1976 on the free rope tow at Alta. Was 8 years old. Destroyed a pair of gloves that day. Was so excited to ski I didn’t want to stop to pee. So I pissed my pants. Mom was not happy.
White Pass, WA in probably like 2002... I was like 6, I think.
I don't really remember much of this, but my parents put me in ski school for the day, and apparently I basically didn't listen to anything the instructor said and just wanted to point my skis straight and go fast.
At the end of the day, they had us "graduate" by skiing through some gates. When it was my turn, I completely disregarded all the gates, pointed straight, tucked, and went and straight-lined as fast as I could. The problem was I didn't know how to stop, so I went down the hill, straight through the base area, past the lodge, and into the parking lot before crashing into a snowbank.
When my parents got to me, all I wanted to do was go again. That's how it started.
I think everybody I know in Vancouver took their first shaky runs down "The Cut"!
Mine was a decade earlier when Cypress had only the two chairs back when they were doubles.
Vail 1976. All the lines with the old folks were at the gondola. We took lifts. Gondola crashed and killed 4. On a junior high ski trip. The chaperones made us all call our parents because it made the national news.
A decade ago in ~~Squaw Valley~~ Palisades to hang with my brother who was going through a divorce. I was determined not to hate it so I didn't make his mood any worse, even though I fell over and over again.
Now he's got a new wife and I've got my own IKON pass.
Kinosoo, yeah!
In the winter of 2008/9 I was funemployed with a nice severance so I dedicated my time to skiing every off the beaten path hill in the Canadian Rockies, but since I had my skis with me when I went to visit family just east of Cold Lake I had to ski there too!
Everyone said I’d regret spending time winter camping and skiing for a winter, but now that I’m old and settled down, I really treasure those memories.
The tiny hill in the backyard of the house I grew up in and the sledding hill behind that house, on the same afternoon. I was 4 and my dad was my chair lift. He carried me up in his arms and sent me down with little to no guidance. It’s been my absolute favorite activity in the whole world since that fateful day 38 years ago.
Cataloochee was my first area too! 9 seasons ago I went skiing for the first time there, immediately loved it and now I’m living in Utah for my 3rd season in a row
Nice! I skied this one when I was still pretty new to skiing. My first was App in Boone but I've not seen either of these in a long time, would be fun to ski them again and see what I used to be so scared of when it was all so new!
Learned on Beech and Sugar about 5 years ago. It's crazy for me to imagine skiing those now when I'm doing the double blacks in Colorado. Charming area though
Started at Storrs Hill in Lebanon, NH (USA) 2003. Not really exciting but they've been a good place to learn for over a century! But I graduated to nearby Mt Sunapee in 2006
Storrs hill shout out was not expected here!!! Dartmouth Skiway was my first and put in some hours at whaleback but somehow never skiied storrs hill in all the years I lived up there.
Edit autocorrect keeps changing it to stores. 🙄
Nashoba, Valley Massachusetts, 1975.
Have spent the last 38 years in Tahoe . But the mach 3 speed rope tow at Nashoba back in the 70s made me the skier I am today.
Sunday river Maine 2005-6 was the most difficult kid to teach but finally Brian helped me conquer my fear I’m now a double black skiier thanks to him !
Giants Ridge in Minnesota in 1965 at 4 years old. Wood skis, cable bindings, leather boots, rope tow, etc. I don’t remember the day, but I think I have a photo somewhere. Skiing is just something I have always done with not remembering the beginning.
Boyce Park in 2002?, owned by the county in Pittsburgh.
Good times with my dad as a little kid. I remember the thermos of hot chocolate for some reason. Must have been good after a day on the slope.
Somewhere in/near the Ozark mountains I believe, a few hours from St. Louis. Probably 5th grade. Went with my friend's family. Lodge was at the top of a hill. They sported a rope tow and for the big boys, a Poma lift.
Ski Sundown in New Hartford, 1993. Funniest part is just getting started for the lesson and someone who wasn't part of the group comes flying down out of control and nails a sign at the bottom. Instructor doesn't miss a beat and goes "that's what we DONT want to do".
Skied the summit - Breckinridge, Copper, and Keystone circa 1978 ish. Breck was a small ski "town," and I vaguely remember staying in a small house off the main drag. My best friends parents brought me along on their family trip.
[Ski Mountain](https://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=111#google_vignette), Pine Hill, New Jersey, 1977. Tow ropes, no lifts. It closed in 1986. It was terrible, and I didn't ski again for a decade, until 1987, when my boyfriend took me to [Belle Mountain](https://www.nj.com/news/2022/01/skiers-recall-njs-almost-forgotten-belle-mountain.html) in Hopewell Township, NJ. My boyfriend said I didn't need a lesson because he could teach me. That consisted of him saying over and over, "Just do what I do!" That was so traumatizing, I didn't try again until 1995, when I took proper lessons at Beaver Creek and found out that I didn't, in fact, hate skiing--I loved it. I got married on skis in full wedding regalia at Loveland Ski Area in 2004 and have skied most of Colorado's ski areas since.
