More Retro memories????

I bought some Hot Heads at the start of the '73-'74 season and the Hart Ballets in early '75. The Hot Head and the Yahoo were out at the same time. I chose the Hot Head over the Yahoo due to the lower price. The Yahoo 2 came later, but by how much I don't remember. The Hart Ballet and Freestyle were available at the start of the '74-'75 season, IIRC. The Freestyle may predate the Ballet by a little, but I don't remember any more.

I don't think that was enough info to really answer the question, though.

More old Hart's

This may cause Phil to tear up a bit

Hart trivia...

So we had the "car" series...Javelin, Camaro, Cutlas, Gremlin.
Others I missed???


Then there was the "Chess" series...Rook, Knight, Bishop.
Others?


Were there other theme's too?

Mustang, Firebird, Hornet, 190E 2.3 16V


The Chess years do not bring back fond memories.

There were many themes that have have brought up, some will be worked in partiality.

I couldn't find pictures of any of my very first rig, but I'm sure more than a few of you will remember:

Rossignol Tornados (white with blue trim)
San Gorgio's
Tyrolia 150D

This followed two year of rentals with utterly spectacular Spademan bindings.

It's funny how skiers remember gear from years (decades?) ago. How about Dolomite Secret Weapons? I was trying to one up the Purple Hansen crowd and I bought a pair, sold them to a friend, and bought them back a year later. Hey, I was young, LOL.

Sure the ski boots weren't San Marco's?

Had the Secret Weapons. Smartened up and went to the Nordica Polaris

[quote=Philpug;940493]Mustang, Firebird, Hornet, 190E 2.3 16V
quote]


Yes, I do remember the Hornet now that you mention it.
But have no memory of a Hart Mustang or Firebird. Were there
such animals? I know your playing with the MB

I had some Wahoo's back in the 70's. Not sure if that was the fish or the cowboy term...

P.S. Spademans ruled. Thats all I used until they quit pumping them out...

Head had the Yahoo, Yahoo 2 and I do think the Wahoo, a lower performance version of the Yahoo.

Philpug - I stand corrected. Yahoo it was - could memory be the first to go? ...and Al Gore hadn't even invented the internet yet so no play on words either...

Yes they did, and for some of us, still do. Do a search here for "Spademan" you will find some fun conversations.

IIRC, the Polaris came after the SW's. A cleaner looking boot. Either way, the high dollar boots couldn't help my two bit ability. LOL. At least now I have age as an excuse.

I'm certain my first boots were San Giorgio and not San Marco.

I saw the first Polaris as a prototype at Shawnee Mtn when the Freestyle Tour hit the Pocono's (Aerials at Shawnee, Moguls at Camelback and Ballet (acro) at Big Boulder). The Polaris was the first of the knee highs with the other manufactures scrambling to follow. Most took traditional 4 buckle boots and added higher upper cuffs. I am thinking 81 was the hear that the Polaris was introduced with the others following in 82.

Infamous Miller Soft's

any of you westen guys ski these back
before the wide skis took over?

IIRC, these were 2x4's compared to Molnar Greens .

But they were purdy 2X4's

Miller Soft Gear Review...

Found this "new" old review online...


Miller Soft report

Lal_truckee 1 April 2005 01:02:36 As some of you may recall, I scored a pair of original Miller Soft skis
early in the season at a consignment shop, in good shape with good
bases. These skis were probably made in the early 1970s IIRC; at least
that's about the era when I first noticed them. They were specifically
designed by Earl Miller
for Utah powder
and had limited distribution - you pretty much had to go to Utah to buy
them. Thus began a covetious relationship with what I thought was
unobtainable - owning and skiing Miller Softs. I was surprised and
gratified to discover this pair for sale (at $50.) I had my shop mount
them with demo bindings - I imagined others might like to test drive
such a (now) rare ski.

OK, enough background.
I tried them last Thursday at Alpine Meadows, in deep California Cement,
and hated them. Minimum sidecut, narrow, and no stiffness meant they
couldn't crank a GS turn in the deep. Two footed technique would send
each in a different direction, and outside weighting would leave the
outside ski buried tracking unforgiving snow leading to arkward lurching
to get the ski free for the next turn. And when making the last run into
the lift on the packed they didn't behave themselves (that minimal
sidecut thing again.) Very difficult skiing - I gave them three deep
snow runs and went into the locker for my regular California Cement deep
snow skis (K2 Piste Stinx) which have more sidecut and are stiffer,
while still relatively narrow. They would crank GS turns in the heavy.
Oh well - maybe it was another experiment with limited reward.

