“Slim” Davis
George Froehlich
We again sadly use these columns to record the passing of friends. The first, the legendary Wilfred “Slim” Davis, summed up his career when he retired from the Forest Service in 1973 in his typical no-nonsense style: “My career spans a period in which ski area development in the U.S. blossomed out rapidly, and gave me an opportunity to play a part in it. Loveland and Arapahoe were among the first; Kirkwood in California was the last. There are many inbetween…One of the rewards of my years in the Forest Service came from being able to get the wheels turning.”
He will not soon be forgotten, “That long, attenuated Norwegian,” (Steve Bradley’s words) who understood the ski recreation business so well, “and who had the guts to make intelligent decisions about it.”
Second, there is widely-loved George Froehlich, one of the giants of the National Ski Patrol, whose first patrolling was with the very first Ski Patrol at Mt. Mansfield. Like Davis, a lover and promoter of the sport, George devoted much of his life to its betterment.
These two stood for—and worked for—all that was good about our sport. They leave large shoes, indeed, to be filled.
Some rude thoughts on ski movies
I have often marvelled at the stamina of film reviewers, and none is more worthy of marvel than those whose special beat is the pornographic movie. I mean, can you imagine watching these things endlessly? The name of Al Goldstein comes to mind–the reviewer for Screw, whose favorable comments on the hardness of the porn are obviously important to management, since he is widely quoted in the ads for these movies.
Well, I think maybe I can sympathize because, as a judge in the “Ski Resort and Travel” classification of the International Ski Film Festival, I recently sat through four hours, 50½ minutes of ski movies at one sitting. Unless you, too, have survived something like this you cannot imagine the numbness that overcomes the mind, the torpor that overwhelms the spirit. Yes, Al Goldstein, my hat is off to you.
Mind you, we in the ski world have some pretty sturdy reviewers ourselves, and until I find a worthy challenger, I name Archer Winsten, ski writer and movie reviewer for the N.Y. Post, as the Al Goldstein of hard-core ski films. The newspaper strike was on, so Archer was able to go each night of the judging, and then saw five of the films a second time when the finalists were rescreened for Best Ski Film of 1978 award. That’s a total of 14 hours, 11½ minutes. Not only that: Archer actually enjoyed it and was ready or more. Yes, Archer, my hat is off to you, too!
What got to me in my modest stint was the godawful sameness. Most depressing was one called “Skiing the U.S.A.,” which was made for Pan Am to promote European ski travel to the Rockies. The story line had six Germans, on assignment in the U.S., begin a journey in Denver to ski the Colorado resorts and then head into Utah to ski Park City and Snowbird.
In the eyes of the producer there was obviously no difference whatsoever between one resort and another, except for Steamboat, where they had a stagecoach and wore Western hats. Otherwise, it was up to the top of a mountain, then down it in endlessly boring short-linked turns, into a bar for some ritual jollity and then on to the next area.
The winner in the Ski Resort and Travel Film category was a spectacularly beautiful film called “Heli-Skiing” by Dick Barrymore. It was, perhaps, an unfair choice, because, let’s face it, those thousands of square miles of unspoiled mountains and that fabulous deep powder skiing break down any judge’s sense of judicial values.
But, I have complaints even with “Heli-Skiing.” First of all, it was too long. It still would have won at half the length and would have been a better film. Also, the script tried to tell us about the differences between the five heli-skiing mountain ranges filmed–the Bugaboos, Cariboos, Monashees, Bobbie Burns and the Selkirks–but the camera failed to support this visually. It was the same thing all the way through–beautiful, but the same, and ultimately boring. Up to the top and then those rhythmic linked turns: up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right. God, how I longed to see someone swoop into a great big, long, sexy turn! But no; it was up, down, up, down, up, down, never missing a beat from top to bottom. Sometimes we got a slow motion version of the same thing: up, down, up, down, up, down. And sometimes there were close-ups and other different camera angles of the same thing: up, down, up, down, up, down.
And then it came to me–the flash of insight. I had seen it all before at the hard-core porn flicks: the endlessly repeated movements, the close-ups, the slow-motion interludes. The “sexplicit” films of West 42nd Street were the “skiplicit” films I was watching and trying to judge.
With my new insights in hand, the rest of the evening was relatively easy. If the scriptwriter tried to deviate from the hard-core stuff and do something original, the rating went down. “A Love Affair with Aspen,” for instance, attempted a story line about a photographer from Skiing magazine (male) who is teamed up with a local Aspen writer (female) to do a story for the magazine, and, well, you know the rest. The film even threw in a few women’s lib battle cries for good measure. But all that creative stuff got in the way and destroyed it as a “skiplicit” film.
The same thing happened with “Tale of the Cold Smoke,” a promotional movie about Montana’s Bridger Bowl, masquerading as a bit of whimsical Western history. No good! The up, down, up, downs were there, but the viewer’s attention was distracted by all that nonessential whimsy.
There is, of course, a third category, which is the soft-core ski movie. This is the historic, classic, Formula II Warren Miller job, first invented back in the ’50’s, and largely unchanged since. First, you show folks skiing, just ordinary folks. They are having fun. They’re funny when they fall. Shift gears and on come the hot skiers doing their thing. This is usually the only up, down, up, down part of the movie, which is why it is soft-core. Then come some eating, drinking and socializing shots. Finally, a couple of recap scenes..last run of the day..sun setting..some of those arty prisms when the camera is pointed into the sun..a discreet kiss, perhaps, between two of the younger ski folks at the end of a perfect day’s skiing..fade out.
