Second Edition

Second Edition - 2014

When I was asked if I would write the history of the Ancient Skiers, I was excited and

willing. My husband, Jim, and I were a part of those early skiers during those memorable

times. We had “been there and done that” and it was time to put it down on paper for future

generations to enjoy. Yes, we were a part of The Ancient Skiers and it is a privilege to be

able to tell you about them and the way things were. Life was different - and it was good!

I met Jim on my rst ski trip on the Milwaukee Ski Train to the Ski Bowl in 1938. He

sat across the aisle and had the Sunday funnies - I had the cupcakes - we made a bond

and he taught me to ski. We were married the next year. Jim became Certied as a ski

instructor at the second certication exam put on by the Pacic Northwest Ski Association

(PNSA) in 1940, at the Ski Bowl. I took the exam the next year at Paradise in 1941, to

become the rst woman in the United States to become a Certied Ski Instructor.

Skiing has been my life, from teaching students, running a ski school, training instructors,

and most of all being the Executive Secretary for the Pacic Northwest Ski Instructors

Association (PNSIA) for over 16 years. I ran their Symposiums for 26 years, giving me the

opportunity to work with many ne skiers from different regions as well as ski areas. Jim

and I helped organize the PNSIA and served on their board for nearly 30 years.

We started teaching at the Milwaukee Ski Bowl with the Times Free Ski School before

World War II and I was the last secretary for the Washington Ski Club when the War broke

out and they closed down the club. We, too, hiked in from Narada Falls and rode the Alta

Vista rope - and fell in those deep, deep holes that were known as Devil’s Dip. We ran

the Deer Park ski lodge and ski school in the Olympics in 1941 and made the monstrous

amount of $90 for the whole season! We helped Bruce and Virginia Kehr drag the rope up

to the Bowl on Big Chief at Stevens Pass.

Right after the War, we managed the Ski

Bowl, taught for Hal Kihlman at Snoqualmie

for 9 years, ran our own Evergreen Ski

School for 18 years and were Technical

Directors for KING Headway and Mogul

Mouse Ski School. Jim also taught for the

Seattle Country Day School at Stevens Pass

for Kathy Hand as well as the Mountaineers

Ski School at Snoqualmie. We taught for 27

years at Snoqualmie Pass before moving

to Ski Acres with John Mohan and the Ski

Acres Ski School for another 14 years - for

a total of over 50 years. Jim retired as the

oldest Certication Examiner in the country

at age 75. We taught until we were 75 and

80 and skied until we were 80 and 85 - and

we skied better then than at any time in our

lives!

Then I was asked to be the Editor of the

Ancient Skiers Newsletter - and look what it

led to! Yep, it was a wonderful life!

INTRODUCTION

- 1 -

Jim and Joy Lucas

when they retired from teaching

in 1992

Since the newspapers no longer have copies of those golden days, I have drawn

upon our own scrapbooks as well as others to show how popular skiing became and the

tremendous amount of coverage the papers gave to the edgling sport. Many of the stories

are from our experiences as I didn’t get as many tales from other old-timers as I would

have liked - so I ask your forgiveness for telling so many tales from our years of skiing. The

memories just kept popping up.

My thanks to the Professional Ski Instructors of America-Northwest (PSIANW) for

allowing me to use stories and articles from my book, It Started in the Mountains. So many

key things are pertinent to the Ancient Skiers as well. A call to Bob Cram and he was willing

to let me use cartoons and captions from You Know You Are an Ancient Skier.. . .If..., the

book done in cooperation with Irv Pratt.

This book would not have been possible without the help and encouragement from B Jo

and Tom Allen, Delight Mahalko, Ed Taylor, John Hansen, Len Gerber and Dave Gossard.

They let me read all their records and I have tried to put them into meaning as they would

want them. My thanks to Irv and Arlene Pratt for loaning me their scrapbooks and pictures,

to glean stories that need to be told, and to Chuck Howe, who loaned so many special

pictures of Mt. Rainier and the early years. I am especially indebted to Kay Haley, whose

journalistic knowledge and proong made it all come together. And what would I have done

without the computer savvy of our daughter, Kate Lucas. When my computer broke down

with the load, she was the one who came to my rescue.

Writing this book has been a joy. My thanks to you all.

–Joy Lucas 2006

Editor’s Note: This reprint includes several corrections of the original text and selective

brief updates which became known since the original printing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

- 2 -

The original Ancient Skiers skied in the Pacic Northwest prior to World War II. They

skied mainly at Paradise on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Milwaukee Ski Bowl, Stevens Pass,

the old Municipal Hill at Snoqualmie Pass, Meany Hut at Stampede, as well as Mt. Hood,

Mt. Spokane, the Central region, the Leavenworth Ski Jumps, Mt. Bachelor, and the Blue

Mountains. Of course, Sun Valley was Heaven to us all.

They were alpine skiers, jumpers, cross-country skiers, competitors, ofcials,

Olympians, instructors, ski patrollers, as well as recreational skiers. They were a rugged

group of outdoors people who were do-it-yourselfers, using old automobile engines to

power rope tows. They climbed into the back-country and skied uncut snow. They built

their own ski lodges and skied hard in the daytime and partied hard in the nights. Then

after World War II, they were a part of the great skiing boom, with mass ski schools and

burgeoning ski areas that catered to every facet of life.

This book is about those Ancient Skiers who skied during the Golden Years of Skiing;

how the ski areas developed, what the sport was like, the equipment they skied on, their

way of life. Many of them are still participating in the sport in their 70s, 80s and even 90s.

(Just shows what skiing can do for you!)

This is also about those people who gave of their time, not for months, but years, to build

the Ancient Skiers organization and Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame, where they

could keep their memories alive with get-togethers both on and off the snow. They planned

ski reunions at Sun Valley and banquets close to home. They worked tirelessly to nd a

ski museum so future generations could see the old equipment and how we skied. They

honored those fellow skiers who had contributed much to the sport of skiing with induction

to the Northwest Ski Hall of Fame.

This book honors not only Irv Pratt, whose dedication and hard work started the

organization, it also honors all those dedicated ofcers and hard working committees who

served through the years to make Ancient Skiers the respected group it is today. We

can be proud the Ancient Skiers developed into a organization that will stand on its own

through the years as later generations grow into Ancient Skiers themselves.

Come join us as we take a trip backwards in time and enjoy the memories that made

skiers a family.

WHO WERE THE ANCIENT SKIERS?

- 3 -

Tom (Tube) Hill and Tom Heard, both former members of the University of Washington

Ski Team, hadn’t seen each other for years. When they saw each other again in 1982, they

reminisced about the old days and discussed the idea of a reunion of old-time skiers, from

the days of Mt. Rainier, prior to World War II. Hill then presented the idea to Seattle Times

sports editor Vince O’Keefe to get the word out to those who might be interested in having

a reunion. Irv Pratt was also contacted to help get something started since he was near

retirement and supposedly would have the time to work on it.

Irv thought many old skiers would enjoy getting together to “mingle and mangle” and

remember old times. Instead of a “clambake,” why not call it a “clamfreeze”? He, along

with friends Hal Smith, Ginny Higman, Jean MacDonaId Zweibel and Burns Smith spread

the word to as many old ski friends as they could think of. Along with the article in the

paper, the response was exciting, so they organized a banquet at the Ofcers’ Club at

Sand Point in Seattle, expecting perhaps a hundred or so would respond. By the time the

dinner came around, about 300 people attended! Racers and Olympic champions, race

ofcials, U.W. Ski Team members, cross-country skiers, jumpers, mountain climbers, ski

patrollers, ski instructors, ski area operators, skiers of all ages - you name them - they

all came. Everyone was excited to see their old friends again and memories of Paradise

Inn, Tatoosh, the Guidehouse, Sluiskin, Alta Vista, Devil’s Dip and the Silver Skis - were

relived over and over that night. The reunion dinner was so successful that people wanted

to make it an on-going event.

The idea of the Ancient Skiers organization was formed a couple of years later when

a few of the old skiers met at Sun Valley. It seemed every time they got together the more

they wanted to keep the past alive. Howie Clifford was credited with coming up with the

name, “Ancient Skiers,” and it stuck. Ideas with more activities, like the banquet, a Sun

Valley Reunion, a weekend at Paradise, a museum where old equipment could be viewed

and old skiers honored were all brainstormed. By this time, the group, composed of Irv

Pratt, Glen Jones, Mel Borgersen, Hal Smith and Robert St. Louis, decided to have St.

Louis, an attorney, write up Articles of Incorporation for the Ancient Skiers as a non-prot

organization so they could operate in earnest. The rest is history.

HOW DID THE ANCIENT SKIERS START?

- 4 -

Gretchen Kunigk Fraser was America’s First Lady of Skiing. A native of Tacoma, she

learned to ski on Mt. Rainier from Otto Lang when she was in junior high school. Gretchen

was still a kid from Stadium High School when she was picked to double for Sonje Henie,

Norway’s Olympic skating star, during the lming of “Thin Ice” at Paradise.

At age 16, she set her sights on skiing, but there were many detours along the route.

She was named to the Olympic ski team only to come up with an injury which prevented

participation. Again she was named to the Olympic team, only to have the Games cancelled

due to the War. She was a multiple regional and national champion through the late 1930s

and 1940s. Once in a mid-summer Golden Rose Race at Mt. Hood, in a blazing downhill

run, she wiped out the nish gates, the time keepers and some others in a violent nale

that sent her to the hospital for several weeks. In 1939, she married Don Fraser, also an

Olympic ski team member, and together, they continued their racing careers.

In a day when women were not encouraged to take part in elite-level sports, Gretchen

was the epitome of a great champion and at the rst Winter Olympics after World War II,

she became the rst U.S. skier to win America’s rst alpine ski medals - a gold for the

Slalom and a silver for the Combined in the 1948 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz,

Switzerland. She was hailed by the media as “the little pig-tailed housewife.” Her historic

performances were a collective seminal moment as the American ski industry began to

grow following the war. She gave the nation a gracious champion.

She left her mark not only as a champion but a caring and inspirational lady who was

instrumental in the development of the Special Olympics and contributed many years in

working with their programs. Sun Valley was home to Gretchen and Don for more than half

a century. She spent her life living the Olympic ideal and sharing the Olympic spirit as an

energetic contributor to her community ... so others could enjoy the sport which meant so

much to her. In her honor, Sun Valley christened one of their ski runs, “Gretchen’s Gold,”

as well as naming one of the restaurants in her name.

Don Fraser, American ski pioneer, a native of Seattle, learned to ski at Mt. Rainier.

During the ‘30s, he was twice PNSA champion and won the rst Silver Skis race in 1934

and again in 1938. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team to Germany in 1936

and again in 1940 when the Games were cancelled due to the War. He was a member of

the FIS squad in 1936 and went to Chile in 1937 with the U.S. Team where he won the

South American Slalom and was 2nd in the Combined races.

Don visited Sun Valley for the rst time in 1937 with Don Amick to race in the Harriman

Cup. As guests of the Union Pacic and Sun Valley, they were given rst-class tickets

aboard the Portland Rose. When they stepped off the train, a warm bus took them to the

Sun Valley Lodge, where all the movie stars were standing around waiting to see the great

skiers - and they walked in dressed like bums. They felt like kings to stay in the Lodge,

since they were used to the old Guide’s shack at Mt. Rainier.

Note: Alpine skiing for men and women was introduced to the Olympics in 1936, with

the 1940 Games being cancelled due to the War.

THE LEGENDS

- 5 -

Otto Lang, the Grand Old Man of Skiing, passed away shortly before his 98th birthday

in January 2006. Less than a year before he died, he said, “ I know it is a broad statement,

but it is true; skiing is responsible for everything in my life. It connected everything.”

He was raised in Austria and his early competitive career began in the Junior Nordic

disciplines, particularly jumping, and ended as a Senior Alpine racer for the Arlberg Ski

Club, competing in the prestigious Arlberg Kandahar.

He worked for Hannes Schneider, the father of the Arlberg Technique. Through

encouragement from one of his students, he came to the United States, where he met

one of his students, Nelson Rockerfeller, who encouraged him to come to the Northwest.

He opened the rst ofcial American Hannes Schneider Ski School at Mt. Rainier in

1937, followed by schools at Mt. Baker and Mt. Hood. He authored Downhill Skiing in

1936. It was used as the bible for the rst examinations to certify ski instructors. Otto was

Chief Examiner for the rst Certication Examination in the Northwest, held at Paradise

on Mt. Rainier in April, 1939.

Rockerfeller began visiting Sun Valley and wanted Otto for his private instructor. He

encouraged Averill Harriman to hire Otto as an instructor for the Sun Valley Ski School.

At the beginning of World War II in 1941-42, Otto became Director of the Sun Valley Ski

School. During the lming of Sun Valley Serenade, Lang’s skill caught the eye of Darryl

Zanuck, who was in charge of production for the Army Signal Corp. Zanuck commissioned

Lang to make military training lms, among them The Basics of Skiing, used extensively

to train the newly formed Mountain Division.

In 1952, Lang left Sun Valley to pursue a successful career and life in the Hollywood lm

industry. In 1987, he moved back to West Seattle and began work on his autobiography,

Bird of Passage - the Story of My Life, published in 1994. Later, he published Around the

World in 90 Years, a collection of his travels.

. .You Know You Are an Ancient Skier. . If. . .

. . You know how to spell Gretchen Fraser’s maiden name.

. . You can remember who won the ﬁrst Silver Skis Race.

. . You know the year Otto Lang came to Mt. Rainier.

- 6 -

1948 Olympics at St. Moritz

Gretchen Fraser winning the rst

Olympic skiing gold medal

for the United States

- 7 -

Upper right: Don Fraser on the left and Gretchen Fraser on the right

Upper left: Otto Lang when he came to Sun Valley

Lower: Otto Lang and Webb Moffett in the later later years

- 8 -

In 1914, the Snoqualmie Pass roadbed was laid through forests to Lake Keechelus - the rst

passable road between the counties east and west of the mountains. To celebrate the occasion,

a cavalcade of autos drove for 5 hours to the lake where they met the cavalcade from Ellensburg.

The road was not kept open during the winter months, and it would be May before the road was

opened through the Summit. With major improvements to the highway, in the latter part of the

‘20s, the speed limit was raised from 30 to 40 miles per hour, and by 1931 the road was kept

open the whole winter.

When cars and roads became a part of the American scene, modern skiing as we know it,

began to grow, rst by Norwegian jumpers and cross-country skiers, then alpine skiers. Many

early ski areas in the ‘30s and ‘40s were set up by Park Departments, Forest Service and ski

clubs, and runs were simply cut through the trees. Most had warming huts, food or equipment

rentals, but not all had rope tows. Ski clubs ourished wherever there was snow and a hill

throughout the Northwest. Skiers hiked from the roads into the cabins and climbed the hills for

each run - or climbed into the back-country for one long run in a day. Jumping was big in the

early days and many clubs developed to provide the thrill of jumping for their members. Some of

the people took the train to Stampede Pass and the Mountaineer’s Lodge, or to the National ski

jumps at Leavenworth, which were big in those years.

In the very beginning, the activity of the skiers was haphazard at best. Almost everyone

started with high school or church groups - generally on single-day outings. Rented skis with

“bear trap” bindings (meaning non-release, metal toe plates with a leather heel strap), ill-tting

boots and clothing that were usually warm enough but ended up wet, were standard. On these

outings the perfect slope was relatively short, not too steep and - of necessity - ended with an

up-slope.

Little was known about downhill skiing and skiers learned the hard way - on their own. Those

who could turn, became self-appointed instructors. Until the ski schools began, reading “How

to Ski” books was the only way to learn more about the sport. Otto Lang’s Downhill Skiing and

Charlie Proctor’s Skiing became the bibles for ski technique.

Many were the injuries as skiers learned on their own. They were in need of proper instruction

as well as help for the injured and guidelines for their safety. Thus the ski patrols and ski schools

became vital parts of the skiing community.

Ken Syverson directed the rst ski school at Paradise in 1936. Otto Lang, a former assistant

of Hannes Schneider, father of the Arlberg Technique, came to the Northwest in 1937 and started

the rst Arlberg ski schools at Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and Mt. Baker with Ken Syverson as his

assistant.

Northwesterners were rugged, outdoors people who participated in many sports activities.

During the Depression, with money scarce, there was much scrounging and making what was

needed by hand. By the mid-1930s, creative mechanics gured out how to use old automobile

engines to power the rst rope tows and skiing became the sport during the winter.

From small ski areas with little more than a rope and a warming hut, far-sighted entrepreneurs

began developing ski areas - bringing all segments of skiing together as a family - the ski areas,

the racers, the ski schools and the ski patrol. Each contributing to the phenomenon that made the

Northwest special. Skiers knew everyone on the hill and a sense of community was built, whether

from Oregon, Washington, or Idaho - Central Washington, Spokane, or the Blue Mountains - Mt.

Rainier, Timberline, Mt. Bachelor or Sun Valley - a bond was made - They were the Brotherhood

of Skiers.

SKIING BEGINS TO GROW IN THE NORTHWEST

- 9 -

THE ORGANIZATIONS

The Pacic Northwest Division of the National Ski Association (NSA) encompassed

Washington, Oregon and Idaho - and early on, even Alaska. From it, came the Pacic

Northwest Ski Association, (PNSA) Pacic Northwest Ski Areas Association, (PNSAA)

National Ski Patrol, (NSP) and Pacic Northwest Ski Instructors Association, (PNSIA),

each developing to t its own special needs. They were blessed with outstanding and

talented people from each state who contributed much in creating efcient direction for

skiers of the Northwest.

Pacic Northwestern Ski Association (PNSA)

The Pacic Northwestern Ski Association, (PNSA) a division of the National Ski

Association, was organized in 1930. (In later years, it was shortened to the Pacic Northwest

Ski Association). It authorized, coordinated and judged competitions for jumping, cross-

country and alpine racing, through ski clubs in Washington, Oregon and Western Idaho

for Inter-club, Regional, National and International competitions. Some early ofcers and

ofcials brought to mind are: Peter Hostmark, Otto Strizek, Otto Sanford, Frank “Trader”

Horne, and Bob Hayes.

In 1934, Hans-Otto Giese of Seattle was one of a special group of early skiers who

were responsible for developing skiing into the popular sport it became in the Northwest.

He organized and conducted annual All-City High School 4-Way Tournaments for 10 years

at Snoqualmie Pass. He can be given credit for developing inter-school competition among

Seattle high schools in Cross-country, Downhill, Slalom, and Jumping. Skiing was an

unofcial sport in Seattle high schools and a minor sport at the University of Washington,

with four-way competition for collegiate meets. Many of our Ancient Skiers were a part

of those teams. Giese organized the rst Silver Skis race, starting at Camp Muir on Mt.

Rainier. It was rated as one of the top races of the country drawing many top international

skiers. It was Hans-Otto who was one of the key players in helping bring the Olympic Ski

Tryouts to Paradise in 1935 - and the skiing craze made its rst giant step.

Here is what Chick Garrett, sports writer for the Seattle Star, wrote about

the new craze of skiing, on December 15, 1937

“How about this big fellow, Northwest Skiing, who, only four years ago, was wearing

swaddling clothes? The sport, which now attracts some 65,000 devotees in the Pacic

Northwest, at a conservative guess, got its rst boom in 1935 when our skiing ofcials,

ably aided by Torchy Torrance and Darwin Meisnest, went east and sold the eastern ski

powers on staging the National downhill and slalom championships and Olympic ski trials

at Mt. Rainier. Further more, Peter Hostmark, President of the Pacic Northwestern Ski

Association, was appointed to the Olympic ski committee and re-elected second vice

president of the National Ski Association.

“With the staging of the Olympic Trials and National Championships in 1935, with the

denite build-up of downhill and slalom in the skiing world, the Pacic Northwestern Ski

Association took its rightful place of importance in national skiing. And whether more big ski

events come westward or not - if you take the word of the people who make it a business

to follow the sporting trends, the season of 1938 will be the biggest in sports history.”

- 10 -

The National Ski Patrol

The National Ski Association (NSA) authorized the formation of the National Ski

Patrol in 1938. It was formed to encourage more patrols and also raise the standard of

requirements for membership in local patrols, as well as be an organized group for the

advancement of skiing.

While the East had developed ski patrols, nothing had been done out here. “The

welfare of all skiers” was still a thought in its infancy in the Northwest - Ski Patrols were

lacking - groups of volunteers, competent to assist the injured, warn the careless, were

desperately needed. Bob Hayes, of the PNSA, who was a mountain skier of the old school,

was considered the man to do it. Bob explained, “What skiing needs is an efcient patrol,

with members at every center where there is an accumulation of skiers. It wouldn’t interfere

with their skiing, either ... Their reward would be doing good for other people.”

The Pacic Northwestern Ski Association started the Ski Patrol System in the Northwest

in 1939 and Lyle St. Louis is credited as the man who brought it into reality. Being a

teacher, he took many students to the mountains to teach them the love of the mountains

and naturally, it turned to skiing - and injuries. He took all available rst-aid classes and

began teaching rst-aid. He organized voluntary ski patrols on Mt. Rainier, Snoqualmie,

Chinook Pass and Stevens Pass. He helped develop the rst rescue missions. From this

beginning, came the Safety and Mountain Rescue Missions that are known today. His

Ski Safety Tips, drawn by Bob Cram, appeared in the Seattle Times and Seattle Star to

educate skiers in the ways of skiing safely. Lyle became the rst National Ski Patroller in

the Northwest, the highest honor bestowed by the National Ski Patrol.

In the early years, the Ski Patrols were all volunteers. From the ‘50s, every Washington’s

Birthday, they sold ski pins, and the Ski Areas would add on a 5¢ charge to ski lift tickets

to help raise money for their supplies. Very few patrolmen were good skiers early on - their

gifts were in their hearts to help others. The ski instructors would have special free ski

classes for them or just tuck them into their classes to help improve their skiing. Instructors

would act as examiners for Patrol ski tests to check their capabilities. The Patrol would give

rst-aid classes for the instructors, as at that time, instructors had to maintain a current

rst-aid card so they could give aid when needed. This made for wonderful communication

between the two groups in all areas. In those days, whenever someone got caught in an

avalanche, all instructors joined with the rescue groups. It was all for one and one for all.

The Sno-Owls Ski Club was at Snoqualmie and its members were mainly Ski Patrollers.

Johnny Hite of Snoqualmie Pass served on their Ski Patrol for over fty years. Other

prominent Ski Patrolmen were Kurt Beam from Stevens and Harry Pruzan of Crystal

Mountain. Dr. Otto Trott, Seattle physician, was instrumental in forming a Ski Patrol at

Baker in the early years, and continued into the ‘90s, contributing his time and efforts to

develop better toboggans for transporting and handling injuries for fellow skiers.

Pacic Northwest Ski Areas Association (PNSAA)

In 1956-57, the rst formative meetings leading to the formation of the Pacic Northwest

Ski Areas Association (PNSAA) were held at Webb Moffett’s house in Seattle. The rst

meetings were attended by ski area operators Webb and Virginia Moffett for Snoqualmie

Pass; Carter Watson for Mt. Baker; Charley Rankin and Ken Hawkins for White Pass; Al

Mettler for Mt. Spokane; Bruce and Virginia Kehr and Don Adams for Stevens Pass. These

early meetings were precipitated by mutual feelings that the Ski Patrol, ski instructors and

- 11 -

racers were playing one area against the other in order to gain as many free tickets and

other favors as possible. The PNSAA was formed to exchange information and formulate a

uniform gratuity policy by which they would all abide. Carter Watson was elected President,

Don Adams Vice President and Virginia Kehr as Secretary. Each of the original areas became

charter members of the PNSAA and received a certicate dated September 1, 1957.

