The writers of Hot Tub Time Machine most likely started with one premise: show lots of hilarious 1980s ski clothes. And it’s a pretty good premise. With the possible exception of the ‘70s, there’s no era of fashion that’s easier to laugh about; in hindsight, pink Ditrani one-piece fart sacks, outrageous Carrera sunglasses and uber-long straight skis are pretty damn ridiculous. And if you’re trying to make people laugh there’s no better place to start. If you were one to ski Blue Mountain in the ’80s, then you remember your 1980s ski clothes well (hopefully you still have them).
So when Blue Mountain offered us unlimited access to their photo vaults we had a pretty good idea what we were looking for. Box upon box of dust-covered slide sheets awaited us at Blue’s offices and after hours of searching we found exactly what we wanted: a whackload of legendary ski photographer Henry Georgi’s early work.
Georgi has gone on to become one of the best ski shooters in the world and has lived in Fernie, BC for over 20 years now. But his early days were the 1980s in Ontario. And many of his early shots belong to Blue Mountain.
Throw in some selections from Rob Buchanan, who now shoots for Parks Canada in Canmore, and we had the proverbial money shots from the Dayglo Decade.
If Hollywood can base an entire feature-length film around silly ski fashion and a time machine made of a hot tub, then surely ML can base an entire blog post on these ski photos. So that’s what we’re doing. Enjoy this nostalgic trip down Happy Valley.
