skiing versus snowboarding in 1985

[Mike Andrew]

Originally Posted by island911

Nice vid cp. Takes me back...

Burton Backhill boards and all... squirrely as sht.

I was building composite snowboards in the late 70's (14-15 y/o) with Boeing surplus honeycomb.
My builds were also squirrely as sht. Even in powder. But at least they were lighter for the trek up hill, since there was NO way they would let me up the lift with it.
I concluded skis are MUCH better.

Actually in CO to ski for a couple of weeks. Yee Ha

A buddy and I started building Snurfers in the late '70's, Made a bunch of them and sold them here and there. Great fun as we had some local hills that were steep, long and had too many trees for other toys like sleds.
Met Jake Burton at the National Snurfing Championships in '78 or '79. We were very interested in each other's boards. We see where his went..

Never made the switch to boarding but have always felt it would not take long to pick up. Too freaking old now to even consider. My goal every ski season is no flops and that sure wouldn't be the case on a board.

Thanks to boarders as they have saved a lot of Mom and Pop ski areas from shutting their doors. By and large, they seem much better behaved that inthe early years when they had the rebel image.

[porsche tech]

Don’t know anything about the sport but always wondered why the competitors all wore the same big baggy outfits? The downhill skiers all wear skintight outfits…seems like all that baggy stuff would make their jumps and tricks and stuff more difficult.

[Vipergrün]

"Most of them don't have brakes on them" LOL Ummm, same brakes as skis. I've done both and enjoy both for what they are. Coming from surfing, not much like fresh powder on a board. However, in a few weeks I'll step into some short parabolic skis in hopes of keeping up with my 3 and 5 year old grand kids who are both good skiers....

[McLovin]

I’ve skied since I was a kid.
I remember first seeing snowboards in the early 80s.
I don’t recall them running into people a lot.
I do remember they were kind of annoying because it was in its infancy and a lot of them would simply grind down the hill sideways, pushing all the snow down the hill. There weren’t many that were good at carving smoothly.
I do both now, for the last few years all snowboard.
Although I think I’m done with that and will go back to skis.
For my kids, they started out young on skis. But then I had them to to snowboarding. Which, in retrospect, I regret. Should have stuck with skis.

[Sarc]

I rode throughout the 90s in Crested Butte and have fond memories of getting up at first light and experiencing the fresh, untouched powder. Back then there seemed to be little animosity towards the board-maybe because so many of the local skiers were a bit on the renegade side if things (at least at that point of time in CB).
After losing that Colorado connection I fell out of the sport here in Michigan until 10 years ago when I took a skiing lesson and absolutely loved it….until I had a nasty tumble and blew out my ACL. Fast forward to this weekend where we took the kids up north and let them choose what they wanted to learn. Both chose skiing and, much to my delight, completely killed it. So proud of them. Unfortunately, my decision to join them in the lesson didn’t work out so well as I sit here typing this message out with my knee iced, elevated, and the size of a small mellon. Friday we’ll see if it’s ACL #2.

Quite deflating and embarrassing, but I’m using this as a driver to get more fit and try again next season.

[GG Allin]

I switched to snowboarding at age 38, 12 years ago. I'm just as good as it as I ever was at skiing, which isn't very good. It's more fun but it hurts a lot more when you go down.

[hcoles]

I started skiing in 1959. As the snowboards got more prevalent it seemed the hills got more crowded. I think this is partly or all due to e.g. quad chairs. The lines are short - everyone is on the hill. This can make you feel like more people are coming at you - because there are more people coming at you.

[Brian 162]

I stopped skiing around the time shaped ski's hit the market around the mid to late nineties. I went to the dark side and never looked back.
The learning curve wasn't as friendly as skiing. When I fell as a beginning boarder all I remember was heading down a hill then a split second later I was looking up to the sky trying to figure out what the heck happened.

[stevej37]

The shaped ski's were the best thing for me. The control they led to made skiing a lot more fun.

My problem was bunions on both feet that led to not being able to wear the boots.
If I did wear them for a day...it led to two or more days of pain.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by hcoles

I started skiing in 1959. As the snowboards got more prevalent it seemed the hills got more crowded. I think this is partly or all due to e.g. quad chairs. The lines are short - everyone is on the hill. This can make you feel like more people are coming at you - because there are more people coming at you.

That's excellent. Skiing, like tennis, is a life long sport if you take care of your body and don't get hurt too much. My dad skied from very young until he was in his '70s, would have been longer if cancer didn't come along. Here he is on Aspen mountain, spring break 1956, with his friends. He is second from left:

[speeder]

And with me and my little brother in Aspen, maybe 1975?


