PSIA-AASI

9.17.2010

The 50/50 Blog: The Canon of Snowsports

For some strange reason, skiing and snowboarding are sports that have not been blessed with a wealth of great books. Go to any bookstore, and while the sports section is filled with shelves of climbing, surfing, baseball, football, and golf how-to’s and histories, the snowsports section is often so thin it might as well be titled, Big Game Hunting for Vegetarians, or Keith Richards’ Top Ten Workouts.

Frankly, I don’t get it. How is it that a sport with so much history, so much passion, and so many storied mountain venues doesn’t have an entire downtown public library’s worth of great books?

On the plus side, what we do have—especially in snowsports instruction—is remarkably good. For instance, as a young impressionable bump skier back in the 70s and early 80s, I enjoyed Inner Skiing by Timothy Gallwey (until a couple longtime instructors who had worked with him back in the day said that when it came to his actual skiing talents, the verdict was “not so much”). And as a template for the very basis of PSIA-AASI and American ski instruction, The Official American Ski Technique, known as “The White Book” for its low-profile white cover, is a must-read for every snow pro on the slopes.

PSIA-AASI Education Manager Ben Roberts has been snapping up copies of the White Book, and many other snow-specific titles, of late. So I sat down with him to discuss what else is making his personal “Canon of Snowsports” list. Here are Ben’s quick hits:

1)    The Official American Ski Technique, by PSIA
Ben says: “There are different additions and deletions to each successive printing, but the 1970s version may have been the mother of all printings as there seem to be more copies of this available online than all the rest. There definitely is not the same content throughout each edition. For example, Final Forms seem to mysteriously disappear after the first printing, so you get a good sense of what some of the conflicts were and what has lasted from the original content.”

2)    How the Racers Ski, by Warren Witherell
Ben says: “It seems like strictly on the alpine side of things, this really moved the needle in terms of the technical aspects of skiing. Warren does a great job of relating how the racers ski to what can be effective for the other skiers just out on the slopes.”

3)    Ski GLM, The Fastest and Safest Way to Learn by Morten Lund
Ben says: “This was printed in 1970, and I was initially interested in it academically. But because of the overall emphasis on shorter skis, if you look at the photo montages and squint, it looks like a lot of it could have been shot last winter. Content-wise, there is a lot of interesting material on balancing, short skis, and instruction techniques.”

4)    Skiing Right, by Horst Abraham
Ben says: “This is fascinating in a lot of ways, especially in the change of tone where it wasn’t just professional to professional, but professional to public. That’s certainly indicative of the culture and communication about the sport. I also like how there is a lot of simple stuff people might have thought was too simple to explain, like how to carry your skis, that still gets addressed.”

5)    Performance Skiing, by George Thomas
Ben says: “I don’t know if it’s because I like George, and know some of the people in this book, or because it really spells out that although all the information isn’t for everybody, you can take it or leave it. I like the tone and open way it discusses that what he’s presenting isn’t the only way to do it.”

6)    Come Ski with Me, by Stein Eriksen
Ben says: “When all is said and done, there’s just a very friendly, ‘this is fun,’ sense of invitation to this book. He presents a lot of technical information, but always in the manner of someone saying, ‘You don’t need to be doing any of this, but you’ll be glad you tried it.‘“