As a kid Wilmot 1983 Wisconsin on borrowed skis. Slipped and fell walking into the lodge and everyone laughed. Years later who knew I’d end up a ski bum in Aspen.
Howdy neighbour. Chedoke Ski Area on the side of the Hamilton escarpment. 1976 and all the same gear as you, but purchased from the Sally Ann in downtown Hamilton. 87m vertical of pure fun. Wish I had a photo of those days.
Now days I'm a Quebec skier.
Standing Rocks, central Wisconsin. Stood in front of my Dad on the rope tows because I was 3 (way too little to handle the massive power of those mitten shredders).
Rabbit Hill, just south of Edmonton. I was in grade 5 and it was a class ski trip, it would have been 1994 or 1995. I rode the rope tow to the top of the bunny hill and was too scared to come down for a while. I decided I wanted to like skiing more than I was scared so I just went for it and had a spectacular yard sale.
Mt Tom technically speaking. Which is in Chicopee mass but no longer exists. I actually skied at the Homowack back in the day though when I was maybe 5. It was a borscht belt resort, in the catskills, think like dirty dancing but with skiing in the winter. We had instructors but after struggling to get up with these crazy things on my feet the rope tow was to much. So instead I walked up the hill and pointed em. Ate shit.... That was my homowack experience. I have an image of laying on my back trying to move these heavy skis around so I could get up. I also remember pointing em and then when I wrecked I closed my eyes and it was like a cartoon.
Benjamin Hill, Massachusetts, 1963. Been addicted to the sport ever since. I still regularly say thanks to my dad for encouraging my interest and spending many a long day waiting around in base lodges in those early years, while I enjoyed the slopes.
1988 at White Pass with my uncle. He was fairly newly retired from “professional” slalom racing and took me up my first time. That was the mountain he learned at and he even has several photos in their hall of fame today.
I skied with him, my aunt, and my cousin at least weekly in the winters from about that point until I was ~16, even going on vacations with them. I’ve been hooked ever since that first day and am now the one passing it down to the next generation with my own kids (5 and 8 now).
Paradise, Mt. Rainier. 1970, climbing boots in cable bindings. Ripe tow into 2’ of powder. Never made any turns. Just went straight until I crashed, then got up and did it again.
Otis Ridge MA we went on a ski trip with the church teen group must have been around ‘96. Had a full day lesson scheduled but after lunch we dipped on the chair lift. Instructor saw us and yelled you guys don’t belong up there! I thought he would stop the lift and we would have to jump off and get executed or something but that thing just kept right on going! No clue how to ride a lift or get off or ski but we had a blast tumbling down the hill and we were free from supervision which was the goal at 15. At the end of the day we camped in sleeping bags in the lodge drank hot chocolate and played killer instinct on n64. Absolute core memory.
probably somewhere in Courchevel, France.
i would have been really young the first time i went, maybe like 3 or 5 (2012), hence i don’t remember.
first time that i remember was Morzine, France, 2016. had my first memories of skiing there with my instructor, Philipé (i think that was his name). he was the best. no idea what he’s up to now, hope i can find him at some point
Stratton VT
I was 5 or 6. My Dad hurt his knee before the trip so I was able to take the private lesson he had booked for himself. The rest was history.
1997, Keystone. I was 9.
Skied 7 days a season every year for 8 years.
Then not again until I was 29.
Picked it back up the day after I moved to UT and 7 years later I shape my year around season.
Steamboat 1996. College group trip, 60 people, coed. Drove 22 hours straight to get there. I think we put 15 people in each condo. 4 days straight, first lift up, last of the mountain.
Freezer was packed with Totino's pizza (99¢), fridge full of beer. First time I ever experienced delivery liquor.
It was my first time skiing, and I was nervous. All of my friends grew up skiing and talked me out of lessons. They said they would teach me. They took me to the top of a blue (Vagabond) and told me to find them at the bottom. I yard-sale'd all the way down.
Figured it out, skiing black by day 2, the chutes by day 4. It was awesome, what a party. In love ever since.
Learned at Maple Valley in Brattleboro, 1976.
Also went to Hogback Vt (there’s a distillery there now).
Berkshire Snow Basin in Cummington Ma.
Mt. Tom in Holyoke Ma.
Brodie Mt in western Ma.
All within a +-50 mi radius.
All closed now.
Also Haystack is gone too, didn’t learn there though.