Pacic Northwest Ski Instructors Association (PNSIA)

The National Ski Association (NSA) authorized the rst ski instructor examinations in

1938. In 1939, PNSA appointed a committee, headed by Frank (Trader) Horne and Robert

Hayes, to hold the rst ski instructor certication exams in this division.

Included in duties of the committee were selection of qualied examiners, selection of

examination sites, conducting the examination, and acting upon recommendations of the

examiner concerning the results of the examination.

The examinations were extremely rigid - including tests on mountaineering ability,

skiing ability, (demonstrations of all types of turns, etc.) and teaching ability (actual teaching

under class conditions). In addition, each applicant had to present a Red Cross rst-aid

card showing that a 20-hour course had been passed.

The rst ski instructor examination was held at Paradise on Mt. Rainier, April 22-23, 1939.

Otto Lang was Chief Examiner and Luggi Foeger and Arthur Schlatter were the examiners,

and six instructors were certied: Ken Syverson, Ariel Edmiston, Max Sarchett, Ralph

Bromaghin, Gerry Perry and Jim Parker.

Four exams were conducted before World War I1 for a total of 30 instructors. The 2nd

exam was conducted by Dick Durrance, legendary racer from Dartmouth, on January

13-14, 1940, at the Ski Bowl, with Rex Clay, Bill Durant, Larry Linnane, Jim Lucas, Ed

Notske, Leland Osborn and Leo Spitzner passing. Tom Hill and Olaf Rodegard passed

the 3rd exam, at Mt. Hood, on April 27-28, 1940, with Max Sarchett and Ariel Edmiston

as Examiners. Joy Lucas, Judd Nelson, Dave Nurse, Scott Osborn, and Tom Stewart,

the rst to be certied from Alaska, passed April 12-13, 1941, at Paradise, with Tom Hill

and Max Sarchett as examiners. While others passed the exams, the above instructors

continued teaching for many years.

The program went on hold until after the War, when Ken Syverson was appointed

Chairman of the PNSA Certication committee, followed by Otto Ross, Joe Harlacher and

Hal Kihlman. In 1958, the demand for more qualied ski instructors caused the certied

instructors to form their own organization, the Pacic Northwest Ski Instructors Association,

(PNSIA), to better educate and test instructors for the ski schools. Joe Harlacher became

the rst President and Art Audett the rst Certication V. P.

The Free Ski School

Probably the biggest impetus to skiing was when the Milwaukee Ski Train started in

1937, bringing skiers to the Snoqualmie Ski Bowl by the hundreds. The Seattle Times,

under the sponsorship of the P.T.A., began offering free ski school classes for Seattle

and Tacoma high school students in 1939. All the student needed was to sign up at

school and buy a round trip ticket on the train. Ski School Director Ken Syverson, with his

American Ski School instructors, Max Sarchett, Ralph Bromaghin, Rex Clay, Bill Durant,

Bill Hubbach, Larry Linnane, Al Lubberts, Jim Lucas, Dick Ludwig, Chuck Metzger, Ed

Notske, Gerry Perry, and Leo Spitzner, became the charter members of the Seattle Times

Free Ski School.

- 12 -

As skiing became more popular in the ‘30s, newcomers to the sport could rent clothing

as well as ski equipment to try out the new sport. They wore heavy melton cloth pants

and wool annel shirts with heavy cotton jackets. Some wore knickers with long woolen

stockings. Alpine skiers wore their ski socks on the inside of the pants while the jumpers

wore their socks on the outside. Girls wore hand-knit wool baby bonnets or bright kerchiefs,

tied in turban style. In the later ‘30s, came the wool gabardine pants, very wide at the knee,

tapering down to a smooth t at the boot top. It was the tailored look with white shirts

showing from hand-knit Norwegian sweaters, a bright kerchief around the neck to keep out

the wind, and suspenders to keep the pants tight. Instructors wore heavy woolen sports

jackets and either an Austrian hat with a feather or a billed cap with earaps. Pants were

pressed after every wearing as that crease had to be sharp!

Later, when turtle necks came out in the ‘50s, a student came to class and saw

the instructor wearing a white turtle neck shirt, and thinking it was the ecclesiastic

collar, said, “Is that a priest - teaching skiing?”

Skis were made of whatever wood was available - pine, ash, hickory, you name it. Some

could be so heavy and stiff, they were like 2x4s. Skis came out differently and one had no

idea if they t you until you skied on them. The skier had to adapt to the skis - not the skis

adapting to the skier. The length was measured by having the skier hold his arm high and

having the skis reach the palm of the hand. Jumping skis ran about 9 ft., had 3 grooves, and

took about a half mile to make a turn. Skis were strapped together at night, placing a block of

cork between them to protect their camber and prevent the skis from warping. The wooden

edges of the skis would wear down and it was hard to hold an edge. By the mid ‘30s, the rst

metal edges were developed in Europe and were installed by Anderson and Thompson of

Seattle. They were screwed on to the edge of the skis with small screws. The rst ones were

always coming loose and could catch the skier or break off and need replacing, but later, the

ends had an overlap that helped keep the edges in place.

Otto Ross, of Orlando, remembers his ﬁrst skis came from Montgomery Ward and

were made of pine. Pieces of old inner tube were used for the band that went under

the toe and over the heel of a work boot–good safety binding. He learned to ski in

their orchard on a small hill in front of their home.

As skis became more sophisticated with metal and berglass, skis changed forever - not

only in weight, but length and shape as well. Still, women found few skis that t them. Then

came Jeannie Thoren from Sun Valley. She experimented with moving the bindings half

an inch forward of the normal mounting and found it made a dramatic difference in control.

She was ridiculed by all the ski shops in Sun Valley, but she kept up her crusade. Women

were built differently than men. Their muscle structure and body mass were different. She

tried to tell the ski manufacturers that they needed to make skis differently to t women but

no one heard her. She continued her crusade nationally. Then, an Austrian ski company

began making skis for women. They proved exceedingly popular in the Northeastern part

of Canada and worked their way over here. Soon after, K2 began making women’s skis

- and what a difference it made in women’s skiing - thanks to Jeannie Thoren.

SKI EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING

- 13 -

Bindings at rst had only a leather toe strap, but, later, cable bindings came in, anchoring

the boot to a metal toe plate on the ski - the “bear trap” binding - aided by an Arlberg strap

that wrapped around the ankle for more support as to well as keep the skis attached in

case of a fall. No wonder there were so many injuries. Each store had its own method of

mounting bindings. The mountings would vary half an inch forward of the balance point

or perhaps a half inch back - it was an experimental time. In the ‘50s came long thongs, 6

ft. leather straps that went through a hole through the ski and wrapped like a gure eight

around the boot to hold it solid. There was no release - the skier had to learn to quickly

free his feet so they wouldn’t get caught and cause injury. Then came the safety bindings

- rst by Hjalmar Hvam, then the Star, with others soon following suit.

Skis had to have a base paint to keep the wood from absorbing moisture, and they

were waxed each day to t the snow conditions. There was wax for climbing, wax for

speed, wax for powder, wax for hard-pack, Klister wax, too, for spring skiing which smelled

to high heaven and stuck to everything that touched it!

Early ski boots were merely hiking boots, and had Sno-Seal, a greasy, salve-like

substance developed by Ome Daiber, applied after each wearing to keep the boots

waterproofed. In the later ‘30s, boots had a metal shank in the sole to keep them from

bending, with double lacings and a squared off toe to better t the bindings and give more

control and support. They were put in heavy shoe trees each night to keep the soles from

curling as they dried. Later, came the plastic boots that were torture to wear. Thanks to

John Mulhollan, his memory foam linings for the stiff plastic boots brought changes in

one’s comfort as well as control.

Ski poles were made of bamboo with large rings attached by leather lacing. By the

‘50s, metal poles came into widespread use. The length of the poles went from ultra short

to extra long, depending on the ski technique being taught at the time.

Equipment for children was unheard of in the early years. In the late ‘50s, rubber ski

boots came out to give children more control and protection. Children’s clothing, too, was

handmade as there were no children’s ski clothes on the market.

Much of skiing was climbing and touring, since there were no lifts in the back-country.

For climbing, some skiers (if they could afford them) wore long strips of real seal skins

strapped to the bottom of the skis. Other climbers were made of canvas or fake fur but

either one made climbing easier. When you got to the top, you wrapped the skins around

your waist and skied down. Those were the days when the kick turn was in its glory, so

you made no false moves on a steep hill. Many were the kick turns some of us made on

really steep slopes.

Skiers envied the golden suntans of the Sun Valley instructors. In the spring, they

ocked to the mountains in bathing suits and shorts, hoping for that golden tan that said

they were skiers! There were no good sunscreen protections in those days and no one

understood the dangers of the spring snow and sunshine at high elevation. They covered

themselves with baby oil that fried their skin. Every week, skiers came back with owl eyes

from their sunglasses and sunburns. In 1939, the sunrays were exceptionally bad, and

along with skins that had never experienced such powerful rays, many skiers ended up in

the hospital to heal their horrible burns.

In 1939, stores advertised ski pants for $10.00, zipped-up poplin parkas for $7.95,

Bass leather ski boots for $7.95. Splitkein Flexible Flyer advertised their skis were 35%

lighter in weight and 70% stronger than single-piece hickory skis.

- 14 -

After the War, Surplus stores sold 10th Mountain Troop skis and equipment. A pair

of white-painted Gregg skis with Wilby bindings cost $10.00. The ski poles were split

bamboo and cost $5.00. The baskets were 6 inches in diameter. The skis and poles could

be hooked together to make a sled. To complete the outt, there were a pair of surplus ski

boots with 2-inch-high toes, a combo parka, olive drab on one side and white on the other,

and olive drab poplin pants with lots of pockets. The parka came with a fur-ringed hood.

The whole outt including gloves, goggles and wax came to less than $30.00 - and all of

it was brand new!

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, with the skiing explosion, new materials came in to being and

equipment as well as clothing made dramatic changes. Nylon parkas and the new

waterproofed materials kept the skier warm, waterproof and windproof, too. Then came

the stretch pants and skiing became a style show!

Ski equipment manufacturing began to develop in the Northwest. In Seattle, Gerber

Brothers and Anderson & Thompson made skis. Wally Burr made skis to order. Sam Roffe

made ski clothing. Don Shindler made down clothing and the rst warm-up pants. White

Stag of Portland was one of the largest makers of ski apparel in the country. Sportscaster

made parkas and ski pants. In Tacoma, Bob Mickelson developed Edelweiss Ski Wear.

Ski shops blossomed all over the region. Eddie Bauer, (the original) Warshal’s,

Ben Paris Sports Shop, and Windy Langlie, all were big ski shops before World War

II. Cunningham’s was a small home-style shop in the Montlake District that rented ski

equipment and clothing. Aaland’s had a ski shop in Georgetown. In Tacoma, Washington

Hardware on Pacic Avenue carried a big line of ski equipment.

Lou Whittaker, along with Bob Mickelson, opened the Whittaker Chalet in Tacoma.

And Jim Whittaker helped REI grow. Osborn and Ulland, opened in 1941 and Fiorini

Sports started in the early ‘60s. These stores were the mainstays along with ski shops in

department stores, the University Book Store and many others.

You Know You Are An Ancient Skier.. If...

. . You still enjoy the aroma of klister

. . Your ﬁrst pair of skis, poles and bindings cost less than ten bucks

. . Your ﬁrst pair of stretch pants were made personally by Sam Roffe

. . Chubby and Tubby is still your favorite ski apparel shop

. . You know the difference between AT & T and A & T

. . Dovre is a ski binding toe-plate, not a cliff in England

Master seamstresses and tailors, like Jean Lyons of Stevens Pass, bought

yardage imported from France and made ski clothing to order. I made our family

ski outﬁts. One year, I made 9 parkas for our ski school instructors - just before

Christmas – while trying to set up the ski school at the same time...Never again!

- 15 -

Fashions from years past.

Left, the Lucas family in 1947.

Joy made the family’s outﬁts.

Lower right, illustration from

Ski Illustrated, 1938.

Lower left, White Stag advertisement

from Ski Magazine, 1954

- 16 -

Ski styles of the ‘30s and ‘40s

Styles of the ‘30s and ‘40s

- 17 -

After the rst Silver Skis race in 1934 and the Olympic Trials in 1935 were held at

Paradise, more and more skiers went to Mt. Rainier. Newspapers had a love affair with the

sport as exciting tales were written of the activities and events held on the mountain. The

slopes on Mt. Rainier were second to none in the country and the new skiers were drawn

to the mountain that was in their own backyard.

The Paradise complex with the Inn, lodges and cabins brought skiers together to ski,

race and make life-long friends. Ski clubs, as well as individuals, could lease cabins and

rooms, making it the social as well as the skiing place to be. The following memories and

articles tell of the magic that was skiing during these golden years - the fun, the races, the

beginning of ski instruction, the ski areas, the ski clubs -the people and the organizations

who gave guidance and structure to the edgling sport.

Paradise

(Howard Clifford)

Because of “the denite demand of the public,” Mt. Rainier National Park was opened

for the rst winter season in December of 1923, with the road open from the Nisqually

entrance to Longmire. Within a dozen years, winter visitors grew to 98,000. In 1930 the

road was opened to Narada Falls, making Paradise one of the leading ski areas in the

nation. Development potential seemed endless.

In 1935, the National Ski Championships and the Olympic Tryouts were held at

Paradise. (The 1936 Olympics were the rst to include alpine skiing.) These events

attracted the largest throngs in the history of the park. The newspapers devoted pages

every day following the gala events as well as the colorful antics and spectacular yodeling

of Austrian member, Hannes Schroll, who won the Slalom.

The public ocked to the slopes. The Seattle Times wrote that more than 7,000

spectators made the ve-mile round trip from Narada Falls to Paradise, in snow 12 to

20 feet deep. More than half hiked an additional two miles to see the National Races at

Paradise over the weekend of April 13-14, 1935.

Ken Syverson became the rst ski school director at Paradise in 1936. Otto Lang

came in 1937. He directed schools at Paradise, Mt. Baker and Mt. Hood. Now, there was

a method to learn the snow-plow and stem turn - the open sesame of controlled skiing.

Skiers started demanding some sort of ski lift and the Park Department gave permission

to have one installed on Alta Vista. Jim Parker, who had installed a lift in the Northeast at

Wlliamstown, Mass., and Chauncey Griggs put in the rst rope tow at Paradise in 1937-38,

followed by tows at Mt. Baker and Snoqualmie Pass. Lifts were 10¢ a ride, or $1.00 all day.

Paradise became the best developed area in the Pacic Northwest. Night skiing was even

made available with Coleman lanterns hung on poles along the run.

A battle was developing between the Park Company and the Park Service. The Park

Company was the developer, but the Park Service was the controlling planner and refused

to approve permanent lift facilities in spite of the fact that 226,000 rides were sold on the

SKI AREAS PRIOR TO WORLD WAR II

Paradise on Mt. Rainier

- 18 -

portable tow in 1940-41. The National Park Service was far from pleased with the circus-

like staging of the Olympic tryouts. Winter use was being encouraged to the exclusion of

the rest of the year. The Park Service did not want Mount Rainier Park to be developed

for the exclusive use of the locals. It was a National Park and they were going to keep it

that way.

In 1940, skiers found slopes to their liking at the Cayuse Pass area on the 410 Highway,

skirting the Rainier National Park. It was a shorter drive from Seattle and Tacoma and the

Highway Department kept the road open. 34,000 skiers visited the area in spite of no

accommodations. A small Sweden Portable tow was taken up to Chinook Pass and

skiers skied the east side. After the War, lifts were installed at Cayuse Pass but were not

successful. Ski areas with lifts were being built on other mountains and the public moved

there.

When WW II broke out, the 15th Mountain Infantry was camped at Longmire and used

the Paradise facilities for training. In 1942, the 87”’ Mountain Infantry moved in to the

facilities. From this group, the well-known l0th Mountain Division was developed. The road

was nally closed and remained closed until 1946-47. Despite the skiing boom following

the War, the Park Service was no longer interested in winter operations, stating it “would

not spend another dollar in winter operations.” With other ski areas opening, Paradise

soon became a “second rate” ski area. Tows of one sort or another operated in the Park

until 1974-75 before being shut down for good.

It is hard to imagine the amount of publicity given to skiing in those days,

and below are some of the newspaper articles written at the time.

Ski Race Course Ready

Tacoma News Tribune, April 12,1935, on the 2nd running of the Silver Skis race:

“Paradise Valley is in readiness today for the greatest winter sports crowd in history,

and the holding of the greatest winter sports event in the annals of Northwest sports.

“The 70 entrants, here from all parts of the United States and several foreign countries,

have been practicing on the course all week and today are resting while the course itself

is being put in perfect shape for Saturday’s opening event. With the exception of three or

four injuries, all are in splendid condition and look forward to 60 mile per hour speed and

better, as they rush over the snow in the Saturday and Sunday races.

“Hannes Schroll, the Austrian wild man, who has little or no regard for the dangers

shunned religiously by the ordinary run of skiers, is a gambler at heart. He risks life and

limb with wild bursts of speed that threaten to burn up the course. He aunts the ability

to ‘run straight’ over difcult courses and wants the downhill event to be strictly a test for

speed, rather than a contest with control gates that demand high speed turns.”

Lift Installed to Aid Skiers

Winter is at Hand; Inn opening Dec. 15

Seattle Times, Nov. 17, 1937

“This year is slated to be a banner one for the realm of skidom. So many inquiries into

conditions, the number of reservations being made at popular centers and the general

THE NEWSPAPERS

- 19 -

spirit of both newcomers and veterans of the sport, that no one can account for possibilities

of the season. So the greatest winter sports season in the Pacic Northwest is about to

get under way.

“The Rainier National Park Company with the cooperation of the United States

Department of the Interior is prepared for the throngs which will be Paradise Valley guests

during the forthcoming season. New improvements and replacements, the innovation of

a ski lift, and the introduction of fresh ski trails will be noted with interest by those who will

be making their initial appearance on the mountain slopes.

“The new ski tow, 1,000 feet long, starting from the Guide House and terminating

on Alta Vista, is virtually completed and will be ready for usage when the ski season

opens ofcially. The outstanding features of lifts elsewhere were incorporated into the

construction of the Rainier funicular. The device is said to increase the amount of downhill

skiing by at least six times.

“The road from Narada Falls to the Inn will be open, although the only transportation to

Paradise will be through a shuttle bus service operated by the company.”

U.W. Carnival Plans Snow Queen Contest

The Seattle Times, November 17, 1937

“To rule over a glistening domain, a snow queen will be crowned at the second annual

University of Washington Ski Carnival. The tournament for students is scheduled for Mt.

Rainier as the climax of the University ski season, according to the preliminary plans for

the committee.

“A gala weekend is planned with a ski dance Friday evening in Seattle and ending with

the championship tournament on Sunday at Paradise.

“Each organized group on the campus will nominate its candidate for Snow Queen, who

will reign over the two-day carnival. The method of choosing her has not been determined,

according to Lon Robinson, Virginia Ann Bowden and Jean McLeod, heads of principal

committees.

“Downhill, slalom, obstacle and masquerade races will furnish competition for teams

from organized houses. 25 organizations were represented in last year’s successful rst

tournament. There were 76 entered in the races.’’

Lang to Coach Huskies

Seattle Star, Dec. 15, 1937

“Otto ‘Bend ze knees’ Lang, United States Minister of the famous Hannes Schneider

ski technique, arrives in Seattle tomorrow and probably the most enthusiastic part of his

welcoming committee will be the University of Washington ski team members.

“It is expected that Lang will go straight to Paradise Valley and his high, staccato

criticisms will be following the Husky skiers beginning next Saturday as they start their

nal drill for the Washington-Dartmouth meet Dec. 23 -Jan. 1 at Sun Valley, Idaho.

“It was decided following last week’s trials, to keep the Husky squad at 12 during the

week at Paradise. Those seeking a place on the team, accompanied by Paul Duncan,

team manager, are as follows: Lon Robinson, Otis Lamson, Capt. Bob Higman, Ragnar

Qvale, Walt Little, Tom Hill, Harold Stack, Dick Walter, Paul Shaffrath, Bud Brady, Paul

Sceva Jr., Walter Page and Harris Johnson.”

- 20 -

- 19 -

- 21 -

- 22 -

Portable Lifts May Plague U.S. Park Service

From the Seattle Times - Nov. 1938

“For years, skiers clambered for ski lifts...and nally got them. Now, they are constituting

a problem - at least for one institution - the National Park Service. Jim Parker and Chauncey

Griggs brought the rst lifts to Seattle area - installing pay lifts at Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker and

on the Seattle Park Board area at Snoqualmie Pass. Now, racers of the Washington Ski Club

were bringing their own lifts into the area and the Park Service didn’t want that to happen.

“‘The average racer,’ said Hans Grage, Washington Ski Club stalwart, ‘uses up a book of

tickets in about an hour on the pay hill, provided he can get back to the start without waiting

too long. That costs more than we can afford, and we’ll never develop racers of international

caliber unless we can get them 25,000 to 40,000 downhill feet a day. That’s why we built our

own lift, for our own use. We don’t intend to let other skiers use it. Just racers.’”

THE SILVER SKIS RACES

The races ran at Mt. Rainier from 1934 until 1942, when World War II began,

and again from 1946 to 1949. Later they were held at Crystal Mountain.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Washington Ski Club sponsored the rst Silver Skis

race in 1934. The climb from Paradise to Camp Muir took 3 hours. “It was a ski racing

spectacle never seen before or since. Sixty contestants starting together at the sound of

a shotgun, plunging, poling, falling, and ying from Camp Muir at Rainier’s 10,000-foot

level to Paradise Lodge, more than 4,500 feet and four miles below.” So wrote the late P-I

Sports Editor, Royal Brougham.

Origin of the Silver Skis Race

By Hans-Otto Giese of the Seattle Ski Council

In the early 1930s, the sport of skiing started to become popular. The Seattle

Mountaineers, the Seattle Ski Club and the Paradise Ski Club promoted it. The Seattle

Times founded a weekly program of ski instruction at Snoqualmie Pass, and the Seattle

Post-Intelligencer was anxious to do something spectacular on the order of the Race

Around Lake Washington, which had been an annual event prompted by the then-existing

Seattle Star.

Royal Brougham of the P-I called a meeting of prominent skiers at an upstairs room of

the Washington Athletic Club, where various suggestions were discussed. Having made

rst ski ascents to the top of Mt. Rainier in 1928 and of Mt. Baker, Mt Adams and Mt.

St, Helens by the Mountaineers, and having skied with Don Fraser and others, Giese

suggested a race from Camp Muir down to Paradise Valley as unequalled in the United

States, and the P-I agreed to promote it in grand style, for the rst time in 1934.

The existing ski clubs furnished the ofciating and scheduled a joint start for what

was estimated to be maybe 20 or 25 competitors. However, 55 entered and created a

memorable spectacle. He, who had the top of Mt. Rainier on his right, or starboard side,

had the right of way. Nobody did because they all had the top of the mountain straight astern

as they all went straight downhill. There were many collisions and the scene looked like a

battleeld. There were two schools of preparing skis for this downhill race, the shellackers

from Tacoma, and the cross-country ski waxers from Seattle. The Norwegians used long,

heavy jumping skis. The waxers shellacked the shellackers. Don Fraser won the race.

Don, Alf Moystad (3rd) and Hans-Otto Giese (5th), as the Seattle Ski Club cross-country

team, won the team race. Carleton Weigel (2nd) and Tom Heard (4th) used shellac for the

last time. All good, clean fun!

