| Sharon had started skiing with her parents when she was about ten years old. They used to go to Badger Pass, Yosemite, and also the ski areas near Donner Summit in California. When she was about eleven they went to Sun Valley, Idaho. Ask her sometime about her bad sunburn and snow-blinded eyes. Above is her Christmas Card when she was twelve years old. We still have her wooden skis and poles with huge leather baskets. |
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Jay was in high school when he went on a bus trip to Dodge Ridge and Pine Crest for his first skiing experience. He is the short fellow with the spunky pants. He was still in the "Foreign Born" class and learning English. His best friend, from Norway, is in the center of the picture. The tall fellow was the son of Mrs. Berg, Jay's favorite teacher, who told him to go to Cal, Berkeley. After college Jay spent two years in Seattle and skied a lot with friends at several different places. So, it was no surprise that he kept this up when he returned to the San Francisco Bay Area. |
| Skiing has always been a favorite activity in our family. Although the two of us worked for the same small company (Hexcel), it was really New Year's Day, 1965, that we first talked to each other at Squaw Valley. Two friends and I had rented a cabin at Squaw Valley for the ski season ($125 per month, split three ways; what a deal). Later, at work, Sharon was invited to come and stay there for a weekend. She came up every other weekend after that. It was the start of it all. |
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| After we were married we took several ski trips including a week in Sun Valley where we took some lessons to catch up on the new style of skiing popularized by Stein Erickson. Then there was a weekend up to Colorado. That particular trip was sponsored by a radio disk jockey, Gene Nelson, Sharon's favorite. We stayed at a hotel right at Snowbird and spent some time in the heated pool while snow came down. The following morning, Sunday, there was perfect powder skiing for half a day before flying home. |
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| Jay continued to work in Research and Development at Hexcel and was involved with making some of the first Hexcel skis. There is still a pair of the first skis ever made at Hexcel in our garage. They used aluminum honeycomb and a "wet lay-up" technique. These original skis have never been on the snow. Since that time we have used all sorts of Hexcel skis, gloves, tote bags and even the olive green jackets with the Hexcel logo seen above. Jay still uses some dinosaurs: a pair of split-tails. (see last picture below) |
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| Susan was three years old when she tried on these shorties at Dodge Ridge. Sandra had started when she was four and was off somewhere on her own when this picture was taken. From that time on, skiing was a regular thing to do in the winter. |
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| The girls had started to collect ski pins from the various places we had been to. After a while it became a collection that Sharon and Jay continued. The picture below is surrounded by pins from various US, Canadian and even an Australia and New Zeeland ski resort. They didn't actually ski at the latter two, because it was springtime during their visit, but Sharon thought it was fun to buy the souvenirs and add them to the collection anyway. The display now hangs in their hallway at home. |
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| We drove up to Sun Valley once more. But this time with our friends Gary, Connie and their two daughters who are about the same age as Sandra and Susan. We spent a week of fun in the sun, relaxed in the hot tub and had lots of stories to tell. |  |
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| There were other times when we got together with a large group of friends, rented a large cabin near Lake Tahoe, and had a ball on the slopes and afterwards. |
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| When the kids went on to college, the two of us continued to ski on our own or with friends. However, it just wasn't the same without Sandra and Susan. We had to slow down, spend less time on the slopes and more on the terrace. Sharon gave up skiing a few years ago because she was afraid she might hurt herself and not be able to play tennis any longer. She never injured herself skiing, but broke her wrist on the tennis court. Actually that happened before she gave up skiing, but so be it. |
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| The last time Jay went skiing was at Heavenly Valley on his 68th birthday. Will he continue and take advantage of the special offers when he is 70 and 80? When we started skiing a lift ticket was about five dollars. There are a few places where we can do that again when we turn 70. In fact, at 80 we can ski at Squaw Valley for free and get additional tickets worth five dollars towards food. The question is, "Will both of us still be able to ski then?" |
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