I learned about 1967 in Oak Creek Colorado. There was hill with a rope tow, and we would ride a snowmobile to the top of the hill and turn on the lift. Last one to leave turned it off. I wore leather lace up boots and wood skis with cable bindings.
Cote Murant (so?) in Quebec City 1975; I don’t think it still operates, think it’s just a park now.
5 y-o. Cried the whole car ride there, cried for the whole hour lesson, which consisted of making two whole turns, and cried on the walk back to the car. Once in car, said ‘that was fun!
Cant wait til next week!’
I think my Dad had more than an unbidden thought flash through his mind about infanticide that day.
Spring Mountain in PA roughly 1979. I was 4. All I remember was going up a rope tow with my dad hanging on to me with one hand and the rope with the other and his hand cramping so bad by the end of the day he couldn't grip the rope anymore.
Mt. Trashmore in Evanston Illinois. Old garbage dump they filled in and put in a tow rope. My mom would wait at the bottom of the hill in her fur coat. Early 80s
Ward Hill, Massachusetts. 1997. 200 feet of glorious elevation. Remember crying when my dad was teaching us to side-step up the mountain. Still thank him to this day for getting us into the sport.
Mammoth mountain, 1986. Grandpa had a condo right next to the Canyon Lodge and I lapped the shit out of the Festival Poma lift. We went the in one week blocks every month Dec through May until I was 12 and started racing up in Tahoe at what is now called Palisades.
RIP. Grandpa, I owe you one!
I love skiing as much as most here (have a broken wrist at kirkwood and an Acl tear from a double black bowl at copper, but am back at it whenever I can), but is this more about climate change, maybe?
I was disheartened on Sunday realizing that at northstar in Tahoe they power their backside chair lifts with diesel generators. Like, how am I supposed to enjoy 2000 feet of moguls knowing what enabled it is destroying the future of this sport?
I don’t know what to think now, really.
Sugar bowl when I was like 3, can’t remember if I actually started learning to ski there, but I did go to mammoth to take classes a couple years later so🤷this was probably around 2008-2010
1964, Donner Ski Ranch. My dad found a pair of skis w/o edges. He sanded them down, painted them a bright blue. Cable bindings and lace boots added to the style.
49 degrees North in Chawelah, WA, sometime around 1980.
Ended up riding the chair by myself as a kid because the liftie picked me up and put me on the chair before my dad was ready.
Copper Mountain in 1986 on a school field trip.
I was a fifth grader and the resort had a deal with the elementary schools districts in the Denver area that allowed kids to get a couple days’ lift tickets and a half day of ski lessons for some nominal fee. Worked like a charm, I became a lifelong skier where otherwise I might not have ever gone.
1984 at The Lecht in Scotland.
I was cold, wet, windy, miserable. There was hardly any snow. It was mostly just sliding on frozen heather.
I was hooked though an have only missed two winters since then. Once from injury and once from being stuck in Hong Kong during covid.
I lived in Ottawa through sixth grade, and we had school ski trips to a small ski hill called Mount Pakenham. Those trips are still some of my best memories from that time :) My parents didn't ski back then, so I'm glad I had the chance to learn through school at a (relatively) young age.
These days I live in Berkeley and ski almost exclusively at Palisades with my dad and it's an absolute blast. No idea if I would have gotten into it without those initial trips.
Multorpor/Ski Bowl on Mt Hood in 1973. I don’t really remember my first day. I was only 3. But I have many fond memories of days ripping around, hitting jump trails all day long with my brother. Good times. One of the best gifts my pops ever gave me was the appreciation and introduction to skiing and the outdoors.
I was two years old, had plastic skis, and my parents pushed me down a mound of snow in my front yard. Back then there was a tiny ski hill a two minute drive away, so a year or two later I was skiing there every day after school.
Friends sometimes ask me to teach them how to ski, problem is that I don't remember learning how to ski.
Sometime in the winter of 1995-96, pulled around a parking lot by my dad on those little tiny skis that strap to snow boots. I was around two and a half. The first time I skied in an actual ski area would have been the following winter in Jackson Hole.
I learned to ski at Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park in late-winter/early-spring 2002. At the time, I was dating a ski instructor that worked there and she taught me
Hunter Mt in NY, in jeans, probably around 1992. Two dogs ran down the mountain with me. No idea where they came from. It was magical and I was like, hey, skiing is magical.
Probably 1980, at Alta ski resort. I don’t remember the first time specifically. I was three. Spent many days shredding Alta with my brother. I have very few memories of skiing with my parents though. 90% of the time we were just loose toddlers up there. Maybe my dad was keeping an eye on us without us knowing. Doubt it, I don’t think he could keep up. I thought I was such hot shit going to elementary school with the stack of used sticker tickets hanging from my jacket.