- 23 -

The Ski Race of All Time

By Don Fraser, winner of the ﬁrst Silver Skis

Race day arrived and it was absolutely beautiful. A perfectly clear day with no wind,

which is rare for 5,000 feet on Mt. Rainier. We left Paradise shortly before daylight for the 3

hour trek to Camp Muir. Some wore seal skins, some were in canvas socks, some of us on

wax (Klister). We went around Alta Vista, up Panorama, past McCIure Rock, Little Africa

and Anvil Rock, across the Muir Glacier to Camp Muir. Camp Muir was a small, one-room

rock hut at the base of Gibraltar Rock. One could see all of the Tatoosh Range, including

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.

We lined up, spread across the Muir Glacier, possibly ten to twenty feet apart, in all

different kinds of what we called “ski gear.” From riding breeches and corduroy pants

to gabardine knickers and jumping suits. Skis were a motley variety, too, both with and

without metal edges, but with lead slabs nailed on top for additional weight. Originally, I

had intended to use metal handles mounted on the front of the skis, but found that at high

speed, control was a real problem. I used Bildstein heel springs and Amstutz springs from

the ankle to the ski. Boots, also, were whatever. There were few ski boots, as such, on the

market. I used a Wisco hiking boot shaped somewhat like a squared-off ski boot. I think

they cost new about $8.00 or $9.00.

Hans-Otto Giese, Hans Grage, Alf Moystad and I climbed together. We had debated

about climbing up the day before and spending the night at Camp Muir, but that meant

taking food and sleeping bags and also carrying our dufe bag down the day of the race.

Otto Sanford red his starting pistol and approximately 54 of us started off simultaneously

down Muir Glacier. Some of us started straight down the fall line toward Paradise, four and

a half miles and ve thousand vertical feet below, others choosing to zig zag their way

down. The snow was hard and the surface mostly ice on the upper part of the course,

with large sun cups (dips from previous melting) most of the way down. About half the

time, one was air-borne due to the depressions and ridges and my heavy, stiff jumping

skis with the added lead weights were not the best choice. Fortunately, I was soon out in

front of the mob headed for Little Africa, so I didn’t witness the many terrible collisions that

took place just behind me. One, in particular, was between Ben Thompson, a Mt. Rainier

summit guide and partner in Anderson and Thompson skis, and Stan Borgersen, which

resulted in a badly broken jaw for Ben and dislocated shoulder for Stan. There were many

such collisions and some serious injuries. Hans-Otto Giese had a smashing collision with

another racer and each berated each other, claiming right-of-way, while precious seconds

went by. Near McCIure Rock and above Panorama, there were large mounds (like small

jumping hills) and one was airborne one hundred feet or more on each one. The speed at

this point was far more than any of us had ever gone before - even on a jumping hill. Tired

legs took their toll. Many skis and poles were broken and some God-awful falls took place.

I had my one and only fall at this point and minutes went by trying to unravel. It was then

that Carleton Wiegel caught up with me.

From there on down Panorama, across the left side of Alta Vista, through snow that

was by now mostly mush, we skied side by side and it was only when we approached the

nish line at Paradise that my cross-country training made the difference and I was able to

nish a few feet ahead of Carlton.

What a race! From ten thousand feet at Camp Muir to less than ve thousand feet at

Paradise with the winning time over nine minutes. Fifty-four competitors with a simultaneous

start. From ice to slush at the bottom.

- 24 -

The Junior Silver Skis

By Kjell Qvale, one of the Junior participants

The story of the rst Silver Skis has always been fascinating. It is probably the only

race ever run where everyone started at once. There were 52 runners in the Senior race

and 18 in the Junior race. I was one of the entrants. The Senior race started at Camp Muir,

at the 10,000-foot level.

The Junior race started below at McCIure Rock. So we had a perfect seat to watch the

start of the main race. 52 runners lined up and started at once. Only three let it go straight,

the rest of them were trying to cut back and forth, which of course is very difcult on a

wind-swept glacier.

I remember that Thompson, of Anderson and Thompson, ended up with a broken jaw

after a collision with a skier whizzing by him out of control. After a while, the contestants

started to “straggle” by, no one looking too ambitious! Some had lost their poles, a few

of them had tried to negotiate the glacier with jumping skis, which probably was nearly

impossible. It was practically a dead heat between Carleton Weigel and Don Fraser, with

Don getting the win that memorable day.

When the Junior race started. I made a couple of turns and then let go. I never saw

another racer the rest of the way. Paul Sceva won the race and I ended up second. It more

than upset me when I read in the paper the next morning that “little” Kjell Qvale nished

second. It really annoyed me. I was 15 years old and weighed at least 100 Ibs! Fortunately,

I grew pretty quickly after that!

All in all, it was an amazing event. I will never forget sitting on McClure Rock and seeing

52 runners lined up across the glacier at Camp Muir. Nothing like it will ever happen again.

That, I am sure.

Sig Hall & Others

Sig Hall came to the Northwest from Norway in 1929. He was the rst man to climb

Mt. Rainier the entire distance on skis. Sig was a 4-Way man, competing in cross-country,

slalom, downhill and jumping. He was consistently one of the top nishers in competitions

for all disciplines during those years. In 1940, he was 3rd in the Combined at the U.S.

National 4-Way event behind Alf and Sverre Engen.

Sadly, he is remembered as being the rst skier to lose his life in a major ski racing

competition in the U.S. He was racing in the 1940 Silver Skis on Mt. Rainier and crashed

into the rocks at Little Africa in a dense fog. His death rocked the skiing community. Sig

was a quiet, caring young athlete who became a hero to those who knew him.

Wendy Trosper: One of my memories that stands out over the years was the aftermath

of the rst Silver Skis race. As you may recall, it was a line start at Camp Muir. About 10

of us reached McClure Rock in a close pack and actually stopped to watch the mayhem

going on up towards Muir. There were explosions of bodies in every direction in the soft

snow. You may recall there were several collisions and injuries, with some contestants

walking down with broken equipment. We picked up things all summer on Muir Glacier:

knives, a few coins, bits of cloth, straps, parts of bindings and ski wood (in splinters), and

parts of metal edges. I imagine there is still a certain amount of debris that is still there.

- 25 -

Ome Daiber: I won’t forget the Silver Skis time when four of us were stationed at

different places to render rst-aid if necessary, I was helping Vince Broze with a sprained

ankle when Sig Hall ew by like a cannon ball. We learned later that he had died when he

crashed into Sugar Loaf. This was before the National Ski Patrol. We rendered rst aid to

many an injured skier.

Winners of the Silver Skis Men’s Races

Through the Years at Mt. Rainier

1947 Bill South

1948 Paul Gilbreath

Moved to Crystal Mountain

1964 Joe Jay Jalbert

1965 Leo Lacroix

1966 Joe Jay Jalbert

1967 Cancelled

1968 Scott Henderson

1934 Don Fraser

1935 Hannes Schroll

1936 Hjalmar Hvam

1937 Cancelled

1938 Don Fraser

1939 Peter Radacher

1940 Paul Gilbreath

1941 Bill Taylor

1942 Matt Broze

Left:

Hans-Otto Giese, Don Fraser and Alf Moystad

Right:

Silver Skis nish line at

Edith Creek Basin

- 26 -

Mt. Rainier Memories

In the mid ‘30s, Mt. Rainier skiers parked at Narada Falls, two miles below Paradise,

and hiked 2 miles up to ski on Alta Vista, which had the one and only rope tow. The trip back

down was considerably more exciting as they skied back to their cars by way of “Devil’s Dip”

- a mess of holes and bumps in the trail caused by skiers who did not know how to ski - and

fell - and fell - creating hundreds of “bathtubs.” No one knew to ll in the holes.

Several ski clubs leased rooms and cabins at Paradise Inn, Guidehouse and Tatoosh

Lodge. Lodging at the Inn ran 75¢ a night - bring your own sleeping bag. A room cost $16

a season and one came and went by way of the third oor windows, there was so much

snow. Occupants lled the rooms each weekend, having 4 or 5 people sleeping sideways

in the bed and others sleeping on the oor in their sleeping bags.

Cabins leased for $15 for the season. Each weekend they hiked in and tried to nd

their cabin - rst they located the bamboo pole left in the snow the previous week, then dug

down to the trap door and then climbed down into the cabin - sometimes as deep as 10 - 15

feet. Oh, the tales of living in the cabins! Canned food was brought up in the fall, when they

could drive up to the cabins, and stored for the winter. By the time winter came, 4-footed

marauders had torn the labels off the cans and it was anyone’s guess what you ate for

dinner! Not only mice but prowling bears were scary problems.

Tatoosh Lodge leased rooms but allowed no cooking - but one could have a coffee

pot. Ah, the many fragrances of coffee that came from those coffeepots! Sauerkraut and

weenies, stew, soup or other pungent odors - all cooked in the coffee pot! The understanding

Park Ranger, Bill Butler, turned his head.

“Papa John” Papajani was the Head Chef and Emperor of Paradise Inn for many years

- both summer and winter. Many young folks worked under his watchful eye and many the

tales of working under him. He was a character never to be forgotten.

Spring Carnivals sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Tacoma and ski

clubs were a way of life in the ‘30s and offered some of the most exciting and colorful

ski performances anywhere, with snow queens, costume parades, obstacle courses and

races. All these continued until World War II interrupted such festivities and they never

occurred again.

One year, the winner of the Paradise Costume Race was an outhouse, with the door

open, showing the skier sitting on “the pot” as he skied down the course. Each club held

its own fun races at the end of the ski season. Another time, Bob St. Louis, later Ancient

Skier president, won with a gorilla costume.

There is an old 8mm movie taken during this time, showing the skiers

making literally hundreds of falls, piling one on top of another, some even

hanging upside down from the tree branches. No, it was not staged.

It was just the way it was!

- 27 -

Bob and Bobby Coe: Bob Coe remembers parking the car at Narada; digging out the

cabin; the slide down to a door; a whole winter’s supply of wood on the porch; 15 cent

butterhorns for breakfast; living in the Annex with a trench full of canned goods; hot plates

and pennies to short out blown fuses; warming chili in the sink with hot water running

over it while you skied all morning. The ski down Devil’s Dip to the cars and nding Bill

Butler had put all the car chains in a pile. Bobby remembers skiing at Snoqualmie with

the Bulldog Ski Club, then at Baker with the Washington Ski Club and the Huntoon Cabin,

Shuksan Arm and all that beauty.

Bill and Honey Drake: In the spring of 1938, we had a cabin at Paradise. One weekend

at about 11 p.m., Friday night, we dug into the entrance. There had been a visitor. There

was our all over the oor, all the canned food was knocked down, the radio lay on the

oor. A black bear had broken in through the door that pushed in but did not push out.

Eventually, the bear escaped through the little window and climbed out through the open

area in the snow created by the heat from the cabin. What a mess.

Larry Linnane and Glen Jones: No one will forget watching Scott Osborn descend

down the stairway on skis from the 2

oor into the lobby of the old Paradise Lodge and

right into the glass showcase used for souvenirs. Luckily he was so loose, he was not hurt.

Kenny Burke was not amused but he forgot to charge him for the damages.

Grace Carter Lindley: Schussing down those long slopes on Mt. Rainier...sailing with

Bob Lamson...three weeks stay in the cold guide house one winter...long climbs up glaciers

to Camp Muir (in our bras)...Don Fraser, Darroch Crooks and others renting a cabin for

$30.00 for the season, but an even dozen used it as headquarters and tunneled to an

unoccupied one to nd a bunk to sleep in at night...bears busting into our cabin by sliding

down our chute to the front door and eating everything not in cans.

Jane Stoddard Mayer: The Saturday night treks up the trail following whoever wore

the headlight - If lucky, you could make the last dance in the lodge - The search for your

cabin when that eld was solid white, almost. And when found, the tunnel dug, you would

tap forever on the stovepipe while your pals pressed their ears to the snow some place

above you until the stovepipe was found, dug out, and you could build a re - The Sceva

traps that were built in tunnels to warn illegal overnighters should the Park Management

come to check you out. A spy wouldn’t be hurt, but be scared to death by the pots and

pans. The marvelous cooking arrangements possible with one old electric heater and the

horrible condition of the bathtub in the annex - after all the dishes and cooking utensils had

been cleaned there over the weekend. - Never knew anyone who bathed there. - The coils

of rope inside the windows to be used for re escapes - when there was only darkness

and an air space as the snow went all the way up to the roof. Back when black bears

were chased on skis - And those wonderful parties on cabin clearing day when there were

enough ice cream freezers at work to feed everybody.

You Are an Ancient Skier. .If. . .

. .You ever stole a pie from Poppa John while it was cooling

on the outdoor windowsill of the lodge.

. . You remember the smell of soup in Tatoosh Lodge at Paradise on a Saturday night.

. . You know how to cook a wiener with just an electrical cord.

.. You watched Bill Butler bring an injured skier down from Panorama or Edith Creek.

- 28 -

1937

Top: right: Narada Falls

Upper left: Skiing down Alta Vista

Middle: Devil’s Dip

Bottom: Digging out the 3rd oor

windows on Paradise Inn

- 29 -

1937

Upper right: Skiing off the roof at Paradise Inn

Upper left: Paradise Inn showing the 3rd oor

Middle: Tow line for Alta Vista rope tow

Bottom: Riding the Alta Vista rope

- 30 -

1939 Mt. Rainier

Ski School Director Otto Lang

from the Hannes Schneider Ski School,

St. Anton, Austria, and

instructors Ken Syverson and

Ariel Edmiston on Mt. Rainier

Skiing off the Paradise Inn

roof in 1936

Spring skiing

- 31 -

The early Ski Masters -

Top: Otto Lang and the stem turn - 1937.

Olav Ulland in 1932 - record jump

in Germany of 300 feet.

Bottom: Ken Syverson and Max Sarchett in 1940.

- 32 -

Sun Valley

In 1935, Averill Harriman, then Chairman of the Board for Union Pacic Railroad and

a long-time skier, dreamed of a way to attract passenger trafc to the West. He struck

upon the idea of developing a destination ski resort. To that end, he directed Count Felix

Schaffgotsch to seek out the ideal site for such a resort.

Schaffgotsch’s odyssey, much of it by sleigh, took him to Mt. Hood, the San Bernardino

Mountains, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and many other mountainous regions, which were all

rejected - too high, too windy, too near a city, too remote from the railroad - beautiful but

not perfect. About to return to the east with no skier’s Mecca, Schaffgotsch happened

upon Ketchum, a mining town founded by the Bannock Wars. Ketchum’s mainstay at the

time was sheep herding, perfected by the Basques.

Guided about the area by a local boy on barrel slat skis, Count Schaffgotsch was

enchanted with the Idaho Rockies. To Harriman, he wrote, “It contains more delightful

features for a winter sports center than any other place I have seen in the United States,

Switzerland or Austria. I have found the consummate ski destination where powder is dry,

the sun always shines and the harsh winter winds never penetrate.”

Within days, the exhilarated Harriman purchased the 4,300-acre Brass Ranch and

set the wheels of development in motion. Steve Hannagan, the genius who transformed

a sand dune into Miami Beach, was immediately enlisted to publicize the area. His initial

doubts about the “God-forsaken eld of snow” were instantly dispelled when the sun broke

through to dazzle the mountain peaks. The brilliant sunshine spawned the name for the

marvel that was to become the nation’s rst destination ski area - Sun Valley.

Union Pacic’s quest for excellence did not end with luxurious accommodations,

sumptuous dining and superb entertainment. The engineering genius of Union Pacic was

called upon to build the world’s rst chairlift. The nest architects were recruited to build

the lavish resort complex. And to crown it all, three-time Austrian champion, Hans Hauser,

headed Sun Valley’s rst ski school. The resort opened for the 1936-37 season.

In 1937, Sun Valley’s tryst with Hollywood began with the lming of Claudette Colbert’s /

Met Him in Paris, and continued with such productions as Sun Valley Serenade, Bus Stop,

Breakheart Pass and many other movie and television productions.

The rst Harriman Cup race was held in 1937. By 1940, the United States Olympic Ski

Team was making visits to Sun Valley. Races of all calibers and types have been hosted

by Sun Valley throughout the years.

Sun Valley Memories

The rst chairlifts were single chairs on Proctor and Dollar Mountains, followed by a J-bar

and then a chairlift on Ruud Mountain, and then three chairs to the top of Mt. Baldy on the

River Run side of the mountain. Riders were kept warm with heavy canvas and annel

robes to ward off the cold and wind. Ski lifts were $15.00 a week including free bus rides

back to the Valley complex. Ski lessons were $3.50 for half day and $5.00 all day.

In 1948-49, lodging at Challenger Inn cost $6.00 for a room without bath, to $8.00 with

bath. Chalet cabins were $2.50 per bed - per person - with running water. The Lodge ran

from $8.00 per day, single, and $12.00, double, to $32.00 for premier 2-room suites.

Ketchum was a small western town and the Alpine Cafe was the prime place to eat, with

T-bone steaks for $1.25 and breakfasts for 50¢ with ham and eggs, potatoes, pancakes,

coffee and toast.

- 33 -

Left: The Roundhouse

at Sun Valley - 1940s

Bottom: An early chairlift

at Sun Valley.

- 34 -

Sun Valley, 1940.

Courtesy Union Pacic

Railroad’s Snow Sports, 1940

Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Oregon.

Courtesy Union Pacic Railroad’s Snow Sports, 1940.

- 35 -

Mt. Baker

Mt. Baker Lodge opened in 1927 only as a summer resort, but a few hardy skiers did hike from

Glacier. In the winter of 1935 and 1936, the movie, The Barrier, was lmed in Heather Meadows

and the Highway Department kept the highway open through the winter. This attracted skiers from

Seattle to Vancouver, B.C.

The rst ski lift in the Northwest was built at Austin Pass in 1935. It was a sled type of lift

and only operated about a month when a man died in an avalanche there, ending the operation.

In 1937, Ski Lifts Inc., with Chauncey Griggs and Jim Parker, put in a rope tow. David Hellyer,

Tacoma physician and owner of Northwest Trek, helped work on the tow. He tells in his book, At

the Forests Edge, that putting in the tow at Baker was a challenging project. The most popular

slope accessible to the Lodge ran out into Heather Lake, making it necessary to place the engine

house at the top instead of at the bottom of the hill as other lifts were. They nally solved it by

mounting the end pole on a raft in the middle of the lake and waiting for it to freeze solidly before

installing the rope and pulleys, and it worked ne.

This same winter, in 1937, Otto Lang opened a ski school with Jim Parker, Millet O’ConneIl

and Gerry Perry. In 1940, Hank Reasoner managed the ski tows and Ken Syverson had the ski

school with Max Sarchett as manager. The Washington Ski Club and the Mountaineers each

leased cabins for their members to provide lodging for their members who would drive at least

four hours to the mountain each weekend. The Mountaineers later built their own large hut.

Probably the best known events to be held at Mt. Baker were the Annual 4

of July Heather

Cup GS and the Thundermug Jumping contest, along with the Slush Cup that ended with an

attempt to ski across the pond at the bottom of the Austin Pass rope tow hill without sinking. The

Forest Service nally stopped the Slush Cup because it was feared the frivolity would injure or

drown someone.

In later years, Franz GabI, former Olympic medal winner for Austria, became Ski School

Director and opened a summer race camp at Baker. He also started the Ski to Sea Program of

skiing, canoeing and bicycling from Mt. Baker to the Sound. It has grown to become a major event

with hundreds of participants.

Mt. Baker Memories

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Highway Department closed the road. Max Sarchett

and his wife, Eileen, lived in the Forest Service guard station at Austin Pass during the War

as airplane spotters. They skied down to the little town of Glacier for their provisions and then

climbed back up the 9 miles to get home.

Peter Birkeland: There were a fair number of Catholics in the ski crowd. Father Sneeringer

was a Jesuit priest and coach of the Seattle Prep Ski Team. He loved to ski and would put on an

outdoor mass at a convenient time for everyone, He would also go to Sun Valley to say mass as

a substitute for the priest there. And he could ski.

Hugh Bauer, Manager of Mt. Baker - winter of 1944-45, snow depth & drifts up to 350 inches.

One of the permanent renters wanted Paul Gilbreath and me to help dig a tunnel to his front door

(about 20 feet long and 3 feet wide). As we got closer and closer to the door we kept hearing

more and more strange clattering noises, like someone throwing dishes and chairs around. We

nally got to the door, unlatched it and turned on our ashlight. At that moment, the door opened

outward with a bang, and a bear pressed me into the snow drift as it charged to get out of there.

The inside of the cabin, was a mess, but nothing major was broken - it looked more like a picture

show robbery where everything was on the oor.

- 36 -

John Hansen: In the spring of 1945 I was involved in a most embarrassing situation

caused by rope twist. On this warm day, shorts, light shirts or halter-tops were the dress.

The Austin Pass rope tow was difcult to ride - fast, steep at the top, - and crossed that

snow-covered road to Table Mt. where the rope cut into the snow. A good grip was needed

to ride it. A girl my age was ahead of me gripping the rope with her hands and squeezing

the rope between her arm and her body. Unbeknownst to her, the rope was twisting into

her halter, so when she reached the top and let go, the halter stripped from her, traveled

up the rope, through the top sheave and headed back down to the bottom of the hill. This

was very embarrassing to both of us so I gave her my shirt. Forty plus years later, I was

telling the story to Jannette Burr and she exclaimed it was her! We had skied together in

‘46 and ‘47 at the Mountaineers Meany Lodge but I didn’t recognize her. I don’t understand

it, but during that episode, I guess I wasn’t concentrating on her face!

Slush Cup memories by John Hansen: My wife, Helen, and I were camping by the lake

between Heather Inn and Mt. Baker Lodge with Bob and Martha Cram and Bill and Mary

Jane Brockman. In the middle of the night, a big explosion occurred. When we got out of

our tents in the morning, we found mud splattered all over the cars parked around the little

lake. Apparently, a logger had come up from the valley with a stick of stumping powder and

tossed it into the lake, which blew the lake bottom mud onto the cars. This was probably

one of the reasons the 4th of July Celebration became history.

As the Slush Cup progressed, the weather was usually very warm so skiers were

lightly dressed. It was a tempting challenge to pick up speed skiing down the Austin Pass

slope trying to ski across the pond at the bottom. When skiers started skiing across without

spilling in the middle of the water, a jump was shoveled at the entry shore, which usually

resulted in spectacular spills and soaking. Once a shapely miss wearing a white broadcloth

shirt fell, soaking the shirt which she initially didn’t realize, but with the admiration of the

audience, that the shirt had become transparent. She may have started the wet T-shirt

contests of following years.

The jumpers in those days were a ribald bunch. After the Thundermug jumping contest,

they would gather in the Heather Inn and pass around a red, old-fashioned thunder mug

lled with beer, with cake doughnuts broken in half, oating on top. One could drink as

much as one could stomach the sight.

Stan and Shirley Young: Started skiing in 1937-38, but my ski trips were limited to

whenever I could nd a ride or get my folks to spring for the train fare up to Hyak. During

winter of 1941-42, shared a cabin at Mt. Baker with friends. Went to Sun Valley that year

and had my rst introduction to the wild and wooly Penguins. Got rides up to Stevens

Pass in Bud Magee’s van during the War. Picked up a fellow at the Top of the Mark in San

Francisco in the fall of 1945 and, when he stopped in Seattle a few months later, we got

married. During the 1949-50 period, we owned a portion of the Mt. Baker Lodge with Don

Adams and Sig McGuire and lived up there that season.

Timberline

(Richard Kohnstamm)

Timberline was an artisan’s museum. It was built during the Great Depression in 1936

by the Federal Work Progress Administration (WPA) to provide work for the artisans of

the Northwest. Stonemasons did the stonework and built the massive six-sided replace.

Metal workers designed and forged all the iron ttings that hold many of the beams in place

and the hardware for the furniture as well as the decorative door latches, hinges, etc.