But last night we had another 18inches of reasonably light snow (at
least by California standards. And the Millers became stars today. The
narrowness meant I had none of that surface gliding - they would alway
porpoise deep into the soft and the soft shovel would bring them right
back up for the next turn. They really shined on steep where one could
launch a freefall drop into the soft and let the compression launch the
next turn, and the next, and the next. As long as the surface remained
soft they even managed crud and tracked up with aplomb, and handled the
lift return runout easily.

They were Beautiful. They were a Revelation. And they also put wide
plank "powder" skis to shame. Earl Miller got it right 35 years ago. IMO
it's a crying shame what people today are subjected to - skis that won't
allow the skier to enter the three dimensional world of deep snow
skiing, that force the skier to remain on top of the snow. It's time for
a ski counter-revolution.­ It's time for manufacturers to offer capable
skiers the choice of skiing in the snow rather than on the snow. Leave
the training skis for those who ski 8 or 10 days a year, and build some
new real powder skis for the rest of us.

I have a 210cm pair of the Black and white Miller "Softs" that are as stiff or stiffer than a pair of K2 610s, with a 70mm+ waist.

The previous owner had drilled them for Tyrolia 360s but stuffed up the mount thinking that the boot tip line was the boot midpoint line.

Say the word and I'll send them up for comparison.

Kneissl Acrobat

Anyone date these more closely than 70's?

Were they with the Olin Mk. IV or later with the IV Comps?

another "group" pic;

Mmmm RC04's with M4-15's.

Reposted....but when Phil mentioned the RC04s...I had to show the pic again..(Elan RC04 second from the left)
Click [here] for larger size..



Head DH 220cm
Elan RC04 205
Kastle Ice 205
Lange Comp GS 210
K2 GS Electra 204
Olin Racing SL 205
Volkl Explosiv "R" RS 205
Fischer RS C4 Vacuum 212
Kastle RX GSM SG 203
Lacroix Soft Carbon Fibre 207
Volkl P9 SX Super 207
Volkl P9 RS 207
1947 Head (original Head honeycomb w/aluminum bases!)
Volkl P9 RS Super 213
Volkl P20 RS 210
Volkl P30 Race Carve 195
K2 Axis Mod X Pro 188
Nordica K11 GS 185
Anton Glider Carbon EX 158
Lib Tech NAS Park & Pipe 179
Swallow Zuma TwinTip 170
Spoilt Racecarve 179
Nordica Speedmachine 16.1 178
Edelwiser Firnis 180
Palmer P02 171
Palmer P03 171
(not pictured - Edelwiser Swing 162)
(not pictured - Edelwiser Firnis 170cm)
(not pictured - Swallow Professor 106 SC-12 "Demon Stration" 170)

To be honest, the K2 GS Electras and Kastle RX GSM skis belong to my Brother...the Palmers and Edelwisers are loaners....(too bad I have to send them back...)

Philpug
Because of the substandard pic I'll cut you some slack.

But it should have been;

Mmmm RC05's, 205cm with M4-15's.

Here's a picture of the original LOOK Nevada
double pivot toe.

"So in 1950 Beyl created the Look Nevada toe, the first recognizably modern binding design, with a long spring-loaded piston to provide plenty of lateral elasticity for shock absorption. Beyl was a perfectionist; in an era when most bindings were made of stamped steel, his Nevada was made of expensive, heavy cast aluminum. It was nearly bulletproof. It was a two-pivot toe unit-that is, the main pivoting body carried along a second pivot on which was mounted the toe cup, thus assuring that the toe cup would travel in parallel with the boot toe. "

Second picture is an early and more familar looking Look Nevada II
single pivot toe.

" At Look, Jean Beyl redesigned the two-pivot Nevada toe. The result, in 1962, was the ingenious single-pivot Look Nevada II, with its long toe wings that gripped the boot's upper toe, rather than the sole flange. This patented design remained the basis of Look toe units for the next 40 years."

Last Run...

Vintage 70's Vail poster....

Sweet

Anybody else recall mixing binding toes and heels? I had at least one pair in the early 70's with a Salomon toe and Marker roto heel.

At the time, it was not even an unusual request for the shop. Imagine asking for that now?

I've got a pair of 210cm Rossi ROC 550's with a Salomon 505 toe and Marker Rotamat FD heel.

Also my 203cm HEAD Killy 800's have a Look Nevada toe and Marker Rotamat FD heel.

The trend here was to NOT ski the Marker simplex toe. PERIOD


"know thy enemy"

Manufacturers were doing it too. the Rossi FKS was a Geze toe and Look heel.

I checked out this tiny little ski/tennis shop in Lakewood today. The old fellow that runs it was still in tennis mode and won't be bringing out his ski stock for another month, but there was a fair stack of old straight skis in the back of the shop. A mid-70s Rossi Freestyle and Concorde, a couple very old Pre's, a Durafiber and lots of Dynastars. There were a lot of old boots back in the corner, including a bunch of rear-entry jobs, Raichle I think.