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Show Wednesday, August 3, 1977 Hand- Page 11 Alpine Slide Sends Joke Into Obsolescence ihD hanks to cushion mine p3! Cewbf ia.'-: :'-dr -Czl' ... . ..r-f-FA stunt .4. BY Liz Roman Gallese Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal "It was tough sledding. " "How come?" "No snow. " -Old Joke Thanks to the Alpine Slide and the Red Rumbler, snowless sledding has arrived, making summer a happier time for some ski-resort ski-resort operators and sending yet another old joke into obsolescence. It also gives adventuresome reporters something new to try. Here at the Bromley Mountain ski area, it is an overcast summer day, and I'm bracing myself for my first Alpine Slide trip. Having paid $2.75 for my ticket and traveled up the mountain in a chairlift, I hop into a wheeled plastic sled that will carry me 4,060 feet down one of two parallel asbestos-concrete chutes, or tracks, built into the mountainside. Pusing forward on the stick shift, I'll accelerate. Pulling it back, I'll slow down or stop. Properly seated, I push forward, and I'm off. I tear around two dozen curves and sharp turns, over several bumps and down one roller-coaster roller-coaster drop. I screech to a halt in five minutes. My average speed, a calculator tells me, was 9.23 miles an hour. I could have gone faster, but it would have been hard to take notes. Average Is 10 To 15 Frank Johnson, the slide manager here says that riders average 10 to 15 miles per hour and are "really flying" at 30 m.p.h. When a rider goes that fast, he is riding on the sled's two wheels which are toward the front of the sled and on I r f . i B Jr J 1 I I . Mike Kier of the Silver King Club hands a check to Mrs. Marylou Toly. The Silver King Club held a benefit Wednesday night to raise money to send Mrs. Toly's daughter Roxanne to Argentina for a special downhill training camp. the back part of two of six Teflon runners. When he goes slower, he is riding only one of the six Teflon runners. The more he accelerates, the more the wheels come down to the track, reducing friction and thus adding speed. Bob Borza, bartender in the Bromley Room restaurant, calls the Alpine Slide "every adult kid's, dream; it's a roaring sort of time in a picnic sort of atmosphere." Mr. Borze says 99 percent of the riders love it. "When they get off," he says, "you can see their enthusiasm. They'll say. Great, great,' get a beer, then go back in line." Indeed, snowless sledding, which the Alpine Slide Corp. of Manchester, Vt., introduced in the U.S. last year, has captured the fancy of thousands of riders. Ski-area Ski-area operators say it could be the solution to their biggest problem summer. Equipment sits idle in the summertime while costs keep rising. The result; big cash-flow crunches in the off season. Alpine Slide Corp., which was set up two years ago to market the German-designed German-designed and manufactured system in the U.S., says that 19 will be operating by August, up from just four last year. The firm says that it will sell 15 to 20 more next year, and it sees an overall potential of 200 buyers. Seasons of Leisure International Inc., a Minneapolis concern that offers the similar, U.S.-made U.S.-made Red Rumbler, says that it has sold eight and that it will sell 87 more within three years. Unlike the Alpine Slide, the Red Rumbler operates at a fixed speed as much as 40 miles an hour and can run in all kinds of weather. The i lit 1 . 1 k " I Alpine Slide has to come in out of the rain. Expensive Installations The slides are expensive. The Alpine Slide costs $50 a foot. Thus, the two 4,060-foot tracks at Bromley Mountain cost a total of more than $400,000. The Red Rumbler, which has a stainless-steel track, costs $52.50 a foot. Obviously, the ski areas are gambling large amounts that riders' enthusiasm won't wear thin very soon. And there is another worry besides the dwindling enthusiasm: What good will their costly investment do them if ski areas all around them install similar slides? Both slide makers seek to 'alleviate this worry. Alpine Slide agrees in writing to give buyers an exclusive territory for two years; the size of the territory varies. Seasons of Leisure, when asked, assures buyers that it will fist discuss with them any other sales in their areas. But some ski areas demand the product they want and persuade the maker to revise