- 37 -

Woodworkers carved the interesting newel posts topped with animals, all of which were

native to the State of Oregon. They also adzed the gigantic timbers that form the support for the

head house in the center of the Lodge. The trees used for this purpose are six feet in diameter

and stand in the lobby extending three stories upward. All the tables and chairs at the Lodge,

and all the guest room furniture, were likewise made by hand by the woodworkers.

Female artisans in the work force made all of the textile furnishings, including appliqued

drapes and bedspreads, hand-woven woolen drapes and hand-hooked rugs. At the same

time, in the Roosevelt years, there was a Federal Art Project, (FAP) which resulted in over 150

watercolor and oil paintings being given to the Lodge for wall decoration. President Roosevelt,

himself, came to the dedication in 1937. His room is still called the “Roosevelt Room” and is the

premier suite.

The rst metal-towered chairlift was built at Timberline at this time. As quoted in the Union

Pacic booklet, “The automatic ski lift with suspended chairs begins about 600 feet from the

Lodge and runs to a point a mile higher on the mountain. The cable has a speed of 450 feet a

minute and a carrying capacity of 255 persons per hour.”

Otto Lang was the head of the rst ski school there, in addition to heading the ski school at

Mt. Rainier. He was followed by Swiss instructor Hans Sarbach. Willy Helming, Olaf Rodegard,

Pepi Gabl and Eric Sailer were a few of the early directors at the famous resort.

As the years passed, the beautiful Lodge became horribly run-down and was nally closed. It

was taken over by Richard Kohnstamm and revitalized with the help of the Friends of Timberline,

who meticulously restored the furniture, drapes, bedspreads, etc. to their initial specications,

returning things to their original grandeur. When it was rst completed, Timberline was a museum,

and now, thanks to Friends of Timberline, it is a museum once again.

One of the tales Dick Kohnstamm liked to tell was of the days when they struggled to rebuild

the Lodge and had so many problems. One year, precisely on Christmas Eve, the water from

the upper reaches of the mountain froze and water pumped from two miles below the Lodge

had to be relied upon. A neighboring ski lodge situated below Timberline had tapped in to the

emergency pumping system and did so improperly. The tap broke under many feet of snow, and

all the water for the Lodge drained from its reservoir and ran down the hill under the snow.

Each guest was given one glass of water a day, and Lodge management saw to it that the

toilets were ushed. Needless to say, most guests checked out, but since it was Christmas, new

guests checked back in, not realizing how severe the plumbing problems were. With the help of

the Water Department of the City of Portland, Timberline’s water system was restored by about

January 3rd. Eventually, a whole new water system was installed, and Dick was glad to report

that this kind of problem never happened again.

Milwaukee Ski Bowl

The Northeast had ski trains to carry skiers to the mountains, so why couldn’t the West have

the same comfort and freedom from winter driving? There was suitable terrain at the east portal

of the Milwaukee Railroad tunnel on Snoqualmie Pass, so, the Seattle PTA, business college

operator Sam Racine, and sports writer Ken Binns, proposed to the railroad ofcials that they

open a ski area which would be accessible only by train. Executives of Milwaukee Railroad were

convinced of the idea and in 1937 built the Ski Bowl at Hyak.

By 1938, the lodge was doubled in size, able to handle hundreds of skiers. It was a big “V”,

with a balcony and windows all across the front, facing the largest ski jump in North America.

One end of the top oor had a big cafeteria, run by the Ben Paris Restaurant in Seattle, with

- 38 -

Opening Day of the rst Seattle Times Free Ski School at Milwaukee Ski Bowl

Courtesy, Seattle Times

- 39 -

tables alongside the windows to view the skiers. The other end was a large lobby with a

jukebox for dancing. Music constantly blared out over the speaker system to the skiers.

The only entry to the Bowl was by train, so when the train came in, mobs rushed to rent

their equipment and try out the new sport - then returned all the equipment at the same time

before loading the train. What pandemonium!

Ski trains ran on the weekends from Seattle and Tacoma. Thousands of skiers rode the

train for day and night skiing. Skiers loaded the train at 8:30 A.M., arriving at 10:30 A.M. and

returned at 6 p.m. The train had a baggage car with a food bar for hot dogs and pop as well

as a jukebox where skiers danced the ride away. Private groups could also charter the train

for night parties.

The Ski Bowl had two electric lifts, one, a platter pull, was 1,400 feet long with a 400-foot

rise. Round wooden “platters” were fastened to ropes and pulled the skiers up the hill like a

Poma lift. The other lift was 700 feet long with a 300-foot rise for experts. The cost was 50¢

for the day. After the War, a Skiboggan was installed that carried 32 riders up 1,800 feet for

a 725-foot rise for more expert terrain. There were two Skiboggan sleds and they worked as

a counter-balance to each other.

In 1938-39, the PTA and Seattle Times newspaper sponsored the rst Free Ski School

for high school students in America. The ski school was under the direction of Ken Syverson

and his American Ski School instructors. Seattle and Tacoma high school students had only

to sign up at school for free classes and buy a round-trip train ticket - cost - $1.00 in 1940.

Three, one-hour classes a day were held for 10 weeks. At rst, the instructors were lined

up and the students chose their instructor, but, later, the paper published the class lists and

their teachers in each Friday’s paper to better balance the class sizes. Hundreds of students

rode the train each Saturday to learn the snow-plow and stem turn. Each weekend, one of

the high schools would be keynoted with crowning of a King and Queen. It was a big deal.

Ski instructors were given free transportation, meals and lodging as well as a wage for

teaching the classes. Saturday nights found them dancing to the jukebox and learning how

to yodel under Ralph Bromaghin’s able tutelage.

Ken Binns of the Seattle Times and Chuck Garrett of the Star and Post-Intelligencer were

always on hand with a clever article on skiing. Sports pages were lled with the comings

and goings of well-known skiers, along with pictures of instructors and their classes. It is

hard now to imagine the amount of publicity given to skiing by the papers at that time.

The sport was new and captured the fancy of everyone, even in the society pages and

rotogravure sections. The free ski school brought skiing to the multitudes, with each new

class of students joining the skiing throngs.

Here is what Ken Binns, sports writer for the Seattle Times, wrote in 1940:

‘CONTROL’ IS SKI SCHOOL IDEA

Instructors Frown on High Speed Dodos

“Control - To exercise a directing, restraining, or governing inuence over - New Standard

Dictionary.

“With which preface we seek to explain the purpose of the Seattle Times Ski School...

which emphasizes control.

“A controlled skier has a reasonable certainty of getting through his skiing without a

broken leg. It’s when they click skis together, point straight downhill and start a-booming,

that they get into trouble. That sort of skiing will be sharply discouraged in the Times School,

- 40 -

which starts at the Snoqualmie Ski Bowl. Ken Syverson doesn’t care to teach it and the

Times cannot encourage it.

“Here’s what arriving high school students will be told when they get on their skis and

go for their rst class.

“‘That any fool can schuss - for a moment. Schuss means roaring downhill, at cut-‘er-loose

speed. Only a skier who has mastery of his skis can make a turn. Only a skier who has learned

the fundamentals correctly will, later, be able to make a correct, high-speed turn.’”

In 1949, the Ski Bowl burned down and never was rebuilt. The railroad felt their business

was not in skiing, but in transportation. The ski schools operated out of old railroad cars

until 1951 when The Times Ski School moved to Ski Acres. The Post-Intelligencer Ski

School moved to Snoqualmie Pass and transportation changed to busses.

Ski Bowl Memories

One Saturday after the train had departed, a teenager struggled back to the lodge. He was

black from cinders and badly shaken and scratched. When he was asked what happened, he

said he had fallen off the train in the tunnel! “You fell off the train? How come you are even

alive?” It seemed that he and some friends had raised the trap door closing the stairs in the

vestibule between the cars, and were playing around when he slipped out. Luckily, he fell

parallel to the train, so was not run over. His parents tried to sue to the Milwaukee Railroad

but it was found the kids had raised the door and it was their own fault.

Some of the instructors decided to turn on the lights one night and ski on the big jumping

hill. Suddenly, someone turned out the lights - right when they were on the steepest part

of the hill - total darkness - in the middle of a turn! Then - the lights were turned on again.

No one knew who did it but the shock was something they never forgot.

The rst year after the War, the Ski Bowl opened with 3,000 skiers. It closed the

season with 8,000 people who came to watch the Olympic Jumping Tryouts on the largest

jump in North America. At the same time, the Norwegian Jumping Team demonstrated as

part of the show and Torger Tokle made his record jump of 302 feet that day.

Bob St. Louis: Olav Ulland, our venerable Northwest ski jumper, coach and advisor,

asked if I would like to open the A hill for the 1947 Olympic Tryouts. Having just survived a

college competition on the B hill, I was eager to accept the challenge and honor. A few words

about the jump at the Snoqualmie Ski Bowl is essential to understanding what follows.

Unlike most other jumping hills, the Bowl was very different. The in-run was not a high

scaffold to provide a short high speed run but ran up the mountainside, providing a long

undulating run to gain the necessary speed (maybe 60 mph). The hill itself was a large

scaffold affair built out from the hill to provide the necessary contour. The out-run, instead

of being a dished-out affair with an up-slope, continued on a gradual down-slope to the

lodge by the railroad tracks.

Northwest Ski Hall of Famer, Gus Raaum, was one of those Norwegian jumpers.

He stayed in America and attended the University of Washington where he became

a member of the UW Ski Team. He met his future wife, Claire, at a Seattle Ski Club

dance honoring the Norwegian Team. He later called her to make a date.

They have now been married more than 50 years.

- 41 -

Left, the largest ski jump in North America,

where the Olympic trials were held in 1947

at the Milwaukee Ski Bowl.

Right, the Milwaukee Ski Bowl

The Skiboggan

The Milwaukee Ski Bowl, 1947, at the

Olympic Jumping Tryouts with Torger Tokle on left,

after setting record of 302 feet

- 42 -

Filled with enthusiasm, I trudged to the top of the in-run and took my place in line for a practice

jump. Very quickly, I noticed that as the jumpers sped down the in-run, it took a long time to reach

the takeoff. Then they just seemed to disappear. It was a real long time before they again appeared

at the end of the outrun. It took a while for me to realize that they had not taken a horrendous fall

or been taken to another planet but were just completing a successful jump.

Finally came my turn at the top of the in-run. Just then they (the high commissioners of ski

jumping) decided to close the hill to get the competition started. No consideration at all was given

my situation and nobody seemed to care but me. Being fresh out of the Army I was (and continue

to be) most patriotic, so as they started to play the national anthem, I removed my gloves, hat and

goggles. As the band nished, the loud speaker announced that Bob St. Louis of the University of

Washington Ski Team would open the hill. Now I had to put on my hat, goggles and gloves. While

going through this exercise, the announcer assured the crowd that I would soon get enough nerve

to start down the hill. I was just busy, the fright didn’t start until a few moments later.

As I started down the inrun, gaining speed with the drop in altitude, I began to have some

second thoughts. Fact is, that as I proceeded down the roller coaster inrun, I thought about where

I might turn off and abandon this foolish adventure. But I was going too damned fast. Eventually,

the takeoff appeared and I was committed. I sailed over the hill and although I could not hear the

cheers of the crowd because of my fantastic speed, I did stand up and didn’t even run into the

Milwaukee Ski Train standing at the station.

Snoqualmie Pass

In the 1920s and ‘30s, most skiing was done on Mt. Rainier. Snoqualmie Pass was not kept

open until 1930-31. In 1933, the Park Department of the City of Seattle had a small patch of trees

cleared at Snoqualmie Pass. Known as Municipal Hill, this was the birthplace of what was to

become Snoqualmie Summit in 1937.

At this point of time, skiing was more of a spectator sport than a participant activity. Literally

thousands of spectators used to hike up from the highway to Beaver Lake to watch the great

Norwegians y through the air at world class competitions put on by the Seattle Ski Club.

Webb Moffett was a young civil engineer from the East. He had heard of the rst rope tow

installed at Woodstock, Vermont, and was interested in how it operated. When he moved out here,

it was during the Depression. He was out of a job and looked around to see if he could nd a ski

area where he could try out his dream. Every place he went he found that a couple of Tacoma

fellows, Jim Parker and Chauncey Griggs, were there rst. So he decided if he couldn’t beat

‘em, he’d join ‘em. He talked himself into a job with Ski Lifts Inc. and set out to install single rope

tows at Rainier, Mt. Baker, and Snoqualmie. When the ropes were installed, he ran the rope tow

at Snoqualmie Pass. He was paid $10 a weekend, plus 10% of the gross. His rst month’s check

was $74.75.

When the War began, Parker and Griggs thought gas rationing would put an end to skiing and

decided to sell out. Webb scraped together and borrowed $3,500 to buy the Ski Lifts Inc. operations

at Rainier, Baker and Snoqualmie and settled his operations at the Summit.

Curiously, gas rationing saved Snoqualmie. People still wanted to ski and pooled their gas

coupons and lled their cars to make the shorter drive to the Summit. Business quadrupled the

rst year. More tows were installed, and more trees were cleared. The Forest Service got him

some war surplus barracks sections and they were installed for a Day Lodge. The “Quonset

Hut,” as it was called, was used until the Day Lodge was built in the 1950s.

- 43 -

Above:

The Traveler’s Rest at Snoqualmie Pass - 1942

Looking down Municipal Hill

Lower:

The old Municipal Hill at

Snoqualmie Pass in the ‘30s.

(Taken by John Hansen’s father)

- 44 -

It was Webb, who was the father of the mass ski school in the ‘60s and ‘70s. After

the newspapers stopped their free ski schools, other schools took their place and grew

and grew and grew. So many schools operated there, that Webb hired Stan DeBruler to

coordinate the schools so they each had their own space and did not over-crowd the hills

by having too many on the same slope. On a Saturday, one could count 100 buses parked

at the Summit at the peak of the skiing boom of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Keeping the company in the family, Webb Moffett’s son, David, took over the operations

in later years. They purchased Alpental and Ski Acres in the ‘80s and in the early ‘90s

bought Hyak, forming the present ski complex of The Pass, which was to be sold again.

Snoqualmie Pass Memories:

Tom Hill: About 1934. Scott Osborn, Johnny Woodward and I were skiing in the woods

above Snoqualmie Pass. In those days we usually used a telemark or stem turn to go to

the left, and an open christie to go to the right. Thus favoring our right or stronger leg for

either turn. If we were unable to perform both maneuvers, a skid stop and kick turn would

have to be employed. At one point, resting to catch our breath, Johnny exclaimed, “Gee,

that’s wonderful, you guys can turn both ways.” About two years later, he was representing

the United States in the slalom and downhill at the Olympics in Europe. Catches on fast,

doesn’t he?

There were line gougers in the fties, too. This tale has been told many times, but it

really did happen at Snoqualmie. A couple of lift operators decided to teach the skiers a

lesson. They found an old pair of skis. One of the operators put them on, skied down and

pushed ahead of the lift line. The other operator came storming out to him, yelling at the

top of his voice, “I told you not to cut in on the line again! Take that” - and chopped the

tips and tails off at the bindings with his ax! You could hear a pin drop - WOW! The boys

had no more trouble the rest of the year with line gougers. Those of us who were in on

the prank, stood there covering our mouths to keep from laughing. The story was told and

re-told every year.

Both Ski Acres and Snoqualmie had World War II barracks or Quonset huts for lodges

right after the War, and all the ski schools congregated there. Ski instructors in each area

became one big family, forming the nucleus of the PNSIA that was to come. Later, the area

gave the schools small buildings for their ski school ofces and no more did they need to

carry everything in their parka pockets. It was remarkable how well they all got along and

how they supported the edgling PNSIA - no doubt because of the friendships developed

when they all skied and taught together in earlier years.

In 1954, the rst season of the Thunderbird chair at Snoqualmie, Washington’s

Birthday brought a record crowd. To ride the chair, one had to take the rope up to its top

and climb up to the end of the chair line! People were buying private lessons just so they

didn’t have to wait in line.

One Sunday, after a big 2-foot snowfall in the early ‘50s, some skiers decided to climb

up to Beaver Lake on Snoqualmie Pass to ski the steeps, as they all wanted to ski that new

“powder” snow that was almost waist deep. Breaking through the deep snow seemed to

take forever. When they got to the top, they couldn’t move! They got in line and the leader

skied straight down - about 10 feet - before he stopped - snow piled up to his arm pits.

Everyone took turns leading the group down, each going no more than a few feet each

time. It took two and a half hours to get down to the bottom of the hill. What powder?

- 45 -

The Snoqualmie Pass Ski School, under Hal Kihlman in the early ‘50s, had 5 instructors:

Hal, Vern Blom, Jack Metcalf, and Jim and Joy Lucas. Lessons were hawked from the loud

speaker at $1.00 for a one-hour lesson. On a good Sunday, there would be 100 students, each

with his $1.00 bill. There was no cash register, so at the beginning of each lesson the money

was collected and stuffed into Joy’s parka belly pocket. At the end of the day, they all met in

the Quonset Hut and Hal would pass out the day’s take, “One for you, one for you, one for me,

etc.,” until it was all evenly distributed. Any leftover money went for coffee. We averaged about

$20.00 a day, a good sum in those days.

1956 was The Year of the Big Snow. Snoqualmie Summit had 20 feet by February. The

snow almost came up to the 220-power lines and everyone had to watch so as not to hit the

lines. The Thunderbird chair had to be constantly dug out so the chairs could get through,

forming a snow canyon you couldn’t see out of. Your skis rode on the snow all the way to the

top. Rope tows got so buried, they couldn’t run.

Joy Lucas: That winter, our 12-year-old son, Mike, had won a ski race at Ski Acres and the

prize was a chairlift ticket. It was a beautiful, clear day and he knew the way. He was always

good about being back on time but when he didn’t arrive back by 4 p.m. we got worried. By

then, heavy fog had come in. I alerted the Ski Patrol and other instructors so they could get

going before it got dark. Everyone stayed to help if needed. We called the State Patrol and

they joined in.

Finally about 7:30 that night, we were on the phone with a State Patrolman, when he said,

“Wait a minute. I see a boy in a blue sweater walking up the highway from the west side. I’ll

talk to him.” The ofcer approached him and asked his name. It was Mike. He had worked his

way down to the highway by the falls that drained out of Lodge Lake and was hiking back to

the Pass when the police found him about 200 yards from the Summit.

I couldn’t understand how he could be coming from the west side, when he had been at

Ski Acres on the east side. It seemed the highway made almost a complete circle and when

the fog came in, he was too high and had gone through the two humps to the lake. By the time

he realized he had gone too far, there were so many tracks that he knew he would get lost if

he tried to go back, so he kept going downhill. He wasn’t worried because he could hear the

trucks and knew the highway was below him. What a relief! We were so grateful to everyone. It

seemed everyone on the Pass was there that day to help. What a wonderful feeling of family.

Stevens Pass

Bruce Kehr and Wilfred Woods of the Wenatchee World summarize

In 1936, public-spirited citizens from Everett, Leavenworth and Wenatchee purchased

land from the Great Northern Railway at Stevens Pass and donated it to the government to

build a hut for ski enthusiasts. The hut was dedicated on December 4, 1938. Two years later,

on January 15, 1940, the $20,000, two-story ski hut was destroyed by re. Thanks to volunteer

fund-raising by the Everett Ski Club and Forest Service donation of CCC labor, a new lodge

was ready for use by the fall of 1940.

Don Adams started Stevens Pass Ski Area with a single rope tow in 1937, with the help

of a loan from his friend, Bruce Kehr. Some trees were chopped down, a Ford V-8 engine, an

assortment of wheels, shafts, etc., and a hunk of rope were purchased - all for less than $600.

The rst rope tow on Stevens Pass was built on Big Chief. Kehr said there wasn’t enough

business to repay the loan that year, so he joined Adams in the operation. Bruce and Don

formed a sort of “loose” partnership and went into the business on a pass that wasn’t even

open on the west side during the winter. The rst season’s gross sales amounted to $88. The

- 46 -

Forest Service Ranger ran the lodge. It served as a refuge for food and warmth. Bruce and

Don ran the tows and Bruce’s wife, Virginia, sold the lift tickets. Together, they operated

Stevens Pass until 1960 when Bruce and Virginia bought out Adams.

The Pass at that time was populated primarily with the eastside skiers because the

highway from the pass west to Scenic wound down into the Tye Valley past the old railroad

tunnel. It often didn’t get plowed out. When the road was nished in 1938, the folks from

the west side could get there, and skiing was dominated by members of the Wenatchee

and Everett Ski Clubs. They put on ski meets and ski events at Stevens Pass regularly up

to World War II.

At rst, the few skiers on the west side who skied Stevens, either hiked up the six

miles from Scenic (west portal of the Cascade tunnel) or bought one-way tickets through

the tunnel for 16¢ and were hauled back up from the east portal by a small second-hand

school bus - then skied back down to Scenic to go home. Before World War II, kids from

the Wenatchee Valley took the 60-mile trip to Stevens Pass in stride with ice and snow

conditions that would daunt drivers now.

During the War, Don and Bruce left for the service and a friend, Bud McGee, with a

4F draft status, operated the rope tows until Bruce and Don came back. The road was

kept open and skiers pooled their gas coupons to ski at Stevens all during the War. Skiers

would bring their sleeping bags and stay at the Forest Service Day Lodge and dance the

night away to tunes from the jukebox.

The Kehrs traded ski area land they had bought from the Great Northern Railway to

the Forest Service in exchange for the Government Lodge, which cost $10,000. Later,

they sorely regretted that action, as they would have had private land to build on in later

years. But who had $10,000 in those days?

In 1947, they took a big step to build a mile-long T-Bar on Barrier Mountain. This

$100,000 project was far beyond Kehr’s and Adam’s nancial ability. At this time, John

Caley, a Seattle attorney and personal friend of Adams, who had the know-how to raise

the money, was brought into the picture. He brought the “loose” partnership to an end,

and Stevens Pass, Inc., was born, with Adams as President, Kehr as Vice-President, and

Caley as the Secretary-Treasurer.

The T-Bar turned out to be very difcult to ride, for it was on a side hill part way to the

top, making staying on the lift pretty strenuous. One heavy snow season buried the lift and

“snow creep” broke off some of the poles that carried the lift.

In 1953, that T-Bar was replaced by the rst Riblet chairlift at a cost of $90,000. This

was the rst modern double chairlift, running on rubber-tired sheaves, to be operating

in the Northwest. Also about this time, Stevens Pass reached the peak of its rope tow

heyday with something like 22 rope tows operating. In 1956, the Intermediate Chairlift was

built and the decline of the rope tows began.

During the years of 1966-67 and ‘68, Stevens Pass made every effort to win Forest

Service approval to build a desperately needed new Day Lodge, but to no avail. They were

under a “no construction” moratorium until a new sewer system was built. This dilemma

resolved in 1972 with formation of a two-county Sewer District, which was eligible to obtain

Federal grants, and a three-million-dollar sewer plant went on line by late 1976, opening the

way for new construction. By 1977, when they sold the area to Stim Bullitt’s Harbor Properties,

they were grossing one million a year and, in recent years, the area was sold again.

- 47 -

Wilfred Woods of the Wenatchee World writes:

The Northwest Ski Hall of Fame honored Bruce Kehr for his racing on Mt, Rainier in 1936,

the same year he was selected as an alternate to the Olympic ski team, as well as for his

activities at Stevens Pass. They should have added his wife, Virginia. For she was a partner

in the operation of Stevens Pass for 35 years, looking after the books in the early years.

Bruce and Virginia married in 1942 and came back to the pass after the war. Virginia

became the business head of the ski area, managing the books and making sure nobody got

on a lift with out a pass. They moved into a tow shack for their rst home, which had electricity,

but no water. Virginia commented that she was a “city girl” and that looking back on those

early days made her wonder how she coped with it. Bruce taught her to ski and she became

a ne deep powder snow skier in the abundant deep powder of the pass.

