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Vintage photos, vintage equipment

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Has there ever been a thread of Snowheads' vintage ski photos and equipment?

I wondered since I just put both (from the 50s) on another area of this website, and recently posted a St Anton photo and photo of my father from the 30s.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Still not sure if there has been, but I'll start it by reposting my Jungfrau thread ones:

me and my dad in 1956


Here are my Diplomat W, Kneissl skis from 1958 and and boots with inner and outer lacing. The Kandahar binding is shown in the open position, with lever pulled back to show the release mechanism with its spring. The ring on the front end was simply turned to adjust. The (now rusty) edges were simply screwed onto the solid wood ski. The strap to stop the ski running away if released was simply wrapped around the ankle, so it was common to get hit by your ski when you fell over. (I notice they have a Lillywhites sticker - do they still sell skis?)

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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Marvellous snowball. Are you ever tempted to try out the kit?

As vintage as it gets for me is a pair of 197cm (huge vs my current 165s) Salomon S2000 matchsticks - ie skis - from 1991 that I still have in the garage.


Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Thu 28-01-21 22:49; edited 1 time in total
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Fantastic picture of you and your Dad, @snowball. snowHead
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
My Mother learning to ski January 1949 on the nursery slope behind the Jungfrau Hotel, Muerren.

Mum-ski-colour
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Brilliant images and memories

Great thread.

Thanks.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Excellent, bring it on. There's no "like" button here, but it's good to see old gear & people.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Fantastic photos. Men/boys in collared shirts/jumpers and Mums in Dad-pants.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
philwig wrote:
Excellent, bring it on. There's no "like" button here, but it's good to see old gear & people.


No 'like' button, but if you click the little plus on the right hand side of a post, you can rate it! No idea who would ever see it, but it's still there Laughing

Edit: love these photos!
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@colinstone, nice one, very glamorous! Is that hand-tinted?
Similar from me of my mum. Her first time skiing was 1946 after my father was invalided out of the army at the end of the war having fallen sick with suspected typhus after being in the first allied group to go into Belsen (he was a surgeon seconded from the paratroops). This may be the second time, the year after (or even later) , since the first time they were still both wearing their army kit.

Is this Davos?



Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Thu 28-01-21 22:29; edited 1 time in total
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Fantastic

2022 Calendar methinks
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@snowball, there was a Singapore website colourise.sg
But seems to have stopped and now an app Colourise on Google Play.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Brilliant photos.
I hired lace up boots in Aviemore in 1969!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I wonder sometimes Safer to ski years ago or now

Now, while Carving skis are of course a huge step fwd, it can encourage excessive speeds, lack of control in less reckless skiers
Now safer bindings, better boot release , helmets

Then people more in control (perhaps) lower speed , not skiing beyond ability
Difficult to use Skis, less effective bindings
Bobble hats , no helmets
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I don't know what it is about these old skiing photos, but I absolutely love them.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
dublin2 wrote:
I wonder sometimes Safer to ski years ago or now

Now, while Carving skis are of course a huge step fwd, it can encourage excessive speeds, lack of control in less reckless skiers
Now safer bindings, better boot release , helmets

Then people more in control (perhaps) lower speed , not skiing beyond ability
Difficult to use Skis, less effective bindings
Bobble hats , no helmets


And a better mannered bunch?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

1949 Alan and John Crompton ..my Father John and Uncle Alan.
Alan raced and competed in several races culminating in being a member of the British Team at the Cortina Olympics 1956..Alan is still with us and living near Chichester sadly my father passed on this month at age 95.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 28-01-21 19:59; edited 3 times in total
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I love these.

Out of interest how did brits know about skiing in the alps in the 40s and afford to do it? They can't all have been rich and well travelled.
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My grandad used to ski in the army.
He couldn't have been any good as he ended up in Bornio during the War.
He was captured by the Japanese who executed the Gurkhas with him.

