SKIING
HERITAGE

SKIINSKIINsk

The Story of Modern Skiing
by John Fry
University Press of New England
2006 • 408 pp. 90 illus. 6 x 9"
Sports & Recreation / History

$27.95 Cloth, 1-58465-489-9
Signed copy from ISHA $31.95 with shipping (see offer below)

A remarkable memoir and history of the sport. - Jean-Claude Killy.

John Fry's entertaining account puts into perspective all of
the aspects of the sport and the business of skiing. - Billy Kidd.

Great, perceptive insights into the world of racing, the Olympics, the World Cup, ski publishing, and the growth of skiing as an industry and a sport, told with wit, warmth and personal introspection and incisiveness. --Doug Pfeiffer, “Father of freestyle skiing.”

The Story of Modern Skiing is the definitive account of the revolution in ski equipment, technique, resorts and competition that took place after World War II – a period when the sport changed more rapidly than in all of skiing's previous 6,000 years. Consummate insider John Fry, who as editor of Ski and Snow Country magazines witnessed the progress of the sport in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia, chronicles the rise of a ski culture and the beginnings of freestyle, snowboarding, extreme skiing, and the surge in cross-country skiing. He looks closely at skiing’s relationship to the environment, its portrayal in the media, and its response to social and economic change.

The 408-page book traces the origins of the carved turn and the shaped ski, and the intimate link between equipment innovations and ski technique change. It contains 86 pictures and maps locating major resorts, records of ski champions, a timeline, bibliography, glossary, and an index of more than a thousand names and places.

The Story of Modern Skiing is laced with revelations from the author’s personal relationships with skiing greats, such as triple Olympic gold medalists Toni Sailer and Jean-Claude Killy, double gold medalist and environmental champion Andrea Mead Lawrence, first women’s World Cup winner Nancy Greene, World Alpine champion Billy Kidd, Sarajevo gold and silver medalists Phil and Steve Mahre, and industry pioneers such as Vail founder Pete Seibert, metal ski designer Howard Head, and plastic boot inventor Bob Lange.

WINNER OF ISHA's 2007 ULLR AWARD

• Information on 1,150 important people, organizations and places that created the sport.
• Skiing’s greatest innovations and events, and the years they happened.
• Histories of technique, freestyle, snowboarding, environmental confrontation.
• Glossary of 130 present-day and historic ski terms. Olympic medalists of all time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface • When It Happened • Where It Happened • People and Place • Genesis • A Way of Life • From Rope Tow to Resort • Technique and Equipment: Partners in Progress • A Revolution in Equipment • Technique: From Stem to Carve • New Ways to Learn • Alpine Competition • The World of Alpine Racing • How Skiing Changed the Olympics • Racing in America • Diversity: New Disciplines, Old Ones Restored • Cross-Country • Extremities • Freestyle • Snowboarding • The Culture and Business of Skiing • “The Industry” • In Print • In Movies, On Television • The New Ski Country • Afterword • Acknowledgments • Appendix: Top World Cup and Olympic Racers • Extensive Footnotes and Endnotes • Glossary • Bibliography • Index of Names and Places

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. The former Editor of SKI Magazine and Snow Country, John Fry was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1995. He launched Nastar (National Standard Ski Race), The Nations Cup of alpine ski racing, and the Graduated Length Method of teaching. He has received the FIS (International Ski Federation) Journalism Award, and lifetime achievement awards from the International Skiing History Association and from the North American Snowsports Journalists Association.

The book is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the publisher's (www.upne.com) websites, and in book stores in the U.S. and Canada. If you want to buy a personally inscribed copy from the author, mail a check, made out to ISHA, for $31.95 (includes shipping within U.S.; add $4 for Canada, $7 for Europe) to: Hugh Harley, International Skiing History Association, 530 Cheese Factory Rd., So. Burlington, VT 05403.

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT
THE STORY OF MODERN SKIING

“Wooden skis and leather boots gave way to metal and fiberglass skis and plastic boots. Chairlifts eclipsed rope tows. Ski trains lost out to cars and planes. Condo sales became as crucial to the bottom line as skiers buying lift tickets. Throughout these changes, as documented in John Fry’s The Story of Modern Skiing, Americans have maintained their passion for zooming down a snowy slope.” -- The Associated Press.

“Fry is such an engaging story teller and tour guide that I kept picking up the book from my bedside table. . .Fun and informative reading for anyone who loves the sport.” – Bob Ward, Aspen Times Weekly.

“A page turner. . as much of a joy as skiing itself.” -- Ski Racing Magazine.

“It is a rare pleasure to read an in-depth report from someone who has been at the heart of the skiing world and has himself influenced its development.” – Ski and Board Magazine, England.

“The biggest hole in ski history libraries until recently was the lack of a general history of skiing over the last fifty years. John Fry stepped up to the plate and hit the ball out of the park with his The Story of Modern Skiing.” -- Morten Lund in Skiing Heritage Magazine.
“A superb job. Every skier interested in the evolution of skiing will want this book in the home library.” – Dick Dorworth, The New West.

“It doesn't just set the record straight, it sets the record." -- Michael Berry, President, National Ski Areas Association.

"It's impressive how much Fry actually does pack into a volume that would fit in a skier's backpack along with a couple of sandwiches. Modern Skiing is full of helpful timelines, appendices and glossaries, along with ski trivia." --Seven Days, Vermont

“This is the definitive history of skiing over the last fifty years.” -- About Skiing

“The Story of Modern Skiing" belongs under every serious skier's Christmas tree."
-- Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine.

“The perception is immediate, as fresh in the mind as that last run through powder snow.” – Charlie Meyers, award-winning ski journalist, in Skiing Heritage Magazine.

"John Fry . . . has written a thorough and entertaining history of the sport's growth. . .he touches on what seems to be every aspect of skiing's growth." --Vermont Life Magazine

"Fry takes you through the advent of lifts and snowmaking, the glory days of freestyle, the ups and downs of ski racing, and what skiing has meant to life, the environment and the economy. Fry's love and deep understanding of the sport comes through page after page."-- Boston Herald

“An exceptionally well-written encyclopedic account that not only becomes the standard in its field, but sets the standard for future historians of any sporting endeavor. Fry's superb book covers the explosive growth of both recreational and competitive skiing with the sharp eye of the veteran insider for telling detail, ranging from the wholesome outdoors to the hedonistic indoors of apres ski.” --Robert H. Boyle, author and former Sports Illustrated editor, Amazon book reviews.

“This is a book that tells the whole story, how the parts fit together, and it reads so well and so easily that at times it seems like a novel.” --Tom Corcoran, former Olympian and ski resort owner, Amazon review.

“A fascinating book by an excellent story teller who has been chronicling the ski scene for half a century. – Phil Johnson, The Recorder, Amsterdam, NY.

“Fry’s knowledge of skiing is unparalleled. No aspect of the sport goes unexamined. Highly recommended.” – CHOICE, a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

JOURNAL OF ISHA, THE INTERNATIONAL SKIING HISTORY ASSOCIATION
The International Skiing History Association is a not-for-profit corporation, whose mission is to preserve and advance the knowledge of ski history and to increase public awareness of the sport's heritage.

ISHA, 530 Cheese Factory Rd., So. Burlington VT 05403 802-985-1283
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