Stevens Pass Memories:

How many high school kids got their rst taste of skiing through Ernie Garman, Vivian

Audett’s father? Every weekend, he lled the back end of his panel truck with kids and drove

them up to Stevens. Everyone remembers the wild rides with happy, screaming kids - but

never an accident!

Steve Madison, “the Mayor,” a parking lot attendant at Stevens, made a piggy bank out of a

big 5-gallon bucket and begged donations from the skiers all winter to put on a Small Fry Race

each spring. The Kehrs, as well as Ski Club members, helped put on the race so it was a family

event for the whole area every year. It was for the little kids who had not yet learned bigtime

racing such as Mighty Mites. There would be a coin toss in hay for the little ones, a kid’s race,

games galore and everything with some sort of prize. Every child got something. It grew to be

the big event of the spring and continued long after Steve was gone.

John Hansen remembers running the # 4 tow at Stevens with Bob Kruse and Jim Grifth.

We worked two hours, and one off. In turn, we would check tickets for an hour at the

bottom of the tow, punching 8-ride tickets (cost - 25¢). If our boss, Bruce Kehr, found someone

on the hill with an 8-ride ticket that didn’t have a #4 tow ticket punch shape (every tow had

a unique punch shape) we would be in big trouble. During the 2nd hour, we would shovel

snow in the dips in the track and stem the track to keep it smooth. While we were free skiing

in the 3rd hour, twice during the day, we would have to bring a 5-gallon jeep can of gas from

the bottom of the #1 tow to the Bowl to keep the Ford engine running. The #3 tow was pretty

fast and steep, so grabbing the rope with a 45 lb. pack on your back was a glove-burning

challenge. The Bowl rope hung about 15 feet above the snow at the top and would lift a light-

weight skier into the air, but a man’s weight would hold it down - so we always had gals riding

behind us. All this for $1.00 an hour - $4.00 for the day - when we could have bought a ticket

for all day for $1.25!

Margaret Eilertsen: My husband, Johnny, had arranged with Mr. Johnson, Traveling Agent

for the Great Northern Railroad, to run a train from Everett to Stevens Pass. Buses from

Wenatchee met the skiers at the other side of the Cascade Tunnel, as there was no road on

the west end. After skiing, they skied down the mountain to meet the train on the west side of

the Cascade Tunnel.

I was tagging along, managing the cross-country trail, when the gang all poled off and

disappeared in a cloud of snow. I fell - and fell - picked myself up and fell again. I did more skiing

on my rear end than on the skis. Johnny was very patient and encouraging through it all.

Breathless and wet, we nally made it to the train and joined our friends. For two hours,

the train had waited for us, and with a blast of their whistle, the train was off. I have often

thought of that time, when I’ve rushed to catch a bus, airplane and yes, a train. Never again

have I been able to delay their departure!

- 48 -

Left, Big Chief at Stevens Pass,

1954. The Kehrs lived in the little

lift house on the left by the lift.

Photo, courtesy Joseph Scaylea.

Below, Old Forest Service Lodge

and adjacent ski shop at Stevens

Pass, 1954.

Photo, courtesy Bruce Kehr.

- 49 -

Left, Big Chief at Stevens Pass,

1954. The Kehrs lived in the little

lift house on the left by the lift.

Photo, courtesy Joseph Scaylea.

Below, Old Forest Service Lodge

and adjacent ski shop at Stevens

Pass, 1954.

Photo, courtesy Bruce Kehr.

Joy Lucas: During the War, I worked as a food checker at the Town and Country Club, a

nightclub in Seattle. Every Saturday, all through the War, I lled the car with fellow skiers who

contributed a gas coupon and $1.00 to help pay for the gas. When the War was over, Bruce and

Virginia Kehr asked Jim and me if we would consider running the Day Lodge. The only thing,

we needed to put in new linoleum, stove, do major improvements - and who had $5,000 those

days? Especially when at that time the road wasn’t open during the week. Jim went to Ben Paris,

where he worked in the Sports Shop, and asked him what to do. Ben said we could manage the

Ski Bowl for them and we wouldn’t have to go in debt - He’d pay us a salary! Decisions we make

when we are young.

Mt. Spokane

The rst ski area on Mt. Spokane was at the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) barracks.

In 1945-46, the rst double chairlift in the West was installed. It was a makeshift lift, constructed

with wood towers and machinery salvaged from a mining ore tramway located at Coeur d’Alene,

Idaho. The chair only ran for 3 years because they found it was on the wrong side of the mountain.

Skiing then moved to the south side to the State Park Lodge, using rope lifts. A huge addition

was built to the State Park’s Lodge in 1951, making it the grandest mountain palace next to

Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. As they were getting ready for the opening in January of 1952, it

burned to the ground. The re and bad weather caused skiing operations to shift to the east side

of the mountain. A new lodge was built in 1955 and the next year a $200,000 double chair was

installed by AI Mettler.

Bachelor Butte

Bachelor Butte, 20 miles from Bend, Oregon, replaced the old Skyliner Playground in the

late ‘40s. In the late ‘70s, the name was changed to Mt. Bachelor and they began a big building

program, ultimately developing into a top resort. While it does not have on-mountain lodging, it

is closely afliated with the Inn of the Seventh Mountain and Sun River, two premier resorts, as

well as the city of Bend.

Central Washington

Wenatchee skiers in the early 1930s began using Stevens Pass, which had a small guard

station at the summit. The Wenatchee Ski Club was organized and set up a number of rope tows in

the 1930s at Wenatchee Heights, Dryden, Blewett Pass Summit, and Badger Mt. After World War

II, the Wenatchee Ski Club persuaded the State Parks to purchase the Weeks Ranch in Squilchuck

for a ski area, which operated for a number of years with rope tows and nally a Poma lift. Other

tows were set up, including Echo Valley, near Manson, in the Entiat Valley and at the Loup Loup

summit in Okanogan County. Early ski teachers in the valley were Bob Church, Frank Cumbo, Otto

Ross and Dave Whitmore, all of whom participated in the development of PNSIA.

Central Memories:

Kay Haley: The rst shipment of Norwegian hickory skis (with no metal edges) came to the

Wenatchee Valley in the ‘30s, ordered by some fellows who worked for my Dad at the Wenatchee

Globe newspaper. They kindly ordered a pair for me.

My rst clothes were fuzzy, wooly pants, jacket, mittens and cap. We oundered in deep

snow on the steep hills at the old Blewett Pass summit, on wheat elds high above town, and on

the Hampton ranch up the Squilchuck, near Mission Ridge.

- 50 -

The next year, we had metal edges, baggy, smooth gabardine pants - and climbers. So, with

my brother, Wilf Woods, we hiked all over Stevens Pass, and Paradise Valley on Mt.Rainier,

even one trip down the glacier and another time to Camp Muir, half way to the top!

Sometime after World War II, my husband, Dick, and I started our daughters on their

“mountain training.” Meanwhile, I was asked to teach.

When our family went off to college, I cleared my time to ski and ended up teaching for

thirty years. The last six years were serving on the PSIA-NW board with the “greats” from

three states.

Eventually, we explored the Alps, in Austria, Switzerland, France, the Italian Dolomites and

decided we lived in a great place! Or - we like being Northwesterners.

Deer Park

Deer Park was the only ski area for the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula before

World War II. It was situated in the Olympic National Park between Sequim and Pt. Angeles,

in alpine meadow country that looked over the breathtaking Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget

Sound, Sequim and Mt. Olympus. It was reached by an 18-mile road up to Deer Park, with a

grade of 18% near the top! It was a narrow, one-way road with trafc going up in the morning

and out in the afternoon.

Jim and I (Joy Lucas) ran the Deer Park lodge and the ski school during the winter of 1940-

41. The PNSA Championship races had to be cancelled that year due to no snow. Even after

two weeks without snow, you could blow in it and the snow blew away like Ivory Soap akes

- to the other side of the hill where there was no lift. Grass showed all winter on the lift hill.

When it did snow, we would awake in the morning to piles of snow in the cabin that had drifted

down through the shakes - Yes, it was primitive - even for those days!

The lodge was built during the ‘30s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.), a

government work project that built roads, lodges, trails, etc. to provide work during the Great

Depression. It seemed the crew built the res in the stove using Mazola oil. The whole inside

was crusted with carbon, the lids would not sit down on the top and nothing would cook. The

tables were thick with grease. What a dirty, mess! After a couple of week’s hard work, the

lodge was ready to open - the prices were right. Lunches were 25¢, dinners, 50¢. Lodging was

in bunk rooms at 50¢ a night, bring your own sleeping bag. We had a wonderful old trail cook

who took us two dumb kids and taught us what to do. We never would have made it without

him. But the skiers were something else. Every single one of them bought their lunches instead

of bringing their own - to make sure we made it through the winter. At the end of the year, we

made $90 for 3 months work - but beauty and friendships surrounded us.

Deer Park Memories:

In late April, 1941, we joined a party from the Port Angeles Ski Club to explore various

areas in the Olympic Mountains to nd a new ski area on the Olympic Peninsula with more

snow and better terrain. We hiked in from Sol Duc Hot Springs until we hit the snow, stashed

our hiking boots, and put on ski boots and skis to climb the ridge up to Bogachiel Peak to stay

overnight in the lookout. What a sight to behold - the possibilities were beyond our fondest

dreams. A lodge at Sol Duc Hot Springs could be envisioned with lifts going up the ridge to

provide varied terrain in both basins - and lots of snow!

The views were spectacular - with Mt. Olympus towering over both the Low and High Divide

ridges of the Olympic Mountains. That night, the sun set over the ocean with 14 lighthouses

visible from the ocean, the Strait and into Puget Sound, plus the lights of Victoria and Seattle

My, Oh, My - what a sight!

- 51 -

The next morning, half the party skied back down Sol Duc Park to pick up the hiking

boots. The rest skied down Seven Lakes Basin. Beautiful terrain - we were excited. We were

surprised to nd a lot of ski tracks - later we found they were from the 10th Mountain Division

who had skied there the week before. As we got down to the end of the run, we started looking

for the trail out. We systematically searched for 4 hours, trying to nd the trail - there were no

blazes to guide us. Finally, at 6 p.m., snow fell away from our feet and we could see the trail.

We had 7-1/2 miles to hike out, wearing our ski boots and carrying our skis! Were we glad to

see the rest of our party coming up the trail with ashlights! Came the War, and the end of the

dream. The National Park didn’t want any big ski area in their Olympic Park any more than at

Mt. Rainier.

The Lost Ski Areas of Washington

With thanks to the Hyak Ski and Snow board people who researched

the following information and put it online.

Many other ski areas operated through the years in Washington. Some were well known,

others just small huts for ski touring, and, when the larger areas developed, they died out. Of

the forty-seven listed, here are some of the most well-known and what happened to them.

American River:

With closure of Paradise Valley as a resort, the Park Service permitted development of

the Cayuse Pass - Tipsoo Lake area. It only ran in the early fall and in the spring, as the

road was closed during the winter months. Located on the eastern side of Chinook Pass. It

served the skiers of Yakima. The clubhouse housed 20 people with their own sleeping bags.

The rope cost $1.00 per day or twenty-ve cents for four trips. The quarter-mile slope had 4

rope tows in a series, giving a 3,000-foot-long run and 1,000-foot rise. It was installed by the

Naches Company, headed by Don Adams and Webb Moffett. The area no longer operated

after Crystal Mountain opened. (See Cayuse Pass/Tipsoo)

Cayuse Pass/Tipsoo: (1948 - 1960): (by Chuck Howe)

During the fall of 1948, Chuck Howe, Clint Gossard and Dr. Robert Sprenger from the

College of Puget Sound, were looking for a cabin to house the college ski team. Through Bill

Gossard, Weyerhaeuser White River Sales Manager, and Neven Mc Cullough, White River

District Ranger, they were able to nd a 12-acre organizational site at Deep Creek, consisting

of 2 lodges and 6 cabins. The asking price was $6,500. It was felt it was an ideal situation even

though the cost was a bit more than they had in mind. During the spring, summer and fall, they

installed a new water system and plumbing and renovated the cabins.

One of the biggest impacts of the year was the hiring of Martin and Shirley Fopp to start a

ski school for all comers. After 10 years with the College of Puget Sound, Martin and Shirley

bought the Cascade Ski School from Joe LaPorte, former director of the Tacoma News-

Tribune Ski School in the ‘60s and opened schools at Snoqualmie Pass and Crystal Mt.

With early enrollment in ski classes, it was evident a ski tow was needed. Cayuse Pass

was selected because the D.O.T. road crew kept the road plowed. A group of C.P.S. skiers

went to the Rainier National Park for permission to build a rope at Cayuse Pass. Pat Patterson,

Park Ranger, assigned the CayuselTipsoo area to his recently hired aide, Bob Johnson, a

10th Mountain Division man and cross-country competitor at the 1950 USA-FIS meet at Lake

Placid. Johnson gave his verbal permission immediately with no paperwork or long wait for a

request to go through government channels.

With the aid of a C.P.S. truck and access to war surplus materials, a ski lift was built at

Cayuse Pass for C.P.S. use. The only proviso was that no trees could be cut down and all the

- 52 -

materials used to build the lift had to be removed at season’s end. The lift tower was built,

engine winched in from the road and installed in the tower house by Thanksgiving.

Nature dumped a record snowfall that year - 24 feet - at Cayuse before the lift was nished

- so much snow they couldn’t nd the tower. With extensive probing, the tower was located. A

tunnel was dug down to the motor, rope strung, wheels greased, engine red-up and ready for

customers at 35¢ for a day ticket. C.P.S. built their lift for one season. This was followed by a

four-stage rope tow from the parking lot just over the Ohanapecosh side of Cayuse Pass

to Tipsoo Lake. It was built by Don Adams and Webb Moffett of the Naches Company. This

facility was in existence from 1951 to 1956 shortly before Crystal Mt. was developed.

Chewelah:

Near 49º North and Spokane: The area ran from 1936 to 1968. When it burned down in

1949, it was re-built and ran until 1968 until 49º North was opened.

Cle Elum Ski Hill:

(1921-1934) Coal cars took skiers uphill, sometimes tractors pulled the toboggans. It had

3 ski jumps. Note: 1931 saw the largest crowd - estimated 8,000 spectators. The Depression

brought an end to the events in 1934.

Pilchuck:

Opened in 1956 and ran until 1969, Franz Gabl directed the ski school at the area. They

had a lodge, 2 Riblet chairs and 4 rope tows. It closed down due to shortage of snow.

Stampede Pass:

The area, known as the Ski Dome, was built in 1939 by the Northern Pacic Railroad at

Martin and ran until 1942. The Husky Winter Sports Club of the University of Washington

bought the property in 1945 and operated the ski area under the supervision of U. W. P.E.

instructor Gus Erickson. A single rope tow was powered by a surplus barrage balloon winch

which served the hill from below the lodge to an equal distance above the lodge. Heavy snows

crushed the lodge in 1956 and it never operated again.

Squilchuck Ski Bowl:

Near Wenatchee and Mission Ridge. It had 1 Poma lift and 5 ropes. When Mission Ridge

opened, the area closed as the public moved to the new area.

Yakima River:

The ski lodge, built in 1935, was one of the oldest in the United States. It also held the

honor of having the largest outhouse in the world - a 20 holer! It closed down in 1950.

Yodelin:

Yodelin was situated just east of Stevens Pass. University of Washington engineers warned

the company about heavy avalanche danger, but they ignored the warning and built the ski

area anyway and sold cabin sites on the north side of the highway. It ran from 1961 until 1974

when a massive avalanche destroyed the cabin area, which lead to the area’s demise. In

1976, Stevens Pass bought one of its chairs and helicoptered it to the Pass to become the

Tye Mill chair. Crystal Mt. bought the other chair and installed it as Chair 6.

Here is a list of some of the other areas that no longer exist. Perhaps one of them might be

in your past. More information may be found online under Lost Ski Areas of Washington.

Big 4, Blewett Pass, Chinook Pass, Corral Pass, Darrington, Eastern Slopes, Easton,

Entiat, lone Ski Area, Keechelus Inn, Kiwanis Ski Hill, Lake 22, Lake Wenatchee, Maloney

Mt., Mt. Joy, Mt. St. Helens, Okanogan Ski Area, Salmon La Sac, Satus Pass, Scenic Ski

Area, Selah Gap, Silver Springs, Sunset Lodge, and Swauk.

- 53 -

THE SKI CLUBS

Most of the ski clubs were formed in the 1920s or early ‘30s when the highways began

to open the region to outdoor groups. Their lodges were built by the members and they took

special pride in their facilities. They were planned with families in mind. There was a community

room for dancing, kitchen and dining room, with dormitories for sleeping. Members shared the

work of maintaining the lodge. One of the biggest chores every week was digging out the door

to the building after a big week of snow. After skiing and the evening meal, there were always

sing-alongs, yodeling and accordion playing. Everyone joined in the singing and dancing -

schottisches, polkas, hambo, square dancing - you name it. It was the ideal place to bring the

family as there were always plenty of children of the same age to ski with and baby-sitters to

over-see the children.

Washington Ski Club

The Paradise Ski Club and Washington Commonwealth Ski Club combined to become

the Washington Ski Club in 1933 and drew most of its members from Seattle and Tacoma.

It was one of the largest on the American continent, with more than 600 members by 1940.

They leased the Guide House at Paradise on Mt. Rainier and Gates Cabin at Mt. Baker for

their members.

Every fall, the Ski Club put on a big dance to kick off the ski season at the Spanish

Castle, a huge dance hall midway between Seattle and Tacoma. Every skier around attended.

Newspapers touted the coming of winter.

The Washington Ski Club helped The

Seattle P-I organize the rst Silver Skis race

at Paradise in 1934. Many well-known racers

skied for the Club, such as Olympians Don

and Gretchen Fraser, Shirley McDonald

Fopp and Grace Carter Lindley. Other well-

known members come to mind: Orville, Stan,

Mel and Evelyn Borgersen, Otto Strizek,

Bob Hayes, Harry Pruzan, Max and Eileen

Sarchett, Washington Ski Club President

Frank (Trader) Horne, Otto Sanford, Don and

Betty Amick, Paul Sceva, Paul Gilbreath, Joy

and Jim Lucas, Peter Hostmark, Hans-Otto

Giese, Allan Granstrom, and many others.

While there were no lodge facilities at

Chinook and Cayuse Passes, many skiers

hiked from the road up to the passes for early

season and spring skiing on the east slope

of Chinook Pass. There were numerous

large cabins at Silver Springs, just outside

Rainier Park, and the Washington Ski Club

considered buying one for the grand amount

of $6,500. But when the War began, they

decided to close the club and donated their

money to the Ski Patrol.

Evelyn Borgersen, John English

and Joy Lucas prepare for the Fall

Ski Dance at the Spanish Castle

in 1942. (Seattle Star)

- 54 -

Seattle Ski Club

Most of its early members were Norwegian jumpers and cross-country skiers. The Lodge

was built at Snoqualmie Pass in the late twenties. The clubhouse was large, with a kitchen,

dining room and a big lobby for dancing on the rst oor and sleeping quarters on the upper oor.

Every weekend found the members on their world-class Beaver Lake jumping hill during the

day and playing the accordion with singing and dancing at night. They, along with the Cascade

Ski Club on Mt. Hood, and Leavenworth attracted many international jumping champions like

Olav Ulland, Birger and Sigmund Ruud to their hills. The public donned hiking boots and hiked

a mile and a half to the big hills to watch their awesome exhibitions, doing tandem jumps as

well as classic distance jumping.

Later, when jumping declined and the mass ski schools came, the membership changed

to be mostly ski instructors and their families. Caretakers were hired and the wife became the

cook. Sing-a-Iongs and dancing continued. Instructors’ children would be tucked into fellow

instructors’ classes and later they joined in the Mighty Mite races. They were to become the

next generation of racers, instructors and skiers. Tom Allen, Hal Kihlman, Stan DeBruler and

Jim and Joy Lucas were all life members of the Club. The Lodge burned down in 1991 - end

of an era.

Seattle Ski Club Memories:

The year of the big snow, Seattle Ski Club was hard hit and the call went out to all members.

Every member possible was to come up that weekend with shovels to help dig the snow off the

roof - or the building would collapse! The whole building was at an angle. The doors wouldn’t

open or close. Everyone came to the rescue. The roof was cleared and the area around the

building was eased. Suddenly with many groans and creaks, the old building sprang back to

shape amid cheers of relief.

One spring, some kids from the Ski Club were playing around trying to break sticks with

Karate chops and one of the boys bruised his arm. He entered the Thunderbird race the

following weekend, and when he pushed off at the start, broke the bone he had injured - but

continued the race, winning rst place. His mother waited several hours for him to come down

off the mountain. When she asked him what took so long to get down, he answered, “Well, I

won the race - I had to stay and get my trophy!”

Leavenworth Winter Sports Club

Ski jumping was the Norwegian sport and Leavenworth was populated with Norwegians.

Thanks to Norwegian-born residents such as the Bakke brothers, Hermod and Magnus, the

Leavenworth Winter Sports Club was formed and organized ski jumping became a major sport

in the 1920s, with special trains from Seattle bringing thousands for the thrilling tournaments.

Walt Hampton, Class A jumper, was from the Leavenworth Ski Club. The Depression-born

Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) built a ski lodge and a large 90-meter jumping hill that

attracted some of the best jumpers in the world. Norwegian Torger Tokle set a National record

on the hill in 1940. The Leavenworth Club continued to hold jumping tournaments until the late

‘60s and early ‘70s. Currently, school children in Leavenworth can take classes in jumping.

Leavenworth Memories:

Magnus Bakke rst skied in Norway in 1903. The harnesses for the skis were made of

birch boughs put in water, scraped of bark, and, when they became soft and supple, bent to t

around the foot. Clamps over the toes held them on. Everyone wore wooden sole boots and

- 55 -

rag socks of goat hair. Any carpenter could make a pair of skis. Magnus helped design the

ski hill at Leavenworth, coached ski jumping and cross-country teams for 39 years, served as

judge at 1960 and 1980 Olympics, and was slope engineer for Mission Ridge from 1962-82.

He was nominated for the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1971.

Bremerton Ski Cruisers

The club was incorporated in 1936 and they built their rst cabin that year at Flapjacks Lake

in the Olympic Mountains. Paul Kruse and Bob (Pete) Pederson, later to become members

of the Ancient Skiers Association, were instrumental in nding the location for the cabin and

its construction. The proposed Mt. Lincoln ski area, however, proved less than ideal due to its

southerly exposure. What’s more, it was a 4-mile uphill hike from the Hamma Hamma road

- the 2½-story shelter was strictly for the hardy.

They then rented four cabins at Paradise. The cabins, by any standards, were unsafe

retraps with wood stoves, no water, no “facilities,” etc. - but the price was right - $15 for each

cabin per season.

After the War, in the summer of 1947, the Cruisers started their present lodge at Stevens

Pass. 134 people made the 180-mile roundtrip to put in a total of 600 man-hours at the site

and many other hours splitting shakes before the building was opened in November of 1947.

The members purchased a generator from war surplus and hitched it to a ski tow motor for

their lights. Water was a problem. In conjunction with the Mountaineers, a dam was built

across a stream, and a two-inch pipeline was brought through the woods to the cabin so the

club could enjoy cold, sparkling, pure water from melted snows.

Ginnie Thorpe, with Ken and Kathy Hand, directed the Chief Kitsap Ski Cruisers Ski

School, which brought skiers from Kitsap County to Stevens for many years. The club and the

ski school have celebrated 50 years at Stevens Pass.

