This brings another Retro-Ski season to an end. Thank you to all my readers. I appreciate your feedback, it keeps me going! This year I’ll wrap up the season with a quote from 104 year old Klaus Obermeyer: “The longer you ski, the longer you live ..read more

The Mountain Road here in Stowe is known for its après ski establishments! A skiing buddy of mine, the late John Fox, had been on the ski patrol at Glen Ellen before joining the Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol. He always said his wife couldn’t understand why it took him longer to get back to his home in South Burlington from Stowe than it had from Glen Ellen! But other ski areas have memorable après ski spots as well. So where was the Salty Dog? That would be in Jeffersonville just off the Smuggs’ mountain road. Norma Stancliffe was quick to identify Smuggs as the ski area near the Salty Dog. She ..read more

What Vermont ski area had a nearby bar called the Salty Dog ..read more

Wow! This ski season is going out with a bang! Getting arguably our biggest snowfall of the season in April triggered memories of another big April storm from years ago! Friends will tell you I have often shared stories of the amazing April skiing from that storm. I knew it was in the 1970s, but I really wasn’t sure what specific year it was. So I consulted the Mount Mansfield Snow Stake data! Matt Parrilla maintains an excellent website (https://matthewparrilla.com/mansfield-stake/) that graphically presents the historic stake data back to 1955! The underlying data comes from the National Wea ..read more

The FIS is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024: What does FIS stand for ..read more

The 1960 American International Ski Race program included articles on a variety of topics. One article was entitled “The Metal Ski” and I believe it was written by the editor Frank Springer-Miller since there was no other byline. The article indicates that people began experimenting with metal skis since about 1940 and without mentioning Howard Head by name, credits him with bringing the “scientific method” to the design of metal skis. The article highlighted the advantages of the metal skis, “it turns much easier, is definitely superior in deep and rough snow, and requires little attention ..read more

At the 1988 Calgary Olympics what ski brand won 4 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals? a)Atomic    b)Head    c)Kastle    d)Rossignol ..read more

Frank Springer lent me a copy of the program for the 1960 American International Alpine Ski Races held in Stowe. The program was designed and edited by his grandfather Frank Springer-Miller. Frank Springer-Miller arrived in New York City in the 1920s and got a job as a graphics artist for a major ad agency.  While in New York, he would meet his wife Louise who was another German émigré.  They would have two children, Fred and Madi. The family loved to come to Vermont for hiking and skiing since it reminded them of their homes.  Eventually the Springer-Millers bought a farm hous ..read more

I have found a new “pet peeve” this ski season. Regular readers of this column may remember for the past couple of seasons my “pet peeve” has been people who don’t look up the hill before starting down the trail! That’s number 4 on the Skiers Responsibility Code!  It’s not that people have improved in regard to that rule, I’ve just gotten so used to it that I don’t get as upset when it happens. I’ve even started doing it myself! Oops! My new “pet peeve” is people who block the entrance to the lift mazes, particularly on the Quad. I’m not talking about when the lift lines overflow the maze ..read more

Where were the 1994 Winter Olympics held ..read more