Learning to Ski, Simply and Quickly

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Special Collections

Silver Special Collections holds a significant number of books and other resources related to the history of skiing and ski instruction. Many of the learn-to-ski manuals were written by instructors with connections to the Vermont ski industry of the 1950s and 1960s, including the five shared below. Profusely illustrated with photographs, the books assured beginners that they could become proficient if they followed the simple step-by-step methods laid out by experienced instructors–in conjunction, of course, with lessons and practice on the slopes.

Back cover of the book, showing two girls and a boy standing in snow on one ski and lifting the other perpendicular to the ground.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brown, an instructor at Mad River Glen in Fayston, published Skiing for Beginners in 1951. The manual for children and parents is illustrated with photos taken on New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, all featuring a Vermont student, Spike Mignault, who demonstrates the snowplow position on the front cover.

Cover of the book "The New Way to Ski," showing a photograph of author Bob Bourdan and a photograph of a man skiing down a snowy slope.

Vermonter Robert Bourdon published his first book about skiing, Modern Skiing, in 1953. Bourdon’s New Way to Ski appeared in 1962, when Bourdon was an instructor at the Sepp Ruschp Ski School in Stowe, where the “new method” was taught.

Cover of the book, "If You can Walk You Can Ski by Frank Day," showing an image of a red skier on snow against a blue background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructor Frank Day from Waitsfield, Vermont enlisted actress Kim Novak to help promote his 1962 book, If You Can Walk, You Can Ski. Day inscribed our copy, wishing the book’s owner “simpler and safer skiing.”

Cover of a book called "Instant Skiing on Short, Short Skis," showing a man kneeling on snow and holding a pair of short skis and a sign about their advantages.

Clif Taylor, who was affiliated with Mad River Glen and Hogback Mountain, published Instant Skiing on Short, Short Skis in 1961. Taylor promised that the 2.5-foot long “short-ees” he designed would start a revolution in skiing. One sportswriter noted that the short skis Taylor promoted were the greatest boon to skiing since stretch pants.

Cover of the book "Ski in a Day," showing a man in a white sweater and brown pants skiing across a snowy sloe with short skis.

Three years later, with Ski in a Day!, Taylor shared the method that would have novices skiing easily, swiftly and in control on their first day on skis. The back cover proclaims that “The TAYLOR method wins the acclaim of famous personalities,” such as Jack Parr and Lowell Thomas.

Come to Silver Special Collections in Room 201 Billings to look at books in the skiing history collection.

Submitted by Prudence Doherty, Public Services Librarian

 

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