First Issue 2002 (March) Vol 14 #1

The first issue with new graphics, designed by Fionn Reilly, Heritage's graphic designer.

Cover: Clif Taylor in the photograph used on the cover of his 1964 book Ski In a Day, written by Morten Lund, the editor of Skiing Heritage then a contributing editor of Ski and photographed by Kim Massie, an outstanding ski photographer at the time. This was the first book in which the concept of graduating from short short skis to longer and longer skis was proposed, in side by side sequence photos showing a similar turn on three-foot, four-foot and five-foot skis.

Letter From The President: History, A Way to Revive the Sport President John Fry suggests that the ski industry use the history of the sport as a marketing tool. He also listed the ways in which ISHA supports the spread and preservation of ski history and referred to the support of the International Ski History Congress held in Park City in February by ISHA's undertaking to publish the papers delivered at the Congress.

Readers Respond: Kandahar Kapers on the origin of Kandahar as the name of the British Kandahar Challenge Cup; Remembering Greta Uhl: "the strudle lady" ran a mid-mountain Aspen restaurant for years; A letter about Alain Stump, the cover figure speed racer for the Third Issue 1999, saying he has a grandfather named Jacques who started the first independent Swiss ski school, The not so ancient Olympic flame turns out to be a concoction by Leni Riefestahl expressly acted out for her Olympiad film made at Hiltler's behest, contributed by Luanne Pfeifer; Norwegian memories by Erling Omland about childhood memories of the 1924 Olympic heroes, Thorleif Haug and Tullen Thams who won four golds and one bronze between them. From Iran to Utah, an Iranian alpine skier makes it to the 2002 Olympics, contributed by Kim Massie, Gluck in ungluck, by Peter Picard, about escaping by boat from the Germans via the trans-Siberian railroad and embarking at Vladivostock. "Are you still racing while other are racing?" was a Henke slogan referred to by Jimmy Davidson, in his thoughts on the vintage Henke ad for its buckle boots. Buchmayr's Querstprung, Heritage finds the famous picture of Siggi Buchmayr in a pole jump on the Tuckerman headwall. Ian Ferguson comments on the Lange story in his letter Wild Man Lange. Another memoir by 10th Mountain veteran Bob Carson on his life in skiing; triggered by the recollection that his kids went to school with Bob's in Boulder; A criticism of Lange boots by Robie Albouy recalled by Allen Mundt; Another letter on Lange by Bob Parker says that in the before-Lange era, there was lots of good skiing done on leather boots. The First North American Rope Tow, a letter form Peggy Johnson on the claims made on behalf of Moose Parquet to having built the first rope tow in North America, and countering claims by Betty Whitney to having seen a rope tow in the Laurentians in 1928.

The Strange Long History of the Short Ski by Morten Lund. The lead story goes from his first assignment to cover Taylor back to the research he has done on the pre-Taylor history of the short ski, beginning with the five foot Zdarsky ski in Austria at the turn of the 1900s, and the first short short ski, which was the firngleiter, or spring snow ski of the mountaineering skiers, including one patented by Emo Henrich, the head of the Stratton Mountain ski school. Then the text covers the kurzki of the Kitzbuhel ski school in a program that began in the 1950s under Karl Kolller, after it had been explored by older Kitzbuhelers. The next short ski of note was the goon ski, invented by an Olympic figure skater Jimmy Madden, who designed it and used it around Mt. Cranmore in North Conway. Then enters the last and most influential short ski teacher, Clif Taykir if Brattleboro Vermont who with the aid of Ski Magazine started a movement that brought short ski director parallel teaching, known now as GLM or Graduated Length Method, to a dozen American resorts before it faded away, but its influence is still felt in the adoption of short "ski blades" for learning at a number of American ski school currently.

Technique and Teaching: Surviving Schrittbogen A memoir by Stu Campbell, longtime head of the Stowe Ski School and Ski Magazine technical editor on his days as a college racer in the turmoil of the "reverse revolution" of which schrittbogen was a part., a step turn that put racers in a reverse position.. The story goes on to say that the Kruckenhauser books exaggerated the racers' reverse position, and his description of wedel in the 1957 Austrian Ski Teaching Plan, translated into English in 1958, influential in rethinking American technique and teaching.

Ski Industry: Decline and Fall By Seth Masia, executive editor A story on the U.S. ski manufacturing industry showing how the early American ski factories making hickory skis were replaced in the U.S. by Howard Head and his successors making aluminum skis, and then by the fiberglass skis. And although there were a dozen American ski makers who had come on the scene since the beginning, by the 1980s, all the existing ski makers were in trouble, partly from overproduction and partly from the effects of globalization, which sent the factories to third world countries both in the U.S and in Europe. The last attempt at U.S. ski making was set in motion by the Volant company, launched by Bucky Kashiwa. But eventually, Volant folded too under the pressure of third world competition. Currently there are no skis mass-produced in the U.S., and the few manufacturers are all boutique operations, like Steve Denker's Evolution Skis in Salt Lake and former Head Ski chief designer John Howe's Claw ski made in Maine.