Sorry for the thread drift.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
After the 2nd war there were many soldiers suffering from bronchial problems from gas and they were sent to the Alps to recuperate. Alan was doing his National service and when a request for volunteers who could ski went out Alan was first in the line..from there he progressed to racing and competed in many of the classics..
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Quote:

Out of interest how did brits know about skiing in the alps in the 40s and afford to do it?

the ski club of GB dates back to 1903 and the Scottish ski club in 1907. The Lake District Ski Club was established in the 1930s and plenty of troops were trained to ski in Scotland during the second war.
Going back further the lead miners in the Pennines in the 1700s and 1800s were apparently using ‘skis’ to get to work, although I don’t have a reference for that.
I have a pair of Red Masters like those in my garage. I broke another pair in about 1972 in Corrie na Ciste. By then kit was starting to move on from leather lace up boots and cable bindings. Broken legs and ankles were still fairly common though. until the 1980s people were generally fitter, slimmer and prepared to walk a lot more, probably reducing soft tissue injuries. The 1960s and 70s were the big decades for ski expansion both in the alps and the uk snowHead
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Peter S wrote:
Quote:

Out of interest how did brits know about skiing in the alps in the 40s and afford to do it?

the ski club of GB dates back to 1903 and the Scottish ski club in 1907. The Lake District Ski Club was established in the 1930s and plenty of troops were trained to ski in Scotland during the second war.


Also the Kandahar Ski Club in Mürren was founded by Sir Arnold Lunn and other British skiers in 1924, and the DHO (DownHill Only) Club was founded in nearby Wengen in 1925.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@holidayloverxx, have a read of Roland Huntford’s book ‘Two planks and a passion’ which amidst a broader history of skiing does engage with the early uk interest in the alps and skiing which partly led to development of what became package holidays...driven by uk entrepreneurs. A really interesting book.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Lovely pictures - many of skiers without goggles or glasses - which would seem a recipe for conjunctivitis (well that's what my parents said at the time). How did you manage, @snowball?

First skied in 1961 (and sadly didn't ski again until the 80s). My parents were very keen for me to have goggles because of the risk from glare - I wound up a pair that looked bit like what Ed Hilary had.
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@achilles, Well, the photo of me with my dad I have small goggles pushed up on my forehead for the photo. Perhaps in others they were taken off for the photos?. I will put up some photos of my dad and friends from before the war in the 30s, and the first one he is wearing goggles.



In Lenzerheide with dad's car


with some of his friends


more to follow


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Fri 29-01-21 11:31; edited 1 time in total
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Dad's girlfriend and dad in the 30s
.

probably St Anton ? (was with some photos taken there). Edit: probably looking across at the Albona area.




Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 1-02-21 15:57; edited 4 times in total
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@snowball, what lovely photographs and family memories. I appreciate you showing them to us.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@snowball, great photos, thanks for posting them. Smile
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@lunch mike, sorry to hear about your father, but that's a proud boast about uncle Alan. It would be good to see the action photos a bit bigger.

In the 30s my father's friends put him in for a downhill race. The world champion was in it. There was no marked course, just a start and a finish. He knew there was a gully with just enough snow in it which was a shortcut. He took it and won. I used to have the (small) cup but I'm not sure what happened to it when we sold their house after my mum's death. I do have my great uncle's Olympic and Wimbledon tennis medals.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Keep them coming please
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@snowball, Great photos! Guess he must have driven his car over to the Alps?! Prob just as well he was in the AA..!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
mountainaddict wrote:
Are you ever tempted to try out the kit?


I did when I took up skiing again in 1982. Not since. I'd be afraid they might break, even if my legs didn't.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
My Father skied Wengen in the early 1930's and have at home various resort maps and Jungfraubahn information.
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@snowball, amazing photos - and some great family history!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
My parents met in Norway in 1946, on a volunteer working party helping rebuild the Norwegian infrastructure after WWII.
This was in a town called Granvin, working on building the Youth Hostel there - our family home was named after this town Very Happy

They went back the following winter to learn to ski - unfortunatley they didn't take to skiing but it must have been in the blood snowHead

Looks like they had some fab conditions anyway....



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@colinstone, The folks on the Jungfrau (Resorts) thread might like to see those if you can scan them.

Nice @geoffers,
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@snowball, it will be a while.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Great thread! Unfortunately no previous generations from me, but loving seeing other people's. Keep them coming! snowHead
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Excellent thread. Looking forward to seeing some more photos
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snowball wrote:
@achilles, Well, the photo of me with my dad I have small goggles pushed up on my forehead for the photo. Perhaps in others they were taken off for the photos?. I will put up some photos of my dad and friends from before the war in the 30s, and the first one he is wearing goggles.




Yep! Thanks. That's the sort my dad decided I should wear!
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