Keep an edge on wide-cuts

I met Ray Brox of Dracut in River Run Lodge at the base of Baldy Mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho. We talked about golf at first, since I had played many times at Hickory Hills, a course that he operates in Methuen.

Ray, 82 years old, mentioned that he had missed a year of skiing because of kidney dialysis treatments and had been back only a few times since his transplant in early May.

While riding the chair I noticed he had on the new super-wide-cut skis.

He said they seemed OK, but that the tips sometimes wandered on him.

I mentioned to him that it was important on the wide-tip skis always to have them on edge, that straight running caused the tips to wander and could be disconcerting.

Both of us cruised down Flying Squirrel trail, a steep intermediate run on Baldy, with Ray carving perfect turns.

I commented that his donor must have been an experienced skier.

He laughed and said that he owes it all to the transplant team at Massachusetts General Hospital.

-- Bob Dunn, member of Professional Ski Instructors of America