A World Record: The First 10-Person Ski
For our next blog post, we invite Rick Oldham and Jim Moesle to share their story of a world record for constructing the first 10-person ski at Winter Park in 1982, with help from many friends. Be sure to stick around to the end to watch film footage of the record.
COLORADO – October 4, 2022 -- The story begins in the fall of 1981 in Winter Park, Colorado, when Rick Oldham, Jim Moesle, Mike McQueen, Mike Geze, Dave Dean, roommates, and friends first discussed breaking a world record - constructing and successfully skiing on a ski for 10 people.
Jim Moesle explained to SKI Magazine in 1983 that the drought of the 1980-1981 season and its lack of snow had a curious effect on him as he started dreaming of a 10-man ski. While most people never even took out their skis for the season, Jim had big dreams.
In the spring of 1981, the original 10-person ski team was selected from a group of friends, and the hard work began. The first order of business was to determine how to ski on a 20-foot-long ski. Jim went on to explain that the design was makeshift using whatever skis they could find. They began by fastening tennis shoes onto a pair of 20-foot-long one-by-four pine lumber and practiced stepping in cadence on a flat surface to emulate an exaggerated stem turn, Rick Oldham explained. Once they got this down, they constructed the first pair of 10-person skis with jumping ski tips on the front and mounted 10 sets of bindings.
During the early trials, Jim explained that the members began to call themselves the Centipede Ski Club.
Mike McQueen said that the first run was a straight shot down the practice hill at Winter Park, which ended, predictably, in disaster. In the first month of practice, they broke two pairs of skis and destroyed at least two pairs of bindings every practice session. Mike goes on to explain that the weight of the skis, even without wax, was well over 1,000 pounds and would go faster than they could handle. The team researched getting commercial equipment through Atomic, but stuck with the pine boards at $10 per pair.
The 10-man ski idea resurfaced in the winter of 1982 when the group continued to practice and built a new pair of skis still utilizing one-by-four timber with jumping ski tips. The new skis were painted to look like a pair of Atomic slalom skis of the era, Rick says. Dave Dean was responsible for helping mount and paint the 20' 2 x 4's.
Based on a conversation with Guinness World Records, the 10-man skiers were told that they must have multiple teams to obtain a world record that would be sanctioned by Guinness. At this time, they recruited forty additional friends and developed five teams of 10 – made up of both men and women skiers Rick said. With help from a multitude of friends, Rick went on to say that they constructed four more sets of skis utilizing the same construction on all pairs, the other skis were painted to represent the ski brands of K2, Head, PRE, and Dynastar. At this time, each of the teams began training to learn to ski the 20-foot skis.
On the closing day at Winter Park on April 18, 1982, a ski race was held among five 10-person ski teams competing in an exaggerated GS ski race on the lower half of the Allan Phipps race course. It was the first-ever World Pro Championship Ten-Man Ski Race.
On this day a television crew from the program Real People were at the ski area to film the annual end-of-season Spring Splash. This TV crew wanted the teams to ski the obstacle course to launch off the jump at the end of the course and try to skim across the pond that makes up the landing of the jump. Realizing the danger of having approximately 1,000+ pounds supported by one-by-fours each of the teams declined to participate in the TV special. But as luck would have it, Warren Miller’s son Curt Miller was also in town to document the Spring Splash and he agreed to film the 10-person ski event.
The competition was documented and featured in the Warren Miller film “Snowonder.” Miller indicated that this was a Guinness World Record, however, Guinness has not sanctioned it as a world record to this day. But to Rick’s knowledge, there has never been another 10-person ski made or skied. So as far as it goes this is a record that has stood for 40 years.
Jim Moesle went on to say “We were asked by George Engle, Winter Park Ski area General Manager at the time, to please ski down the front practice hill in front of the main lodge on opening day as an attraction for all the guests to begin the season with flair.” They managed to successfully ski for opening day two seasons in a row and that was a big highlight for everyone to see. Also, several other ski areas played the 10-man ski race on their closed circuit TVs in their lodges.
Media and source credit: Rick Oldham
Source credit: Jim Moesle and SKI Magazine (1983)
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Founded in 1975 and located in Vail, Colorado, our mission is to celebrate Colorado snow sports by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. The priceless artifacts we collect and display tell the story of the birth, rise and explosion of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado. The Museum features displays including Climb to Glory about the 10th Mountain Division, Vail’s DNA, The Colorado Snowboard Archive, and The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame, among many others. Learn more and consider supporting the Museum by becoming a member: https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org.
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