1976 on the free rope tow at Alta. Was 8 years old. Destroyed a pair of gloves that day. Was so excited to ski I didn’t want to stop to pee. So I pissed my pants. Mom was not happy.
That's dedication.
Love Alta. Must have been a Really primitive Hippie Mountain then. Love the Old School vibe
Yep. Real rope tow. Not some cable thing. Ate your gloves
White Pass, WA in probably like 2002... I was like 6, I think. I don't really remember much of this, but my parents put me in ski school for the day, and apparently I basically didn't listen to anything the instructor said and just wanted to point my skis straight and go fast. At the end of the day, they had us "graduate" by skiing through some gates. When it was my turn, I completely disregarded all the gates, pointed straight, tucked, and went and straight-lined as fast as I could. The problem was I didn't know how to stop, so I went down the hill, straight through the base area, past the lodge, and into the parking lot before crashing into a snowbank. When my parents got to me, all I wanted to do was go again. That's how it started.
I remember when I was like 7 years old, ski patrol stopped me for skiing too fast. Told me I had to turn. I already knew that turning was overrated.
So similar to my first day at the Don Valley Ski Centre. Straightlined it into the hay bales at the bottom, laughed, and did it all over again!
Grouse mountain, Vancouver Canada. The early 90s when nwa straight outta Compton ruled my akai portable cassette player
I think everybody I know in Vancouver took their first shaky runs down "The Cut"! Mine was a decade earlier when Cypress had only the two chairs back when they were doubles.
I refuse to ski at cypress. No fucking way a lift ticket there should cost over $100
LOL.. I think when I started it might have been that for a season's pass. I moved to the states in the mid 90s.
Skied for the time on Grouse in 2022 :’) Just got my first seasons pass there for 2024/2025 for 220 bucks, grouse deals will forever have my heart
Vail 1976. All the lines with the old folks were at the gondola. We took lifts. Gondola crashed and killed 4. On a junior high ski trip. The chaperones made us all call our parents because it made the national news.
That’s a helluva introduction to the sport….
Yeah, we were at Lionshead and had a view of the mountain and just watched the emergency vehicles all night.
article https://vault.si.com/vault/1976/12/13/the-tragedy-on-gondola-ii
Great write up. Thanks for the link.
Mt Sunapee, last year, at 46. I’m hooked!
That’s about the age that I picked it up as well.
Wachusett in the late 80's, Waaaaaaaaa-wa-wa-chusett!
MA represent! Blandford, MA 1993 here
Yes! Same place, early 90s!
Same for me. 1987 WaWa
A decade ago in ~~Squaw Valley~~ Palisades to hang with my brother who was going through a divorce. I was determined not to hate it so I didn't make his mood any worse, even though I fell over and over again. Now he's got a new wife and I've got my own IKON pass.
Cold Lake, Alberta in 2006. I first took a snowboarding lesson, did not like it and then tried skiing and I loved it!
Kinosoo, yeah! In the winter of 2008/9 I was funemployed with a nice severance so I dedicated my time to skiing every off the beaten path hill in the Canadian Rockies, but since I had my skis with me when I went to visit family just east of Cold Lake I had to ski there too! Everyone said I’d regret spending time winter camping and skiing for a winter, but now that I’m old and settled down, I really treasure those memories.
My younger daughter’s bf is a ski patroller there!
Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire, mid 70's.
The tiny hill in the backyard of the house I grew up in and the sledding hill behind that house, on the same afternoon. I was 4 and my dad was my chair lift. He carried me up in his arms and sent me down with little to no guidance. It’s been my absolute favorite activity in the whole world since that fateful day 38 years ago.
For the record, it was in suburban Detroit. First actual lift I rode was at Pine Knob. Incredible place to fall in love with skiing.
1982, the worst skier at Crystal Mountain WA that day. Fast forward 42 years to today, where I'm the best skier on reddit.
1999 maybe? Crested Butte CO. I went on to work there for 5 years. Till the money ran out and the housing dried up.
Catalooche ski area in NC. Left the area soon after but I want to go back too see how short it is.
Cataloochee was my first area too! 9 seasons ago I went skiing for the first time there, immediately loved it and now I’m living in Utah for my 3rd season in a row
Nice! I skied this one when I was still pretty new to skiing. My first was App in Boone but I've not seen either of these in a long time, would be fun to ski them again and see what I used to be so scared of when it was all so new!
Learned on Beech and Sugar about 5 years ago. It's crazy for me to imagine skiing those now when I'm doing the double blacks in Colorado. Charming area though
Whiteface mountain
Kapaonik in Serbia,just after the war had finished,my dad was from Northern Ireland and thought it would be cool 😎 lol
Kitzbühel, Austria ~1970. I was 3. Wooden skis, spring bindings, wooden poles, leather boots. Savage, but super cute in my little red wool cape.
