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The story of Clif Taylor ,short ski pioneer, has led me to the story of some other short ski ( skiboard ) pioneers . One of these guys was Smitty Stevens a highly respected Harvard psychologist who got bitten by the short ski bug about the same time Clif Taylor did in the 1960's. Being an experimental type guy and a scientist he went on the hunt to devise the perfect short ski . Here is a pic of the quiver of short skis he developed ..... along with his boots and the good doctor's cat .. .
Let's let Smitty do the talking ...
"I set in motion a series of experiments to find the ideal length if there is one . There isn't , of course , because people differ in size, shape , and desire =including the desire to be different. But there may be an ideal length for a large-size adult (me) whose only aspiration is to wedeln without effort down any slope in any kind of of snow .
The next experiments employed the front 3 feet of a pair of surplus army skis . They were sawed into two well ahead of the old toe irons and the back 4-foot sections were consigned to the woodpile. The heels of the front ends were rounded in order to make skiing backward less of a hazard, for skiing backward , it turns out, has certain not -to be -neglected assets. The bindings were mounted so that the front of the boot was at the center of the 3-foot (91 cm ) ski. Thus equipped , I went gunning for deep powder.
Over the next few weeks I found depths ranging up to 30 inches, and a broad variety of conditions . The deep snow was always so delightfully easy to handle that , if the short skis were sinking in deeper than full-length skis, nothing about the process made the fact very obvious . The rhythmic dipsy-doodle technique worked precisely the way it should . You sit back , point up the tips and bounce .
Several of my students and friends served as guinea pigs-some willingly , others under mild duress. We assembled skis of various lengths , from 21 inches (53cm) on up and started to study the infinitely complex problem that results when length , skill , snow conditions and practice time were allowed to interact more or less at random. There are too many variables in skiing for any problem to be mastered in a single season but it was a great sight to see half a dozen skiers streaming down the mountain all on skis less than 4 feet long (122 cm) . It was worth the price of a lift ticket.
The experimenting got interrupted for three weeks toward the end of March 1960 by some scientific meetings over in Italy ( meetings are always interrupting my good experiments ) but there were some compensating side trips to the mountains. Two of us skied all the trails around Zermatt and over the pass to Cervinia , Italy on half-length skis - to the mounting consternation of some of the guides. One of them shook his head and said ,"Those skis , they are not for here " How wrong can a professional get ? It was the only time in my life I have squeezed every skiable hour out of five consecutive days without folding up from compete exhaustion . One instructor summed it up after he had followed us down over the biggest moguls west of India: "You seem to do easy what for me is a hard work ."
Back home again in April , we carried on until late May, finishing the season in Tuckerman's Ravine. Then we took stock . Granted that all conclusions are subject to change without notice-and no refunds -the accumulated evidence suggests that 40 inches (102cm) is a good length ski for a wide range of skiers. A quarter inch of camber is desirable if you can get it , the toe of the boot should be set at the center of the ski as measured from tip to tail . The interesting fact about the length is that , when the skis are longer than about four feet (122cm ) , they have to be lifted in turns,. The skier must use an energetic heel thrust and does not get the full dividend that comes from the shorter board -the wonderfully effortless turning by leaning . "
Here is a picture of Smitty and his wife Didi just before his death in 1973 skiing at Vail on his beloved shortie skis.
His story has a prominent place on the Harvard University Dept of Psychology web site
http://www.isites.harvard.edu/icb/ic...e=stevens.html
He is ranked as of the top most influential psychologists of the century AND
"Stevens had a number of other unusual interests. ....... He invented many gadgets, including a short downhill ski which he passionately defended in many articles as superior to conventional skis."
An annual race in his honor is run each year at a prestigious Winter Conference on Brain research where " Each year the fastest female scientist and the fastest male scientist are declared the Smitty Steven's Award winners. They win the honor of having their names engraved upon one of the short skis fabricated and skied upon by Smitty. This highly prestigious award, which has appeared under the Awards column on several professional curriculum vitae, is cherished by WCBR attendees"
http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/conf...n.asp?cat=4410
Rip Smitty ! I think you are smiling down on us right now , applauding what we are doing in 2010 on our shorties and wishing us well !
you were truly a remarkable man and our brother in spirit !
