Category Archives: Bookshelf

How to Recycle Your Old Skis

June 5, 2013

Just as we Brits like to offload our junk or bag a bargain at car boot sales, the French are busy emptying their lofts. These ‘Vide Grenier’ in the mountains are a happy hunting ground for any vintage fan, but especially a vintage ski fan. Amongst the abandoned cuddly toys, old record players and assorted chipped crockery, very occasionally there will be a little piece of ski history. This time it was quite a big piece. Though clearly some way from any definition of antique, I feel it deserves showcasing for it’s [...]

Graham Bell on Vintage Skis

October 11, 2012

Graham Bell looks understandably nervous but suitably retro in his hunky chunky Aran sweater. With vintage skiing expert Peter Hardy alongside, they ride some 8ft museum pieces down a mountainside at 30mph. And despite the potential lack of any grip whatsoever, not only do they manage to stay on their feet but they also achieve an unexpected level of grace. Much as I love the vintage vibe, I’m not about to trade in my Spicey skis & Bonkers bindings [...]

The Adorable Snow Women

September 25, 2012

Turin exhib poster allegato_documents_26_100862[1]

Be never too busy to be beautiful! When women discovered the fun and sense of freedom that the mountains offered, magazines were quick to reflect this with witty, beautifully illustrated magazine covers. Italy’s National Museum of the Mountains has gathered a large collection of these covers, dated from 1880 to 1940, and curated them into a stunning exhibition ‘Le Innamorevoli Donne delle Nevi’ or ’The Adorable Snow-Women’. The 1932 ’Liberty’ magazine cover used for the exhibition poster is well chosen - our chic heroine casually powders her nose, somewhat oblivious to the straining biceps & triceps of her [...]

Valuing a vintage ski ceramic on BBC 1′s Antiques Roadshow

April 27, 2012

BBC Antiques Roadshow Wall Plaques Heads

It was an unexpected treat to see some vintage ski ephemera pop up on BBC’s Sunday institution, ‘Antiques Roadshow’ recently. Decorative plaques were very popular in the 1930s and continued to adorn many walls right up to the 1960s & 70s - witness the cheesy plaster flying ducks on Hilda Ogden’s wall in Coronation Street. This unusual ski plaque also appeared in Lancashire when the Roadshow team visited the magnificent Victorian gothic masterpiece of Manchester’s Town Hall. And our skier even sports the same tight curls of the venerable and much missed Mrs. Ogden. [...]

Charming ski book for children

March 25, 2012

In her inspiring skiing, cycling & design blog, Poppy Gall treats us to a few pages from this utterly charming children’s storybook. It’s the story of Hugo, a Saint Bernard pup, who lives high in the Swiss Alps and who is being trained as a rescue dog by his master, Herr Kasser. Little Hugo’s eagerness to make his first rescue, however, soon leads him into trouble and it’s not long before he finds himself in goggles and a ski hat, careering down the mountainside on only one ski… [...]

If you are around Grenoble 18th-20th November…

November 8, 2011

Every 3rd weekend in November, the ‘Capital of the Alps’, Grenoble, hosts an exhibition dedicated to the majestic mountains which surround it – the ‘Salon du Livre de Regionalisme Alpin’. Here, you can browse & buy everything from old black & white photographs of Mont Blanc through early woodcuts & lithographs to books, postcards & old resort brochures. At the same time, you can also see an exhibition of 100 rare & precious books curated by Jacques Perret [...]

Intrepid Yorkshiremen

November 4, 2011

In 1975, amongst piles of old clothes on a Wakefield market stall, a box of several hundred glass photographic negatives was unearthed. Intrigued by the Victorian & Edwardian images, Colin Gordon, a school teacher at the time, bought them and subsequently discovered the fascinating history of a prosperous Yorkshire family. Amongst the magical photos of picnics, Japanese tea parties, idyllic summer holidays and everyday life, you stumble across this wonderful image of the Atkinson family in the full throes of [...]

Another in my Top 3 Vintage Ski Books

October 30, 2011

‘The Art of Skiing’ by Jenny de Gex is a beautifully produced book featuring a fabulous collection of vintage travel posters. The collection was amassed by a successful American entrepreneur, Mason Beekley, over the latter half of the 20th century. Along with 200 “exquisite paintings & sculptures of skiers”, magazine covers, etchings & lithographs, pins & stamps and a huge library of books, it totals over 10,000 pieces and is reputed to be the largest collection of ski memorabilia in the world. Sadly, the Mammoth Mountain Ski [...]

One of my Top 3 Vintage Ski Books

October 26, 2011

"The Champagne of Table Waters" for Champions of Ski"

I have called this my Top 3 books but, to be honest, there aren’t actually that many out there. However, all are highly recommended. And if you’d like to recommend any others, please feel free to do so! Here’s the first, ”Schuss! Histoire des Sports d’Hiver” by Claude Weill, published in 2008. I stumbled across this French tome in a newsagents in Briancon. It features local hero & ski legend, Luc Alphand and the overall presentation is a little amateurish - all of which suggested it [...]