The distinctive sound of clinking beer mugs and the din of skiers telling tall tales floated down the stairway as I clomped my way upwards to The Sticky Wicket. Two steps in, I stopped to soak in photographer Hank de Vre’s iconic 1988 image of Suzy Chaffee stretching out a massive daffy over Lake Tahoe. From her pink and white knee-high boots over a flesh-colored skin suit, accented with a white and pink leotard top, Suzy was in fine form!
Walking up into The Sticky Wicket at Deer Valley’s Silver Lake Lodge is a bit of a transformation. Yes, this really is Deer Valley, but now with a destination that boasts a boisterous après ski vibe where you can belly up to the bar, have the tender pour you a local Offset beer, and order a heaping pile of nachos or some giant oversized pretzel fingers.
Back home in Wisconsin, the base area bar was more important than the ski hill. At tiny 370-foot Mount Telemark, skiers flocked from all corners of the Midwest to hear the Ratnicks play “In Heaven There Is No Beer” in a dungeon-like, smoke-filled cavern. Today, amidst our modern ski world, the spirit and camaraderie of the ski bar is often forgotten.
It was national Hall of Fame week in Park City, so I figured what better place to run into some legends. As I was admiring a poster of one of my own ski heroes launching the tips of his red, white, and blue K2s into the air with a big smile across his face. I glanced over to see the legend himself, Wayne Wong, beckoning me to his table.
Wong was holding court in a booth with a giant AY-OH-KAY sign underneath a pair of 1970 vintage Rossi Strato 102s (yah, remember your pair?). While his hair is much curlier today, he still looks the same with that trademark Wong smile. And when he walks into the room, skiers of all generations notice.
Deep down, the lifestyle of skiing embodies a sense of freedom and independence. It’s a sport where rules are made to be broken and where everyone has a slightly exaggerated story to tell.
A common trait of Hall of Famers is wondering how they got there. How did this sport they did as kids for fun become a lifetime career? Wong knows precisely when it changed for him. He was a ski bum kid from a tiny hill near Vancouver, B.C., who traveled 3,200 miles by plane, bus, and thumb to Waterville Valley, N.H., for the first National Championships of Exhibition Skiing in 1971.
Austrian Hermann Goellner, of Moebius Flip fame, won; Wong was third. But with a bag of tricks that included the fabled Wong Banger, he was launched to fame in a new era of skiing.
Like many acrobatic tricks, the Wong Banger’s origin was an accident. “I was skiing down this little hill that had a very strong, sharp transition,” recalled Wong. “It was foggy, flat light, I couldn’t see. All of a sudden, my ski tips stuck and I started to get vaulted forward. So I stuck my poles out in front of me and did a vault with a pole flip.”
As Wong describes it today, it was a pure “holy crap” moment. And all this on 200cm skis. “And so that became my trick: The Wong Banger.”
Walking around The Sticky Wicket, we stopped to admire the poster celebrating a half-century of Wong — on the east wall, below the Barbie Olympic Ski Village. Just a year after finishing third at the Exhibition Nationals, Wayne was showcased as a new K2 athlete with the legendary WONG poster, shot in March 1972 at Sun Valley. Almost 50 years later to the day, the then 71-year-old skier repeated the shot at Mt. Rose for his sunglass brand, VALLON.
Walking around The Sticket Wicket takes you deep into the soul of why we love skiing. From the WONG poster to Kris Ostness’ image of Candide Thovex vaulting the 120-foot Chad’s Gap in Grizzly Gulch to the venerable shotski behind the bar, the Wicket provides the stage for each of us to live out our lifestyle alongside our legends.
Today, Wong spends more time slingshotting G-force carving turns than he does in the bumps. But he still follows local mogul stars like Nick Page.
“What we did was fun. It was exciting. It was a great time,” said Wong, reminiscing.
After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? Time for another round!