agreements with earlier buyers. Other ski areas simply install the competing product. Big Bromley Inc., which operates Bromley Mountain, was the first ski area to spot the slide's potential. The company was in trouble. Costs had risen sharply, and profits had dwindled. "We want to diversify to make better use of our plant," says Stig Albertson, president of Bromley. So Mr. Albertsson set up Alpine Slide Corp. he now is president of that corporation, too to market a product that he had spotted as successful in Europe. He had the Bromley slide installed, the first in the U.S., and reopened the cafeteria and gift shop for the warm months. He also put in a new restaurant and a sun-deck cafe. The result? He says he sold 173,000 rides last year to customers who often waited up to three hours in line. This year, he says, he will sell 200,000 rides during a season that stretches from Memorial Day to the end of October. The rides, plus the additional food and gift business will help raise Bromley's revenue this year to $2.7 million from $2 million, enabling the resort to cover summer operating costs rather than show summer losses. Despite stiff prices of $2.75 for adults and $1.50 for children (five-ride books are $10 for adults and $5 for children), the riders' enthusiasm here is generally holding firm. Mark Crowley, a truck driver from Hartford, Conn, sees sliding as a brand-new sport that stacks up favorably with his hand gliding, canoeing and skiing. After completing his 10th run on a recent Friday, Mr. Crowley said he especially liked "the speed and the banked corners" and was "practicing to go even faster." He said he played hooky from work every so often to come to Bromley and "eat and drink and sli-ide." sli-ide." But others say it's just another tourist attraction. "Being a Walter Mitty, I thought I'd try my hand at killing myself," says Dan Bodine, a hospital supervisor from Newport, R.I., "but I wouldn't make a special trip" to doit. Some riders at Bromley say all the fun is in being able to control their speed. Frank Gelber, a graduate student, raced 12-year-old brother, Steven, down the parallel tracks. Steven says he went off the track into one of the bales of hay placed .... ,. i" Old near the banks to cushion such spills. Fast riders have a problem on busy days if they're behind slow ones. "There was this little old lady," Mr. Borza, the bartender says. "She was crawling. So riders stopped behind her, pulled their sleds out of the track and went ahead." Mr. Johnson, the slide manager, says that while no injuries resulted, riders slamming into riders in front of them did constitute a problem last year. So the Alpine Slide Corp. modified the sled to add a plastic-coated, plastic-coated, steel rear bumper. It catches the front of the sled behind it if the two collide. Mr. Johnson concedes that a jolt from the rear by a fast rider could still injure a slow one. "But it hasn't happened yet," he says. "People seem to have enough respect to climb out of the track if they want to get ahead of a slow rider." There are other kinds of injuries, though. Sixty, accidents reported at Bromley last year, Mr. Johnson says, consisted of burns and scrapes suffered when riders touched the track. Most of the rest were cuts and bruises suffered by riders spilling out of the track. Mr. Johnson says Bromley has cut the number of cuts and bruises this year by putting those bales of hay by the side of the tracks, something it began doing only in August last year. Alpine Slide fans can't ride in the rain because the rubber brakes can't stop on 'wet concrete. (This is no problem for the fixed speed Red Rumbler, which doesn't have any brakes.) On the overcast day of my ride, an attendant warns: "If it starts to rain, stop immediately." Shortly after ,-1 finish, it does rain. Riders stranded in midtrack walk down the mountain. Those going up on the chairlift ride it back down with plastic garbage bags over their heads. After the downpour, attendants wipe the tracks dry with towels. Whether or not the slide is just a fad is the question that most worries ski-resort operators. Both slide makers, meanwhile, are hedging their bets by feverishly designing other summer recreational products for ski resorts. Alpine Slide says it will introduce a slide that operates with water. Seasons of Leisure says it will introduce an important new product in September: