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Arlberg skis

LeVieuxCrouton

Getting on the lift
Skier
Joined
Apr 26, 2017
Posts
180
Well ...

Here is a nice story .

I will be 65 in August ...
I was born dirt poor but my father had illusions about our social standing so , when I was 8 , he decided to buy me a pair of skis and boots ... only t go the the Plains of Abraham where you could find a 50 ft hill cleared of trees .
He arrived home one day with a pair of Alberg skis and a pair of Sears boots .
The boots were way too big and I did not know anything about skiing so skis ... what about skis ??
The next Saturday we went to the Plains and , in the car , I was unable to tie the laces of my boots ... He did it for me ...
Then the skis ... no one in the family knew about skiing ( my mother and young brother were there with a '' traine sauvage '' ) ... so we had to look at what other people were doing .
I tied and tried and tried ...
I was totally unable to bend forward to snap down the front lever . In fact I was unable to bend and place the cable behind my boots !!!!!
Too chubby and no flexibility at all ...............
My father arranged everything and , without more instructions , pushed me down the slope ...
I went 50 feet then cartwheeled the balance of the hill .

Up I tried to go ... no way ... I had to wait for my father ...

The same happened again and again that afternoon .
And the next Saturday afternoon .
And the next one too ...

My father was going down with the '' Traine Sauvage '' with my brother and , on the last saturday , he flew off a bump and landed on his coccyx ...
A broken coccyx ... no more sledding ... and no more skiing for Jean Pierre ... and : ''anyway he is not good at it ... probably could get the hang of it ... '' .

So the skiing aquipment went into a closet ...
I tried to use it two years later - once - going with some friends to Mt Lauzon .
It was a total disaster ... I am convinced the people skiing there at the time remember my only descent ... Could it be that I did 10 ft on my legs , hit a bump and cartwheeled ( rotation and translation ) down the entire slope ? I don't remember clearly because , at the bottom , I was in a daze .

The skis and boots went into the closet again .
Forever I wished !

My mother , after a few years , gave away the skis to her brother who had a lot of children .

I went on to rediscover skiing on my own at 16 , not chubby anymore ....

The skis ?
Never saw them again .
I travelled , lived outside the country , married , had a son , my mother and father passed away and I stopped seeing my mother's family around the time I restarted skiing .

Never a thought about my old equipment ...

This January , I received a message in my blog ... I write about skiing and climbing and surfing ... I wrote for magazines and I also wrote books ...

Someone was saying that she was my second cousin and that she had , in her summer home , a pair of skis belonging to me !!
Would I be interested ?

Obviously I said yes ....
But the virus stopped the reunion as the skis were at the end of a very confined province .

Yesterday I went to see her ... near Mont Lauzon ... and I NOW HAVE MY OLD SKIS ...
58 years +/- after the first time I tried to snap the spring lever .

Here they are ...
As you can see , the tumbles got to their skins !
But why is there no Arlberg section in the ski's manufacturers list ?

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graham418

Skiing the powder
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3,460
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Toronto
Thats an awesome story. I had the same skis, but mine were blue. It says plastic base, but I think it was only yellow paint!! My first boots were made of some kind of rubberized material (Sears? Probably Canadian Tire) Thank God I grew out of them in one season... They were cold!!
 

Bad Bob

I golf worse than I ski.
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Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
5,843
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West of CDA South of Canada
Great story! Thank you for posting it.

Sometimes our past follows us; or maybe we follow our past.

I don't know that brand of ski, but the name "Arlberg" was used by many ski manufacturers. My Arlberg skis were made by A and T (Anderson and Thompson) in the U.S. Were black and first cousins to yours. Skied them in the early 60's. Don't keep much ski memorabilia, but if I had those old black skis, they would be mounted prominently on the wall.
 

Jack skis

Ex 207cm VR17 Skier
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Nov 16, 2015
Posts
886
Location
Fidalgo Island, WA
Arlberg was a great name for skis back in the day, Many of us even skied in the Arlberg Technique. Worked in a ski shop in the late 50's in to the late 60's and sold lots of A & T skis (and other products), but don't remember if any of the skis were labeled Arlberg. The wooden A & T skis we sold were all made in Japan. You could buy a pair with bindings for $30.00. Pretty good sksi at the time.
 

Sethmasia

Putting on skis
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Nov 6, 2018
Posts
38
Location
Paonia, Colorado
These were imported by Alcock Laight & Westwood (AL&W -- note the logo on the tips and bindings). AL&W began in the UK in the 19th century to export fish hooks to Canada, and in the 1920s began manufacturing fishing tackle in Toronto. In the postwar years they became a general sporting goods catalog house. These skis were certainly made in Japan.
 

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
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Nov 9, 2015
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7,484
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Breckenridge, CO
I love it! What a great story.
 
Thread Starter
TS
LeVieuxCrouton

LeVieuxCrouton

Getting on the lift
Skier
Joined
Apr 26, 2017
Posts
180
Yesyesyes ... the boots came from Sears !!
I remember now ... and they were made of a kind of rubber that was getting stiffer with the cold ... Not SX-91 Equipe at all !

So I know more about the skis , thanks Seth .
I pretty much supposed it was the case considering the Yamaha I have and the other pair we discussed in early winter .
It would be fun to have lunch with you ... Maybe one of these days . If I can get out of my country ...

Yes , the story is nice ... it could be better if I took my time . I wrote it in Franch this afternoon for my blog and it is much better ... a first draft is always a first draft .

Thank you all !
 
Thread Starter
TS
LeVieuxCrouton

LeVieuxCrouton

Getting on the lift
Skier
Joined
Apr 26, 2017
Posts
180
And, again , yes ...

It is yellow paint on the bottom .
Does not seems slicker than the top , far from it .

I checked the story of Alcock Laight & Westwood in Canada .
You must find the story about the murder of the son of one of the owner ...
Incredible !

Thank you !
 

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