Is this the Golden Age?

[jack97]

I don't want to be the downer at the party, but is this as good is it gets?
Oh, and we get to discuss all this on a great forum

IMO, the best is ahead of us..... some at NASA hypothesize the sun is going into hibernation, aka a solar minimum. If so, most regions will have longer winters and more snow. I'm thinking of getting some avi gear.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

IMHO the 70's were the golden age for the sport, it is when skiing grew into a lifestyle, freestyle was still free, the sport still had style, ski areas were everywhere and lift tickets were cheap.

You hit the ball out of Fenway with your comments. Let me make a skiing-to-food analogy.

Skiing in the early 1970s at Bridger and Alta was like eating Italian seafood at restaurants in North Boston run by families from Florence is. Delicious. Skiing Alf's High Rustler in 10-12 inches of freshly-fallen powder with your 205 cm Kästle CPM 50s at 10 am on a weekday = eating fresh calamari seasoned with the best Florentine spices at "Leonardo's" on Hanover Street. Mouthwateringly good.

Skiing in Colorado now is like eating at the food court at the Mall of America. Lotta people, lotta choices, adequate food. Do you get the double quarter pounder with cheese meal at McDonald's, the double chalupa box at Taco Bell, or the footlong Black Forest ham and cheese meal deal at Subway? You probably go with the quarter pounder meal. A Saturday at Breck.

the gear is eons better than it has ever been and we have the best ski site and community on the planet.

IMO jackets are better now and sweaters were better in the 1970s.

 

[Philpug]

/end thread.

 

[raisingarizona]

The 90’s were fun. Fat skis changed everything. Freestyle came back in a big way. Johnny Moseley took a risk at the Olympics. I was in my twenties and was as free as can be, ski bumming and skiing powder every day I could.

 

[Bolder]

As they say about the present, not as good as it was but better than it will be.

The Golden Age of anything is always a time before you were there. So this is going to be someone's Golden Age.

Having said that, of course not, for me. The Golden Age of skiing was a time when there was more snow (thanks, ozone layer, for giving up so easily!) and when costs were lower. Equipment may be objectively "better" now, but we didn't miss what we didn't know existed. For me, late 70s to mid-80s. But, yeah, lift lines were way worse.

 

[Jack skis]

Alta powder skiing in 1974! Soundtrack by B.W. Stevenson and skiing with rotation, maybe Dipsy Doodle. Might not have been the Golden Age but good times for sure.

 

[Jim Kenney]

I'm with those expressing the positive thoughts. I've had a lot of great ski days, but I have to believe the best is yet to come. That's what keeps me coming out there. I feel very fortunate to be reaching my retirement years at the same time we have all these cheap multi-resort passes. It's super enabling for senior ski-tourists.

Fun at Blue Knob, PA in early years

Kicking it at Hunter, NY in the middle years

Snowbasin, UT with latter year bro-brahs.

 

[Bad Bob]

It is interesting to skiing something in this age and feel like you are linking up some pretty good turns with a goofy grin. Wondering, 'do I look like the old has been ski instructors I used to see out there during my prime?'

These are the best times we've got right now.

 

[surfacehoar]

I like the way the trend is going. I think more people than ever are looking to get away from the "saturday at breck" meal deal. Equipment for touring the backcountry is getting better every year. The backcountry huts are full, the highway passes are getting tracked out. People are valuing a more genuine ski experience.

 

[Andy Mink]

A 30-45 minute wait on a main double chairlift was common on weekends during the 1970s.

When I moved to Reno in '82 I remember skiing all day and getting maybe a dozen or 15 runs in. Then they bumped from a fixed quad to a detachable and I remember thinking, "DAMN! I'm tired and it's only noon!". You definitely can get a days worth of skiing in by noon with the high speed chairs on a weekday. Ride up, ski down, repeat.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

"DAMN! I'm tired and it's only noon!". You definitely can get a days worth of skiing in by noon with the high speed chairs on a weekday. Ride up, ski down, repeat.

I was a 7-run man at MJ at 32.

1. Knee bends and jumping jacks in the parking lot.
2. 2 warm-up runs.
3. 3 peak runs. Muscles warm. Brain and muscles in sync. Not yet tired.
4. 2 wrap-up runs. Probably a mistake because bad habits are born during wrap ups.

Alta should start selling half-day tickets (9 am - 1 pm) for $30.

 

[Posaune]

Been skiing since '65, and the "golden age" for me was from when I retired ('08) to now, since the equipment is much better than the old days and I can ski the weekdays at will.

 

[SecretAgentMan]

"I wish someone would find me
And help me gain control
Before I lose my reason
And my soul

He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse
He's King Midas with a curse
He's King Midas in reverse"

It's about The Gold.

 

[headybrew]

I love the enthusiasm in here but my pessimistic outlook disagrees, glad there is balance in the world. As I see it our cheap airfare and multi-resort passes are letting us pick the carcass clean, the golden age is long gone.

I wonder what skiing through an old growth forest would have been like?

 

[newfydog]

In general, life is better than it ever has been, and if you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, transport yourself, let me say one single word: “dentistry” - PJ O'Rourke, All the Trouble in the World

I would add "high speed detachable quads" to the list.

 

[dbostedo]

Alta should start selling half-day tickets (9 am - 1 pm) for $30.

That's more than a half-day, and well under half the cost! If only.

Locally here in the mid-A, several resorts offer 4 hour or 8 hour tickets, and the difference in price is less than $10 (on a $60-$75 ticket depending on the day).

 

[Carl]

I've had a lot of great ski days since I started in 1974. I've been lucky to ski all over the US and some in Europe. But the best days I've had is when I skied with my daughters as they were growing up. Those are some of the best memories in my life. Although they are all grown up and have busy lives, we do get out together occasionally and I cherish those days!

 

[SecretAgentMan]

I've had a lot of great ski days since I started in 1974. I've been lucky to ski all over the US and some in Europe. But the best days I've had is when I skied with my daughters as they were growing up. Those are some of the best memories in my life. Although they are all grown up and have busy lives, we do get out together occasionally and I cherish those days!

@Carl hits "the nail on the head" with his post. Skiing with your children when they are young will certainly result in you and your children having golden memories about skiing for the rest of your lives. Fathers, find the time to take your sons skiing.

 

[Seldomski]

Make Skiing Great Again!

 

[Roundturns]

I'm with those expressing the positive thoughts. I've had a lot of great ski days, but I have to believe the best is yet to come. That's what keeps me coming out there. I feel very fortunate to be reaching my retirement years at the same time we have all these cheap multi-resort passes. It's super enabling for senior ski-tourists.

Fun at Blue Knob, PA in early years
View attachment 59147

Kicking it at Hunter, NY in the middle years
View attachment 59148

Snowbasin, UT with latter year bro-brahs.

I'm with those expressing the positive thoughts. I've had a lot of great ski days, but I have to believe the best is yet to come. That's what keeps me coming out there. I feel very fortunate to be reaching my retirement years at the same time we have all these cheap multi-resort passes. It's super enabling for senior ski-tourists.

Fun at Blue Knob, PA in early years
View attachment 59147

Kicking it at Hunter, NY in the middle years
View attachment 59148

Snowbasin, UT with latter year bro-brahs.

Love the Fisher ALU's at BK Were those ALU's mounted withSalomon 4444's. I am the same vintage and still loving it, but never got up in the air like you in the Hunter pic! Thanks for sharing. Great stuff . A lifetime of fun.