Power Ridge Rides Again!

For the first time in seven years the lights are on at Powder Ridge!  Ok, so many New England ski areas boast vertical drops of over  2,000 feet; and most are over  1,000, but still, the 22 trails, reaching 525 feet in the air, are a welcome re-appearance on the Connecticut skiing landscape.

First opened as Powder Hill in 1959, when people thought nothing of walking uphill in order to ski down, the new Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort will aim to make up in enthusiasm what it lacks in size.  The area has a history of innovation.  It opened the first four-person chair lift in New England in the 1970s and at the start of that decade the owners tried to leverage the off season qualities of a ski park to host a Woodstock-esque rock concert.  Pressure from area residents cancelled the concert, but crowds came anyway.   Big ideas continue to drive the new owner with year-round activities planned that include mountain biking, swimming, hiking, obstacle navigation, and tubing—in addition to snowboarding and old-fashioned skiing.  Multiple bars and restaurants might even make Powder Ridge, (easily accessible from interstate 91) a destination for socializing without any outdoor foreplay.

Two-thousand foot runs like the top-to-bottom trails at Powder Ridge can be thought of as small skiing.  But skiing small has its place.  Skiing small in Connecticut can mean skiing in the evening after work instead of watching reality TV, or running on a treadmill.  Skiing small can mean having time to learn to ski on a weekend afternoon after doing chores in the morning, and without the expense of an overnight away.  Skiing small can mean kids learning to ski even when moms or dads have no interest.  Skiing small can mean an urban high school student entertaining Olympic dreams. 

So, good for Powder Ridge!  And Mohawk Mountain, and Mount Southington, and Sundown and Woodbury.  These are places to play in the snow, to be outdoors, to stay close to home.  These are great places to ski! 

I love this graphic from the October 2011 issue of Ski Magazine!

What a great winter we had in the Northeast.  Whatever your reason, see you on the slopes next winter!

Tenth Mountain Musing

One winter in the 1990s I had the privilege of witnessing a reunion of WWII era Tenth Mountain Division soldiers when the New England Chapter of the National Association of the Tenth held its annual winter gathering at Mt. Cranmore in New Hampshire. Active duty mountain soldiers from Fort Drum, New York, joined the older men in an on-skis parade down the mountain before they mingled with other skiers and took part in the Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race, a benefit event for the New England Ski Museum. Part of the museum’s mission is to remember the 10th Mountain Division whose members were heroes in the European war theater and ski industry pioneers when they returned home.

While American skiing took off in earnest after the 1936 Winter Olympics, where Hitler showcased his country’s athletes and facilities, the sport had been attracting enthusiastic thrill seekers for years before that event. At least one group of Massachusetts farm boys benefited from Roosevelt’s depression era Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) when the Corp cleared a ski trail on Mt Greylock, outside Adams, MA. Rudy Konieczny and his brother were known to engage in moonlit hikes to the top of the hill and daring night time races back down. The lives of Rudy and two of his friends form the basis of the book The Boys of Winter Life and Death of the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War by Charles Sanders.

The first official trail, and the first American rope tow In Woodstock VT, put the eastern U.S. mountains in the spotlight, but even more historic was the meeting that was held at Bromley Mountain lodge in 1940. Four original “rock stars” of skiing, Minnie Dole, founder of the National Ski Patrol, Rodger Langley, first president of the National Ski Association, Robert Livermore, 1936 Olympic ski racer and Harvard grad, and Alex Bright, a Boston ski club member, together decided to lobby Washington to create a mountain division like the one that helped the tiny Finnish army hold their own against the great Russian machine in the rugged European mountains. Though never truly convinced of their need, George C. Marshall, Roosevelt’s Army Chief of Staff finally agreed to create a mountain division that would be recruited by the National Ski Patrol and include outdoor guides, mountain climbers, skiers, and other men who could live in the wilderness under extreme winter conditions.

Recruits included college and Olympic ski team members and coaches, mountain climbers and a few gifted athletes who were not skiers when they joined up. Some Europeans who were in the States to coach or teach established their citizenship in America just to join the Tenth. Though they developed techniques and gear that revolutionized the mountain experience (and later spurred commercial skiing in America) initially their potential role was not evident to the generals planning combat strategies. But late in the war, as American troops faced a stalemate in the battle with Italy, the Tenth Mountain Division did the impossible and climbed the Ria Ridge, in the cold dark cover of night. With no artillery support they fought and beat the elite German mountain soldiers holding Mt. Belvedere. Their surprise tactic and spirited audacity opened passage to the Po Valley.

During the winter and spring of 1945 the Tenth continued to push through the mountains with “stealth and verve and daring” as recorded in the diary of soldier Harris Dusenbury. They suffered heavy losses, 25 percent becoming casualties—the highest average casualty rate suffered in the Italian campaign. And yet, when Germany surrendered in May of 1945, these troops celebrated with at least as much enthusiasm as any other division---with a spring ski race on the mountainous border of Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia.

A love of the outdoors was instilled in the men of the Tenth as a result of both their training and their action. They brought that love home with them and taught a nation how to have fun, outdoors in extreme conditions. Their legacy was so much more than battles won. They brought a kind of fun to America’s hills and mountains that creates unique cross generational bonds among families and friends--relationships forged in the lodge by the fireplace and strengthened on the mountain in the elements.

Ski-Literacy

Well! Hiatus is over! For the past year I have been focused on completing the dissertation for an educational leadership degree. With that project on information literacy completed just in time for ski season, I am energized to do a little “blogging.”

Two recent expeditions, one to Mt Washington at Thanksgiving time, and another to the Traveler Restaurant yesterday, brought thoughts of “skiing literacy” to mind. In the recently renovated Mt Washington Hotel, now an Omni resort, the long wide hallways on the lower level provide a suitable gallery for poster-sized framed photos of early skiers -- on the slopes and in nostalgic après ski settings. In the restaurant, tables are arranged around long shelves filled with books and customers are invited to take up to three for free with the purchase of a meal. The skiing books displayed were written by such superstars as Billy Kidd and Jean-Claude Killy, next to Picabo Street’s autobiography Nothing to Hide.

The photos and the books are evidence that everything about the sport has changed and yet the essence is the same! Solid wood skis have morphed into today’s combinations of wood, foam, fiberglass, metals and composites; leather boots have been replaced by plastic ones; ski poles of bamboo are transformed by carbon fiber and graphite. Even the clothing—in one picture ski instructors are posing in their Nordic wool sweaters and knit stretch pants—can now be considered chic and warm without a natural fiber woven into the cloth. And where did the pompom adorned hats go? Are they tucked under high impact proof helmets? Being able to make comparisons—either because of knowledge that comes from experience or understanding that comes from inquiry—between what was and what is, is an element of any literacy.

Modern alpine recreational skiing developed in earnest after WWII, which means that many of the pioneers of the day are still walking (and skiing) among us. Their artifacts adorn any self-respecting ski lodge, mountain home or ski-town tavern since their “discovery” has none of the drama of an archeological dig-- they just have to be brought up from the basement or down from the attic and dusted off. Familiarizing oneself with the heritage of this wonderful sport by reading, taking time to look at pictures, and learning what to call the sticks hanging on the wall, are ways to become ski-literate, and will only enhance the exhilarating ride down the mountain.