Once upon a time it seemed like the ski industry was a bit wilder and less litigious. In the days before Deutsches Institut für Normung, the international standard organization that established a uniform system for boots and bindings known as DIN, it was pretty much anything goes. Release settings varied by binding manufacturers. The number under the plastic window on a Salomon toe or heel piece had no relationship to the same number on a Tyrolia or Geze. Also, the depth, width and height of ski boot toes and heels were not standardized, so a Lange could fit into bindings differently than a Kastinger or a Henke or any other manufacturer's product.
Speaking of bindings, it wasn’t unheard of for ski technicians to mix and match binding toes and heels to match the whims of fussy skiers. “I need a Nevada toe with an Explodamat heel, please!’ Unlike the maintenance free bindings of today, shops of the past would often take them apart to lube and replace components, at the skier’s request. This included replacing factory installed release/retention springs with fresher ones. Remember when leg breaks were a common occurrence?
Museum pieces from a generation or two ago included a host of plate bindings that dominated the domestic industry. Names like Americana, Burt and Besser were as common in American skiing during the late 70s as Marker is today. And there was a time when the rental shop at a local southern Vermont resort was completely outfitted with new Spademan plate bindings, arguably the safest, and perhaps most bizarre, design on the market. Forget the Hanson revolutionary rear-entry boot design, how about Rosemount’s side-entry ski boots?
A few visionaries saw the invisible and did the impossible. An aeronautics engineer named Howard Head envisioned a world beyond wooden skis using aluminum laminates, continuous metal edges and polyethylene bases beginning a revolution in design and function that continues today. Shane McConkey reversed the time honored concepts of sidecut and camber to usher in an entirely new era for skiing. The Snurfer begat the snowboard and a new worldwide sport was born, midwifed by Dimitrije Milovich, Tom Sims and Jake Burton.
In a time of step-in snowboard bindings, self-sharpening skis and piezoelectric dampening innovation drove the ski industry. And you know what? Even in these later days where liability and lawsuits might dictate conformity and playing it safe, snow sports continue to reinvent themselves.
Wearable technology currently orients skiers with GPS tracking and helps safeguard users against everyone’s worst nightmare with avalanche inflatable devices. But how about ski gear that acts as an on-board coach, helping perfect technique or alerting the user to approaching trail conditions? Smart protection in the very near future will also be used to help prevent spine injuries.
You can already purchase helmets and goggles featuring augmented reality that purportedly turn skiing into part computer game, part social event by seamlessly blending actual surroundings with virtual add-ons such as speed, route suggestion or altitude. They also allow the wearer to communicate with friends via text, audio or video messaging. If you think helmets and goggles are expensive now wait till you see the price tag on these babies!
The point is, the conditions that incubated critical thought and cutting edge technology in skiing’s earlier years still exist. Despite some notable dead ends and occasional weirdness, fierce manufacturing competition that stimulated steady improvements in performance and safety continues to drive the industry. Efforts to increase the number and diversity of people entering snowsports remains a growth industry. The ski trains of the ‘30s and ‘40s have morphed into Epic and Ikon passes, snow coasters and off-season thrill zones. And The Learn to Ski weeks of the ‘50s and ‘60s are today’s LBGTQ Snow Events and Black Ski Summits.
I would encourage everyone who skis and rides to take a look backwards. There are incredible places dedicated to the history of snow sliding, the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail and the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum in Stowe are two I’d recommend.
Tickets are expensive, the selection of equipment overwhelming and the resort crowds, at times, insane. But, thanks to the pioneering innovation of the past this is still the best time to be a skier or rider.
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