It’s pretty wild to think that this is how they skied the backcountry and uncontrolled slopes back in 1962. Now-a-days, these cats would be called any number of words for their style, backcountry etiquette, and avalanche awareness. Luckly…I wasn’t even born yet.
Wow that’s hilarious, like a free-for-all.
Well….it was a begining anyway…
Still – the idea with the helium ballons doesn’t seem all that bad, really. Any reason why a sturdy ballon made of mylar or something on a long cable couldn’t be used for a quick find?
The lines in the film would be way to short…was this idea ever really studied and debunked?
That said, I imagine tree runs would be out.
Wookie
PS – I’ll begin work on this as soon as I have finished my motion-sensitive, helmet mounted flame-thrower. (For melting snow in a self-extraction.)
wookie1974…you mean this?…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTKLdBe3VBc
ha, funniest ski vid i’ve seen in a long time
Awesome vid, Steve! Love that “ski cutting”!
sweet,i cant wait to ski glory bowl with a helium balloon this yr.
cant really bag on the technique of sending the guy without a shovel to go first…ha ha.
Some will laugh. I choose to honor these guys as the pioneering studs they were. Skis that were impossibly long, stiff and straight; prototypical "release" bindings (Yikes!); and crappy boots on steep and deep terrain–all I can say is wow. I think if I were on that gear (and I kind of was, doing laps in the Hobacks on GS race boards in the early 80’s)my technique would be different than what I enjoy with my shorter, fatter more shapely skis, great bindings and bomber boots today. I think these guys were really getting after it in the infancy (or at least early adolescence)of the sport. I thank them for their efforts and I thank you for posting the great vids. LTS!
granted, these guys deserve respect…but man that’s some goofy stuff.
Yup, nice gong show. But was everybody like that back then?? Hans Gmoser, amongst others was already guiding and heliskiing backcountry powder which I’m sure wouldn’t have lasted long with such an approach as in this video. Where does the notion of pioneering or representation of typicalness for the time of this video come from? Seems exceptional to me.
well…kinda….but that avalanche ball thing has to be released by the user….just like the ABS bags so common here in Europe. I like them, better than nothing, but the fact you gotta pull the rip cord to activate them is pretty limiting.
We had a lady at my home hill in Germany a couple years back who had one one, (ABS pack) and she never managed to grab the cord as she was going down. Witnesses said she was trying to grab it…but the action of the fall prevented her. Doesn’t seem to be all that isolated, as the ABS site has great statistics regarding avalanches where an ABS pack was involved. (interesting to look at for anyone!)
The ballon idea would void the need to release….
BTW – I’ve never seen anyone here in Europe with one of those avalanche balls…the video praises the fact that it is spring-loaded, and does not use a compressed air cartridge, such as the ABS bags (and also the one out of the States…name escapes me)but a mechanical system with moving parts is sure to get crudified with use, and sure to be much less reliable in the long run….says me.
Wookie
thats great. mnts around bozeman got their first dusting yesterday. pray for more snow
wookie…i think they still use compressed air…it’s just a smaller cartridge…no?