Katherine
McCarthy,
Queen of the
1935 Montana
Winter Sports
Festival, with
contemporary ski
equipment, in
Anaconda.
Photos courtesy
of the Marcus
Daly Historical
Society.
Ski boots from
the 1940s and
today
Hjalmar Hvam, a Norwegian immigrant and ski champion, came
up with the design for the first releasable downhill ski binding,
the Saf-Ski, in 1939 while under anesthetic after breaking his leg
skiing. Goodman Skicraft of Missoula offered, around 1940, "the
new Jet Safety Line" of ski bindings.
About 1950, the Look binding was invented, pivoting to absorb
shock. Marker developed a more sophisticated adjustable release
binding. Ski brakes, invented in the U.S. in 1961, eliminated the
need for ski leashes and helped lower injury rates even more, but
they were not accepted at most resorts until 1976.
The most common ski injury now is not broken legs, but torn or
ripped ligaments. Releasable bindings properly set can prevent most
injuries. Bindings are now thoroughly adjustable, with industry standards known as DIN settings. They should be adjusted
by professionals, but are safer than ever and easy to step
into and out of.
Booting Up
The first major innovation in ski boots design was
the buckle, originally installed on leather boots. Like
many new technologies, buckles took time to catch
on, with skiers deriding buckle boots as "galoshes."
Eventually skiers got sick of getting frostbite while
lacing their boots with bare hands. The buckle was the
perfect closure device for plastic ski boots, introduced
by Lange of in 1965. Rear-entry boots, introduced by
Salomon in 1984, were popular for a while. With the
innovation of heat-moldable, custom-fit ski boot liners,
ski boot comfort entered a whole new realm. Skiers can
now even get heated boots!
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distinctly montana • winter 2014