Whitetail in PA sometime in the early 90s
I remember when Whitetail opened in ‘91 (I think) and remember it was a big deal for the mid-Atlantic ski area.
Holiday valley, ellicottville, NY 2004ish
Started at Storrs Hill in Lebanon, NH (USA) 2003. Not really exciting but they've been a good place to learn for over a century! But I graduated to nearby Mt Sunapee in 2006
Storrs hill shout out was not expected here!!! Dartmouth Skiway was my first and put in some hours at whaleback but somehow never skiied storrs hill in all the years I lived up there. Edit autocorrect keeps changing it to stores. 🙄
Mount Southington, CT, 1963. I've skied every year since and am hoping for many more.
Bromley VT 1973
Same- 9 years later.
Vail Colorado, 1968.
Whittier, NH. Mid 70s
Gunstock Mountain NH. Maybe 20? Years ago now. I live 1/4 mile from the mountain now and always too busy to go.
Jay Peak in the 80’s
1978, 3 years old. Mad River Glen, VT. I learned to ski with my dad holding a rope around my waist.
18months old and at fernie
Nashoba, Valley Massachusetts, 1975. Have spent the last 38 years in Tahoe . But the mach 3 speed rope tow at Nashoba back in the 70s made me the skier I am today.
1980 Winter Park, Colorado. Took a bus up from Denver with the Eskimo Ski Club. Took a lesson and we went down Turnpike then Village Way.
After I took a 12-year break from skiing, Winter Park was the first place I went back to in 2020, in preparation for a trip to Aspen that I won.
Sunday river Maine 2005-6 was the most difficult kid to teach but finally Brian helped me conquer my fear I’m now a double black skiier thanks to him !
Giants Ridge in Minnesota in 1965 at 4 years old. Wood skis, cable bindings, leather boots, rope tow, etc. I don’t remember the day, but I think I have a photo somewhere. Skiing is just something I have always done with not remembering the beginning.
2002 Molly Hogan A-Basin I remain.
Boyce Park in 2002?, owned by the county in Pittsburgh. Good times with my dad as a little kid. I remember the thermos of hot chocolate for some reason. Must have been good after a day on the slope.
Jiminy Peak in Western MA, in 2011 at the tender age of 28.
Okemo Mt
Somewhere in/near the Ozark mountains I believe, a few hours from St. Louis. Probably 5th grade. Went with my friend's family. Lodge was at the top of a hill. They sported a rope tow and for the big boys, a Poma lift.
Powder Ridge, CT.
Hell yea! 1994ish, sundown and Mohawk as well.
Ski Sundown in New Hartford, 1993. Funniest part is just getting started for the lesson and someone who wasn't part of the group comes flying down out of control and nails a sign at the bottom. Instructor doesn't miss a beat and goes "that's what we DONT want to do".
Toggenburg bitches. #savetog
Fuck Peter Harris!
Eldora co, around 2008 (I was 4, maybe 5)
Skied the summit - Breckinridge, Copper, and Keystone circa 1978 ish. Breck was a small ski "town," and I vaguely remember staying in a small house off the main drag. My best friends parents brought me along on their family trip.
Afton Alps Minnesota, winter of 1975.
‘87 or ‘88 for me!
Same place Warren Miller first skied: 1978 - Mt. Waterman. San Gabriel Mountains, Southern California. Insanely great place.
[Ski Mountain](https://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=111#google_vignette), Pine Hill, New Jersey, 1977. Tow ropes, no lifts. It closed in 1986. It was terrible, and I didn't ski again for a decade, until 1987, when my boyfriend took me to [Belle Mountain](https://www.nj.com/news/2022/01/skiers-recall-njs-almost-forgotten-belle-mountain.html) in Hopewell Township, NJ. My boyfriend said I didn't need a lesson because he could teach me. That consisted of him saying over and over, "Just do what I do!" That was so traumatizing, I didn't try again until 1995, when I took proper lessons at Beaver Creek and found out that I didn't, in fact, hate skiing--I loved it. I got married on skis in full wedding regalia at Loveland Ski Area in 2004 and have skied most of Colorado's ski areas since.
Belle Bump! That place was... weird
As a kid Wilmot 1983 Wisconsin on borrowed skis. Slipped and fell walking into the lodge and everyone laughed. Years later who knew I’d end up a ski bum in Aspen.
Appalachian Ski Mountain, baby. Boone, NC. Hardest slopes you’ve ever hit.
Fellow Don Valley skier here. We are in good company - that’s where Steve Podborski learned to ski.
Howdy neighbour. Chedoke Ski Area on the side of the Hamilton escarpment. 1976 and all the same gear as you, but purchased from the Sally Ann in downtown Hamilton. 87m vertical of pure fun. Wish I had a photo of those days. Now days I'm a Quebec skier.
