I would like to welcome our new candidates to the patrol. Maria Buhr, Heather Harstad, and Lee Disse have started with the "ski" skills and tobaggan handling phase of the training. Also, welcome back to Rome Chelmo. Despite breaking his arm, he plans to complete his training after sitting out last year. These candidates along with Keith Gordon and Patrick Zimmerman will be taking the hill test Feb. 4th at Ski Gull. Good Luck.
I thought I would call this the nostalgia issue. I ran out of new photos so I dredged up some really old ones. I hope you enjoy the shots of the old guys when we were young. Quit reading-go ski. Q
Godspeed Jim.
Fall 1979 Photo by Q
Managing Member
Brewers of "Olde Bong Water"
The official beer of the Montana Assault Team.
Ratboy says: I watched my dad try it. It looked like fun and I wanted to try. Dad bought us the gear and now I am learning how. It's a lot of fun.
Ratboy, are you going to Montana this year?
Ratboy says: I hope so. I have to get all my work done, not get any more pink slips, and get my grades up at school. I have been working hard and I think I will make it.
Ratboy, is it hard switching between alpine, telemark and snowboard?
Ratboy says: No it's easy. I adjust quickly, it only takes a couple of turns. I think it would be boring to do only one type of sliding.
God I'm getting old. Ratboy's almost nine, Spike is six already. I have been skiing thirty three years. I started patrolling the fall of 1977. I have made a lot of friends skiing. I met Joe when we started patrolling together. We still do crazy stuff together. I have also lost some skiing friends. Steve Coffey passed away a few years ago in Bozeman. I would look him up when we skied out west. He was a Pro at Bridger. I would bring him out Grain Belt Premium and he would comp me a pass or two. Now we have lost Jim Strand. I have known Jim for probably twenty some years. He was my mechanic working on my Subaru in 1980. We often talked of skiing out west together. Sadly we never made the trip but we often skied here together. My fondest memories are hanging out at Zorbaz, drinking poor man's and arguing who was going to break whose legs on the ski slopes. We decided to not try to hurt each other, but ski hard, drink hard, and have fun.
Looking back at the early days of my patrolling career it was lucky we survived.
Rick Olmstead - Feb. 1980 Photo by Q
May Your Tracks Be Long
Skiing was an essential part of the education and training of high ranking Norse warriors in the ninth and tenth centuries. In 1206, the infant king, Haakon Haakonson, was rescued by two "bodyguards", the "Berke beiners" or "Birch legs". So named because of their white birch leggings. The two men carried the infant king on skis from Gulbransdal to Osterdal in the midst of the cold Norwegian winter. This event is now celebrated by the 35K ski race in Norway, the Birkebeiner. A similar race is held in Wisconsin, called the American Birkebeiner.
In the late 1860's, a Norwegian, Sondre Norheim, a blacksmith, carpenter and skilled woodcarver in the province of Telemark, became obsessed with ski design. He was a local legend because of his daring skiing and his making of fine skis. By 1862 he succeeded in perfecting a new ski design. At a local ski competition, he demonstrated for the first time, the turn now known as the Telemark and a parallel step turn, the Christiana or Christi.
Norheim's new skis had three innovative design characteristics: They were shorter than other then-existing types, around seven feet. They were, for the first time, waisted, ie., narrower under the foot. They also had a degree of camber. The binding consisted not only of the then common toe strap, but incorporated also a heel strap keeping the ski more firmly fixed to the foot.
This was the first real modification to skis since invented many thousands of years before. The new found maneuverablility and control completely transformed the previous utilitarian form of skiing into an enjoyable and fun sport. This, in turn, opened the way to an interest in skiing on a rapidly expanding world wide scale.
So with this new found piece of info, go out and have some fun in the sun and snow. David
Godspeed Jim...May your journey be endless powder.
Date of Birth: 8/22/94
Age: 6 years old
Grade: First
Years Skiing: Four and a half, I started when I was two.
Other Disciplines: Snowboarding and Telemark Skiing
What kind of skis: Kastle X Airs
boots: Nordica
bindings: Tyrolia
Hobbies: Bicycling, ride scooter, race motorcycles, inline skating and fishing.
Girlfriend: None - I only like my mom.
Favorite Food: Pizza and Ramen Noodles
Favorite CD: Pokemon, The First Movie Soundtrack
Favorite Movie: Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders
Barry Morstad with the bubbly. Photo by Q
Bridger Bowl, 1986
