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The Top 5 Cringiest Ski Ads From the 1980s

Originally posted on Powder | By Izzy Lidsky | Last updated Jul 28, 2025 10:56 AM ET

Some of the fun of looking through old issues of POWDER is seeing all the things that have changed so much in skiing and some of the things that haven't! There are certainly some things in skiing that just wouldn't fly today, or rather, things that wouldn't fly as an advertisement in POWDER, but are still around and just as cringy. It's pretty easy to laugh at things like this and say, "Wow, that didn't age well," until you remember they're still happening, just less obviously.

Maybe in another 40 years we'll have amazing women's ski boots, people will stop saying they're going skiing instead of going to therapy, and there will be a little less misogyny in sports, but until then, here are a few ads from issues of POWDER in the 1980s you can laugh at.

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1. Camel Lights - 1984

Cringe Rating: 4

The general sentiment around cigarettes has changed a lot since the '80s, but it's still kinda of wild to see a cigarette ad in a magazine about an activity that requires a certain level of fitness and gets you fresh air. Although it's not like skiers aren't known to party hard, and sometimes have habits that aren't synonymous with "high-level athlete." Even though he looks more like a climber/mountaineer, I have no doubt the dude in this ad could drop a knee in powder and out-ski me in cotton any day of the week.

2. Monarch Mountain - 1984

Cringe Level: 6

At first glance, this ad is pretty standard for '80s POWDER, but when you really look at the imagery and read the copy, it's ... yikes. Clearly, they're implying that something other than skiing knee deep pow is exciting (as if), and that if that thing (definitely not the blonde babe tackling the skier who is obviously male) is too exciting, they'll need to ... not be skiing? TLDR; get a room? Yikes.

Then the tag line: "Where quality has become a tradition." Now I have to ask questions about this—the quality of what? Do I want to know? Also, whose magical wolf/dog is that, and what does he have to do with any of this? This ad leaves me with so many questions I don't want the answers to.

3. Tecnica - 1986

Cringe Level: 9

This would be less cringy if ski boot manufacturers had started making boots that worked well for women some 40 years after this ad ran, but here we are. Sure, it's a men's boot, being marketed to make men feel more manly ... *barf* because skiing needs more masculinity in it?

Even if ski boots in general still could use some work, Tecnica has definitely changed its ways since the mid-'80s, and now has an entire program dedicated to its female athletes and gear.

4. Roffe Skiwear - 1986

Cringe Level: 7

This ad is funny, and I do love the minimalism of it, but ski bros joking about going skiing instead of going to therapy perpetuates an unfortunate narrative. Like the Tecnica ad, if this wasn't still happening some 40 years later, I'd probably find it funnier, but as someone whose known many a ski bro who could use a little real therapy ... I'd like to find the person who started this whole idea and smack some sense into them.

5. K2 Gyrator - 1989

Cringe Level: 10

Honestly, it's mostly the word "gyrate" that gets me, what a gross word. Beyond that, the fact that the ad is showing a kid saying, "I wanna Gyrate??" I know, I know, it's about a snowboard, it's the '80s, it's supposed to be provocative. There's just gotta be a better way; this is straight up gnarly.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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