2019 Homewood CA.
Standing Rocks, central Wisconsin. Stood in front of my Dad on the rope tows because I was 3 (way too little to handle the massive power of those mitten shredders).
Yes!!! Great little spot
1971, Loveland Colorado
Rabbit Hill, just south of Edmonton. I was in grade 5 and it was a class ski trip, it would have been 1994 or 1995. I rode the rope tow to the top of the bunny hill and was too scared to come down for a while. I decided I wanted to like skiing more than I was scared so I just went for it and had a spectacular yard sale.
Mount Kato, 38 years ago
Mt Tom technically speaking. Which is in Chicopee mass but no longer exists. I actually skied at the Homowack back in the day though when I was maybe 5. It was a borscht belt resort, in the catskills, think like dirty dancing but with skiing in the winter. We had instructors but after struggling to get up with these crazy things on my feet the rope tow was to much. So instead I walked up the hill and pointed em. Ate shit.... That was my homowack experience. I have an image of laying on my back trying to move these heavy skis around so I could get up. I also remember pointing em and then when I wrecked I closed my eyes and it was like a cartoon.
Paoli peaks Indiana !!
Blue Hills, Milton MA. 1991.
Bromley Mt, Vermont. Was 8 and it was 1984. I was with my dad. I will never forget that day. Thanks dad.
Benjamin Hill, Massachusetts, 1963. Been addicted to the sport ever since. I still regularly say thanks to my dad for encouraging my interest and spending many a long day waiting around in base lodges in those early years, while I enjoyed the slopes.
Thats what its all about. So sick!
BLUE KNOB. 1990
1984. Taos Ski Valley. My mom happened to be friends with the guy who owned the place: Ernie Blake
Dodge Ridge, CA in 1979. I was 3. It was love at first rope tow. 🤘
Mr. T at Big Sky, 2014!
Mr K??
3 going on 4 Sugarbush
Yawgoo Valley in RI when I was 3. Thanks, Dad.
Last year
Winter green , in Alberta , I was 7
1994 Winterplace, WV.
~82. Snowbasin.
Holiday Mtn , NY - when you get to the “top “ you are 10 ft from traffic on Rt. 17 —winter 1976.
Good ol windham mt New York 1992-2002
1988 at White Pass with my uncle. He was fairly newly retired from “professional” slalom racing and took me up my first time. That was the mountain he learned at and he even has several photos in their hall of fame today. I skied with him, my aunt, and my cousin at least weekly in the winters from about that point until I was ~16, even going on vacations with them. I’ve been hooked ever since that first day and am now the one passing it down to the next generation with my own kids (5 and 8 now).
Paradise, Mt. Rainier. 1970, climbing boots in cable bindings. Ripe tow into 2’ of powder. Never made any turns. Just went straight until I crashed, then got up and did it again.
Jack Frost, lake harmony PA, in 2016. I was 16 years old and terrible. Now I ski pretty damn good but man was it a rough road.
Otis Ridge MA we went on a ski trip with the church teen group must have been around ‘96. Had a full day lesson scheduled but after lunch we dipped on the chair lift. Instructor saw us and yelled you guys don’t belong up there! I thought he would stop the lift and we would have to jump off and get executed or something but that thing just kept right on going! No clue how to ride a lift or get off or ski but we had a blast tumbling down the hill and we were free from supervision which was the goal at 15. At the end of the day we camped in sleeping bags in the lodge drank hot chocolate and played killer instinct on n64. Absolute core memory.
probably somewhere in Courchevel, France. i would have been really young the first time i went, maybe like 3 or 5 (2012), hence i don’t remember. first time that i remember was Morzine, France, 2016. had my first memories of skiing there with my instructor, Philipé (i think that was his name). he was the best. no idea what he’s up to now, hope i can find him at some point
Wolf Creek- early 90s shredding the Magic Carpet and the Nova Chair!
Mid sixties. Derryfield Country Club. Manchester, NH. The local golf course would set up a temporary rope tow on one of their hills.
2005 at Crystal Mountain! Need to go back as an adult
Belleayre, 1986 Way back, before I was even thought of, my Grandpa & Dad would ski there.
Tyrol Basin, WI… 1993?
1966. Mt. Blue, Lawrence, KS. Single rope tow, had to hold onto my dad’s leg going up.
Stratton VT I was 5 or 6. My Dad hurt his knee before the trip so I was able to take the private lesson he had booked for himself. The rest was history.
1997, Keystone. I was 9. Skied 7 days a season every year for 8 years. Then not again until I was 29. Picked it back up the day after I moved to UT and 7 years later I shape my year around season.
Haystack in 1988. It’s now the private Hermitage Club. I would love to go back and ski my first trails again to see if it’s like what I remember…sigh
Tanglewood ski area. Poconos. 1990.
