Snowless Skiing, Iceless Skating

RECREATION

Snowless Skiing, Iceless Skating

For skiers, snow is white gold. Until it falls, they are a frustrated lot, all booted up, geared, waxed, with nowhere to go. Some skiers have tried to get in condition early by skiing on sand, pine needles or hay -- all far from satisfactory.

To hurry up the season, and extend it after the snow has melted, at least 20 different manufacturers have tried to find a good synthetic substitute. Most of them have wound up with a blizzard of problems.

One firm covered the trails with loose Styrofoam pellets, which the wind blew into the woods. Others have experimented with long, shining strips of polymer plastics, which proved to be too slow and did not allow the ski edges to bite into the material on turns. Still others have developed mats with nylon bristles; they worked well--until the skier fell. Recalls Jack Kurlander, a founder of the Great Gorge ski area in New Jersey: "The bristles were needle-sharp and everybody tore his pants. There was blood, blood, blood. Boy! Were we embarrassed."

Happy on Anything. But Kurlander is trying again, this time with a flexible, polyethylene plastic called Sno-Mat. It was developed by two Italians three years ago and has been tested successfully at European resorts, including Cortina d'Ampezzo and Tarvisio. Sno-Mat's secret is that it comes in small, interlocking units, each of which looks like a giant pince-nez; they thus hug the contour of the land while presenting no joints to catch the sharp ski edges or the skier's thumb and fingers, should he fall. In addition, the units are covered with thick, round-ended bristles, colored green to guard against ultraviolet rays that make the plastic brittle.

Last week the temperature hovered around 60DEG at Great Gorge and the fall foliage still hung on the trees, but a hundred-odd young skiers turned up early to try the synthetic surface. They wedeled down the 1,200-ft. slope or slammed through the slalom course. A few even tried the 30-meter jump, which later this month will be used by Olympic hopefuls. Those that tumbled picked themselves up unhurt; Sno-Mat's pliable bristles had cushioned their falls. "Psychologically, Sno-Mat would be better if it were white," said Sven Evenesen, 17. "But I'm happy to ski on anything." Added ex-Olympic Skier Rip McManus, who was coaching the racers, "It's a little slower than snow, but it's a fantastic conditioner. You can't sluff around. Each turn has got to be just right."

After snowless skiing, iceless skating. At least Vinyl Plastics Inc. thinks so and has developed a warm, dry, milky-white synthetic surface that has been a hit at New York's and Philadelphia's winter sports shows, and almost lives up to its trade name, Slick. It is smooth as ice but 20% slower. Its great advantage is cost--$38,000 for a standard rink v. $300,000 for artificial ice. Skates bite easily into the surface, which has a guaranteed life of three years. Says Professional Ice Skater Randolph McCulley: "You can't cheat on Slick or you'll lose your balance. I would advise anyone to train on it. You'll feel like you've been shot from a cannon when you come back to ice."

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