Goodbye from Crighton
I wonder if I may use your column to say goodbye to my many friends in the ski industry?
It will not be a sad letter. The joys of life, like good wine, are to be savoured in the moment of tasting, not regretted when they are spent. As I sit down to compose this epilogue, my memories are far too agreeable to be tinged with any touch of remorse.
Without doubt my most vivid memory is of people . . . straight, open, sincere, generous, cheerful, friendly, no-nonsense people . . . people whose very souls seem to have been cleansed and insulated against city-slickness by the heady air of their mountain habitat. I am tempted to name them one by one as they cross my mind, but the list would be too long and the risk of affront to one friend, momentarily forgotten, too great.
To all, then, all the inhabitants of ski country . . . to the legendary heroes and the struggling entrepreneurs . . . to customers, so blunt and caustic in the peak season, only to become docile and understanding in the spring . . . to early risers and to late-night revellers . . . to those I have worked with, drunk with, argued with and laughed with . . . to golf partners and tennis partners . . . to friendly competitors, distributors, directors, owners, managers, drivers, mechanics, lift operators, salesmen . . . I say thank you. Thank you for having brought me to beautiful places. Thank you for good fellowship. Thank you for an unforgettable chapter of my life, which is none the less rich for having been so abruptly curtailed.
May the industry continue to grow and to prosper. May it snow as it never snowed before . . . especially when I take a ski vacation!
For my part, I live by a credo which calls for a life full of episodes, each preferably in contrast to the last. In keeping with this, I expect to accept an entirely new challenge in Provincial public service.
Wonderful memories, new worlds to conquer, and no regrets. I hope we meet again.
Dick Crighton
Ed Note: Dick Crighton was Marketing Director for the Bombardier Industrial Division, and the supplier member of the NSAA Board of Directors.
Ad photo criticized
Sir:
The picture in SAM (Summer, page 5, Bethlehem Steel advertisement, left-hand photo) I believe needs a little professional comment.
The two men seated in the chairlift passing Tower No. 17 do not have the safety gate down. The ad publicizes Bretton Woods, N.H. Now in the state of New Hampshire, the safety code demands that chairlift gates or bars be down when occupied before the chair reaches the first tower. I remind you that the gentlemen in the pictures are 17 towers away from the bottom. That is over a mile.
I believe that if we are to have safety laws and ski patrols and lift attendants instructed to see to it that the public abides by these laws, we, the Fourth Estate to the trade, should be more alert as to photos which in essence tell the story.
I realize that in many states the safety bar is not a necessity. But, it is in New Hampshire — and a very good rule indeed!
Melvin W. Gurshin
“Let’s Go Skiing with Uncle Mel”
Laconia Evening Citizen
Ed. Note: Reader Gurshin is right about the New Hampshire code: the skier must use the safety gate. But, Uncle Mel’s eagle eye failed to notice the skiers’ upturned tips which suggest a landing approach, and that there are signs on the tower. Sure enough, the signs tell riders to raise the safety gate and prepare to unload.
