SNOWWRITER.COM
| • home |
| SKI INSTRUCTORS CONFIDENTIAL EXCERPTS |
| Glazed or Powdered Sugar? |
In the early days of skiing, people often had problems with their anklebones rubbing against the inside of their leather boots. The remedy was to put a “donut” over the affected area. Donuts were made of a thick rubber material with a hole in the middle and had an adhesive backing so that you could stick them directly to your skin. One day, a group of instructors were enjoying lunch with their classes at Mid-Vail when one of the students complained that her boots were hurting her. Thinking it might be a wrinkle in her sock, I asked her to take off her boots so I could have a look. As she pulled off her boot, a handful of crumbs fell out onto the floor. Puzzled, I asked, “What’s this coming out of your boot?” “Well,” she said, “The last time I took a lesson here, I told the instructor my ankles were rubbing against the inside of my boots.” “He told me to stick a donut on them.” Bob Gagne Vail, Colorado |
A Fish Tale |
We didn’t always have November snow in Minneapolis. There were no guarantees for December, either. If we didn’t have snow by the first week in January, we would really start to get nervous and have to resort to some very creative measures just to get our mountain open for business. One year, we had an inordinately large number of students register in advance for ski school classes. And it still hadn’t snowed. So, for the first few days, we put them into their equipment and had them walk around on dry land. As the week progressed, it was obvious to everyone, including the students, that we wouldn’t be seeing snow any time soon. Back in the days before the snowmaking machine, desperate times called for desperate measures. About ten miles from our resort, the Minneapolis Park board operated an ice skating rink on what was usually a pond during the rest of the year. In order to smooth out the skating surface, they would shave the surface of the pond with a makeshift Zamboni, pushing the ice shavings to the side of the rink. We came up with the idea of hauling all of those ice shavings out to our resort and spreading them over the grass. Then, we’d smooth them out and our guests would be able to ski on them. During one of the classes on the shavings, a young girl hit something in the ice and took a nasty fall. I rushed over to the fallen student to see if she was all right. The girl said, “I fell on a fish head!” I looked at her and said, “Excuse me, sweetheart? You fell on a what?” Once again, the young girl insisted, “I fell on a F-I-S-H H-E-A-D.” Apparently, when the park maintenance workers gathered up the ice shavings from the pond, a fish frozen in the water came with it. With the help of a truck, the fish had migrated to our resort to become part of the beginner’s terrain. Jimmy Johnston Naples, Florida |
Too Late Mate |
During the early 1970’s I was working as supervisor for our ski school. Part of my duties included touring the beginner’s classes and offering assistance when needed.
|