Dwight Watson's skis

Has any attempt been made to record (restore)  Mr. Watson's movies onto another medium? They would be great to see, but they must be fragile?

Yes. All of his films have been transferred to digital videotape. The Mountaineers History Committee is evaluating alternatives for long-term preservation of the original films. We're also looking into the possibility of offering some of these films (and others) for sale on DVD to raise money for historical projects.

I'd never thought about how relatively fragile skis used to be until I went to a lecture by Chic Scott a few years ago. 
He mentioned during his lecture that when he did a multi week traverse of the Selkirks, they had an extra ski cached at each resupply point with their fuel and food in case one snapped along the way. 
If they hadn't snapped a ski in between caches, they used the wood ski for a fire

I bet a lot of older skiers remember the emergency ski tips that REI used to sell. They were plastic and could be jammed onto the stub of a broken ski in a pinch. I imagine they've been off the shelves for years, but I haven't looked.

I broke several wooden skis lift skiing when I was in junior high (about 1970). My folks finally bought me a pair of metal skis. It's weird to remember that we used to lift ski (moguls and everything) on wooden skis. It seems weird even to me, and I was there!

I came from the telemark generation of the early 80's and we used whatever we could get...cheap. If'n old wood skis that's what we used (broke several) or nordic (broke all of them). I always remember my first metal edge skis. The edges were screwed in or tacked in. Pretty cool stuff (broke them in a classic telemark header that used to be oh so common). Skis have definitely come a loooong way. I never seem to break them anymore. Either that means I'm getting old or ah, they are made better . I like to think they are made better.

I shudder to think what you would have to do to yourself to break a modern ski....

I shudder to think what you would have to do to yourself to break a modern ski....

The last ski I broke (Atomic Tourcap Guide) happened because the ski ran away and whacked straight into a tree. (I was skiing powder without leashes or brakes--dumb.) The ski partially delaminated and the tip bent upward. But the ski was still in one piece and I was able to ski out on it.

Back home I wanted to throw the ski in the garbage so I took an axe to it. It was incredibly hard to cut through that ski. They build 'em tough these days.