Posted:
11/29/2016 4:13:08 PM
by Seth Masia
In the American Ski Annual for 1945-46, Phil Robertson, manager of Mt. Cranmore, described using an agricultural roller in the fall of 1939 to pack down the early season snow so it would freeze to the ground and make a solid base for later snowfalls. The resort used a small Caterpiller tractor to haul the roller.
Posted:
11/24/2016 12:06:59 PM
A Little History
The National Ski Area’s Association (NSAA) first adopted a system of signage in the winter of 1964-65. Before that, as if skiing on wooden boards with leather boots wasn’t hard enough, it was every man for himself. The colors they used were different than today and also conflicted with the colors used in Europe. American Resorts used yellow to designate intermediate trails and the French used red because, well who knows why—they’re French. The Walt Disney Company was considering opening a ski resort and did studies and tests on which colors worked best. They came up with the current green circle for easiest runs, a blue square for intermediate, black diamond for advanced and double black diamonds for expert. This system was adopted by the NSAA 3 years later in 1968 and has stuck ever since.
Posted:
11/15/2016 4:33:43 PM
Considering the attention that Colorado’s mines and railroads get from authors, it’s rather surprising how little attention is given to the history of our current major mountain industry — skiing.