Doug Cochrane
My grandson, Jered, started skiing with me when he was 5 years old. He took lessons most times out and I taught him what I could.
I don’t remember when I started skiing. All I know is that Mom said Dad came home one day with a bunch of castoff wooden skis with beartrap bindings and hung them in the garage. He told us kids not to mess with them.
Well, you can imagine how long that edict held. About the time Dad turned the corner on his way to work the next day, my older brother Tom suggested that there was a snow-covered hill just a couple of blocks from our house – and therein lies the Rest of the Story…
I do remember how we’d get a ski pass. We’d stand around at a wide spot on Bogus Basin Road with our thumbs out. Most parents today probably wouldn’t approve of their early teen kids hitchhiking to the ski area – but Boise in the ’50s was a different world.
When a car would stop we’d hurry to strap our skis on the rack. By the time we were done, the car would be full of kids and would take off. But when the next car stopped, we’d hop right in! When we got to the ski area we’d walk down the line of cars until we found the car with our skis still strapped on top. Then we’d sign up to pack the slopes. Two hours packing the slopes (sidestepping on skis up the hill) earned a ski pass for the rest of the day – if you had the legs to enjoy it.
Getting back to modern times, Jered and I decided last year to play hooky and go to Mt. Hood for a few days. It was our first trip of the year. On our first day we skied Mt. Hood Meadows. It’s a great area with lots of good challenging terrain. Unlike many ski areas, there are some easy runs along the ridges overlooking the difficult runs. The first morning we rode the Mt. Hood Express chair from the base and skied the Ridge Run above the One Bowl, Two Bowl, and (guess what) Three, Four, and Five Bowl runs. They are black diamond (expert) runs. This gave Jered a good look at what an expert run looks like.
Later he asked me what a double black diamond run looks like. Fortunately, if you ride the Shooting Star chair and ski the Shooting Star Ridge (a blue or intermediate run), you can take a side trip to skiers’ left to overlook the Heather Canyon, a true double black slope. Jered looked it over and quietly skied back to the blue run.
On our second day we skied at Timberline. It is a great area and we had a lot of fun. Jered started getting his legs under him so we started picking off some of the easier black runs. By the end of the day, we were skiing the whole mountain.
By day three, back at Meadows, we skied the Bowls and other black runs all morning. After lunch, Jered asked if we could take another look at Heather Canyon. It still was plenty steep but not as intimidating as it had been on the first day. Jered thought he could manage it and I agreed. (I wasn’t all that sure about Grandpa but that’s another story…)
Other than one unfortunate incident with a hotdog snowboarder who had more testosterone than skill, Jered skied the entire run without a mishap. It was so much fun we did it again. And that is how a grandson becomes an expert skier in less than a decade!
Douglas Cochrane, a former ski patrol member, lives in Yachats. He writes monthly on skiing for The New Era. To reach him, please send an e-mail to [email protected].