it declines to give details. Five years from now? That's anybody's guess. Alpine Slide's Mr. Albertsson says, "We're busy enough now as it is." Ed. Note: Park City's Alpine Slide is scheduled to begin operation this Saturday. Allison Named Nevada Queen Terri Jayne Allison has been crowned Miss United Teenager of Nevada. Terri is the daughter of former Park City residents Dee and Lueen Siddoway Allison, both graduates of Park City High in 1957. Mary Archer Allison graduate of Park City High in 1935 and now working at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, is her grandmother. Other grandparents are Willard and Gwen Siddoway Larsen of Wanship. Great grandparents are Mr. & Mrs. Charlie Davis of Wanship. Terri also placed first in the essay contest. She is a senior and cheerleader at Reno High School. Crafted Indian r jj 0n V - Main St. Tim Behl with his grandmother, Janet Verdier Yet another new store comes to life on Main Street. Priscilla Yellowhair, specializing spec-ializing in handcrafted Indian Ind-ian goods, opened its doors for business last week. Operators Ann and Chris Behl resided in Salt Lake City for three years, but have now relocated in Summit Sum-mit Park to be closer to their business. A'' third partner is Ann's mother Janet Verdier of Birmingham, Alabama. Also helping in the shop is Loretta Lee, a Navajo from Ft. Defiance, Arizona. Loretta has a collection of Do You Need Xerox Copies? The Newspaper 419 Main St. Park City, Utah Gallery of Handcrafts Jewelry Woodwork Framing GRAND OPENING Dick and Mary Doty cordially invite you to their new store location. Please join us for the celebration Sunday, August 14th noon until 6:00p.m. 591 Main Street Park City, Utah Navajo tunes which she plays throughout the day while she serves hot fry bread. Mrs. Verdier says she hopes to have serveral Navajo craftsmen on hand during the Art Festival demonstrating demonstrat-ing their work. In stock at Priscilla Yel-lowhair's Yel-lowhair's is turquoise jewelry, jewel-ry, sand pieces, pottery, woven goods and even the single beginning of a Kach-ina Kach-ina collection. The store will be open live days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. It will be closed on Tuesdays. FAMIE w Better By Dr. M. Ford McBride Timpanogos Community Mental Health Center A question I am often asked is what gives a person a positive self image. A major factor is other people. The development of one's self concept starts at birth. I worked with a child who was about five years old, he confided that he hated himself him-self and wanted to die. I found later that the ingredients ingred-ients of understanding, warmth and love were missing mis-sing in the people who were responsible for him. The absence of these traits was reflected in how the child felt about himself. Psychological research shows that people's reaction toward us determines how we feel about ourselves. If a child is told continually that he is stupid and clumsy, he will think of himself as stupid and clumsy. Conversely, Con-versely, if he is told that he is loved, his behavior will reflect that love. Our self concept can also determine whether we succeed suc-ceed or fail interpersonally. A friend of mine told me the other day that he felt so negative about himself that he found it difficult to get along with the people he worked with. He realized that his self concept was an enemy and not an asset. If we regard people as inept, inadequate, and nonproductive, non-productive, chances are we feel the same way about ourselves. An important step in changing our self perception is to change how we feel about others. It boils down to looking for the good in someone and de-emphasiz -ing the bad. How we feel about ourselves our-selves can also affect how we handle critical problems. A positive self image increases our ability to cope with failure. Without the psychological psycho-logical support of a positive self image, problems seem much more intense and unyielding. The most important consideration consi-deration in changing our self concept is to remember that every person has the native equipment to be a winner in his own way. Dr. McBride can be seen every Wednesday on Channel Chan-nel ll's "Newsroom" at 6:00 p.m. If you have a question or topic you would like Dr. McBride to discuss in his column, write: Dr. M. Ford McBride, 1161 East 300 North, Provo, Utah 84601. |