Fuzzy photo of a photo.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by gregpark

The early wooden Burton boards those guys in the video are on are worth a small fortune now to collectors.

I still have my original 1988 wooden Sims Switchblade.

[t6dpilot]

Awesome pictures Denis. I'll bet we were in Aspen about the same time. I learned on the Aspen Highlands in 1980 back when it was four slow lifts to get to the top and a lift ticket was $18. We bailed on Aspen when the first celebrities showed up 30 plus years ago and went to Telluride. And it sure as heck isn't like the old Telluride today...

[herr_oberst]

I found this lift ticket price comparison. It's from 2017, so probably not exactly accurate, but probably close.

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2017/06/28/8-lift-tickets-anyone-lift-ticket-prices-back-in-the-day-vs-today/

I grew up in Boise; a full, all inclusive day-night, all season pass to the local mountain (Bogus Basin, 6 chairlifts, 3 were lighted for night skiing) was about 95 bucks. I typically skied between 50 and 100 days and nights a season.

I also made pretty frequent trips to Sun Valley, and while I can't remember the lift ticket price, I bet it was comparable to those Colorado prices listed in the article. Those were some good times...

Nowadays, day lift tickets for the areas closest to me are $130 for Mt Hood Meadows which is a pretty good ski area, and 95 for Ski Bowl which is essentially the face of one mountain.

I quit skiing about 20 years ago, it just got too expensive....and crowded....and it just wasn't as much fun anymore.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by t6dpilot

Awesome pictures Denis. I'll bet we were in Aspen about the same time. I learned on the Aspen Highlands in 1980 back when it was four slow lifts to get to the top and a lift ticket was $18. We bailed on Aspen when the first celebrities showed up 30 plus years ago and went to Telluride. And it sure as heck isn't like the old Telluride today...

I hear you. It was ok when we'd see Jack Nicholson or Hunter Thompson on the lifts or at the airport in the '70s but it went downhill in later years. Any time you have a town selling $2k sweaters, you're going to attract the worst people in the world. Worse than any slum on earth, they will be the people who own the slums.

That said, it's still an incredibly beautiful mountain and I'll probably ski it this spring. My nephew just married into a family with a house in Aspen, so there are some ski days planned there. I've never skied Telluride but I'd really love to.

We were in Aspen for spring break in 1976 when Spider Sabich was killed. It was shocking, to say the least.

[Seahawk]

I learned how to ski when I was 6 in Idaho, Sun Valley.

The hill I learned to ski on had a rope tow. It was heaven for a young kid.

I know how to ski but I just never got the dedicated time to get any good at it. It is a humbling experience to ski with people who really know how to ski...a good friend of mine in my first squadron grew up in Albuquerque and skied for the University of New Mexico. We'd take cross country flights to Kirtland AFB and ski at Sandia Peak, Taos, etc.

I felt, as the saying goes, like a hog on ice skiing with Ken and his friends...they were effortlessly fast and composed.

I learned how to snow board twenty plus years ago. My dad had a house at Wntergreen, Virginia and we took the kids there a lot...great ski school for kids.

I took a morning lesson and by the end of the days was having fun. I really liked snow boarding, especially the softer boots. Edge to edge.

[berettafan]

Been twice and love it!

Also terrible at it.

First trip 3 years ago i didn't even attempt the main bunny slope. Second trip last month i managed to get down the training slope, ride the lifts and everything. Friggin fun as hell! Then my son, also on his second time but with a snowboard, says 'oh dad if you're gonna try the greens you gotta follow us!'.

Could not wait to get to the top of the hill.

Man there is a real difference between 'green' and 'training area'!

Calves were stiff as concrete for almost a week. Then the left knee felt swollen and hard to move for about a week.

Cannot wait to get back!

[Tobra]

Snowboarder ran into my mother about 10 years ago and took off. Ski patrol came and told her to get up. "I can't, I think I broke my hip." It can't be a broken hip, or you would be in a lot of pain.
"I am in a lot of pain." She broke her pelvis, undisplaced, no surgery. Pretty tough old dame, took tylenol and slept in a recliner a few months.


Edited: Really?

[stevej37]

Almost all of my early downhill skiing involved using a tow rope or a T-bar lift.
The T-bars were great because you didn't have to 'hang on'

[mjohnson]

T-bars and pomas are boarder-poison usually. I know Crested Butte has a poma running, and Wolf Creek has one that I've never seen run. Both are up really gnarly terrain but are basically wind-proof compared to a chairlift. I actually appreciate the surface lifts as they keep your blood pumping in the feet and legs.

I remember begging the dude at cannonsburg's t-bar to launch me by holding it back and stretching it until the last second. Big thrills, at least for a 10yo.