I love ski history. My secret, ski-nerd dream is to build a ski hill where everyone would ski on hickory skis, ride a super long rope tow while sporting Demetre ski sweaters, and spend the evening around a fire talking in Norwegiian accents (think Stein Eriksen). Of course, most folks would leave with rope burned hands, torn ACLs, and hypothermia which is why, among other obvious reasons, this remains a dream…sigh…

With ski history on the brain, I thought I’d close out the week with a few, quick old-school print ads from the early days of the ski industry. These have been preserved thanks to Laurie Puliafico who put together an awesome collection of vintage ads over at http://teachski.com/. Kinda fun to look back and see where ski resort marketing was 70 years ago.

Mt Hood (1940)
What would it be like to go to Mt Hood, stay for $3.50, eat lunch for $0.35, and have dinner for a buck.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Pico (1940)
I love the fact that the various levels of terrain are described in how many feet they run, not percentage of total acreage.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Great Barrington (1944)
If the “excellent canteen service” doesn’t sell you on G-Bar-S Ranch, maybe the “swell meals” will.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Sun Valley (1940)
Just like the first three, I love that the call to action is to “write” for more info. My how times have changed.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Bromley (1944)
War time and skiing means only one headline will get skiers on the slopes: “Keep Fit to Fight.”

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Rib Mountain (1940)
How do you show vertical drop in 1940 on a flat, black and white image? Overlay topo lines onto your trail map.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

Banff (1937)
I included this one to show how drastically different the skiing style was. Crouched low with poles out or tips way up and airborne was clearly the way to get ‘er done in 1937.

Source: Teach Ski – Vintage Ads

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.