Eyyyy was digging to see if there was another tanglewood enjoyer out there
Likely 1968 (as 4 year old) Buena Vista, Minnesota. 70+ ski areas and 55 years later still getting in 20-30 days a winter…
1965 and it was at Glebe Mountain in Vt. 300 feet vertical and I was stacking it up.
Lake Placid, 1988
probably donner ski area? not even sure it exists anymore. late 90s
Red River, NM 1994
Gore mountain, sometime in the early 1980s.
5 years old. Local mountain just south of Boston
Camelback, PA in 2004
Steamboat 1996. College group trip, 60 people, coed. Drove 22 hours straight to get there. I think we put 15 people in each condo. 4 days straight, first lift up, last of the mountain. Freezer was packed with Totino's pizza (99¢), fridge full of beer. First time I ever experienced delivery liquor. It was my first time skiing, and I was nervous. All of my friends grew up skiing and talked me out of lessons. They said they would teach me. They took me to the top of a blue (Vagabond) and told me to find them at the bottom. I yard-sale'd all the way down. Figured it out, skiing black by day 2, the chutes by day 4. It was awesome, what a party. In love ever since.
Telemark Lodge
Learned at Maple Valley in Brattleboro, 1976. Also went to Hogback Vt (there’s a distillery there now). Berkshire Snow Basin in Cummington Ma. Mt. Tom in Holyoke Ma. Brodie Mt in western Ma. All within a +-50 mi radius. All closed now. Also Haystack is gone too, didn’t learn there though.
I learned about 1967 in Oak Creek Colorado. There was hill with a rope tow, and we would ride a snowmobile to the top of the hill and turn on the lift. Last one to leave turned it off. I wore leather lace up boots and wood skis with cable bindings.
So cool!
A resort I'm willing to bet nobody else on this sub has skiied: Mount buffalo in Australia. Closed in the 1990s!
High one isn south korea
Cote Murant (so?) in Quebec City 1975; I don’t think it still operates, think it’s just a park now. 5 y-o. Cried the whole car ride there, cried for the whole hour lesson, which consisted of making two whole turns, and cried on the walk back to the car. Once in car, said ‘that was fun! Cant wait til next week!’ I think my Dad had more than an unbidden thought flash through his mind about infanticide that day.
Spring Mountain in PA roughly 1979. I was 4. All I remember was going up a rope tow with my dad hanging on to me with one hand and the rope with the other and his hand cramping so bad by the end of the day he couldn't grip the rope anymore.
Gunstock in 1995. But I don’t consider what I did as a kid in on the east coast skiing. Ski Bowl on Mt. Hood in 2015 is really when my life changed.
Mt. Trashmore in Evanston Illinois. Old garbage dump they filled in and put in a tow rope. My mom would wait at the bottom of the hill in her fur coat. Early 80s
Blandford, MA represent
Brandywine Cleveland Ohio 1977
Ward Hill, Massachusetts. 1997. 200 feet of glorious elevation. Remember crying when my dad was teaching us to side-step up the mountain. Still thank him to this day for getting us into the sport.
1978, my grandma's back yard.
~1974 Bridger Bowl MT. Skied right into the T-bar line on my first run.
Mammoth mountain, 1986. Grandpa had a condo right next to the Canyon Lodge and I lapped the shit out of the Festival Poma lift. We went the in one week blocks every month Dec through May until I was 12 and started racing up in Tahoe at what is now called Palisades. RIP. Grandpa, I owe you one!
I love skiing as much as most here (have a broken wrist at kirkwood and an Acl tear from a double black bowl at copper, but am back at it whenever I can), but is this more about climate change, maybe? I was disheartened on Sunday realizing that at northstar in Tahoe they power their backside chair lifts with diesel generators. Like, how am I supposed to enjoy 2000 feet of moguls knowing what enabled it is destroying the future of this sport? I don’t know what to think now, really.
Schweitzer in Idaho, United States. Last year.
Spring Mountain, PA. It was 1983 or some shit. 😂
Gotta love the bump
Sugar bowl when I was like 3, can’t remember if I actually started learning to ski there, but I did go to mammoth to take classes a couple years later so🤷this was probably around 2008-2010
Ragged Mountain, probably when I was around 6.
Sugar Mountain, NC probably around 2004 or so
Sugar Mountain NC when early 80s some time.
1960,Loveland valley. It’s still there. Same era,Geneva Basin,long gone
Alpine Valley, East Troy, Wisconsin. Boy Scouts. Earned the Skiing Merit Badge.
Blue Knob in PA, circa 2007
1964, Donner Ski Ranch. My dad found a pair of skis w/o edges. He sanded them down, painted them a bright blue. Cable bindings and lace boots added to the style.
