PUTZI GOES SKIING-This essay is written by Paul Preuss, a renowned Alpinist in the early 1900s, and translated by me from its original German. Reinhold Messner, probably the most famous mountain climber in the world today has described Preuss as being a model his idol, and wrote a book about him. This essay, which first appeared in the Deutche Alpenzeitung in March, 1913, is a tongue-in-cheek story of the dangers of introducing a female to skiing. In this day and age, when the “battle of the sexes” is as relevant as ever, it is interesting to see the perspective of Mr. Preuss from almost 100 years ago.

SKI STORIES WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE-Mad Magazine had, for years, a cartoon called “Scenes We’d Like to See”. This feature of Mad was a satire on typical TV and movie endings. Similarly, this article pokes fun at the fact that almost all ski articles that can be found in ski magazines amplify all that is positive about skiing and never describe all the negative trips that ski journalists must have also experienced now and then through the years. Haven’t you ever wondered why the photos you see in Powder Magazine depict Chamonix as a paradise of face shots of powder and golden sunshine, while your most recent trip was met only with icy moguls and fog? Here, the truth comes out. This article highlights three different nightmare ski vacations. It includes a chaotically crowded Easter week in Chamonix, a visit to Whistler Mt., B.C., in monsoon weather, and a ski holiday to Saalbach in one of the winters when they forgot the snow!