Hi
Bob Mazarei published an article called "Vic" in the telemark journal issue 2 which discribes his adventure with Vic Bein.
The telemark journal is a bi-annual publication of Luca Gasparini and is full of wonderfull stories about telemark. You should all subscribe to it :
you can order it aat www.lulu.com
Vic Bein
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Jurassien
- Posts: 207
- Joined: Tue May 10, 2022 12:12 pm
- Location: Switzerland
- Ski style: Nordic touring; Alpine touring
- Favorite Skis: Too many!
Re: Vic Bein
Thank you very much for that information @jefkin , and welcome to the forum!
For less than the cost of postage for a hard-copy version, and with just a very few mouse-clicks I was able to download the E-book version of Telemark Journal, Issue 2, from the Lulu website. The original Vic Bein article was, as you stated, included in this volume under the title “Vic”. The man himself is depicted in his monk’s robe, wooden cross dangling at his knees, child’s ski-poles in hand, and standing in the previously described improvised ski-set.
For anyone who might be interested, here is a direct link to the E-book version:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-shapiro- ... pageSize=4
My recollection of the article, as described in my original post, is not quite accurate in its detail, but the gist of my post is not far off the original. The author, Bob Mazarei, certainly has a gift for this kind of writing, and the article is a pleasure to read.
In the afternoon of his accompanying Vic Bein up to the Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernard, the author skied back down alone and came upon the aftermath of a fatal avalanche. This, together with the opening sentence of the article: “It was just after the New Year, a while back, in the early 90’s……”, set me off on an attempt to put a date on the events. I looked up the avalanche statistics here, which go back to the season 1970/71, and the most likely contender would appear to be 04.01.1995, where the map coordinates given match very closely with the author’s account, although the statistic gives 2 caught and 1 fatality (author gives 2 caught, 2 fatalities).
The point of my original post was to find the article again, and now (after almost two years!) that this has been accomplished, I can’t help wondering whatever became of Vic Bein. This man was right in there among the 2nd wave of telemark revivalists and one can’t help but wonder in amazement at the photo sequences of Mr Bein doing ridiculous stuff with a rather large rucksack, leather boots and toothpick skis. The book, published in 1982, would at the time have been one of the very few in the English language dealing with this kind of activity.
So, phase 1 of the search can be ticked off, but phase 2 remains open: Whatever happened to Vic Bein?...... Anyone?
For less than the cost of postage for a hard-copy version, and with just a very few mouse-clicks I was able to download the E-book version of Telemark Journal, Issue 2, from the Lulu website. The original Vic Bein article was, as you stated, included in this volume under the title “Vic”. The man himself is depicted in his monk’s robe, wooden cross dangling at his knees, child’s ski-poles in hand, and standing in the previously described improvised ski-set.
For anyone who might be interested, here is a direct link to the E-book version:
https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-shapiro- ... pageSize=4
My recollection of the article, as described in my original post, is not quite accurate in its detail, but the gist of my post is not far off the original. The author, Bob Mazarei, certainly has a gift for this kind of writing, and the article is a pleasure to read.
In the afternoon of his accompanying Vic Bein up to the Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernard, the author skied back down alone and came upon the aftermath of a fatal avalanche. This, together with the opening sentence of the article: “It was just after the New Year, a while back, in the early 90’s……”, set me off on an attempt to put a date on the events. I looked up the avalanche statistics here, which go back to the season 1970/71, and the most likely contender would appear to be 04.01.1995, where the map coordinates given match very closely with the author’s account, although the statistic gives 2 caught and 1 fatality (author gives 2 caught, 2 fatalities).
The point of my original post was to find the article again, and now (after almost two years!) that this has been accomplished, I can’t help wondering whatever became of Vic Bein. This man was right in there among the 2nd wave of telemark revivalists and one can’t help but wonder in amazement at the photo sequences of Mr Bein doing ridiculous stuff with a rather large rucksack, leather boots and toothpick skis. The book, published in 1982, would at the time have been one of the very few in the English language dealing with this kind of activity.
So, phase 1 of the search can be ticked off, but phase 2 remains open: Whatever happened to Vic Bein?...... Anyone?