I don’t make fun of the soft-core ski film, however. They’ll never win prizes in competition with “skiplicit” hard-core stuff, but I suspect they are far more effective as marketing tools. The durability of Warren Miller and his formula testifies to this.
That’s why I gave high scores to two of them–Warren Miller’s “Skiing Los Angeles Style” about Snow Valley, and Margy Penniman’s “Kirkwood Ski Resort.” But only after I had given my highest score to the hard-core “Heli-Skiing.”
Finally, I would like to offer a few more unsolicited pieces of advice to my ski-movie-making friends and the area executives who sponsor them. First, I am tired–and I suspect others are, too–of the stereotypes you use. There must be a factory that turns out those blond, blue-eyed young men who do their up, down, up, down thing through deep powder and show up at the bottom with snow clinging to their regulation-length, slightly down-turned blond moustaches.
Second, your musical scores are either cornball or pretentious; they are rarely apt. We have progressed, thank heavens, from the accordions and zithers of the ’50’s, but not a whole lot.
Third, beware too many cliches, except in completely hard-core films. Most have been done many times before, and probably done better. In this category we have the backlighted daffy in slow motion…introducing the screen credits with an inverted aerial or framed in a spread eagle…ending the film with a freeze frame. Also, avoid skiers in crazy costumes and other carnival scenes in hard-core flicks. Keep them for the soft-core ones.
As I finish these random comments on ski movies, I have just tuned in another flash–another insight: the reason I wrote those rude remarks about the endless short-linked turns in deep powder, the backlighted daffies and the athletic, moustachioed ski film heroes is that 1) the only time I ever grew a moustache it looked ridiculous, my kids were convulsed and I shaved it off; 2) I never could do those neat, short-linked turns in deep powder; and 3) the only maneuver I ever did that approximated a backlighted daffy occurred many years ago while bushwacking at Vail, when I inadvertently skied off a small cliff and was observed making some strange clawing movements while still airborne.
David Rowan
Beating inflation
(Excerpted from an article in “The Bristol Mountaineer” by Joseph J. Kohler, president and GM of Bristol Mt., New York.) Compare the lift ticket cost when Bristol first opened fourteen years ago with today’s prices. In terms of constant dollars, today’s lift ticket costs 21.2% less than it did during the 1964-65 season, and a season pass is priced almost 20% less. The gap widens much further when the scope and quality of today’s skiing and skier services are compared with those offered in the middle sixties.
The price of an eight-hour all-area weekend and holiday lift ticket was $8.00 in 1964-65. By following the 5.1% annual compounded rate of inflation, that ticket today would be priced at $15.86. Yet, despite an investment of a million dollars since that $8.00 season — in such improvements as snowmaking and grooming equipment, lighting, the Sunset chairlift and new slopes and trails — that same lift ticket will cost only $12.50 in this 1978-79 season.
Season passes are an equally good bargain. The $500 price of a family pass in 1964-65 should have climbed with inflation to $991.28 for the ’78-79 season. Yet our current price for a family season pass is $798.00 —$193.28 less than the economy’s rate of inflation should require you to pay.
We all know there’s more to skiing at Bristol than enjoying the low price of a lift ticket or season pass; but we wanted all of our skiers to know, in addition to our providing some of the finest skiing and most attractive facilities anywhere, that our fight to beat the spiral of inflation has paid off: 20% isn’t bad.
Joseph J. Kohler
NSAA “Statement of Position”
On December 11, National Ski Areas Association released a “Statement of Position” which we consider to be great importance to our industry, and which we print below. It is clear, responsible and logical. We hope you read it and associate yourself with it.
The Statement takes into account the interaction of many forces that have impact on our industry. It also offers compelling evidence that the ski area industry has acted with remarkable restraint in its lift ticket pricing. Our industry’s compound 5-year growth rate in lift ticket prices is only 6.9%, as compared to the 7.7% of the Consumer Price Index, 10.3% for the Wholesale Price Index and 9.4% for the U.S. Department of Commerce Construction Cost Composite Index.
We commend NSAA for its Statement of Position. It is a reasoned and reasonable one, and should give pause to those who would prescribe more regulation for our industry.
STATEMENT OF POSITION
The National Ski Areas Association and its 460 member ski areas in 34 states recognize the responsibility of ski areas and resorts to hold down the cost of skiing, and pledge their support for the President’s Inflation-fighting Guidelines, specifically: a) An average price rise of not more than 5¾% and average wage increases of not more than 7%; b) The need for increased competition; c) The need for less regulation.
We agree with the President that, “Of all our weapons against inflation, competition is the most powerful. Without real competition, prices and wages go up…”
Average ski area lift ticket prices for the past five years have increased significantly. Even so, however, the rate of such price increases has been substantially less than the Wholesale Price Index, the Construction Cost Index, and slightly less than the Consumer Price Index.
It is self-evident, however, that competition will diminish in the future as the number of skiers continues to increase if ski areas are not allowed to expand, or new ski areas are not permitted to be built.
We agree with the President that, inasmuch as his guidelines do not constitute a mandatory program, there may be instances in which price increases, not justified by economic realities, may be irresponsibly proposed. We believe, however, that existing administrative review procedures are adequate to deal with any inequities as may occur.
Legislative proposals, in the past, to deal with such isolated situations, would have greatly increased regulation of the industry, restricted expansion of existing areas, and limited new entries into the market, thus reducing competition and increasing inflationary pricing pressures. We agree with the President that “real competition” in the ski area industry needs to be strengthened.
We urge that the Executive Department and the Congress initiate studies and oversight hearings to determine how best to maintain and increase competition in the ski area industry in the future.
National Ski Areas Association
Jay Price, President