Let's let Smitty do the talking ...
"I set in motion a series of experiments to find the ideal length if there is one . There isn't , of course , because people differ in size, shape , and desire =including the desire to be different. But there may be an ideal length for a large-size adult (me) whose only aspiration is to wedeln without effort down any slope in any kind of of snow .
The next experiments employed the front 3 feet of a pair of surplus army skis . They were sawed into two well ahead of the old toe irons and the back 4-foot sections were consigned to the woodpile. The heels of the front ends were rounded in order to make skiing backward less of a hazard, for skiing backward , it turns out, has certain not -to be -neglected assets. The bindings were mounted so that the front of the boot was at the center of the 3-foot (91 cm ) ski. Thus equipped , I went gunning for deep powder.
Over the next few weeks I found depths ranging up to 30 inches, and a broad variety of conditions . The deep snow was always so delightfully easy to handle that , if the short skis were sinking in deeper than full-length skis, nothing about the process made the fact very obvious . The rhythmic dipsy-doodle technique worked precisely the way it should . You sit back , point up the tips and bounce .
Several of my students and friends served as guinea pigs-some willingly , others under mild duress. We assembled skis of various lengths , from 21 inches (53cm) on up and started to study the infinitely complex problem that results when length , skill , snow conditions and practice time were allowed to interact more or less at random. There are too many variables in skiing for any problem to be mastered in a single season but it was a great sight to see half a dozen skiers streaming down the mountain all on skis less than 4 feet long (122 cm) . It was worth the price of a lift ticket.
The experimenting got interrupted for three weeks toward the end of March 1960 by some scientific meetings over in Italy ( meetings are always interrupting my good experiments ) but there were some compensating side trips to the mountains. Two of us skied all the trails around Zermatt and over the pass to Cervinia , Italy on half-length skis - to the mounting consternation of some of the guides. One of them shook his head and said ,"Those skis , they are not for here " How wrong can a professional get ? It was the only time in my life I have squeezed every skiable hour out of five consecutive days without folding up from compete exhaustion . One instructor summed it up after he had followed us down over the biggest moguls west of India: "You seem to do easy what for me is a hard work ."
Back home again in April , we carried on until late May, finishing the season in Tuckerman's Ravine. Then we took stock . Granted that all conclusions are subject to change without notice-and no refunds -the accumulated evidence suggests that 40 inches (102cm) is a good length ski for a wide range of skiers. A quarter inch of camber is desirable if you can get it , the toe of the boot should be set at the center of the ski as measured from tip to tail . The interesting fact about the length is that , when the skis are longer than about four feet (122cm ) , they have to be lifted in turns,. The skier must use an energetic heel thrust and does not get the full dividend that comes from the shorter board -the wonderfully effortless turning by leaning . "
Here is a picture of Smitty and his wife Didi just before his death in 1973 skiing at Vail on his beloved shortie skis.
His story has a prominent place on the Harvard University Dept of Psychology web site
http://www.isites.harvard.edu/icb/ic...e=stevens.html
He is ranked as of the top most influential psychologists of the century AND
"Stevens had a number of other unusual interests. ....... He invented many gadgets, including a short downhill ski which he passionately defended in many articles as superior to conventional skis."
An annual race in his honor is run each year at a prestigious Winter Conference on Brain research where " Each year the fastest female scientist and the fastest male scientist are declared the Smitty Steven's Award winners. They win the honor of having their names engraved upon one of the short skis fabricated and skied upon by Smitty. This highly prestigious award, which has appeared under the Awards column on several professional curriculum vitae, is cherished by WCBR attendees"
http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/conf...n.asp?cat=4410
Rip Smitty ! I think you are smiling down on us right now , applauding what we are doing in 2010 on our shorties and wishing us well !
you were truly a remarkable man and our brother in spirit !
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