Who doesn’t love a good Throwback Thursday post. Maybe it’s a shot of last year’s powder day, maybe it’s that vintage trail map or t-shirt or whatever you found in a closet.

Whatever the form it takes, skiers (and humans) love a good dose of nostalgia.

Now, I started skiing in 1995, a few years before the last fall show disappeared from the Utah ski scene. But during that stretch, do you know what I collected dozens of from virtually every booth I could find? Do you know what adorned the walls of my bedroom? Posters.

Not Just the 90’s
Posters have long been a staple of skiing’s history. But one aspect of skiing’s connection to them is the style of art used along the way.

I’ve since changed my poster-loving ways to postcard versions (so I can fit more on the wall) but even in this group of 6 next to my desk you can recognize that era of art that included stipple-like gradients and harsh shadows between flat colors, unprinted / paper-colored areas for snow, thick block lettering, layer upon layer of elements for depth, etc.

That style is rare these days. Beaver Creek used it 40 years ago when they first opened, Ski Vermont has kept it going, but it wasn’t until last week that I saw a resort go big on this approach again. This time, it was from Peak Resorts heading into ski show season.

Update: Found this Carinthia verison as well and there are apparently two others for Hunter and Jack Frost.

I love these more than I can even say.

They speak to my love of ski history and they speak to my early days of skiing of which I have nothing but amazing memories. And I’m not alone as this comment from Instgram can attest:

“We wanted to grab these at the Boston Show but you ran out of them pretty fast. Thanks, got my fingers crossed.”

Look Back
Yes, technology can do some pretty amazing things these days. But skiers are humans, humans are nostalgic, and sometimes it takes looking to the past to find your next great campaign.

Nice work, Peak Resorts.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.