Word: ski
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Cross-country skiing, or ski touring, which for years has dawdled in the valleys, a poor cousin to the downhill variety, has suddenly taken off. With more than 3 million devotees, easily double the number of only two years ago, it is the country's fastest-growing winter sport. "It is bigger than the bowling boom of the '50s, the tennis boom of the '60s and the running boom of the '70s," says Chicago's Morrie Mages, owner of the country's largest sporting-goods store, who has seen his sales of cross-country...
Unlike the heavy, metal-edged varieties used by downhill aficionados, touring skis are narrow and graceful. The waxable kind that require specially color-coded waxes for different temperatures give optimum performance. But the skier must become something of an expert on snow and weather conditions and take the time to continually change waxes: a day's outing could necessitate the use of green for subzero temperatures, blue for slightly warmer air and red for melting snow. The more casual cross-country skier usually chooses a waxless ski that comes grooved with fish-scale, diamond or chevron patterns to provide...
Besides, the cross-country skier does not have to contend with the oneupmanship in skiing ability and ski attire often prevalent at downhill resorts. "The guy who skis downhill is in a controlled atmosphere," notes Bob Wilcox of Eastern Mountain Sports Inc. in Boston. "He's onstage, he spends money on clothes, he's into a relatively short period of high energy. The cross-country skier is just the opposite. He's relaxed, he sets his own pace. Skiing cross-country is the winter counterpart to jogging." Increasingly, though, cars heading into the mountains carry both downhill...
...functions of the skiing captains are threefold, largely due to the absence of a full-time coach or manager. Fundraising, an enormous responsibility given the costs of transporting the team and recent cuts in its budget, involves sending letters to the 400 to 450 former members of the ski team and to the parents of current skiers. "These alumni aren't rich for the most part," Hofer said this week. "A lot of them came to Harvard from New Hampshire and Vermont and they won't make a lot of money if they go back there to live. Also...
...Hofer, a product of Andover, whose skiing experience has included weekend skiing since the age of four and four summers of racing camp at the Red Lodge. Montana glacier, the ski team fills something of a gap. "In most things you do at Harvard, there isn't a sense of common purpose," he says. "On the ski team, you eat, sleep and train with these people. You live with them during the winter. There is a real sense of community on the team. The people are the finest in the world. I can't begin to say how much...