Every once and while, some really cool things happen in this town.
Sure, I know we are missing out on lots of things other places boast about. Stuff like culture (like New York), history (like Paris), academics (in college towns like Burlington), sports teams (like Boston), restaurants (like San Francisco), the ocean (like Vancouver), crowds (like California and Colorado). But we have mountains (great untracked mountains) and small towns (with loads of character) and community and short commutes and snow (well … not really yet. But by golly we do have snowmaking!)
And every now and then our little ski town tucked in the middle of hard to get to Idaho has some seriously cool things happen. Things like “Captain Powder,” incredibly memorable and even scandalous Powder Prom Photo Booths, once-in-a-lifetime ski culture exhibits showcasing 80 of the most iconic Powder Magazine covers, sweet parties like the Powder Prom and a community and industry wide awe/honor/appreciation for two brothers who started bringing “Powder to the People” and chronicling the “other ski experience” 40 years ago here in our town.
Most of us were Powder Prom attendants and have already seen the pictures of the party on Facebook. Maybe you (or your girlfriend) received a white kiss from Captain Powder or you won the naked skiing part of the Après/Hot Dog contest on Saturday at the Lookout Restaurant or you rubbed elbows with some of the greatest photographers, skiers, writers and editors in the ski industry at OCHI Gallery on Saturday night. You probably saw the epic 40th Anniversary issue, heard the unique story of the inception of the cover and met the mysterious skier in the photo—Jim Biebel. You saw the wicked, special edition Atomics that the current Powder Magazine editorial staff designed for the magazine’s founding Moe brothers. And more than likely, you are still recovering from a pretty big weekend.
But this wasn’t exactly like any other celebratory, party weekend. It was a weekend to honor the magazine that has chronicled skiing, its evolution and its tradition for over four decades. No other skiing magazine, and very few other niche magazines, have connected for generations with its readers like Powder has.
Throughout the weekend, I heard stories of boxes in basements that held every issue, recollections of how a Powder story inspired otherwise-hard workers to ski bum for a season (or for life), tales of epic photos and photos shoots and watched as seven-year olds circled OCHI Gallery in search of the perfect cover to put on the wall above their bed—knowing that it would be something to treasure for life.
Skiing is more than sport. It is a culture that is shared through the ages, through generations, through afternoon chairlift rides with family and learning to ski between a father’s legs, through photos of skiing legends like Bobby Burns and interviews by Porter Fox and Matt Hansen. It is a way of life shared through the likes of skiers Glen Plake and Shane McConkey, or photographers like Scott Markewitz and Lee Cohen and between you and your best friends. And it is a tradition that has been profiled, traced, tracked, recorded, documented, chronicled and honored for 40 years by Powder.
So to Powder, Dave and Jake Moe, past and present staff and all the readers who stack the current issues neatly on their coffee tables, thanks for the last 40 years and for bringing something really cool to Sun Valley. Here’s to 40 more!
