Circa 1968 Before and after

The big three-story building was not warning enough, some people had to test gravity first, then blunt force trauma next.  It was all in the name of fun!

As a very young child I remember waiting for the lifts to shut down for the evening, with the sun making its final appearance for the day in order to begin the next phase of fun.  My brother and sisters and I were never alone on the bottom half of Little Nell on those evenings.  There was always a pretty good crowd of locals and visitors alike.  We would all walk half-way up the hill or beyond and get on all manner of sledding devices.  We used worn out truck tubes my father provided and slide down the hill, screaming every inch of the way.  Prior to 1968 our journey would often take us past the base of the mountain, across vacant lots and north on Hunter Street past Cooper Avenue and beyond until we either ran out of road or speed.  

The end of our journey was only the start of the next one and this would go on almost every evening until mountain security, Ben Dorman and his ilk, or the local police would stop it, always reminding us that we were not allowed to be there.  The next night the whole play acted itself out once again almost as if it were choreographed or scripted.  I suppose they were really watching out for our safety but if we wanted to be safe we would have stayed home.

In the winter of 1968 the rules of the game changed.  That summer into the fall and winter, construction on the North of Nell Condominiums was under way.  That presented the sledders with a very big challenge, one they had never faced before, “How to stop a speeding sled or thread it between the old Little Nell building and the new condominiums?”  Although the gap between the buildings was large, with upwards of 20 or 30 sledders coordination and timing was difficult at best.  For everyone else abandoning ship before impact was the only option and not everyone timed that very well.

The old Little Nell building also added additional risk.  Although sledding on that side of Little Nell was not common, the building had a thriving bar at the time and collisions between sledders and drunks were common.  Often the drunks would be the losers in that game.   Over the years following the completion of The North of Nell building a number of sledders were badly injured.  With the added risk of bodily injury, one tourist sledder even ended up in the basement of the building, came added security.  Before long our Little Nell sledding days were over.

Years later prior to the building of the gondola, people would once again try to sled there but without much success.  So we headed to Buttermilk with Ski Company security not far behind…

Circa 1960’s – 1980’s

In my early years old skis and worn out wooden barrels found new life on the slopes each year.  This was back before looking good on the slopes was just as important, if not more, as being a good skier.  Back then the local ski companies imposed no rules on the quality or type of equipment it permitted on their slopes.  I have often wondered if snow boards would have had any issues back then and I seriously doubt it.

Aspen Mountain was always the favorite meeting place of the local kids, partly because Snowmass was just getting started and Buttermilk was too easy.  Highlands on the other hand was gaining ground.  But I digress; this memory is more about the equipment than the place.

With wooden skis still commonplace on the slopes in the early 1970’s, their days were numbered.  New skis were made of metal or fiberglass and were thin at their thickest points and could make a bad skier good.  For many of us, new skis every year were not an option and we would keep them as long as we were told we had to.  Eventually, our parents would relent and let us upgrade our skis, boots and bindings at the annual ski swaps.  Sometimes Aspen Sports, Sporthaus Lindner, Sabatini’s and the lot would even sell last year’s unused or barely scratched models at the Ski Swap and they would go fast before the doors even opened to the public.  The luck of having your mom or dad working on the staff, you got to shop early and then hide your treasures until the first register opened that cold Saturday morning.

Even with new skis in hand there were still plenty of uses for the old equipment.  I am not sure who first brought the idea to town but sometime in the late 1960’s the kids of Aspen had a new toy extracted from their old gear.  These new toys were often called “Goonies” and they were made from worn out skis and bindings.  All you had to do was cut your old skis in half or even less, and then attach an old set of bindings somewhere in the middle of the 2-foot long skis.  If the mounting screws went all the way through you could grind down the ends and melt a little P-Tex around them and you were off to the slopes.

Before long, just about all the kids in town had a set of Goonies.  They were even good for “Skitching” or “Hooky-Bobbing” on the bumpers of the cars downtown until being caught by the police or eventually falling and letting go.  Some of us even ended up underneath the backs of cars  when they unknowingly came to an unexpected stop.

Not to be outdone, an earlier version of skis resurrected on the slopes as well.  These were known as Stave Skis and were made from the slates or staves from old oak barrels.  With no edges and curved up on both ends, these were a major challenge to use but we were all willing to try if we could get our hands on a pair.

By the mid-1970’s one of the more progressive or enterprising toy companies might have even been Ron Popeil of Pocket Fisherman fame.  Ron was a part-time resident and famous inventor who came up with “Boot Skis.”  These were made of thick plastic and attached to the bottom of your ski boots with small traps and basically extended just beyond the ends of your boots.  Boot skis did not last on the scene for long since they were difficult to use and eventually were banned by the ski companies since they tore up the lift ramps and queues, making it a fulltime job to smooth them back out.

During those decades ski technology progressed exponentially and yet all we wanted to do was to take the old technology and turn it into something fun.  Time eventually caught up with us about the same time frivolous law suits did and the old Goonies, Staves and Boot Skis were banned from the slopes.

Skis did change over the years.  First, they were known to be 10 plus feet long and made from wood.  Over time their lengths got as short as three feet.  Remember the Graduated Length Method (GLM) that was tried for a few years?  As the lighter materials were being implemented their lengths grew once again culminating on the 125cm+ speed skis.  Then, technology and the law suits forced the industry to go lighter and even shorter once again.  Now days you are lucky if you can find a pair of skis that exceed 185cm in length.  With Snowboards on the scene I can only imagine the changes that are yet to come.  As for me, I would love a pair of 120cm skis in my collection along with a nice pair of Goonies.