Do you remember your first time?

Skiing I mean. I didn't learn to ski til my late teens so I have a very detailed memory of it (story is on the blog if you're curious) but I'm interested to hear how many people here started too young- or too long ago- to remember. If so, what's your earliest memory of skiing? I just questioned my 13 year old and he doesn't remember his first day (age3). I've always been jealous of the folks that started skiing at a really young age.

Christmas day - must have been around 1955 my Dad bought everybody skis and boots for Christmas. The next day, it was sunny and we went to some place in Pennsylvania (I think) with a rope tow. He showed me how to snow plow and how to use the rope tow and that was the last I saw of him until the end of the day. As a family we went several more times, same MO. I hated skiing as a kid - would rather go sledding.

January 2004.  My dad took me to Hidden Valley (now National Winter Activity Center).  Loved it then and ever since.

 First time with relatives and their friends ,borrowed old worn out skis and boots. Half days skiing, half day swimming  and hot rubbing  with some older cute girls. Elk mountain PA where I have a season pass now and son races. Funny thing is it was over 30 years ago and I do not think anything has changed much there.

1973 at the Catskill ski center ,better known as Bobcat. Leather boots with sli leashes. Had a beginner lesson which I guess was the beginning of a desire to ski for real. I remember totally wiping out everybody's skis that were leaned up against the rack. Huge garage sale. Taking the t-bar To the top was the biggest thrill and scare. Didn't make it one time and had to  bushwack my way down. It was a great experience for me until I took the two pairs of frozen jeans off.
 

Nov 1968.  I was 12 and in 7th grade for my first year at North Country School in Lake Placid (junior boarding school).  Did not know anything about skiing.  There was enough early snow that the "lake hill" above Round Lake on campus was open in the afternoon for anyone willing to hike for turns.  Got help putting on the leased lace-up leather boots and carrying my straight skis (Head?) out to the lake hill.  There were a couple teachers around so someone taught me how to snowplow to turn and stop.  Loved it!  Was out there for two hours non-stop.  Slide down, hike up, repeat.  I clearly remember being very, very sore the next day. Couldn't wait until the ski hill (rope tow) on campus opened up.

Started my daughter at age 4.  Her first day was at ski school at Massanutten.  Bet she doesn't remember much.  But she probably does have pretty clear memories of her first day at Alta when she was 7.

No. I was told the first time I was on skis I was 4. I do know that it was at my Grandparents house in 1970, in their backyard, on Edwards Hill Rd in Bakers Mills NY

1963. I was 4 years old. My folks took my brother and I to Silver Bells at Wells. It might have been my second or third time out and I had to take a lesson. I was pissed because I already knew how to ride the rope tow but this old lady made me herringbone up the hill. I got to the top and started going down backwards. My father told me many years later that he knew I would be good after seeing that. I made it all the way to the base without falling.

Craigmeur, New Jersey, I was four or five I think. I don't really remember it but I'm told that I absolutely hated it and cried the whole time. I do remember one of my first couple times skiing at Hidden Valley in NJ. I recall falling into a big "hole" in the middle of a trail and once again going home crying.

Sterling Forest...1972....made my way to get a lesson on Tiger Pass (think that was the name of the trail), ascended 2 vertical feet and began sliding backwards..the rest is history.

Late February of 78 at Yawgoo Valley, RI.  There was a wicked Blizzard that year... I went with our church.  One of the priests at our parish was an avid skier.  I had a lesson.  I learned to snowplow.  The instructor was a cute blonde that I instantaneously had a crush on (the kind of crush you had on the babysitter when you were 5).  The rentals we not step-ins and my gloves were shredded to pieces on the rope-tow.  The entire experience was spent on about 50 vertical feet of hard-packed snow...I think I may have actually broken my thumb by the end of the day, but I don't remember any pain... just joy... simple... pure... uncomplicated...

