European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes january 1981 Modem living by Leah Larkin travel editor take 350 ski instructors representing ski resorts in every Corner of bring them to 25 villages in Austria mountainous Tyrol add about 50 numerous austrian ski several tons of Gallons of schnapps and plenty of Good what do you have a ski that the hospitality is said Walter director of the ski school at ski acres near Ive ski cd All and the skiing is but its the Hospi these people arc just the we Klong event got off to a rousing Start at the Munich Airport where the planes carrying the american skiers there was a brass band to make the Welcome gifts for the guests Matching Blue and red parkas embossed with the words ski happening schnapps and greetings from the group of Many wearing Cowboy then got on buses which took them to the various ski communities where they would spend most of the next six on the second Day they All got Back on the buses again and reunited in wearing their Matching Par they marched through the ski town to the site of a Leah Larkin visiting american ski instructors checking out the action in mens downhill world cup race where they watched the action on the slopes the next few Days were on the slopes for serious ski there was no problem with this has been one of Austria Best Winters in years with record Snow the folks from the loved especially those from the resorts in the West where Snow has been almost nonexistent this were Down right some came from resorts that Are still waiting for enough Snow to in Between the there was time to savor that special austrian a group of skiers who stayed in the town of mayrhofen were treated to a before ski schnapps in the a mid morning schnapps break and singalong a leisurely and a Are ski a snack Austria style made for Hearty Why so much attention and generosity for american ski instructors Clair Walter of the austrian National tourist office in new York put it this Way we want to reestablish the ski instructor As a conduit Between the american skier and most of us Learned to ski from they talked about their Austria became a Desti nation for american As Ernst president of the Tyrol ski instructors most american ski instructors today Are not native austrians and Many have never been to the advertising ski resorts in America is not we have to compete with the Swiss and the but ski instructors Are opinion and we Hope these instructors will help promote explained most from the director of the ski school at Iowa Only ski slope to instructors at big name mountains such As Vail and Steamboat was even the drama critic from the us Louis Post Dis Patch who had a fear of Heights and had never been on not to mention chair ended the week with in still the chair lifts were the worst part of the they need a better system to get up the Moun but Ive enjoyed said Judy another who said she had been under the weather on attributed her revival to Liberal doses of which she labelled austrian ski instructor Ruth Mcclellan of Steamboat summed up the groups feelings lets do this by Wayne King new York times new York times Snow loss slopes at Idaho its a Good 34year old Marty Heffner looking Dol fully around the deserted ski rental shop he manages at South Lake in the normally bustling Sierra Nevada ski with theres a lot of Money to be no its its like farming some years some bad the wrong weather and its a although not yet at disaster the Harvest in the West in terms of skiers and the dollars they feed into the Economy is from the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest South to the Sierra Nevada in California and East into the snowfalls Are the ski Piest and skiing conditions the poorest since the drought Winter of by con skiers and ski resort operators in the East Are enjoy ing a Winter of Bountiful snowfall and business after a nearly Snow less Winter last a major snowfall could quickly remedy the Situa but the ski season has already been delayed by three weeks to a month in some a number of major resorts Are still and others Are report ing their business Down by 25 to 30 a mile up the Mountain from the old Mcdonald rent Al where Marty Heffner presides Over Racks of a rented skis and empty several acres of parking lot at the heavenly Valley resort Are the lifts Are Idle and slopes that swarmed with skiers last year now Are Patchy and flecked with and closed to those resorts still open Are largely catering to begin Ning and intermediate most of the slopes for experts have too Many rocks and other obstacles to be considered what we need is a big sighed Kay an administrative assistant at world class Squaw site of the eighth olympic Winter games in because of its size and Squaw Valley does not lend itself to Snow making which help at some resorts but cannot substitute fully for the real Snow making machines have been successfully pressed into service in and norths Arat Tahoe was Able to open 22 of its 41 runs by supplement ing meager natural snowfalls with artificial at a Cost of an but even so the resort was Able to open Only nine of its 20 advanced skiing was off 40 percent from last restaurants 30 percent and most of the resorts staff of 400 worked Short hours to minimize California appeared the hardest hit by the sparse with 13 of its 22 major resorts closed or operating Only marginally and the remaining nine operating under curtailed in of 10 major resorts monitored by All Media a san Francisco ski condition reporting serv All reported cutbacks of from 60 to 95 percent nor in the state of five of nine major ski areas Are according to Western ski promotions of with conditions at others below Oregon reports four of seven major resorts and Idaho three of the Impact Mark marketing director at bogus Basin near said that the closing of slopes there meant to a Day in lost Revenue on Sun which has had Little or no new Snow for three weeks but has maintained its slopes with artificial reports that business is Little or no worse than last the spinoff from the slump is being Felt by restau travel agents and other tourist especially those dependent on special ski Philip vice president of resort operations at utahs Park reported less Snow than some in the state but said the resort still bad 22 the resort was averaging 900 people a instead of the Normal but 70 percent of the 900 were out of mostly were not said its Good peo ple accept that whats Here is there getting a