The Mountaineers

The Mountaineers, mainly a climbing and outdoor club, had several ski lodges - the Meany

Hut at Stampede Pass, Snoqualmie Pass, Lodge Lake, south of Snoqualmie Pass, Stevens

Pass and Mt. Baker. John Hansen ran their ski school at Stevens and Jim Lucas ran the

Snoqualmie branch.

From the Seattle Times -1937

“The Mountaineers, by dint of painstaking labor, widened the lane at Meany Ski Hut at

Martin and installed a rope tow with 900 feet of pull and 330 feet of lift up the big ski hill. So

now the club is cheering Harry Cameron, Fred Gibbons, Jack Hossack, Calvin Jones, and

Walter Little, who did most of the work....for free.”

In the early years, the Mountaineers sponsored Cross-Country Patrol races from Beaver

Lake at Snoqualmie to Meany Hut. The races ran from 1930 through 1941. Wolf Bauer and

his team set the record for the race in 1936. The race was re-enacted in the winter of 2006

with a group organized by Lowell Skoog. Wolf (aged 94 in 2006) spoke at the re-enactment

but did not ski the course.

Other prominent Mountaineers were the Whittaker twins, Lou and Jim. Both men were

mountain guides at Mt. Rainier, as well as being Certied ski instructors. Jim was the rst

American to climb Mt. Everest in 1963 and Lou was expedition leader for a successful 1984

climb.

Late note: Sadly, the Snoqualmie Pass Mountaineers lodge burned to the ground in early

May of 2006. The Lodge Lake cabin burned in 1944.

- 56 -

Penguin Ski Club

The Penguin Ski Club started building their lodge at Stevens in 1939 and continued working

on it until the War began. After the War, the members nished the building, and it has been

going strong ever since. Members say the reason for its success was the mix of people who

belonged - racers, ofcials, instructors, recreational skiers and families - all active in skiing in

some way. Irv Pratt says the reason he joined the club in the late ‘30s was because it had so

many beautiful girls!

The year of the big snow was a sad one for Stevens Pass. Hans Grage, a racer from the

Penguin Ski Club, went outside to check the snow on the roof, when the snow slid - burying

him under many feet of heavy snow. Other members, hearing the sound, came rushing out

and started digging, hoping to save him, but when they did nd him, he was dead. Hans was

beloved by all who knew him. The annual Stevens Pass race was named after him.

Other Ski Clubs

Snoqualmie Pass had several ski clubs – Sahalie (With many PNSA race ofcials like Ken

Comfort as members. Originally named the Commonwealth Ski Club, Sahalie lost its original

lodge to re in 1943, and a new one was built.), Washington Alpine, and the Sno-Owls

(mainly ski Patrolmen). Skier’s Inc. had a lodge at Ski Acres. When Crystal Mountain opened,

a group from Skiers Inc. formed the Crystal Mt. Skiers Club, at Crystal Mountain. Stevens

Pass also had the Swiss Ski Club and Everett Ski Club. The Forelaufers Ski Club had a

site at Stevens Pass, but never had the manpower to build.

Irv Pratt, jumping in the Penguin Spring Carnival.

- 57 -

THE WAR YEARS

The 10

Mountain Division

Many Pacic Northwest skiers answered the call to join the newly formed Mountain Troops

during the rst months of World War II. The 15th Infantry Regiment was camped at Longmire

and used the Paradise facilities for training. In 1942, the 87th Mountain Infantry moved in to

the facilities. From this group, the well-known 10th Mountain Division was developed. From

there, they were sent to Camp Hale, Colorado, to complete their training before being sent to

Italy to some of the roughest ghting during the War.

Ahead Of Their Time

The U. S. Army created the largest ski school ever

Kicking in time: 10

Mountain Division recruits learned to ski while carrying 70lb. packs and riﬂes.

The following story was printed in Snow Country, 1992.

“Shortly after WW II broke out, the biggest ski school in the United States was held along

the eastern slopes of Tennessee Pass in Colorado. It was organized by the U.S. Army’s

rst mountain-infantry division, the 10th Mountain Division, which trained for World War II at

Camp Hale, Colorado. Its 12,000 men included ski teachers, Russo-Finnish war veterans,

fur trappers, rock climbers and Jewish refugees. Thousands had never seen snow. Few had

skied with pack and rie.

“After two winters, 600 instructors had been trained, more than existed in the entire United

States in 1940. Recruits learned to ski with packs and ries, walking up every run, then skiing

down. Sometimes an entire regiment of 4,000 men took lessons together. The amazing feat

remains unduplicated. Today, there is still no resort teaching 4,000 skiers at a time on the

same mountain.

“The soldiers learned the “Military Arlberg” ski technique, originally fashioned by Hannes

Schneider, to train Austrian Troops. ( Note: The book, Basics of Skiing, was translated and

written by Otto Lang and used extensively for the training.) The G.l.s spent the rst eight hours

of lessons walking in their skis on at snow. After 18 hours, they could make wide snowplow

- 58 -

turns. After 100 hours, they nally arrived at the sliding stem-christie turn. By the time they left

Camp Hale, they could ski across mountains all day and bivouac in the snow at night.

“The 10

landed in Naples, Italy, at the end of 1944, and headed for the Apennine

Mountains. Patrols on skis led the 10

Division’s breakthrough of the German Army’s Gothic

Line. But then there was a thaw, and skis were never used again. When the 10

reached the

Brenner Pass in May, it had chased the Germans faster and farther than any division in World

War II. The price: 30% casualties, the war’s highest for a military division. The men of the 10

earned more medals than any U.S. division.

“The 10

became the backbone of the postwar American ski boom. To name a few: Monty

Atwater went to Alta to establish the rst avalanche control with explosives. Friedl Pfeifer

designed Aspen Mountain, started Aspen’s ski school and ran the racing circuit. Pete Seibert

was a member of the 1948 Olympic Team and founded Vail.”

Camp Hale was closed down after World War II was over, but reopened with the Korean

conict as the Mountain and Cold Weather Training Command. Its mission was to teach army

troops mountain and cold weather survival. Jim and Lou Whittaker were there in the early

‘50s. Pete Birkeland was stationed there in the mid ‘50s when the colonel announced the

formation of a ski team and their job was to win races for the army.

From the Seattle Times, Mar. 28, 1998

“In the 1980s, Webb Moffett granted the Seattle-area 10th Mountain Division veterans free

skiing and invited them to hold their annual Ski In at Snoqualmie Pass. They arrived in white

coveralls that suggested the camouage they wore in the mountains of Northern Italy and

skied down the slope in formation. These old Mountain Troopers return year after year to talk

about old times and take that effervescent run down the slopes together - for one more time.

In 1998, 11 of the troop attended, down from 30, a decade before. Tom Bacher, Vic Edlund, Ed

Kennedy and Bill “Beany” Morse recalled singing a favorite song - ‘Ninety pounds of rucksack,

a pound of grub or two. We’ll schuss the mountains like our daddies used to do.’”

Some well-known Ancient Skiers were members of that illustrious unit: Nelson Bennett,

Buster Campbell, Ed Link, Bill Morse, Karl Stingl, Jim and Lou Whittaker and John Woodward.

Here’s what Chick Garret, sports writer for the Seattle Star wrote during the War:

Pain In The Neck Department

“Sixteen inches of fresh, powdered snow are reported on the valley oor at Sun Valley.

Ain’t that something to dream about?

“It is quite evident Snoqualmie Pass Summit will become Seattle’s ‘Sun Valley’ for the

duration ... and why not? Wot da heck!

“Sahalie Ski Club hasn’t a Duchin Room, but it’s got a Rumpus room. President, Herb

Lonseth, told us so. They may not walk out one end of Sahalie Lodge and plunge into a

crystal-clear swimming pool to enjoy the sight of steam rising toward a cold blue sky. They

can however, slip into Commonwealth Creek without half trying. Some of our best citizens

have come up out of Commonwealth Creek a-blubbering and a-sputtering. Their unanimous

expression is: ‘Phooey to Sun Valley’s swimmin’ pool!’ ... Sahalie’s lift doesn’t have seats or

covers and it doesn’t get you up in the air like Baldy, the Eagle, but it will teach you how to ski.

There’s no riding down.

“Besides you can go to Snoqualmie on half a tank of hoarded gas, and return home with

enough money to buy War Bonds.”

- 59 -

POST-WAR SKIING

Curiously, gas rationing saved Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass. People still wanted to

ski and pooled their gas coupons and lled their cars to make the shorter drive to Snoqualmie

and Stevens. When the War was over and gas rationing was a thing of the past, skiing

exploded. It became a sport equally shared from executives to ski bums, housewives,

students, children and everyone in-between.

Right after the War, Max Sarchett and Larry Linnane started the rst private ski school at

Snoqualmie, with Larry and his Ski Klasses Inc, moving to Stevens a few years later. Buzz

and Julie Fiorini, in sponsorship with Windy Langlie’s Sport Shop, started the rst private

children’s ski school at Snoqualmie Pass. They drove their students to the mountain in their

station wagon. It became the largest ski school, especially for children, in the country and

catered to the carriage crowd. Windy Langlie called it the most expensive baby sitting service

in town.

The Mass Ski School Phenomena

After the War, many newspapers got into skiing besides the Seattle Times, Seattle Post-

Intelligencer, Valley Publishing, Tacoma News-Tribune, Bremerton Sun and others, creating

the mass ski school phenomena beginning in the ‘50s, found no other place in the world.

Eventually, the newspapers discontinued the free classes as they became prohibitive in cost.

Webb Moffett invited Certied instructors to form their own ski schools and bring them

to the Summit - the beginning of an era. There were ski schools for small children, grammar

school, junior high, high school and housewives as well. School Districts, colleges, PTAs,

churches, clubs, and sports stores sponsored classes. There were weekday, night classes

and swing shift classes as well as on the weekends. There were classes for beginners through

racing as well as training to become instructors and classes for the blind and disabled. Every

discipline was covered.

Moffett offered free ski classes to the public on Thursdays at the Summit, under Nobi

Kano, the rst Japanese to become a Certied instructor. It was nothing to have 40 or 50

people in class at a time. Teaching was by the numbers. To accommodate the Sunday skiers,

spearheaded by instructors Marie and Bill Durant, the Chapel of St. Bernard was built at

Snoqualmie with contributions and work by the skiers of the area. Services were held for all

denominations and Sunday skiing boomed as well.

Ski areas in other regions owned the only ski school and walk-in and private lessons

were the norm. While each area out here had its own ski school, they operated for the walk-in

public. Each private ski school did their own marketing in town and brought their students to

the mountain. The students came - rain or shine - all winter long - guaranteed customers. The

ski areas didn’t have to market their areas - the ski schools did it for them. It was a feeling of

“family” working with the ski areas as partners.

By the ‘60s and ‘70s, the phenomena of the Mass Ski Schools hit their peak, with 100

buses coming to Snoqualmie Pass and another 100 at Stevens Pass on a Saturday, besides

the other areas. Since commercial buses were in short supply, buses were brought in from

other states to cover the load. Naturally, it became necessary that the buses be used 3 or 4

days a week to cover the cost, creating midweek ski schools as well. Area ski schools and

private schools all worked cooperatively with 12 to 18 different ski schools operating in each

of the Seattle region ski areas.

During this shortage, Jean Tokareff of the Edmonds Ski School appealed to their School

Board to use their school buses, citing that skiing was a legitimate sport as much as basketball

- 60 -

and football, which also required transportation elsewhere. She convinced the Washington

State Legislature to adopt a law allowing school districts to use their school buses to transport

their students. The request was approved and opened the door to other school districts to do

the same, and the bus shortage subsided.

Mass Ski School Memories

Jean Tokareff describes how the Edmonds School District 15 started its ski school program.

We went to Webb Moffett and asked him about having a ski school at Snoqualmie. He was

enthusiastic and offered a guarantee dollar loss, a bonus of $10 per bus and free lunches for

the instructors. We then presented the plan to the Superintendent of Edmonds Schools. Our

committee would offer Junior High students 9 days of ski lessons for a tuition of $2.75 per

day to Snoqualmie Ski Area, using 2 Suburban Transportation buses at $75.00 per day. Jim

Whittaker of Mt. Everest fame would direct the instruction at a salary of $160.00 for 9 days. The

plan was then presented to the 3-member School Board and it was approved for one year.

When we arrived at Snoqualmie opening day in 1956, we stepped off the bus into about

4 feet of soft new snow. There were no “hill packers” or “snow pushers” in those days so Jim

Whittaker, the Ski School Director, rounded up the kids, chaperones and other instructors, Co-

Director John Hansen, Rudy “Bud” Holt and AI Swenson, and side-stepped up a slope; moved

forward one ski length and side-stepped down; repeated until half an acre was packed down.

This was lesson #1. Jim told the kids to laugh when they fell down, that falling down taught

them how to get up - lesson #2, and Jim ipped and sprawled, all 7 feet of him, in a mock fall

demonstration. Every one laughed and forgot how wet they were.

All other days were sunny. On the last day, elections were held on the morning buses for a

Ski King and a Ski Queen. The winners were duly crowned on a snow throne. The chaperones

organized a picnic lunch for everyone. Awards for prociency were presented to each student

and chaperone. The most coveted award for Best Achievement was Jim’s trophy - a gilded

upside down Sierra Cup, topped with a funnel, and appropriately engraved.

Re-thinking “rst day,” Jim Whittaker told of instructing the 10

Mountain troops in Colorado.

When there was no snow, they practiced on straw. Thus the concept of “Dryland” sessions

was born. From then on, prior to the start of the ski school lessons, a dryland session was held

to acquaint the students with their equipment, how to get in and out of their bindings, fall down

and get up, turn around, and walk on the skis, thus saving valuable time on the mountain.

75 students attended that rst year at Snoqualmie when District 15 rst started. The second

year, the school moved to Stevens. By 1969-70, the school had grown to 1500 students and

67 instructors with 47 substitute teachers.

Talk about family. After Jim Whittaker climbed Mt. Everest in 1963, the students sent him

a congratulatory telegram with 3 feet of signatures. The whole school, students, chaperones

and instructors went to the SeaTac Airport to welcome him home with an arch of ski poles!

Seattle High School Ski Racing

Peter Birkeland tells of the Seattle High School ski racing program during the ‘50s.

The races were held at Snoqualmie Pass and Ski Acres, and many were put on by the

Seattle High School Ski Council. Seattle Ski Club members were helpful in teaching us how to

race both alpine and cross-country - as well as jump. They also helped in other ways - setting

courses, timing, and putting on awards ceremonies. Many skiers also entered races put on by

the free ski schools of the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The year culminated in the All-City Championships. The boys’ races were 4-Way (not

mandatory to do all 4) and the girls raced alpine. We learned and competed on the jump

- 61 -

behind the Seattle Ski Club. The cross-country course went through the woods between the

ski club, Beaver Lake and Ski Acres. Cross-country racers commonly raced in sweat pants

and used old downhill skis cut to a narrower width.

There were other popular races for the high school skiers. One was put on by the U. of

W. Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and called the Beta Cup. First run in 1950, it was held at Stevens

Pass, attracted skiers from northwest states, and was billed as the Northwest Championships.

Another favorite was the International High School race at Rossland, B.C., where Seattle

area racers did quite well. Still another highly competitive race was the Junior Division of the

Stevens Standard races, put on by the Penguin Ski Club. Many of these high school racers,

boys and girls, went on to race at the college level.

Bill Me Nabb: About the Junior Ski Race at Brundage Mt., McCall, Idaho in the mid ‘60s.

The ski bus was full of aspiring young racers - 12 to 18 years of age - along with several

race parents and ofcials. It was to be a downhill race with two days of training before the

two days of scored competition. After the rst day of training, the racers occupied themselves

with a friendly soccer game, studying (?), and even one small group shooting pool in an area

adjacent to the dining room across the street from our hotel.

On the trip over, one of the chaperones/ofcials laid down the law regarding bedtime

curfew. ALL RACERS WOULD BE IN BED BY 9:00 P. M. - ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS!

Any racer not in bed by 9 o’clock would not be allowed to race the next day! This was not a

difcult rule as everyone was pretty tired and most welcomed the bedtime.

This particular evening, several of the parents and ofcials were having dinner in the

dining room about 8 o’clock. During dinner, we were aware that some of the older Juniors

were shooting pool at the pool table nearby.

We noticed that the group playing pool got a little smaller near the curfew hour. By 8:45

they were down to 2 competitive racers, one of whom seemed to be keeping a close eye on

the ofcials nearby, and vice-versa. In fact the ofcial who had made the announcement on

the bus was getting quite nervous because the now lone pool player was still at the table at 5

minutes to nine -It looked as if he planned to call my bluff!

At one minute to nine, we both left - the Big Gun stood up and started for the hotel. He was

passed in a ash by the racer who arrived at the hotel mere seconds ahead.

The ofcial went directly to this particular racer’s room, knocked on the door, opened it -

and was greeted by the rascal who had blankets up to his neck and said drowsily -“Hey, can’t

a guy get any sleep around here?” - He did very well in the race the next day.

Back in 1966, the Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored the Junior Alpine Championships.

Phil Mahre had won for the Juniors east of the Cascades and Dave Lucas had won for the

west side. They rode the train back to Minnesota with their coach for the Junior Nationals. A

phone call home said it all. “But there is no snow! The whole mountain is nothing but ice! You

can see plants growing under the ice!” Needless to say, the two aspiring racers did not win

that day on the mountain. Later, Phil and his twin brother, Steve, were to bring home Olympic

medals for America and Dave went on to become President of PSIA -NW.

In 1995, there were 108 sponsors of ski schools in the Seattle ski areas alone,

with 80 Member Ski Schools, 343 fully Certiﬁed, 379 Associate and 698 Registered

instructors. And all the schools went to Snoqualmie Pass, Crystal Mt., Stevens Pass,

Ski Acres, Alpental and Hyak. Later, the classiﬁcations were changed to Level I

for Registered, Level II for Associate and Level III for Certiﬁed.

- 62 -

Upper: The Seattle Times Ski School operated out of Milwaukee Railroad cars

the rst winter after the Ski Bowl Lodge burned down.

Cartoon by Jack Winter - Seattle Times in 1949

Lower: Seattle Times and P-I Ski School instructors at Snoqualmie Pass in 1951.

The Times instructors are in front and the P-I instructors in the rear.

- 63 -

Snoqualmie Pass and the tow lines made Life magazine in 1954

- 64 -

NEW SKI AREAS DEVELOP

Ski Acres

In 1948, Reider Ray Tanner and Dan Dearing bought some land just east of Snoqualmie

Pass and developed Ski Acres. In need of nancial support and chair lift experience, they

arranged with Don Adams and Bruce Kehr of Stevens Pass to install and operate the

rst single chair in Washington in 1949. A Quonset hut was the rst Day Lodge, although

shortly afterwards, a 3-story lodge was built. Other chairs were installed as the years went

by, giving skiers a great variety of slopes. Ray invited ski schools to teach in his area and

many schools made Ski Acres their permanent home. When the Ski Bowl Lodge burned

down in 1949, the Seattle Times Ski School moved to Ski Acres until the mid ‘50s when

other ski schools took their place.

A parcel of land was sold to a group of Seattle skiers who cooperatively built the

Skier’s Inc. Ski Club. The Tanners and Dealing were original members. The Lodge is still

there and used by current members.

Ski Acres Memories:

Joy Lucas: A little 6-year-old girl had taken lessons on the ski ramp and this was her

rst time on real snow. I was told she was ready for the hill and was able to make turns.

We got off at the top of the beginner’s chair and I asked her to make a couple of turns

so I could see how she skied. She made the turns and suddenly shot straight down hill,

gaining speed. She was heading straight for the building at the bottom. I took off, trying to

catch her, telling her to “Turn up hill - steer up hill!” Finally she turned and came to a stop.

I asked her what happened ... . her answer...”! only made a couple of turns like you said.

When I was on the ramp, it always took me back up the hill when I stopped turning.” Ah,

the lesson of gravity! And another lesson learned by her instructor.

I was teaching a large class of beginners who were deaf. They were learning to get the

feel of movement by pushing out their heels, and then run their skis parallel. I used hand

movements to aid in describing what to do. Without thinking, I spread my hands apart to

widen their skis - Imagine my surprise to see them spread their TIPS! Laughing, I shook

my head, grabbed my hands and widened my elbows, looking more like a bird apping its

wings. Everyone understood and the day was saved - We all had a good laugh afterwards.

White Pass

White Pass became the rst new ski area in Washington in 1955, developed by the

American River skiers out of Yakima to supply the skiers’ demands. When the Cayuse

Highway was opened for winter driving, Seattle skiers ocked to its ne powder snow, long

runs and big chairiift. Nelson Bennett, famed Sun Valley and 1960 Olympic ofcial, was

Area Manager. Dave Mahre Mountain Manager. Marcel Schuster and Glen Young were

the rst ski school directors, then Ed Staneld.

Ski Acres, Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass had another thing in common.

All their wives were named Virginia! Ray and Virgina Tanner, Webb and

Virginia Moffett, and Bruce and Virginia Kehr.

- 65 -

The company was very poor and Nelson Bennett had to ght for every piece of equipment.

They packed the trails on skis and sometimes on foot. There were 3 rope tows and one

used Poma lift. Teaching was a chore because they had to shovel snow or work on the

hill from daylight to 10 a.m., then taught a few students, and go back to shoveling snow.

Employees worked wherever they were needed. They built two ski lodges, one circus tent and

a condominium village. They also built two chairlifts over the years.

In the later ‘60s. two French instructors came to the White Pass Ski School, Loulou

Kneubuhler and Loic David. They took the twin sons of the Mountain Manager under their

wings and worked with their skiing. The world knows them as Olympic medal winners Phil and

Steve Mahre.

Hyak

After the Milwaukee Ski Bowl Lodge burned down in 1949, Pete Seibert, who later

developed Vail, came out here to investigate buying the old Ski Bowl property. He decided

on Vail and told his friend, Skip Voorhees of Aspen, Colorado, about the area. Skip was

interested and leased the property from the Milwaukee Railroad to develop the Hyak Ski Area,

later buying the property.This gave them private lands to sell for private lodges. The railroad

required them to build a 20-foot fence all along the property line so people would not be able

to cross the tracks.

They put in 2 Poma lifts which were built on at cars in Seattle and were to be brought up

by train when there was a huge ood, washing out the Snoqualmie Highway and part of the

railroad tracks. The Railroad needed a big bulldozer, which Voorhees had, so they negotiated

to allow the Milwaukee to use the bulldozer to nish their line if the railroad would bring the lifts

on the rst run out. They did and Hyak was able to open on Christmas Day, 1959. The Poma

lifts proved to be temperamental and they later were replaced by a chair lift. Hyak was plagued

for a few years with poor snow conditions and the area was sold to a group of Seattle investors

in 1962.

A few years after the area changed hands, the chairlift malfunctioned, allowing the chairs

to slip backwards down the mountain. The lift was repaired and the area has operated as

usual ever since. In the ‘80s, the area was bought out by the Moffetts, who also bought Ski

Acres and Alpental for The Pass complex, which was to be sold two more times.

Crystal Mt.

When the War ended, a small group of Seattle and Tacoma business people, including Mel

Borgersen, Mary Griggs of Tacoma, Don Amick, Bill Black, John Mullhollan, and Walt Little,

a civil engineer from the Mountaineers, explored and researched for an area outside Rainier

National Park that would provide the ne skiing they had experienced at Rainier, Cayuse and

Chinook. They located the dead-end valley at Crystal Mt., a high area with a stunning view of Mt.

Rainier from the top. It had a great variety of long, steep slopes and excellent snow conditions.

Granted a 30-year permit from the Forest Service, the group formed a corporation and sold stock.

