies. The West and Northwest have more than enough snow to carry on to Memorial Day. Snowmaking might be the extender device of Northeastern resorts. Unlike other years when resorts extended their seasons with late snows and found the numbers of visitors disappointing, this year we predict demand will keep folks coming out until the last snowflake melts into a vernal pool.
The ISHA Treasure Chest.
Speaking of treasures, we’ve just been cruising around the website of the International Skiing History Association. ISHA is a non-profit whose mission is to “preserve and advance the knowledge of ski history and to increase the public’s awareness of ski heritage.” To do that, the organization publishes Skiing History Magazine, a well-produced, bi-monthly, full color publication that has interesting articles about the sport’s past: equipment, places, personalities, and the like. Subscribers have access to the magazine’s entire archive collection, enough material to while away many an evening.
In addition to the magazine, ISHA maintains other treasures on its website. You can find profiles of people from the world of skiing from racing to business leaders to resort founders and on and on. There’s also an incredible library of videos with interviews and documentaries, a thorough and detailed directory of ski museums , collections and libraries around the globe, a section on Canadian ski history, a history of Nordic skiing and jumping, a glossary of ski terms over the years, Olympic lore and facts. There’s also a collection of vintage ski art and posters from the classic travel posters of yore to magazine covers, ancient woodcuts, and photos. And an extensive racing results resource that covers Olympics, World Cup and World Cup Championships
ISHA also sponsors an annual awards event that honors ski authors, filmmakers and broadcasters.
For researchers and enthusiasts, there is an incredible, massive ski bibliography assembled over a number of years by the Chief Librarian of Whitman College Henry Yaple. It contains a listing of every book, dissertation, film video and piece of software published on skiing, in English, between 1890 and 2002. The resulting two-volume work, comprising 732 pages, was published by ISHA in 2004. It lists more than 7,000 items, all searchable on the ISHA site.
We know SeniorsSkiing.com readers would love to belong to ISHA and read Skiing History Magazine. Such treasures and such value are available through a new discount introductory offer.
From now until June 30, you can join ISHA and get a subscription to Skiing History Magazine for only $12 for six issues with auto-renew. Be sure to use the code SRSKI21 to get this fantastic discount. Click on the ISHA Take A Run On Us ad in the right column or click here to access the details and sign up.
Incidentally, ISHA is searching for a new CEO to lead the organization. It’s a real opportunity for someone with leadership and non-profit experience as well as a commitment to winter sports. If you’re interested, contact Chan Morgan, Chairman of the Board, via email at Chauncey.g.morgan@gmail.com.
This Week.
Our Question For You this week asks you to think about the good things that might have descended to you and yours from this one year of virus restrictions and constraint. What’s the gift you have been given? Click here.
We found a wonderful short story by Ernest Hemingway for our Snow In Literature series that takes place in the Swiss Alps and includes descriptions of skiing techniques and equipment in the 20s. We’ve included an excerpt from the beginning of Cross Country Snow as well as a link to the entire story. Enjoy. Click here.
Correspondent Tamsin Venn visits Wildcat in New Hampshire on a perfect spring skiing day. Here’s her report of her experience. Click here.
And we found a wonderful top-to-bottom video that shows a continuous run on Polecat, the longest green run in New Hampshire, from the top of Wildcat to the base lodge. It looks like a wonderful, easy trail. Click here.
Here’s Part Six of Jan Brunvand’s story of his skiing career, bringing us up to date on his adventures in Utah and beyond. Here’s a guy who has been skiing for eighty years, and he still gets a thrill out of it. Click here.
Our Make More Tracks story this week brings us to Colorado, normally thought of as headquarters for Alpine ski resorts. There are many excellent Nordic resorts across the state, and this article from the Nordic Approach highlights several of them. Click here.
Correspondent Karen Lorentz profiles the famous green-parka-clad Ambassadors at Killington, who help visitors navigate the huge resort as well as create a climate of friendliness and welcome. Click here.
Web designer and skier extraordinaire Alice Winthrop offers some rules that help make sharing a ski house stress- and conflict-free. Alice is SeniorsSkiing.com’s designer and IT consultant who also created Resercal, an app that takes confusion out of house sharing. Click here.
Finally, Herb Stevens wings in with a report on next week’s weather. The West continues to get snow, not so much in the East. Click here.
Final Note: We have finally received all the labels and envelopes from our printers for mailing our premiums to our donors who contributed during our recent fundraising. We should be starting our mailings in a week or so.
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Tell your friends and remember there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
Hey Mike: The fifty-five years in today’s story refers to my skiing in Utah. Since I started at about age five, I have been skiing more than eighty years now, although I missed a couple of seasons when we lived in non-skiing areas.
The compiler of the big ski bibliography is Henry Yaple (no s on his last name). I’ve known Henry since the sixties when I taught at the University of Idaho and he was a grad student there. We have skied together many time in various places.