No memory whatsoever of my first day. My older brother tells me I loved it from day 1 and had a smile on my face all day.  My father, being European, was a skier from the old country. He started my brother and I very young. Frankly, I don't remember life without skiing. I like to think I am lucky in that regard and I've tried to pass it along to my girls. I think I've succeeded in that realm.  It's too bad my dad passed away before he was able to meet and ski with them.

This is good stuff. It's about what I expected. I'm still jealous of all you guys that have been at it too long to remember but I'm happy I got my kids started early. My older son said something similar to Marcski. He said he feels like he was born skiing. My younger son started later and claims to have some vague memories of it.

My first skiing experience was night skiing at Big Rock Candy Mountain near Speigletown NY. It had several hundred feet of vertical at best. Think Willard without The Colonel or perhaps Maple Ridge.There was a rope tow for the beginners and a T-bar for the rest of the crowd. I was about 12-13 and weighed about 100 lbs and was probably just over 5 feet. This is important info because I was skiing on equipment which my friend had loaned me from his family's arsenal. I rocked the place on 210cm kneissels with cable bindings circa 1960 and leather humanic boots which had been notched for the marker toe. After successfully managing the rope tow without injury or embarrassment, I pointed them downhill and shoved off. I immediately found myself flying downhill out of control and heading straight for the line of skiers waiting for the rope tow. Somehow, I managed not to fall before shooting through a gap in the line thus avoiding killing someone on my first downhill run. I pretended that I had skillfully negotiated the run and got in line for another. At some point I joined my friends who had been skiing the t-bar and the " expert " terrain. I think I skied a couple of runs before retiring to the Apres ski scene in the lodge with its open fire pit. I was hooked.

Campgaw, New Jersey.  I was in 6th or 7th grade.  Went with the family down the street who were avid skiers.  They talked about exotic faraway places like Highmount, Bobcat and Plattekill.  After renting gear at the Gaw several times I bought my own skis & boots at a garage sale for like $12 with my newspaper route money.  The skis were wooden, with screwed-in metal edges and Cubco Junior bindings.  The boots were leather with buckles (much better than lace-ups).  A few years after that I bought "real" fiberglass (!!) skis at Morsan's (now Campmor) on Route 17 in Paramus.

Geez, wooden skis and leather boots.  I'm not really that old.

Hey Jeff
I have a lot of respect for the guys who learned on wooden skis and leather boots. Skiing (even at a resort) was a much more athletic endeavor back then. Also, hearing about it makes me feel super young. I think Pee Tex wins with 1955 though. Whew.

Brownski wrote

I think Pee Tex wins with 1955 though. Whew.

Got me beat by 2 decades.

I usually say that my first time riding lifts was at Gore. I rented once on a terrible cold icy day in the early nineties.  I was a terrible skier and the conditions were terrible.

Then, the story goes, (5 or 6?) years later I began to ski Sunway in Asolo Snowfields and Karhu XCD GTs, 210s.

But the real first time I skied was years before that, in my sophomore year in college, I went with my new girlfriend.

She took me to the Poconos on winter break and we skied Camelback, on mostly brutal ice with some loose granular.  It was night skiing, my first time, WTF. I had no lessons I just rented and hit the slopes.  I knew how to stop in hockey, so that's what I did.

She REALLY was not an athlete, kind of a clutz in soccer when we met in the fall. Turned out she was a total ripper, but stayed behind me all night, sure that I was going to perish.

Me Too at Campgaw...I do not remember...1970 ish
Hey Jeff, do you remember Curry's?  Best damn ski shop ever...
...and in a perfect world highmount will be included in our ORDA pass in the not too distant future

My first time was at Craigmeur in NJ at age 4. I sort of remember it, but we went a few times to prep for a week we spent at Big Tupper later in the season. I had wood skis and some kind of rubberized lace up boots. I spent 3 seasons during elementary (4,5,6 grade) school getting dropped off at Campgaw on Saturdays with a bunch of friends. Our parents picked us up around 4.



Me and my parents at Craimeur. I am 5 in this picture, but you can see the boots.