From SKI Magazine, May/June, 1994
"Faceshot" feature article


The Man Who Skied All Year

In mid-August 1993, Ron Cram left the balmy Snowbird parking lot, hiked 2 hours to Pipeline Bowl just beyond the Snowbird area boundary and skied down, marking his 42nd consecutive week of skiing. He would go on to ski 52 weeks in a row--in Utah.

Cram, a 37-year-old medical products sales rep from Sandy, Utah, began his streak in late October, 1992, skiing on machine-made snow on the Payday trail at Park City. As he does most winters, he thereafter skied every week throughout the season. When Snowbird's lifts were still running on Father's Day, Cram realized he might be able to ski 52 straight weeks.

He spent the summer months skiing Little Cottonwood Canyon's hike-to bowls near Alta and Snowbird. Come September, he skied the Gunsight Chute at Alta, switched back to Pipeline Bowl and finished his feat in October on Katherine's Pass at Alta.

Was the skiing any good? "Usually, there was a very hard base but with a nice, creamy surface. Occasionally, sun-cupped craters would form on the snow," Cram said, referring to the salad-bowl sized depressions in the snow that are formed by cycles of sun, rain, freeze and thaw.

An expert skier, Cram made most of his turns after 4 pm, when his workday was done, and usually skied alone. "I'd call my ski buddies to suggest a summer run, but when it's 95 degrees in the valley, I guess it's hard for some people to imagine going skiing."

Cram didn't stop at a full year; at presstime, he had skied his 73rd consecutive week. ---Bernadette R. Starzee


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