Ski: Fifty Years in North America

Pope John Paul II, Robert Redford, John Denver, Leon Uris: What do each have in common? A passion for skiing. In this lively history (319 photographs) of the winter pastime by the editor of SKI magazine, skiing is traced over the past 50 years. The modern era of skiing in the United States began in the 1930s when the creation of Sun Valley, as a snowbound resort, revolutionized winter vacationing. Photographs of this ski resort capture the exhilaration of the sport in a majestic setting. Pictorial attention is given to the development of equipment, experiments and innovations in ski design and mountain lifts and techniques used by instructors. Chatty anecdotes about the early visionaries and romantics mingle with shots of famous skiersGretchen Fraser, Jean-Claude Killy, among themin action. Needham sees the next half-century of skiing being as rowdy and spectacular as the first. BOMC dividend. (October)