This weekend faithful skiers, riders, shoers, sliders and other alpine enthusiasts will celebrate Magic Mountain's 50th anniversary. Folks will be costumed in early 1960's ski garb. A note here: any style five decades old must be considered a costume, even when rocked as everyday-wear. We see it all at Magic. Additionally, leather boots, bamboo poles and 210cm Head Standards will be the norm, as skiers dust off their Stem Christies. Don't knock the Stem Christie until you've tried to turn a 210cm Head Standard.
Saturday night a party to raise the ghosts of apres' skis past, will rage in the Magic base lodge, featuring a remarkable video, transferred from 8mm movie film, depicting the placement of lift towers by helicopter in 1961. I've heard, but haven't verified, this is one of the earliest uses of a helicopter crane in the ski industry. If true, another footnote to the remarkably innovative list of accomplishments of Magic's founder, Hans Thorner. These towers still march their way up Black Line, an enduring example of how the Thorner family continues to effect everyday life at Magic Mountain. For those of you who were alive and skiing 50 years ago the video is a time machine providing a peek at how we looked, skied and raced in the days before ski brakes and snowboards.
As the birthplace of lift served skiing Vermont has a host of resorts old enough to qualify for AARP benefits. In 2011 Bromley celebrated its 75th birthday. Stratton hit the big five-oh earlier this season. There are few places in North America where the roots of skiing are set deeper and alpine history more venerable and accessible than in the southern Greens. Like lift towers scaling Magic's cliffs, the best ideas of 50 years ago still work today. As for 210cm Head Standards, not so much.
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