Claim: The Greatest Ski Movie Ever

“...ski as much as possible, work as little as necessary, and enjoy the simple pleasures of an unhurried life.” --The goal of the "Last of the Ski Bums"

I found the entire "Classic Ski Films Collection", which includes "The Last of the Ski Bums", for $7.50 (new) + $2.50 shipping through Amazon.

Watched "The Last of the Ski Bums", a lighthearted and fanciful worldwide romp of some ski bums who come into lots of money.

Highlights for me: the 20+ mile untracked powder run on the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand; an interview with and some climbing footage of Gaston Rebuffat(!) who tells the earnest young men, "No my friends. I do not climb for the danger of being close to death but for the difficulty of being close to life” and who labels climbing "the perfect blend of nature and sport"; the incredible skiing skills exhibited when one considers the gear being used.

Watched  John Jay's "Ski Down Through the Years" a couple of times from the "Classic Ski Films Collection"

Saw footage of Gretchen Fraser, a Tacoma native who began skiing up at Paradise and went on to become the first American to win an Olympic Gold medal in skiing. She won the Woman's Slalom in 1948 at St Moritz. The 2 familiar Sun Valley posters below are of Gretchen.

The final segment was a July 4 trip to Mt Baker with "a ski bum named Bud Calvert" who traveled in a converted milk truck. As it was July 4, Bud produced a large cannon and was firing away as students in the summer race program worked out under their coach, Franz Gabl (pronounced, appropriately enough today, "gobble").

Franz Gabl was an Olympian who settled in the northwest. He coached, operated the Pilchuck ski area in 1970-71, and was an organizer of the Sea to Ski race. His autobiography was entitled, Franzl II: From Four Years on the Russian Front, 1941-45, to Standing on the Olympic Podium in 1948: An Autobiography By Franz X. Gabl