Skiers from Seattle and Tacoma responded and the area was opened for the 1962-63 season.

Crystal Mt. became the rst new destination resort in Washington, with some condos, lodges,

and restaurants, but it was limited in base expansion because of Forest Service regulations,

as other NW areas were. Mel Borgersen became the rst Area Manager, eventually followed

by Ed Link, both well-known Washington skiers. Don Christianson was the Mountain Manager

and Jack Nagel, former Olympic racer from Stevens Pass, the rst Ski School Director.

- 66 -

Crystal’s slopes are respected worldwide, with their well-planned runs and ne slope

grooming. It has hosted many National and FIS races as well as the National Masters race in

1976, which was chaired by Tom Allen. Many ski schools operated at Crystal Mountain, the

same as other ski areas.

In 1997, in a sale approved by more than 90 percent of its shareholders, Crystal chose

to become a part of Boyne USA, which agreed to invest a minimum of $15 million in capital

improvements on the mountain, including $8 million of that in the rst ve years. And for

those long-time Crystal shareholders who selected the option, lift privileges for them were to

continue under the new Boyne ownership.

Crystal Mt. Memories:

In 1964, the PNSIA Symposium was held at Crystal Mt. On Saturday night, there was a

grand theft! Instructors had lined their skis up in the hall outside their rooms, as the rooms

were small and every bed was lled. About 5 a.m., one of the instructors came to bed after

partying and saw some guys carrying an armload of skis out to a waiting truck! He started

yelling to wake up the rest of the people. The fellows in the truck took off and that was the end

of the skis. There were no phones in yet, so there was no way to alert anyone at the bottom

of the road. There must have been 50 pairs of top-level skis taken that night. You can bet the

phones were in the next year - plus a Sheriff.

For much of its rst 10 years, Crystal played host to many of the great names in international

ski racing: Jean-Claude Killy, Karl Schranz, Annemarie Proell, Billy Kidd, Jimmie Heuga, Nancy

Greene, Bernhard Russi, Stein Eriksen and more. Crowds turned out to see the return of the

Silver Skis races as well as two national alpine championships, two major international events

including a 1972 World Cup weekend, an NCAA national championship, and a 1966 summer

race camp guided by Eriksen and Jack Nagel.

Alpental

Bob Mickelson of Edelweiss Ski Company conceived, planned and developed Alpental in

the ‘60s as a mountain ski community, with private condos and chalets. Its close proximity to

Seattle, and more expert terrain, made it a popular ski area and it soon took its place among

the rest of the ski areas as a winter, as well as a summer, vacationing community. Swiss

instructor, Rene Moser, was the rst ski school director.

In the ‘80s, Snoqualmie Pass purchased the Ski Acres and Alpental ski areas and in the early

‘90s, bought Hyak, forming the present ski complex of The Pass, which was subsequently sold

as a complete four-area package.

Schweitzer Basin

This area is near Sand Point, Idaho, and overlooks Lake Pend Oreille. This beautifully

situated area, with its huge bowls, began in 1963-64. Al Voltz was the rst ski school director

and later, Paul Norum. In the ‘70s some condominiums and a small lodge were built at its

base. In 1990, the name was changed to Schweitzer Mountain. The addition of a number of

condos, a Day Lodge and a large inn transformed the area to destination caliber. Along with

new high speed lifts, they opened up the back bowls, doubling the size of the original area.

- 67 -

Schweitzer Memories:

In 1991, a different happening occurred at the Schweitzer Symposium. That morning I had

called their “800” number, only to hear a frantic, “What do you want?” Obviously, something

was wrong. I asked him what was the matter. In a panicky voice, he answered, “THE ROAD

JUST WASHED OUT!” A sudden, heavy rain deluged the area and most of the Symposium

participants were trapped on the mountain. Schweitzer was the perfect host while snowcats

cut a new road around the washout to let people get off the mountain. What excitement!

Mission Ridge

Growth in the ‘60s led to replacing the Squilchuck State Park with facilities at higher

elevation and with more consistent snow. While Dan Gehringer favored the Stemilt area,

the Hampton brothers, Wilmer and Walt, saw the possibilities of the Squilchuck headwaters

offering more vertical drop. Wilmer Hampton, a Class A jumper, did most of the leg work, and

his work persuaded a committee of local businessmen that this was the right location.

A local businessmen’s committee with Don Kirby, Archie Rolfs, Clair Vandervort and

Wilfred Woods, joined with two dozen others to form the Wenatchee Mountain Corporation in

the mid ‘60s, selling half a million dollars worth of stock. The County Commissioners and the

Wenatchee National Forest Supervisor, Ken Blair, cooperated in building ve miles of road. An

SBA loan was secured and a lodge and two chairlifts were built to open skiing in December

1966. Don Kirby became the president of the corporation, which he led for many years.

Wilmer Hampton died suddenly, less than a year before the Mission Ridge Ski Area

opened. His brother, Walt, a downhill racer and engineer, became the rst manager of the

area and Gordon West was the director of the ski school. The rst year was such a success

that a third chairiift was installed the second year.

When Mission opened, Wenatchee Valley College cooperated to offer ski area management

and instruction courses. The Mission Ridge Racing Academy was formed for high school and

college age students, who combined school with ski race training. Students came from all

over the country for this specialized program that taught all phases of ski instruction and ski

area operation.

After a disastrous snow year in 1976, Mission Ridge became one of the pioneers in

“farming snow,” taking snow from the edges of the runs and pushing it into well-skied areas

and packing it down. Later, most ski areas did this to make the snow last longer. After Walt

Hampton died in the eariy ‘80s, West was named area manager.

A series of poor snow years in the late 1980s resulted in the Mission Ridge board replacing

West with Larry Klaas, a real estate developer who had moved to Wenatchee. Klaas’s analysis

showed the board that the best alternative would be to sell the corporation. Donn Etherington

and Mac McInnis of Seattle offered to take over the corporation for a cash purchase, plus

skiing privileges for each share of stock worth $1.00. The stock holders accepted the terms

and the new group began operating in the winter of 1992-93. Harbor Properties bought out the

majority interest in 1997 and sold the property to Larry Scrivanich of Seattle in 2004. He put in

a quad high speed chair and a new reservoir on top the mountain for complete snowmaking

in 2005.

- 68 -

Mt. Hood Meadows

The newest ski area on Mt. Hood was the Meadows, built in 1967. It was built on the Hood

River side and provided challenging and tree-protected runs on the mountain. While Meadows,

too, tried to get lodging facilities, they had to depend upon Hood River and Government Camp

for their lodging. Austrian racer Eric Sailer was the rst ski school director. He was followed by

Rene Farwig, who was the lone member of the Bolivian Olympic Ski team in 1960. Rene later

moved to Canada and was in charge of the ski hill at the Calgary Winter Olympics.

49˚ North

In late 1972, Forty Nine Degrees North, near Spokane and just east of the town of

Chewelah, was opened in its present location. Al Voltz, former PNSIA President and PSIA

Demo Team member, was the rst Area Manager. Drawing on a local skiing heritage that

extended back into the 1930s, the area began developing ski terrain on Chewelah Peak and

adjacent to it -- clearing runs, building lifts and a lodge, and adding amenities.

49˚ North Memories

It was here that the rst and only Indoor Certication Exam was held. In the morning, the

winds came up in hurricane strength. The Associate groups went out on the wide lower slopes

to conduct their classes in the bitter cold wind and snow. Every couple of minutes, the wind

would swoop down and blow the entire class across the hill. Skiers kept a constant stream of

hot coffee going for the poor candidates and examiners. The full Certied groups took off for the

top of the mountain, but as they got there, trees and big branches were falling all around them.

It was so dangerous that everyone had to join hands and ski down together to keep from getting

lost or injured. No one could ski alone. By the time they got down, it was decided that anyone

who skied that run and got off the mountain passed their skiing test. The rest of the day all

classes were spent indoors with dry land teaching and oral exams. What a day to remember!

- 69 -

Yeah, Kid

When i Was

Your age...

those Were the

daYs blah gab

blah Klister

blah sKins

blah blah

tour up th’

dome, long

thongs

arlberg

turns

blah blah great

names, Werner gab

blah blah gab

stein andY mead

ernst ‘n zeno

blah blah

nancY green

and toni sailor

blah gab, bear traps

‘n ridge top splitKins,

gab gab vorlage

blah ruade blah

blah gab

rope toWs

platter

pulls

Well, see

Yuh Kid...

Watch the

ol’ stembogen

What Was

that ol’

guY talKin’

to You

about?

i haven’t

the slightest

idea

Skiing Continues to Grow

The Skiing Boom

As Webb Moffett and Bruce Kehr so aptly stated, skiing and ski areas were never the

same after chairlifts began to develop. No longer were ski areas able to start on a shoestring

with a few hundred dollars. The days of the sleeping bags and rope tows were gone forever.

Chair lifts, big lodges, sewers, electricity, parking lots and grooming were also needed if a ski

area was to succeed.

Skiing became fashionable and skiers demanded more and better amenities. The new lifts

and lodges took money, lots of money. Few areas were able to grow on their own. The areas

looked to the banks and the public to supply the needed funds, and many were the skiers who

jumped on the stock bandwagon. Ski areas were “big business,” no longer just little family

areas. They had to compete for the new breed of skiers with more expectations, demand, and

money to spend.

Where other ski regions catered to the vacationers, the Pacic Northwest developed for

the weekenders. With the ski areas being so close to the large populations of Seattle, Tacoma,

Everett, Portland and Spokane, skiers didn’t need to save their skiing for vacations. They

went every weekend. Ski lessons became a weekly occurrence - each weekend throughout

the season. With better roads, skiers could drive to any area within an hour and a half - so the

multitudes drove to the mountains or rode ski school buses for their lessons.

PNSA and PNSIA Move to Seattle

By 1958, the ski instructors left PNSA and formed their own organization. (PNSIA) Sue

Draper, who was the Secretary for PNSA, continued to do the administrative work for both

organizations in Yakima until she retired in 1969. PNSIA President Bill Lenihan asked Joy

Lucas if she would be Executive Secretary for the edgling PNSIA since she had been doing

the Symposiums for them since 1960. The PNSA ofce was moved to Seattle and both

organizations shared an apartment ofce overlooking the SeaTac Airport.

It was the beginning days of the computer. Only big corporations were able to afford them.

PNSA rented time at an IBM machine in a downtown Seattle ofce - so every Monday night

someone would stay up all night recording the weekend races. But we were up to date!

We had a wonderful staff and got along well together. However, in a couple of years we

found ourselves bursting at the seams. PNSIA felt we needed our own ofce, as we were sorely

overcrowded with both organizations working in one ofce and needing the equipment at the

same time. Graham Anderson of PNSA, Tina Rieman, Kathy Hand and I found a complex that

satised us and PNSIA proceeded to move in - and have remained in that building ever since.

The big destination areas could not understand how ski instructors could be

qualiﬁed teachers when they taught only a couple of days a week – calling them

the “weekend warriors.” However, what was different about our region was that

instructors out here tended to have careers in all walks of life, engineering, medical,

law, teaching, etc. and taught on weekends because they loved the sport and loved

teaching skiing. They had nothing to prove but were willing to give of themselves.

PNSIA brought in the best teachers from around the country and the world, and our

instructors became some of the most respected and coveted teachers in the country.

- 70 -

The Ofcials, Competitors and Ski Patrol

The Pacic Northwest skiers proved themselves leaders in many national and international

areas. In 1956-57, the Stevens Pass Ski Patrol was awarded the most outstanding Ski Patrol

in the nation.

In 1959, Otto Ross, from Orondo, was chosen by the Stevens Pass Patrol to represent

the Northwest to go to Squaw Valley to prove to the International Committee that a volunteer

patrol could handle the rst aid and patrol for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympic Games. The

Patrol boot-packed, ski-packed and slipped courses under the guidance of Nelson Bennett

(Otto also rescued a stranded sheep from the top of Squaw Peak) and learned how to handle

the “Aukia” toboggan as a team as well as patrol and handle rst aid. There were 45 of these

skiers from around the nation.

In 1960, Otto was invited by the International Olympic Committee to do the Patrol for the

Squaw Valley Olympics - that year, their numbers rose to 75 patrollers and 10 doctors. He

was privileged to be in the honor guard escorting Andy Mead Lawrence with the Olympic

ame skiing down Little Papoose Peak to the Olympic Arena where she handed it off to skater

Kenneth Henry who lit the torch for the Games.

Many Pacic Northwest Ski Association (PNSA) members were National as well as

Olympic race ofcials and judges, like Ed Link, Gus Raaum, Olav Ulland and Walt Hampton.

Nelson Bennett was Hill Manager for the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics in 1960. We had our

share of Olympic medal winners as well, from Gretchen Fraser to Bill Johnson, Phil and Steve

Mahre and Debbie Armstrong, along with many others who were National Champions in their

discipline. To learn more about these outstanding skiers, be sure to read about them in the

Hall of Fame section.

.. You Know You Are an Ancient Skier .. If...

You know what the “Ruade” is and who invented it.

- 71 -

TALES OF THE BROTHERHOOD

Do You Remember?

• Beartrap bindings • Arlberg straps • Seal skins, Klister and Skaare wax • War surplus skis

and clothing • Wide oppy pants and leather laced boots • Skis that reached up to the palm of

the hand • Climbing up the mountains to get one or two runs down in a day • Getting up at 4

in the morning and driving for hours to ski for one day and loving every minute of it • Riding in

Ernie Garman’s truck to Stevens Pass?

• The newspapers listing the ski injuries in the papers every Monday • The smell of

Fastski base lacquers, wet wool and leather gloves • Riding the Ski Train to the Milwaukee

Ski Bowl • The Times Free Ski School • Going skiing during the War when every rider

contributed a gas coupon for gas • Going skiing and knowing everyone on the hill?

• Packing the hills and getting a free lift ticket • The rope tows lifting you off the snow on

Big Chief • Riding the Alta Vista rope • The 4-Way tournaments • The Silver Skis Race • The

Olympic Jumping Tryouts at the Ski Bowl • Wrapping your long thongs around your boots?

• Running your rst “Big” Ski Race • The Poma Lift and T-Bar • The rst chair lifts •

• Fighting the T-Bar • The Slush Cup at Mt. Baker • Spring skiing on the east side of

Chinook Pass • The Spring Ski Carnivals at the end of the ski year • The Stevens Pass

Hans Grage Memorial Race?

Ah. . . Memories!

To win a giant slalom by having the best time is to be expected - to win one with the

slowest is incredible; but Ariel Edmiston’s wife, Helen, won a Montana State race at Logan

Pass in Glacier National Park in June, 1941 - in just that way.

As the racers all climbed to the top of the course at the base of Mt. Clemons, the fog came

in thick, wet and cold. By the time she was to start, she was almost frozen. With the “5-4-3-2-1

GO!” she pushed off into the dense fog and started hollering, “Where are you, gate # I?’ “Here,

come this way.” “Which way is the next gate? Where are you gate # 2?” etc. - etc. - etc. to the

nish line where she heard no rousing cheer - only a timer’s voice, “We could have timed her

with an eight-day clock!” She took off her skis and headed for the portable wood stove that

had been set up for warming racers in a tent near the nish line. Her husband, Ariel, tried to

consol her when the members of the race committee entered the tent. They were carrying a

beautiful, tall, slim, gold First Place Trophy, which they presented to her! WOW, she had won.

She couldn’t believe it, but it was true - - reason: She was the only one to have gone through

all of the gates. Every other racer had missed at least one in the fog. So the moral of this story

is that the race isn’t over until the prizes are presented!

Looking back, it is amazing how fast people learned to ski with those soft leather boots

and long skis in only a one-hour lesson. Everyone learned to make snowplow turns, even kick

turns - swinging their skis around, That is not done any more on the rst day.

The only groomed slopes we knew those days came from side-stepping the hills to pack

them out. Everyone was expected to do his share of the packing and when anyone did not do

it, he was stopped from riding the rope until he packed. Many were the young kids who grew

up packing the hills to get their $1.00 all-day rope ticket.

Riding rope tows became an art. When light, young gals rode the steep slopes, they would

be lifted a couple of feet off the snow unless they rode right in behind a strong man who could

hold the rope down. Then, when you got to the top, you had to let go fast, swing the skis

- 72 -

sideways, dig the edges in and pray you wouldn’t slip! You could smell the gloves burning,

the ropes went so fast. Some skiers had hinged grippers tied to a belt, that grabbed the rope,

and you leaned back against the belt to pull you up. You had to quickly ip it open at the top

to release it so you were free. This was a real boon as your arms got so tired trying to hang

on all day long. When a rope wore out and broke, everyone fell off and the lift would be down

for an hour or so while the rope was spliced together.

Riding rope tows in the spring was a mess. The ropes would drip constantly and leave a

white residue on your clothing. Some skiers wore a rubber apron to protect their ski clothes.

Girls with long hair had to be careful because the twisting rope would grab their hair and lift

them off the ground toward the wheel. Many was the time an instructor would have to talk the rider

down to ease her fear while the tow was stopped and backed down so she could get loose.

The day of grass planting and hill shaping had not come yet, and it took a great deal of

snow to cover the bushes and smooth out the runs. Parts of the hills would wash out every

time it rained. During the years, areas began to divert or cover creeks, along with cutting

bushes and planting grass to allow the areas to open earlier and smooth out the runs.

The Northwest’s liquid powder didn’t dampen the spirits of skiers those days. Everyone

had rain gear of some kind: plastic-coated raincoats, oilskins or simply big plastic garbage

sacks-and they continued to ski.

Irv Pratt: The old Municipal Hill at Snoqualmie Pass ... .The Seattle Ski Club, Sahalie

Ski Club, Mountaineers, Summit Inn ... the trip through Renton, Issaquah, Preston, Fall City,

Snoqualmie, North Bend, Camp Mason, High Valley to the Summit ... two thousand people

at Beaver Lake to watch the Ruud Brothers, Olav Ulland, Hjalmar Hvam, etc. jump ... Torger

Tokle jumping 302 feet at the Hostmark Hill at the Ski Bowl ... coming down the narrow trail

from Beaver Lake on 7-1/2 foot jumping skis ... the old cabins at Paradise ... coming up the hill

from Narada Falls every Friday night with ashlights and packs ... cooking hot dogs for dinner

in Tatoosh Lodge with two wires, one in each end, then plugged into the outlet ... .the smell

of soup and toast in the hall, with no-cooking signs posted all over the lobby ... nding one’s

way back to your bunk on Saturday night after the dance...the run down Devil’s Dip on Sunday

night ... standing on Alta Vista in wind and cold waiting for your race number to come up, and

wondering, “What am I doing here?” ... the Spring Carnivals, Silver Skis Weekend, the four-

in-one races ...joining the Penguin Ski Club in 1937 and starting the cabin at Stevens Pass in

1939 ... team races at Stevens, and the Spring Carnival, rivalry with the Wenatchee Ski Club

... the lodge burning down ..... racing in downhill and slalom in the four-way national meet at

Baker.. . jumping at Razor Back Hill at Baker.. . the Golden Rose race from Crater Rock on

Mt.Hood ... These are all wonderful memories because I was fortunate enough to be included

with a great group of people, who are affectionately called, “The Ancient Skiers.’’

Dr. Don (Doc) Hanson, a Seattle dentist and devoted skier, lived in a houseboat at Madison

Park on Lake Washington before the War, known as “Goonville.” A revolving group of bachelor

skiers belonging to the Washington Ski Club shared the facilities with him - Don Fraser, Max

Sarchett, Jim Lucas and Orville Borgersen, the ofcial photographer for the 1936 Winter

Olympics. They were among the rst water skiers as well as skiers. It was a ritual for them to

dive into the lake every morning for a whole year! No wonder they were hardy souls.

Remember when every skier attended the ski shows, even before the war? The lineups to

get in would reach around the block. It was a sure meeting place to see your ski friends as the

season drew near. Cities always started off the ski season with a Ski Show. Seattle had one

- 73 -

before WW II in the old Ice Arena. A big indoor jump was built with the in-run starting

outside a high window. It was very spectacular to watch. The only thing, the hill was

covered with graphite to slide easily and everyone was covered with black dust. The

next time, they used shaved ice and that was much cleaner!

In the ‘50s, there were many “Ski Bums,” skiers who lived out of their old cars and

traveled the ski areas - and lived on peanut butter sandwiches, crackers and ketchup.

They delighted to wear jeans and rag-tag clothes, looking like hicks from the country,

and then out-ski everyone else on the hill. (Of course they always had the best in skis

and boots) Warren Miller, of ski movie fame, proudly remembers his ski bum days

when he got his start.

When Willa Hiltner’s children were little, they took their rst ski lessons from

John Hansen in the Ski Laufer Ski School at Stevens. She and her daughters later

became instructors and her son, Walt, became one of the rst freestyle skiers. He and

his buddies built a high slide out into Lake Washington in Laurelhurst so they could

practice their tricks. He remembers the shock coming home from school one day to

nd his mother skiing down the ramp! Later, she climbed Mt. Rainier for her daughter’s

wedding at the summit. After many years as a widow, she married John O’Conner

and taught him how to ski at age 78. Willa and John skied free all over the world for

the next decade, a benet of Willa’s status as a “ski writer.” Her children said it took a

strong man to marry their mother.

Each ski country touted their techniques as the best to encourage tourism in their

countries. One could watch the skiers and tell where they learned to ski. There was the

Austrian Arlberg, the French Projection Circulaire, the Swiss counterrotation - Those

at Stevens Pass skied like Jack Nagel. The Sun Valley teachers all skied the classical.

Then came the American technique - Oh, the rigidity of it all!

The skiers naturally broke into groups - the racers, the instructors, ski patrol

and the recreational skiers. The racers thought the instructors were always trying to

“look perfect.” Racers knew more about skiing because they could ski faster than the

instructors. The instructors, likewise, thought the racers needed to learn more how to

control their skiing. They felt they needed more understanding of the fundamentals

of skiing. This continued until the late ‘70s and ‘80s, when instructors and racers

combined to work the Race Camps. By the ‘80s, there was little difference in style

- it was economy of motion for the best results. Look at the Olympics of today. All the

racers from all countries looked alike!

No history would be complete without the hilarious story of the charted air ight to the

PNSIA Symposium at Boise in 1972. First, let’s explain a few things. These members

were very dignied. There were ofcers, examiners, members alike, attending the

rst Symposium at Bogus Basin. So many were coming from Seattle that a plane was

chartered to y them to Boise. It cost $39.00 round trip. It was a Champagne ight and

everyone was feeling happy. When they arrived, they loaded the bus for the hotel. I

was at the hotel waiting for their arrival when suddenly I got a phone call. It was the

driver of the bus. It seemed that somebody hijacked his bus and left him standing in

the middle of the road! What? I looked out the window just as the bus arrived with

its effervescent load. When the happy gang piled out I was told that they got tired of

waiting for the driver to take off, so one of the group got into the driver’s seat and drove

- 74 -

the bus himself. Tina Rieman’s newsletter said it all: “At the banquet, a special certicate of

merit, signed by President Fred Nelson and a Mr. D.B. Cooper, was presented to the driver for

“outstanding bus handling above and beyond the call of duty.”

When it came time to load the plane on Sunday night, they had to wait until after all the

scheduled ights had left. These dignied, straight-laced adults decided they had to keep busy.

Tina Rieman thought of an ice hockey and curling game, so they took brooms and banged ice

cubes down the big new waiting room into a garbage can. The goalie pushed himself around in

a wheelchair, protecting the goal. Teenagers looked on in shock as their parents cavorted in the

airport. When it was time to leave, everyone helped clean up the wet mess. The man at the desk

told us not to worry, that the room had to be mopped at the end of the day anyway. He said he

never had so much fun as watching these grown-up teachers feel free to enjoy themselves.

