I was interested in bringing hard-core, traditional, classic, functional skiwear into the marketplace. ”Skiing was very chi-chi, and chic was not appealing to me. By 1969 C.B.’s racing career was on the wane, but he wanted to stay in the skiing business.
So he moved his racing to the European pro circuit where he would race for money. Vaughan’s first wife was Roxanne McCormick whose family had a place on Cottage Club Road here in Stowe.ĭespite setting the world speed skiing record, C.B. He now lives out-of-state and gets the Stowe Reporter by mail. Both men would set a new record of 106.5 miles-per-hour!įormer Stowe-ite Tony Thompson was the only correct responder this week. Together they trained for the 1963 world speed skiing competition held in Portillo, Chile. would meet another college ski racer that liked to go fast, Dick Dorworth. a scholarship to Saint Lawrence University where he would become captain of the ski team and a member of the United States Ski Team. His racing for Vermont Academy earned C.B. He loved to ski and he loved to ski fast.
Vaughan grew up in Manchester, Vermont, where his parents ran an inn. This was the beginning of CB Sports, a name that would dominate the skiwear business through the 1970s and 80s.Ĭ.B. and his then-wife Roxanne designed the pants and literally drove around Vermont selling them out of their car.
The “Super Pant” began in 1969 right here in Vermont as the brainchild of Charles Bird Vaughan, better known as C.B. Racers loved them and the general skier population followed suit. In my opinion it was the “Super Pant”! The “Super Pant” was insulated warm-up pants that zipped on over stretch pants. But what triggered that original change that led to most of us giving up our stretch pants? There were other warmer alternatives, but many of us felt that we skied better in stretch pants – and definitely looked better! Starting with the 1970s function began to win out over fashion and stretch pants gradually disappeared from the slopes (except for racers.) I do notice stretch pants are now making a reappearance for which some of us are thankful. In the 1960s they made skiing fashionable and became an integral part of the skiing “uniform”. I have written previously about the impact stretch pants had on skiing.