Today I sorted out my ski tool box. I kept everything that was in there, even the generic screwdrivers and such, but I took out the ball of twine, a hammer and a set of sheet-metal cutters(??).

Since we have moved to a smaller space and I can't keep everything forever any more, I have cut down on the amount of gear I am keeping. Gone are all the unused skis, boots, poles, small parkas, singleton gloves and torn hats. I am keeping the 1997 192 cm Rossignols and the $20 Salvation Army Atomics, my least-bent set of poles, the boots I bought at the consignment shop in Truckee (and which I refurbished a while back by sewing new velcro strips onto the top closer straps). I am also keeping an assortment of gloves and hats, 2 different face masks (saved my kids with those once), 2 sets of snowboard pants (where were those when I was a kid in cold-wet Vermont winters?) and my newest parka (from Lands End, of all places). The one-piece suits and ancient bib overalls are going to thrift store purgatory.

The last time I did this was after I went to California in the Navy in 1970.. I bought all new gear out here, but my parents still moved all my old stuff when they downsized themselves in 1987. When they sold that house in 2009, I recommended that they donate my best set to the New England Ski Museum - mid-sixties 208cm Toni Sailer fiberglass downhills with long-thong bindings. I don't know if the museum got them, but I am sure they don't have 2..