Steve Gaskill – December 14th, 2021

7 Comments

  1. Tom Calcagni

    Great Story Steve!! Little could you imagine how bad things would get there. Thanks for sharing!!

    Looks like Matt Petri on the hill in Thunder Bay?

    1. Matt Petri

      Tom, I was wondering the same thing, before I saw your comment. Looks like I didn’t clear the knoll by much. Not sure it’s Thunder Bay…I remember Dennis Burton board

  2. Dennis McGrane

    Great story Steve…it snowed so much in Serajevo that we had to do something while the legions of soldiers prepared the hills. Eight years before Serajevo, Steve took Landis Arnold and I to our first summer training camp in Madison Wisconsin in 1976. Madison was the only plastic hill and all the national team was there, Jim Denny, Kip Sungaard, and the young Reed Zeuhlke and John Broman. I was aghast when they would burn red lacquer into the their ski bottoms with propane torches and cut large X’s with hack saws on fresh petex bottoms. The Winter Park contingent camped in the warming house and Steve would cook from his camp stove. Landis and I were taught to ski jump on a nickel and we would later camp in the ski-jump in Hinterzarten West Germany during our Dartmouth days when national team dollars were in short supply. Thanks Steve! I still have the snowboard fashioned with jumping bindings and Marker heals to click in my old red adidas ski-jumping boots. After Steve coached us at Winter Park, he went on to coach at least 5 or 6 Olympic teams….he should be in the ski AND snowboard hall of fame.

  3. Matthew Dayton

    Great story Steve. Apparently snowboarding is a crime.

    1. Hey Steve,
      Another Gaskill classic story. I’m assuming this is the very shortened version. My favorite one is of your venture into ski flying at Copper Peak near Ironwood, MI. As I recall it was your first attempt, and you set a world record that stood until the next flyer came down. Your coach applauded the attempt but reminded you for your next attempt to “don’t jump up”. Which you of course did because “jump up” was ingrained in your mind. I don’t recall the result of your second/last jump but I think it had something to do with up jumping and a sad landing. I’ve told that story many times over the years to young coaches of how not to phrase constructive criticism.
      Best Regards,
      Scott Wilson

  4. Todd Scholl

    Such a classic story. Thanks Steve. Boy…we had some fun on that board at Winter Park. Dennis always brought us into some new adventure of sorts. I remember when his board got more advanced with some bindings of sorts on there. He would ride the board strait down the landing hill. Seemed kind of crazy to me but that was Dennis. I think Lake Placid’s 70 meter was the last time I saw him do it or maybe at Steamboat. Good times!

  5. steve

    awesome story. been a long time since winter park. you, thor and al merrill gave me the coolade in 1980 and im still hooked.

    thank you

    aj

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