SlimAarons
Winter
Skiing
Skiing became a topic of much interest to readers of Holiday magazine in the late 1940s as ski resorts in New England were developed and became coveted destinations for the newly affluent. The Winter Olympics of 1932 had attracted the great skiers of the world to Lake Placid, In those days a day-long lift ticket would set you back one dollar, and skiers wore leather Bass ski boots.
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Off Piste Activities
Later, in 1956, Aarons did a feature on New England ski resorts and discovered the brand-new ski-country attraction of racing cars on ice at the Sports Car Club of America's annual winter meet. He traveled to Franconia, New Hampshire, to shoot auto enthusiasts like Lee Wernicke and Derrick Stedman in their North Pole gear. Other popular "off piste" activities featured in the story included sleigh rides around North Conway, New Hampshire, and après ski cocktails of buttered rum around the fireplace at the nearby Oxen Yoke Inn.
But it wasn't until 1963 when Aarons ventured to Gstaad, Switzerland, and captured one of his most iconic photos, "Winter Suntans," which features a lineup of female skiers sun-bathing after lunch, wrapped up in fur coats, plaid wool blankets, and fur-trimmed parkas.
Suddenly après-ski fashion was a winter style sensation, and Aarons was spending part of each winter documenting the scene on the slopes — and in the nightclubs — of Zermatt, Switzerland; Lech, Austria; and Cortina, Italy.
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Snowmass-at-Aspen
In 1967, Snowmass-at-Aspen opened in Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain town became a glamorous midwinter destination. To celebrate more than fifty miles of trails and snowfields, the mountain association invited Holiday magazine to organize a ski party. Helicopters were used to transport hot food, and guests enjoyed the stand-up picnic — another winter ski tradition.
