86
|
WINTER
2016
Most skiers today,
especially in the
east, live for groomed trails. There is nothing
quite likebeinganearlybirdand laying first
tracks on fresh corduroy. Even advanced
skiers confess that abeautifullygroomed run
is something they secretly love to ski. In these
parts,where theweather can slip froma light
fluffy snowfall, to ice pellets, rain, then back
to snow inamatterof hours,we relyon snow
grooming to correct what Mother Nature
sometimeshandsout.Whatmanyof usdon’t
realizeor remember is that itwasnot always
like that…And in reality itwasn’t that longago
that grooming, as we know it today, didn’t
exist. In fact, the process of rolling snow to
achieve a smooth surface longpredates the
development of ski liftsand trails.
Back in the50s, when I started skiing, if we
wanted to pack trails we got together and
sidesteppeddowna run. Then took the rope
towbackupand triedour luckon thepacked
track. Itwas slowand tediousand the results
didn’t last long. Theonlypositivewas thaton
a frigidday it was an effectiveway to keep
warm. In the latter part of thedecade, ski re-
sortshired tinkerers tocomeupwithbetter so-
lutions.Well, sometimes...
Back in the horse and buggy days, farmers
pulledahuge roller behinda teamof horses
topack snow-covered roads so sleighs and
wagonscouldhaveaneasier timegoing from
place to place. In 1950, Winter Park Col-
oradoResortManager, SteveBradley, took
that ideaand tried it on ski hills.
Instead of a team of horses (which would
damage thepristine snowbase) he strapped
thedevice toa skier. The skier took the roller
upa T-bar then skieddown the runwith the
roller spinning behind him. As long as the
skier stayed upright on his skis, the roller
packed thepowder snowbehindhim.Avari-
ationof this contraption, whichwas used for
flatteningmogulsand lumpy snow,was toat-
tach aplow in front of abedspringandpull
thatdown thehillonskis.Asonecan imagine
the key tooperating this devicewas to ‘stay
upright on your skis’, because if youwere to
fall, thegroomingmachinewouldmore than
likely continue down the fall-line, takingout
anything in its way… including the hapless
skierpulling thedevice.
SMOOTH
OPERATORS
Story | Tom Hakala
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