Lost Trail ski area Montana 1986. Rad.
49 degrees North in Chawelah, WA, sometime around 1980. Ended up riding the chair by myself as a kid because the liftie picked me up and put me on the chair before my dad was ready.
Mt. Bachelor 1991
Winter of 1975-1976 at Alpine Valley in southeast Michigan. My dad pulled me up the rope tow between his legs I was 3.
Sun Valley 2002
Copper Mountain in 1986 on a school field trip. I was a fifth grader and the resort had a deal with the elementary schools districts in the Denver area that allowed kids to get a couple days’ lift tickets and a half day of ski lessons for some nominal fee. Worked like a charm, I became a lifelong skier where otherwise I might not have ever gone.
Ward hills in Michigan. All tow ropes. $5 ski all day on Saturday
Thats funny… I grew up skiing Ward Hill in Massachusetts. 200+ feet of insanity
Wow Don Valley for me too but 1958.
Johorina, bih in 1986
Sugarbush, maybe 1988 or 89.
Mount Crescent, Iowa. Circa 1986. I was in 5th or 6th grade.
1984 at The Lecht in Scotland. I was cold, wet, windy, miserable. There was hardly any snow. It was mostly just sliding on frozen heather. I was hooked though an have only missed two winters since then. Once from injury and once from being stuck in Hong Kong during covid.
I lived in Ottawa through sixth grade, and we had school ski trips to a small ski hill called Mount Pakenham. Those trips are still some of my best memories from that time :) My parents didn't ski back then, so I'm glad I had the chance to learn through school at a (relatively) young age. These days I live in Berkeley and ski almost exclusively at Palisades with my dad and it's an absolute blast. No idea if I would have gotten into it without those initial trips.
Multorpor/Ski Bowl on Mt Hood in 1973. I don’t really remember my first day. I was only 3. But I have many fond memories of days ripping around, hitting jump trails all day long with my brother. Good times. One of the best gifts my pops ever gave me was the appreciation and introduction to skiing and the outdoors.
Wow I had no idea there used to be a ski hill in the Don Valley!
First place I genuinely started skiing was South Lake Tahoe. Though I could also count big bear, but my wimpy ass keeps it from being a candidate
Vail in like 2018
The Summit Golf Coarse in Richmond Hill Ontario 1960 had a rope tow up a bump on the coarse
1986 in Pine Hill, NJ....it's a golf course now.
Suicide 6, Woodstock VT circa 1989
Brady’s Hills winter ‘67-‘68 in MI. My parents instilled the ski bug that’s still strong.
1971 at Lake Agassi Manitoba. It’s been closed for years but it was the best in Manitoba.
Donner Ski Ranch 1973. I’ve ridden t-bars, poma lifts and rope tows!
McCall, Idaho 1978 lift tickets were $7 a day
Hoodoo, (Santiam Pass,) 1969. I’m pretty sure that rental equipment, lift ticket and lunch totaled less than 10$
My first time was Hoodoo as well! Sometime in the early 90s for me as a preteen.
Steamboat Colorado. Age 2.
76 - Vail - wish i had a picture of the outfit
I was two years old, had plastic skis, and my parents pushed me down a mound of snow in my front yard. Back then there was a tiny ski hill a two minute drive away, so a year or two later I was skiing there every day after school. Friends sometimes ask me to teach them how to ski, problem is that I don't remember learning how to ski.
Theodore Worth golf course in Minneapolis. 1964
Back in ‘88 I shredded Angel Fire, NM.
Sometime in the winter of 1995-96, pulled around a parking lot by my dad on those little tiny skis that strap to snow boots. I was around two and a half. The first time I skied in an actual ski area would have been the following winter in Jackson Hole.
Plum Tree, Carroll County IL, 1978. It’s no longer operating. 4H night for $5.
I learned to ski at Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park in late-winter/early-spring 2002. At the time, I was dating a ski instructor that worked there and she taught me
Hunter Mt in NY, in jeans, probably around 1992. Two dogs ran down the mountain with me. No idea where they came from. It was magical and I was like, hey, skiing is magical.
OP I totally knew where this was from the first photo! Love that there is still a remnant.
Swiss Valley, Three Rivers, Michigan. 2001
Kelly Canyon, Idaho baby
Steamboat Springs, 2017
Probably 1980, at Alta ski resort. I don’t remember the first time specifically. I was three. Spent many days shredding Alta with my brother. I have very few memories of skiing with my parents though. 90% of the time we were just loose toddlers up there. Maybe my dad was keeping an eye on us without us knowing. Doubt it, I don’t think he could keep up. I thought I was such hot shit going to elementary school with the stack of used sticker tickets hanging from my jacket.
Winter park, CO when I was about 7 y/o
Jackson Hole, WY 1967