Textile Insight

50 • Textile Insight ~ July/August 2017 textileinsight.com OUT OF CONTEXT "JELLY BEANERS" WAS THE TERM FRANK Schultz used when we worked together in his Bellingham, Washington outdoor shop. He felt that with their brightly colored synthetic clothing and shiny plastic boots, alpine skiers resembled candy and their sugary lifestyle was out of touch with the traditional backcountry way of life. Granted, Frank's self-reliant mountain man point of view was rooted in his skiing with the 1960 US Olympic Nordic Team and a lifetime spent building log cabins from trees he felled himself. Overtly biased, his descriptor was merely illuminating the basic ideological division that existed at the time between the alpine ski industry and the outdoor industry, i.e. the idea of having fun between the guardrails. The Ski Industry was seen as packaged. The basic premise; to get customers into the parking lot, and then to the ticket window, from there to the lift, onto the tightly delineated runs, into the restaurant food line, back onto the lift and, at quitting time, back to the parking lot where the employees would pause from counting the daily cash long enough to wave a fond good-bye to the tired schussboomers snaking their way down the highway back home. The Old School Outdoor Industry wasn't like that. The backpack and sleeping bag crowd was more into human powered recreation, getting out on your feet and into the wild, feeling the earth turn, returning to civilization refreshed and rejuvenated. The core outdoor experience was all about expansion, not confinement. Then along came the outdoor sales boom and Never Stop Exploring. Mountaineering was sexy in glossy print ads and the industry players closed ranks to push as many jackets as possible through established brick and mortar mountain shops, outdoor stores, and sporting goods retailers. Product distribution was confined to the worthy and the industry got clubby and a little stuck-up on itself. Of course, the Internet changed all that. The modern Outdoor Industry again celebrates the self over sport. No longer based on the mastery of endless arcane outdoor "skills" and a man-against-nature stance, the spectrum of what counts as "outdoor" has grown considerably with products now stretching from barbeque tools to car top tents. With its expanded focus the Industry finds itself again true to those original ideals; it is more inclusive, accessible and accepting than it has ever been. Outdoor now means whatever you want it to mean, as long as it includes one thing, a holistic experience that takes place outside. This is where skiing comes in. The Ski Industry, no matter what you think of the money grubbing and morality vacuum, has always had one thing in abundance; experience. Skiers get the fact that having fun outside is a simple expression and not some monastic journey of discipline and devotion. No matter the subset; be it nordic, alpine, snowboard, telemark, or randonee, skiing is about hanging out with friends, having a good time, getting a little exercise, and then going back home to face your day to day life. Skiing has always been about how it makes you feel. The Outdoor Industry and its trade show can learn a thing or two from their new snowsport roommates. Number one is R-E-L-A-X. It is a good thing to let go of what's left of the crusty hard man veneer from the old days and embrace that it is okay for gravity to be your friend. Not everybody has to walk uphill. Number two; remember having the outdoor experience is more important than the gear. Everyone needs just enough stuff to get outside and have fun. It doesn't have to cost a ton, it just has to work. And most importantly; be it a ski area, mountain wilderness, open prairie, or crashing seashore, the primary connection in these places is one of human to planet. Fostering that feeling benefits us all. Disclaimer:The local Bellingham outdoor community shares a tale of when Frank decided to join his ski area brothers in order to lower his shop's insurance rates. It is said that just for grins he passed the PSIA Alpine, Telemark, and Nordic full certification tests on the same ancient pair of 215 cm Asnes 1800 skis complete with wooden edges and a worn out pair of Alfa boots. #pinetarrules. The publisher doesn't necessarily share Mr. Gray's opinions nor believe all of Mr. Gray's stories. O Cats and Dogs Living Together by Kurt Gray

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