Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 21, 1994                   TAG: 9402210331
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN Outdoor Editor
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

36 DAYS ON THE SLOPES, AND HE'S NO BUM

His chicken hat says, ``No spring chicken'' on one side and ``But still kicking,'' on the other.

Actually, at age 66, Gebhard is kicking pretty high. You realize that when you see his skiing headband. There are more pins in it than cloves in a Christmas ham. Each pin represents a resort Gebhard has skied.

Last year he visited 22 resorts in 31 days of skiing.

And that only got him an honorable mention in the Roanoke Ski Club newsletter.

Fellow club member Jim Beamer won the ``most days skied'' competition with 36 days on the slopes. Runner-up was Stuart Katz, with 35.

Only Beamer appears to be keeping up the pace this season.

``My goal this year is 40 days,'' he said last weekend as he headed for Colorado, a trip that will put him near the halfway mark.

In March, Beamer will lead a group of 61 club members to Lake Tahoe, Nev.

The three club members recognized for spending the most days on the slopes hardly are ski bums. Beamer and Katz have to fit their trips into work schedules. Beamer works at Norfolk Southern's Shaffers Crossing; Katz is the the pawn shop business. Gebhard is a retired General Electric welder.

During one Colorado trip last season, Beamer and Gebhard skied eight resorts in eight days.

While Gebhard has been a skier for 60 years, Katz is a relative newcomer, starting about five years ago at the prodding of friends.

Roger Pommerenke, ski club president, believes Katz quickly became a black diamond skier ``because he has no fear of skiing.''

That might be part of it, said Katz, but when you spend as many as five weeks a season on the slopes you learn some things.

``I have spent more time on the slopes than some people who have skied 20 to 25 years,'' he said.

His favorite resort?

``Any place awesome that has big powder. Like I just got back from Tahoe. It dumped snow three days out of the five. We had all powder and that makes such a big difference.''

If Katz can't have powder, he'll settle for mogul fields. Both Katz and Beamer think resorts in Virginia and West Virginia groom too many of the bumps off their slopes.

``That is sickening to me,'' said Katz. ``Out west, all good resorts have bump fields. Even when you don't have powder, at least you can challenge yourself and ski bumps.''

If Beamer had to choose a favorite resort, he said it would probably be Sundance, Robert Redford's place.

Gebhard has no favorite.

"As long as there is snow on the mountain, I enjoy it."

When it comes to the Southeast, Katz likes Snowshoe while Beamer and Gebhard lean toward Timberline in Cannan Valley.

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