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Show Page 6 Wednesday, February 18, 1 976 by Pete Najar I with Craig AKschul I called my friend "Nick the Sleek," the snow oddsmaker up in Northern New Hampshire the other day. ' Nick doesn't place odds on insignificant things like Super Bowl or Kentucky Derby's. He leaves those items for the Vegas dudes. Nick is a skiing prognasticator. Every Thursday morning, he climbs out of his cave in the White Mountains and peers across the nation's ski slopes. He can predict with astounding accuracy, what, the snow will be like fro the weekend. Then he calls all the newspapers and radio stations and says insipid things like: "This is Nick the Sleek, your snow reporter, with this weekend's ski outlook. Vail has gr, n, gd-e and a smattering of pkd pdr. Snow Summit is operating with a total of n-p with a covering of gr with three inches of m-m sp on the i-e." He's never been too easy to understand. But, I called him at the wrong moment. He was reading the newspaper - The Mountain Top "Tatler" and was really irritated. "I'm glad you called' he bellowed. "I needed to talk with a ski writer, and since you 're the only one who called, you'll have to do." "Thanks," I said, politely waiting to hear his current tirade. "Listen," I said. "Ski Tips, I've got news for you," he said. "By 1978, there will be no more skiers. Your sport is doomed. Doomed, I tell you." "I'm sitting up here on my favorite mogul reading the "Tattler," and it says that a union at United Airlines had uncluttered the "Friendly Skies" over the holidays so none, of us. skiers could go 'home' for Christmas. "Home' to Nick, is a ski slope. And, that's yt'tM inany.oiuiv top. -. g m" T C "I just had a call from my friend H. Walter Middy. ..you know, the chairlift daydrearaer...and he was trying to get from LaGuardia Airport to some snow so he could ski a week where he knew there was some. "To do it he had to fly on Allegheny, TWA, Continental, Braniff, Delta and Eastern That got him to Newark." "Then, I turn the page in my paper and read about New York's Governor Hugh Carey asking , the Legislature to add a "self -participating sports tax" on all lift tickets in the state that could add 50 cents to $1 per pass. "It's aimed at skiers, of course. It only amounts to a few cents on the dollar for other sports. ..but when buying a lift ticket, the tax gets outrageous." "I tell you SKI TIPS, old friend," he was yelling now and I think his mogul was melting. "I tell you, if one more thing happens to you "DIEHARD" "DIE-HARD" skiers, you are going to throw in your ski poles and go back to knitting or worse, tennis. He was furious now and was slipping into that stupid report lingo. "I think gr-s, e-pkd pdr on the e..." "Wait," I hollered, "Do you know what you're saying?" J ; ie "I know exactly what I'm saying." He was speaking English again and he was livid. "The skier is the most persecuted sportsperson on ' earth.'V : . . ;. -i '- "Oh, come now, I said, "Have you ever played pro football in Minnesota?" V "No, I'm dead serious," Nick said, and he explained his point. I passit on to you for what it's worth. f ! "Picture the beleaguered skier. He or she fights all kinds of weather on a horrible drive for a weekend to a favorite ski resort 'near home' (well", 200 miles away). Something always happens to the car-the wipers break.. .the pipes freeze.. .something. There's $100. r "They get to the hill, pay an arm and a leg for housing that probably wouldn't pass inspection in the South Bronx or they pay both arms, and both legs for accommodations so luxurious, the President wouldn't even stay in them. There's never an in-between. - "They wait in interminable lift lines; stand in unrelenting cafeteria serpentines for cold hamburgers that MacDonald's wouldn't even have the nerve to serve ... to ski on hills that barely have enough snow to cover the rocks that make holes in their skis ... that require patching at $15. "They fill their gas tanks for the ride home at twice what they would have to pay in the city and try to let the fond memory of that ONE decent run tide them over. They say it was worth it, but each time they believe it less. , f '3i "So, they pledge to "fly away" for a week to the Rockies or the Northwest or the Sierra? where they have a chance of the snow really being good and they discover the 'Friendly Skies' :5have even deserted thera.,- ' . & ? ' '. "There's i either no .'snbwV.no ?ua,..m airlines. ..no more rental cars.. .no bus service'for) six hours... no more lift tickets being sold... no more rental skis. ..no more sandwiches...a drained coffeepot... no more hot wine... no band tonight.. .no power for the snow guns. ..no snow on the upper mountain... and no operation today of chairs 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Chairs 1, 2 and 3 are operating, but they only get you from the parking lot ot the hill. - "The 'Skier's Airline' won't take us. The governor is going to tax us some more and the snow's lousy to boot." ; "Where will it end, Nick?" I say. "We really want to ski despite what you say. I know us skiers. You're just too cynical. What's some-more some-more tax money, anyhow? We've skied rocks, before, too. t "We got there without gas, so we'll get there without that idiot airline. Skiers will ski, Nick.. .so crawl back under your mogul and shut up. We don't need the voice of doom. We'll just stand here and take everything they throw at us! But, dammit, we'll ski!" "Okay, okay," he mumbled.. ."But mark my. predictions and...kp yr ski tps up.". A ski's personality, whether it is fast or slow, turns quickly or makes long turns, is a result of its flex pattern (both longitudinally and torsional tor-sional ). . . The flex pattern of a ski is its flexing properties, in other words, whether it is a stiff or soft ski. A ski is usually stiffer under the foot area than it is at the tip and tail. Variations of the stiffness affects the performance. For example, a slalom ski has the same or nearly the same flex at tip and tail, whereas a giant slalom ski has a softer tip and firmer tail . The softer ski will turn with less effort. Care must be taken not to ski a ski .that is too soft for the conditions. A softer ski will work well in softer snow and a stiffer ski on the harder snow.' The side cut is the main factor in determining a ski's personality. Its purpose is to allow the ski to turn and to distribute pressure along the whole length of the edge when the ski is flexed. An easy way to see the side cut is to put the skis side to ide. The only place the two skis touch is near the tips and tails. The arc that each ski makes is known as the side cut. The greater the arc of the side cut or the more radical the side cut the better the ski will hold on ice, The more radical the side cut the more pressure is on th tips and tails, consequently, more power is generated to make the ski hold well. Camber distributes the weight of a skier over the length of the ski. It is best seen by putting two skis bottom to bottom; here again, the skis should make contact near the tip and tails. In choosing a ski it is important to choose one with the proper amount of camber. A ski with too little camber combined with a soft flex pattern will not distribute the weight to the tips. Too much weight will be centered under the foot; the result will be a ski that will not track' well it will be squirrelly. If the ski has too much camber, cam-ber, too much weight will be transferred to the tips and tails; the result will be a ski that is slow and hard to turn. ADVERTISING IN !ES? BRINGS RESULTS! BOX 738 PARK CITY, UTAH 84060 PI as 'Afcin si- "AY sgls :1ik SHrtaf Psfflck wasifJ ditd a listening mood this moirniiing. FACTORY AUTHORIZED SALE 1975-1976 LANGE skis and boots SAVE UP TO 40 While supplies last wo NEXT TO THE GONDOLA AT THE RESORT CENTER 649-9852 It can make you (el bettor. At State Farm, person to person health insurance revives re-vives that old-fashion idea of personal attention. Yet it helps protect against today's to-day's soaring medical costs. It can even rntke sure you get money to help meet those extra hospital expenses. Or an income if you're disabled. Let me show you how. 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