Classic Gear: Binding Revolution By Wolfgang Lert. An appreciation by veteran skier Wolfgang Lert of the revolutionary Huitfeldt binding, invented in Norway in 1894, including the first-ever toe irons screwed to the ski itself, which set the concept later extended to a toe iron mortised directly through the ski. The binding was so sturdy that Amundsen chose it as the binding with which he became the first to ski to the South Pole. Combined with the Hoyer-Ellefsen lever heel strap buckle, its popularity lasted well through the 1920s and the principles of the toe iron fixed directly to the ski and lever tension for the heel strap was adapted by the most popular and universal binding in history, the Kandahar type binding in which the toe iron became a toe plate screwed directly to the top of the ski and the Ellefsen buckle became the front throw heel cable tensioning device.

Where Are They Now? By Seth Masia. Sketches of seven Vail pioneers. Earl Eaton, initial discoverer or the Vail terrain; Dick Hauserman, first permanent resident and first ski shop owner; Pete Seibert, the organizer of the first board and first Vail president; Bill Brown, the longtime mountain manager of Vail during its formative years; Dale and Renee Gorsuch, the owners of the second ski shop owners and currently the longest continuously operating merchant management in Vail;' Pepo Gramshammer, first innkeeper and restaurant owner, founder of Gasthof Grammshammer; Bob Parker, Vail's first publicity director and longtime marketing vice president.

Second Feature: An Avalanche of Ski History By Morten Lund. An account of the first International Ski History Congress in the U.S. held in February 2002 at Park City, Utah under academic organizer John Allen, retired professor of history at Plymouth College in New Hampshire and hosted by Ski Utah, the Mariot Library Ski Archives, and the Alf Engen Ski Museum.. It was declared an unqualified success after forty-two papers were delivered in four days of double-sessions. Papers were presented by thirty-two U.S. journalists, veteran skiers and historians, and ten presented by historians from abroad.

Looking Back: 30 years ago: Karl Schranz expelled by IOC head Avery Brundage. 40 years ago: an anecdote of Webb Moffet, owner of Snoqualmie; the 1962 FIS World Championsbip men's slalom at Chamonix won by Charles Bozon with Guy Perillat second. 50 years ago: Andy Mead Lawrence's double gold at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo; an anecdote by Doug Pfeiffer concerning a 1952 trip on Athabaska Glacier with Dick Holden and ISHA president John Fry.

Historic Lodges :Colorado's Ski Tip Lodge By Seth Masia. The founding by Max and Edna Dercum of Ski Tip Ranch in Dillon, the first classic ski lodge between Denver and Aspen, founded in 1949. The Dercums were foremost promoters of the sport in eastern Colorado for fifty years, helping to found both Arapahoe Basin and Keystone within a few miles east and west, respectively, of Ski Tip Ranch.

Skier's Bookshelf: How the English Made the Alps by John Ring. The story of the English on skis and on foot making the Western Alp Europe's prime mid-continent summer and winter recreation region. Winter Tales and Trails by Ron Watters. Stories from the early ski history of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Alta, Utah, A People's Story by Duane Shrontz. The personalities behind the first Wasatch resort, the seed ski area for the current ski complex in the Salt Lake City region of Utah. Last Breath by Peter Stark. True tales of the extreme perils of exploration including two cautionary narratives pertinent to snowsport- surviving avalanche on a snowboarding expedition and recovering from hypothermia after a backcountry skiing accident.

At The Museums: Park City International Ski History Congress By John Allen. An account of the event, and the meeting of the heads of the leading U.S. ski museums to discuss ways of cooperating for the greater goal of preserving ski history.

Remembering: Paulie Hannah By Seth Masia. The wife of trail designer Sel Hannah, Paulie was an early standout women racer; the two of them ran the ski Hearth Inn at Franconia, New Hampshire until Sel Hannah founded Snow Engineering, the earliest U.S. ski resort development consultants. Also remembered: Helmut Teichner-the ski school director at Wilmot, Wisconsin during the fifty years that followed his founding of the school in 1939, a major force in establishing skiing in the Midwest and the Midwest ski instructor organizations. Otto Frei and Hans "Rudi" Kuersteiner - Frei was director of the Snow Ridge ski school in the Catskills, Whiteface Mt. Race coach; Kuersteiner was an outstandkng instructor in organized ski school training in New York state. Warren Lowry-a dedicated stalwart of FIS officialdom who worked out the finer points of the international racer ranking system, former president of the U.S. Eastern Amateur Ski Association

Longthongs: Mighty Strange MacTaggart By Morten Lund. The incredible tale of a ski resort developer of Bear Mountain and Aspen Wildcat who fled with embezzled funds and then became the leading international hero of the environmental movement as head of Greenpeace for many years