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2022-12-11 at 20:23 - comment by Diana Piggott
Lovely picture and report!
And the comments brought back a lot of memories for me too - we used to have replacement ski tips, but they were probably cheap plastic?
My husband didn't learn to snowplow for many years, and did wild somersaults instead. Needless to say, he went through several pairs of wooden skis in spectacular (if somewhat frightening) fashion, before getting fancy new fibreglass skis in the mid 1980s.
Thank you, all of you, for the memories! Too soon, they will be all we have......
2022-12-11 at 16:03 - comment by DEMOCRATIZE AB
Howdy Carl,
The interesting picture of your skis at the top of the ridge brought back some near killer memories for me.
I can thoroughly understand the sentimental value of those skis that your Dad bought for you. It must feel good to boogie across the snow with them.
For me the picture reminds me of a time way back in the last century when a buddy of mine and I went back country skiing at Mount Shark on skis like that.
Shortly after leaving the car at the old Mount Shark parking lot (not the one existing now) a big snow storm came in. My buddy was guiding us up some nicely sparse tree slope with your typical Alberta rotten Rockies snow. We were breaking trail in deep old faceted sugar snow that only got deeper with the storm. We decided to turn around and I was getting some nice tele turns in on the old wooden xc skis that had less paint on the tops than yours. After a few turns I crashed, ripping a binding out of one ski and breaking the other. The ski broke like a used chop stick. I was choked to say the least. That may have been as a result, in part, of snow crammed down my throat and up my noise as a result of the crash.
I had to post hole my way back to the car up to the waist. It was a brutal experience that I will never forget until old timers disease takes over my mind- maybe next week.
My buddy was skiing ahead to break trail back to the car in the new snow as our tracks were already covered. Night time fell and I was still post holing my way back to the car. I remember being at the end of my energy when I faintly heard my buddy yelling he found the car. There was so much new snow on the car he skied right into it as it was totally covered. I could not have gone another 100 meters at that point. I would have collapsed if I had to go much further.
I can remember driving the Mt. Shark road out to the Smith Dorrien Road. It took us well over an hour because as soon as the car would start moving the cold smoke powder snow would blow over the windshield of my VW Rabbit. We could not see outside of the windshield to see where we were driving. It was stop and go driving. Stop, memorize the road for a few meters then drive and stop and repeat. We also had to clear out the radiator as it was plugged with snow and over heated. When we hit the Smith Dorrien Road, things improved greatly and we were able to drive about 30 kph.
The picture of your wooden skis on your report either brings back memories or a bit of post traumatic Stress Disorder- PTSD from that day. I did not get back on cross country skis for a number of years after that day until I discovered xc skis that were not wooden at a store. That changed everything for the better and it made me a tougher smarter mountain dude.
2022-12-10 at 21:22 - comment by SteveR
Good to see those oldies still getting some love. Looking at them, I can almost smell the pine tar in Bernie Mason's shop in Wildwood! I've still got one of those emergency ski tips in the parts bin, yours if you want it, Carl. I haven't seen a broken tip in many years, a product both of stronger skis, and the plethora of well groomed trails that we enjoy now.
Clamp on ski tip, a staple repair kit item to carry in the wood ski era.
Classic skis at Skogan Pass
Report Submitted by Carl V M
(trip) Date: Saturday Dec 10, 2022
Submitted: Saturday Dec 10, 2022 at 20:21
Participants:
just me
Discussion:
My father bought these skis for me 50 years ago! I still like to take them out once or twice a year. And Skogan Pass is the perfect destination. The pine tar base (and a cake of blue wax that is almost as old) grips very well on the climb. And on the way down, you are mainly trying to control the speed. There's not much stride 'n glide on this trip! We returned via Skogan Loop.
As reported by Des a couple of days ago, Skogan Pass and Loop and Hummingbird Lookout have all been groomed and trackset recently. And there has been very little traffic since.
Cheers,
Carl
Total distance: 20.00 Km
 Classic wooden skis at Skogan Pass
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