Although he’s now an avid skier, Ira Riklis sometimes marvels that he ever stayed with the sport, considering his first experience. When he was nine or ten, his family headed up to Hunter Mountain for a day of skiing. Back then, skiing was considered an offshoot of hiking, a fact reflected in the equipment at the time. Ski boots were basically hiking boots, with two sets of laces: inner and outer. To secure the boots, the laces had to be tied super-tight, which made them quite painful to wear.
Once the lace were tied, one then had to close the bindings on the skis, something made more difficult by the fact that the closing mechanism was two or three feet in front of the toe of the boot, and the bindings were designed to hold the heel of the boot to the skis. At this point, Ira Riklis’ father decided that young Ira had to close the bindings himself. It took many failed attempts to accomplish the feat. An hour and much frustration later, he still had not left the staging area.