Oh man I loved those years in the skiing culture. That was right when I got into park, everything was super exciting and new and fresh. Everyone seemed more friendly then too. Skiers wouldn't snake other skiers (unless they were racers), and you could just go up to and talk to any person with twintips in the park and take some laps together. The ski movies and edits were still really fun and seemed kinda underground, but more mature than back in the earlier years. Also, I was oblivious to the bullshit on NS at the time, so the site seemed like the best thing of all time.
Everyone's "golden age" is probably different though. We'll see the skiing scene as the most awesome whenever we got into it.