In The Story of Modern Skiing (Buy Direct) John Fry weaves a colorful history of the rise in skiing popularity from the individual mom-and pop post-WWII ski areas to the mega resort conglamorates of today - and all the environmental consequences along the way.
While ski history has been written before, this is the first from an author who was himself a major influence on the development and direction of the public interest and participation in the sport. Fry intersperses his narrative with revelations and anecdotes concerning his relationships with many of the legendary personalities in the skiing world.
With friends and acquaintances such as Toni Sailer, Jean-Claude Killy, Andrea Mead Lawrence, Nancy Greene, Billy Kidd, the Mahre brothers, and industry pioneers such as Vail founder Pete Seibert, metal ski designer Howard Head, and plastic boot inventor Bob Lange John Fry’s story was just begging to be told and now we have it.
This is the definitive history of skiing over the last fifty years. In the book Fry asks the question, that after all he has shown us that has been tried and done in the world of skiing, has the experience of skiing progressed? He answers his question as only one who has been there and done that can:
"The pleasurable sensation of the 21st century skier – conveyed up the mountain in a heated gondola, dressed in high-tech clothing and gear - doesn’t seem to me to surpass the adventure of scotting up the hill clinging to a rope tow in 1950... The joy of sliding on snow is immune to progress."
The Story of Modern Skiing (Buy Direct) is a must read for anyone who enjoys sliding on snow.
John Fry is the former editor-in-chief of SKI, America’s oldest ski magazine, and founding editor of the award-winning New York Times magazine Snow Country. He, has received the FIS (International Ski Federation) Journalism Award, and lifetime achievement awards from the International Skiing History Association and from the North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA). Fry launched NASTAR (National Standard Ski Race), The Nations Cup of alpine ski racing, and the Graduated Length Method of teaching, and has been elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.