You Know You Are An Ancient Skier. . If. . .

. . You can ﬁnish the phrase, “Bend zee knees, . . . . . .. . . please.”

. . Your ski pants had a 36-inch knee.

. . You know the only husband and wife to win the Paciﬁc Northwest Downhill

and Slalom championships in the same area.

. . You were at the ﬁrst Slush Cup at Mt Baker.

. . You shopped at REI when it was located next to the Mountaineer’s Club Room.

. . You skied during World War II by pooling gas coupons.

Note: D.B. Cooper had recently hijacked an airplane and escaped with half a million

dollars by jumping out of the plane. Neither he nor the money was ever found.

- 75 -

You still paint the bottoms of your skis with green stuff called “Faski”

The Innovators

The Ancient Skiers were innovators as well as outdoors people. While women were racers

in other regions, they were only accepted as baby-sitters when it came to teaching skiing. Out

here, women were accepted to teach alongside men right from the beginning, so it was no big

deal when Joy Lucas took her Certication exam in 1941. Joy relates:

“Another gal took the test with me. She was so tanned, she HAD to be from Sun Valley -

and freaked me out. Sun Valley skiers were Gods. How could I pass against her? Luckily, she

took her turn ahead of me, and was only an intermediate skier - Wow - I was freed - I made no

mistakes and passed that exam, but if she had been a good skier, I know I would have failed!

I wasn’t afraid of the Examiners - I was afraid of her!”

Leland Osborn was probably the truest legend. He was 13 the rst time he put on a pair of

skis in 1904 in Michigan. When he rst came to Walla Walla in about 1920 and went out skiing,

no one knew what skis were. All the kids and dogs chased after him so much he took to skiing

at night so they wouldn’t bother him.

He began teaching at Tollgate and, later, Spout Springs in 1938. He was rst Certied in

the second examination at the Ski Bowl in 1940, when he was 50 years old. He was the oldest

candidate and rather looked down upon by the younger skiers who felt he was too old to be a

ski instructor. When Re-Certication was done in 1962, Leland’s full Certication was taken

away from him and he was given the Associate classication, again because of his age. He

was 72. When he was 84, PNSIA gave him back his full Certication and he was acclaimed

Instructor emeritus of the ski teaching world. He certainly deserved it.

In the ‘60s, he was on the national television show What’s My Line and skunked the panel

in trying to identify him. No one thought of him as a ski instructor.

He received the Instructor of the Year award in 1980, when he was 90 years old! Leland

taught until he was 99! Not only did he teach Alpine and Nordic skiing, but he also taught

exercises for skiing at the YMCA until his mid ‘90s. He and his wife passed away just before

they were 100 years old.

In 1963 the rst Amputee Clinic and Exam in the country were held on Mt. Hood. Lee Perry

of Portland developed the rst Amputee Teaching Manual and exam and became the rst

Examiner. Lee and his instructors built the out-riggers with old ski tips to enable the amputees

to use them in their skiing.

When Lee Perry was a schoolboy, a friend taught him to ski. Years later, the friend became

an amputee. Lee was unhappy having to leave his old buddy home every weekend when he

went to the mountains so he invented the three-trak method and taught his friend how to ski on

one leg, returning the favor from years ago. He and members of the Portland Jaycees made

the rst out-riggers in a machine shop with tips of old skis. The experience started Lee on

his skiing career specialty - working with the handicapped. He has taught people with almost

every conceivable type of handicap and won national acclaim from the National Handicapped

Program Committee and delivered several papers on the subject at national meetings.

Ome Daiber became a Mountaineer before 1925. He made the rst climbs of six different

routes on Mt. Rainier in 1931. As a member of the Geographic Expedition, he made the rst

ascent of Pinnacle Peak in the St. Elias Range in Alaska, as well as being consultant, advisor

and outtter for many Himalayan and Karakoram expeditions. He was one of the 3 founders

of the Mountain Rescue Council in 1948 and worked for both the American 10th Mountain

Division and the Royal Canadian Air Force on survival skills.

- 76 -

In 1972, the rst cross-country exam in the U.S. was held in the Pacic Northwest. The

rst Examiners were Jack Meissner, John Bowerman, Per Otto Mellberg, Ray Whitcher from

Oregon, Liv (Vagners) Nurman, Tina Rieman and Karl Stingl from Washington. Shortly after,

Tina Rieman and Liv traveled to other divisions to set up their certication programs and train

their examiners as well.

The rst Freestyle exam in the country was held in 1975, with John Mohan and Walt

Hiltner being the rst Examiners. John Mohan and Walt Hiltner published the rst book on

freestyle, Freestyle Skiing - The Fundamentals, in 1976. Walt later moved to Sidney, Australia,

and became the National FIS Representative.

The North American Ski Instructor’s Congress was held at Vail in 1970, with representative

teams from each division. The several hundred attendees lined the course with a reviewing

stand at the bottom where the dignitaries and spokesmen stood with their loudspeakers.

At the top of the hill was a big cornice that hid the very top. The divisional teams gave their

demonstrations, very proper and dignied.

The PNSIA performance was last. Our spokesman, Bill Lenihan, introduced each member

as he came down. “Our rst member of the PNSIA Team is Eddie Ferguson of Boise.” Eddie

didn’t show. Again, “Eddie Ferguson,” Still no Eddie. “Eddie, where are you?” Suddenly, Eddie

exploded off the cornice, dressed in striped, bibbed overalls. He landed 50 feet down the hill

and did a couple of shoulder rolls. Everyone thought he had killed himself in the fall. Eddie

rolled up and nished the run doing every imaginable trick in the book. By the time he nished,

the audience was screaming in excitement. Next, came our PNSIA Team doing beautiful,

owing turns down the hill in unison, not in the normal mechanical and forced skiing of the

day. Again, loud applause.

The last act was Loulou Kneubuhlar, a young French instructor who taught at White Pass,

a awless and spectacularly uid skier. Loulou came down through the bumps so smoothly

and rhythmically, like water owing down the mountain. He could carry a glass of water on

his head without spilling a drop. When he reached the reviewing stand, he neatly jumped out

of his boots. Lenore Lyle caught them as he jauntily stepped aside. He had skied that whole

mogul run with his boots unbuckled! Needless to say the audience was in awe and gave him

a tremendous ovation. PNSIA had turned skiing around in those few short demonstrations.

Several PSIA-NW women ski school directors were attending the National PSIA Race

Camp at Timberline in 1981. A prominent Northeastern ski coach approached the group and

asked where they skied. When they told him they directed BIG schools with more than 100

instructors, he about died!

Many women have been directing ski schools out here for years. Doris Harlacher, Lou

Lenihan, Lenore Lyle, Wilma Weckwerth, Maxine Daniels, Julie Fiorini, Kathy Hand, Jean

Lyon, Shirley Fopp, Sharon Arwine, Evie Parcells, Irene La Marche, Jean Tokareff, Joy Lucas,

and Deb Norum. We had women’s coaches, too, with Ingrid Simonson and Claudia Ney

Yamamoto - plus Nordic directors Mia Barbera, Susan Hagmeier, Shelly Butler and Virginia

Meissner. Dee Byrne, Director of Skiing for Vail in 2006, is a former PSIA-NW gal from

Wenatchee. Then, too, Lenore Lyle became the rst woman, nationally, to become President

of PNSIA, a division of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA).

Doris Harlacher was one of the rst women elected to the PNSIA Board of Directors. In

addition to Level Ill Certication, she also was a Certied Racing Ofcial, Certied Timer,

Chief of Course and Race Referee. For over 30 years, she pioneered ski instruction for

developmentally disabled children with the Bellevue Ski School. She has been a leader in

- 77 -

bringing up to speed the instruction for coaches in the Special Olympics and worked with the

Bellevue Parks Department Highland Community Center to raise funds and develop a program

to train skiers to represent East King County for the 1996 Olympic Games.

At Snoqualmie Summit, Ski-For-All was begun in the early ‘80s as a non-prot ski school

that encompassed all types of disabilities. Certied Instructors Dolly and Hugh Armstrong,

parents of Debbie Armstrong, Olympic Giant Slalom champion, became directors and did

much to develop the program.

The Northwest had its share of manufacturing innovators. Bill Kirschner, starting in a metal

shed on Vashon Island, making dog cages and animal splints, boats and a lettuce-wrapping

machine, invented the rst commercially viable berglass ski and founded K2 Corporation,

which became the largest ski manufacturer in the country. K2 skis became national icons, with

their trademark red, white and blue graphics, ridden to victory by world-class ski champions

and Olympic medalists.

Gary Carter, a Certied instructor from the Ski Bowl on Mt. Hood, invented the “Jet Stick”

in the early ‘70s. This “stick” was put into the back of a ski boot so that the user could better

perform “Jet Turns”, a method of turning the skis from the tails while the tips oated in air.

While teaching at the Ski Bowl, Gary served on the PSIA-NW Board of Directors and

was an Examiner in this Division. Many hours and days were spent helping people improve

their skills and enjoyment of skiing. He always knew what equipment would be best for each

individual and usually had extra gear in his truck that he willingly shared. It was amazing

and such fun to be able to “test” three different kinds of skis in one day. You really could tell

a difference in them. “Fun” was always a part of Gary’s days at the mountain. “Worm Rolls,”

“Jet Turns,” “Outriggers,” “Tip Drags,” and “Tip Stands” were a part of his everyday life on

the snow. The maneuvers were done with grace and skill in every motion. And he can still do

these same turns today!

To avoid confusion concerning Gary Carter’s “Jet Stick,” it should be noted that former

Olympian Jack Nagel and his co-developers, including Mike Freigang, Rich Steen, and Brent

Gray, introduced “Jet Stix” in 1970. They led for a patent, subsequently approved, in August;

made an introductory offer to professional instructors and coaches in the fall; launched publicity

efforts in ski media; and began selling to the skiing public

Attached by single straps, the shaped Jet Stix t tightly against the back of boots and

extended several inches above. Jet Stix were touted as an aid in the performance of modern

ski techniques of the time, yet without restricting forward movement. The rigid thermoplastic

back-of-the-boot support became a hot item for many skiers until boot manufacturers ultimately

made major changes to their designs.

To show how old ski instructors (and Ancient Skiers) never die - The PSIA-NW Instructors

Spring Symposium was held at Mission Ridge in 2006. Otto Ross (an Ancient Skier and

French Ski School graduate) and Bob Church, each 80 years old, were still regularly teaching

ski classes four days a week. Both of them were Certied right after World War II. Otto was

the Certication Chairman under PNSA in 1954. They are some of the most sought after

teachers in the school. Andre Hirss, Chris Thompson, Al Voltz and Gordy West were teaching

the Legends classes. (for those who have taught for more than 30 years.) They are in their

‘60s and early ‘70s and can still ski the young ones into the ground! When they were asked if

they were Ancient Skiers, they all said the same thing - “We’d love to when we retire, but we

still are teaching as long as the areas are running.”

- 78 -

During the Sun Valley Reunion in January 2006, the travel columnist for the Wall Street

Journal was a guest of the Sun Valley Inn. She described herself as the “Finicky Traveler.” She

asked for the best room available and was given a $436 per night parlor suite in the Inn. The

Inn refurbishing two years prior was described by her as the “overall effect of strictly a chain

hotel with no special touches.” She went on dissing all Sun Valley Inn and hotel facilities. She

thought the picture of Gretchen Fraser in Gretchen’s Restaurant was Carol Holding and was

bored by it.

But when she entered the Inn, she commented, “The only people in the lobby were a

group of wet but cheerful senior citizens on their way back from the swimming pool - members

of the Ancient Skiers Club, in town for their annual visit.”

In closing she wrote, “As for the Sun Valley Resort, the only thing missed were the members

of the Ancient Skiers Club. They really livened up the place.”

Old Skiers Never Die... They just....

As the Ancient Skiers aged, the NASTAR, Seniors and Masters Racing developed

regionally as well as nationally and internationally. Many of our members participated in these

events, winning their share of the awards. Other Ancient Skiers continued teaching skiing

and working with PNSA and the Ski Patrol for more than 50 years. The following members

continued to stay active in skiing.

B Jo and Tom Allen of Seattle have skied and raced since the ‘30s. Tom was a member

of the Roosevelt High School Ski Team during 1934-38 and helped them win the All-City meet

in 1939. Ran the Junior Silver Skis. He raced from 1970 to 1995 in class at PNSA SL and GS

races at Sun Valley, Waterville Valley, Alyeska, Copper Mt., Deer Valley and Crystal Mt.

B Jo Allen was a member of the PNSA Masters Race Team for National Masters at

Alyeska. Together, she and Tom won 14-plus NASTAR medal, including 10 gold from Sun

Valley, Crystal Mt., Vail, Park City and Beaver Creek.

Wolf Bauer, Seattle, an internationally recognized engineer, broke trail for the rst

Mountaineers Patrol Race from Snoqualmie Pass to Stampede Pass in 1930. In 1936, he led

his team in this 18-mile cross-country race to a 4-hour record, which has never been broken.

In February 2006, Wolf reviewed the race for 14 skiers who toured the historical trip. Wolf was

winner in many ski races.

Franz Gabl, Bellingham, was a Silver Medal winner in the 1948 Olympics. In Europe in

the ‘70s and ‘80s, he traveled the European circuit with Ed Link and Chris Berg and they all

won more than their share of the trophies. In the U.S. and Europe, he may be the winningest

(Senior, Veteran or Master) skier of all time with a score or more of U.S. National races during

the same period. When he was Ski School Director at Mt. Baker, Franz started the Ski to Sea

program of skiing, canoeing and bicycling from Mt. Baker to the Sound in 1973. In 2003, he

was the Grand Marshal for the International program with 73 teams and 4 events. This has

grown to be the biggest outdoor competitive activity event in Skagit County with 500 teams

and 7 legs in 2006.

John Hansen taught his rst ski lessons for the University of Washington physical

education classes in 1945 at the Husky Winter Sports area at Martin near Stampede Pass.

He was Technical Director for Jim Whittaker and Edmonds District 15 before starting the Ski

Laufer Ski School at Stevens in 1957. He directed the Ski Laufer Ski School until 1986, when

he moved to Sun Valley and taught there for 17 years.

- 79 -

B. Mary Ingster, Oswego, Oregon, won the National Masters Combined in 2002 and the

International FIS Masters Combined in 2005.

Peter Kennedy, Seattle, and sister, Karol (deceased) won the Pairs Skating World

Championships in 1950 and the Silver Medal in the 1952 Olympics. He later won a number of

Pacic Northwest (PNSA) ski races.

Larry Linnane and Joy Lucas both passed their Ski

Instructor Certications before World War II - Larry in 1940

and Joy in 1941. Larry still goes up on the bus to Stevens with

his Ski Klasses Ski School and the last time Joy skied was on

her 86th birthday.

Otto Ross was PNSA Certication Chairman, served

on the Ski Patrol for the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Valley, a

graduate of the French Ski School, and still actively teaching

skiing 4 days a week at age 80.

Chuck Welsh, Seattle, Northwest Museum and Hall of

Fame board member, was one of the rst-skiers to ski down

from the top of Mt. Rainier in 1948.

Lois Woodward, of Walden, N.Y., won the FIS National

Masters Championship Cup in 2003, 2005 and 2006 for her

age group.

John Woodward, also of Walden, was a member of the

University of Washington Ski Team in the 1930s. He has won

innumerable National Championships. In 2003, he won the FIS

Masters Cup which had over 300 international competitors. In

2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, he won the Combined National

Masters Races. He is the world’s oldest and fastest ski racer,

at aged 90, as of 2006. Even USSA created a new class for

him and another 90 year old, Bill Disbro.

We can be proud of our Ancient Skiers! Inspirations to

us all! Their open mindedness and freedom made skiing a

way of life. Many made their mark nationally as well as in the

Olympics. They didn’t just close up shop when they reached

60 - they stayed with it, served it, raced with it, and taught it

They patrolled it, served their country in the Mountain Troops,

raced in NASTAR and the Masters, and are still skiing up a

storm into their ‘80s and even ‘90s.

The original area operators developed their ski areas

from Mom and Pop areas operating on a shoestring - from rope tows and warming huts to modern

chairs and ne facilities. By the time they retired, skiing was big business and national corporations

bought them out. Where before all segments of the operation, from area employees, ski schools,

ski patrols to management and their customers had grown up together and cooperated as a

family, ski areas and skiing itself evolved. It was natural that the closeness and need for each

other changed as well. We shared in the camaraderie of ski clubs, competing in all levels of

racing, serving our injured fellow skiers, as well as teaching them and skiing with them. That

brought us life-long friendships. The warm, fuzzy memories are ours forever. The Ancient Skiers

were a part of it all. We look back with pride and enjoyment that we lived, skied and participated

in the Golden Years of Skiing.

What a Way to Live! Ski Heil!

- 80 -

ANCIENT SKIERS BECOMES AN ORGANIZATION

The following is taken from minutes of the organization showing

how it developed and the activities they participated in.

As a result of the rst Ancient Skiers banquet in 1982, Irv Pratt, and some of his skiing

buddies got together - The more they thought about it, the more they wanted an organization

for old skiers and they decided to take the steps to make it ofcial.

The rst ofcial meeting of the Ancient Skiers was held on April 21, 1986, with Irv Pratt,

Mel Borgersen, Glenn Jones, Hal Smith and Robert St. Louis. Bob St. Louis presented the

Articles of Incorporation, together with a certicate attesting to the incorporation of this non-

prot corporation. The rst ofcers of the organization were: Irv Pratt, President; Glenn Jones,

Vice President; Robert St. Louis, Secretary; and Mel Borgersen, Treasurer.

The membership would be those people who attended that rst banquet. It was passed

that the $5.00 dues, which they already paid, would constitute payment of their dues for the

calendar year. At this time, they felt no need to raise the dues unless there was some special

reason for accumulating additional funds.

The following year, it was decided to have a mandatory lifetime membership of $50

because it was too cumbersome to be continually checking who had paid their dues.

Their mission was to hold events that would bring old ski friends together, such as the

Sun Valley Reunion, a Paradise Clamfreeze, banquets, creation of a permanent Northwest

Ski Museum for old ski equipment and other ski memorabilia, and a Northwest Ski Hall of

Fame to recognize and honor those in this region who had contributed to the skiing scene

in the Northwest. The honorees were to be from all sections of skiing, the racers, ofcials,

instructors, ski patrol, cross-country, area operators, as well as ski equipment and clothing

manufacturers.

The young Board began to make plans for future Ancient Skier events. First on the agenda

was a second banquet planned for August 19, 1987. They would honor those skiers who had

already been inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, Mich., for their skiing

exploits. They decided on Gretchen Kunigk Fraser, Don Fraser, Grace Carter Lindley, Otto

Lang and Hjalmar Hvam.

In 1987, Irv stepped down as President and Glen Jones took his place. The next President

was Mel Borgersen, then Jim Whitman, followed by Bob St. Louis, each of the original charter

members serving his term as President.

Early on, Jim Whitman and Jack Schneider were added as board members. By 1991,

the Board was enlarged to 8. Delight Mahalko became Treasurer and B Jo Allen became

Secretary. In 1995, B Jo Allen, Bob Johnson, Betsy Withington and Gus Raaum were added

to the Board and Delight Mahalko as Treasurer.

In 1990, the dues were raised to $100.00 for lifetime memberships. The only limitation had

been that the applicant had either participated in skiing prior to the commencement of World

War II or was related to such a person. It was agreed that future applicants for membership

must be at least 60 years of age and have skied primarily in the Northwest.

With the Sun Valley Reunions becoming so successful, the Board felt they were losing the

closeness of the past and they had outgrown the facilities of the Valley where they could all

- 81 -

be together. Ideas were tossed to limit the membership to 400. 50% of the membership came

to this event and 200 could be accommodated easily at most of their venues. In 1997, the big

question arose whether to raise the membership to a total of 450 - or have a “No Limit.” An

article in the P-I that mentioned the Ancient Skiers brought 26 requests for membership. They

didn’t want to turn away people and they didn’t want the group to turn into a “Last Man’s Club.”

To better control the number of memberships to qualied skiers, they added the requirement

for new members to be sponsored by an Ancient Skier.

On March 11, 1994, The Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame was incorporated,

making two separate organizations. It was made clear that the Ancient Skiers did not have

administrative responsibilities over the Ski Museum and Hall of Fame. Only 3 members served

on both boards, Irv Pratt, Gus Raaum and Bob St.Louis. This was not a majority for either

Board.

In 2001, the Ancient Skiers Board decided any excess funds from the biennial banquets

would be donated to the Northwest Ski Museum and that no Northwest Ski Museum funds

would be used to nance the Ancient Skiers Association, to ensure the separation of both

organizations’ funds. They also passed to have the Northwest Ski Museum handle the

banquets since any prots were always donated to the Museum anyway and this eliminated

one more step.

In 1997, Irv Pratt requested the Board of the Ancient Skiers to make him Chairman of

the Board. After much discussion, the Ancient Skiers By-Laws were amended to show Irv

as Founder of Ancient Skiers: “In recognition of his work in creating and building the Ancient

Skiers Association, Irv Pratt is hereby designated Founder of the Association.”

When Bob St. Louis passed away in 1998, B Jo Allen moved from Vice President to

President of the Ancient Skiers and was then elected to a four-year term in 1999. With the

membership growing, it was time to become more organized and the organization run more

by Robert’s Rules. In 2001, an amendment was added to the By-Laws to establish an elected

Board of Directors. (The Ancient Skiers Board rst appointed friends, and, when one retired,

they appointed another.) B Jo Allen retired from the board in 2003 and John Hansen was

elected President.

The Ancient Skiers Board claried that the Sun Valley “restricted funds” were an

accumulation of the modest surpluses accumulated over the years from the Sun Valley

reunions. The Sun Valley Committee oversees the use of these funds and uses them in

connection with the Sun Valley Reunion events.

By 2001, the membership had risen to 509. The need for an accurate and up-to-date

membership arose when it was found non-members were signing up for the Sun Valley

Ancient Skier week because of the discounted price. A “code” system was enacted to assure

their valid membership and added the requirement for new members to be sponsored by a

current Ancient Skier, plus be a member by November of the year prior. In an effort to assure

a more up-to-date membership base, the Board obtained a permanent P.O. Box, convenient

to both the Secretary and Treasurer and for all Ancient Skier business.

While newsletters were mailed out sporadically in the past, the board decided a regular

Ancient Skier Newsletter would be mailed 4 times a year. Both Ancient Skiers and Northwest

Ski Museum and Hall of Fame would contribute to the news, which would be approved by

Ancient Skiers ofcers prior to printing. Joy Lucas was appointed Newsletter Editor. In 2005,

Tina Rieman became co-editor.

- 82 -

The Ancient Skiers membership has continued to grow. The organization has stood the

test of time. It is well run and nancially sound. As original members are lost, skiers from a

new generation, many who have skied and taught for more than 40 years, become eligible to

become Ancient Skiers too and are welcomed. (John Woodward’s daughter, Wendy, became

age-eligible and joined the Ancient Skiers so she no longer has to be her Dad’s guest, much to

John’s chagrin.)

As with all organizations, there were times when there were growing pains as new problems

and situations occurred. The Ancient Skiers went through the same things. They were lucky

to have so many dedicated and knowledgeable people who worked the things through for the

best for all.

What a wonderful heritage to carry on. What the Ancient Skiers have made - let them continue!

Reunions

Sun Valley

The idea for a Sun Valley Reunion was born in 1983. A group of ski friends, including Jim

and Myrtle Whitman, Don and Betty Amick, Hank and Elsie Seidelhuber, Irv Pratt and others,

were over at the Valley and remembering the ne time everyone had at the banquet the year

before. Bill Clifford, Sun Valley Winter Reservations Chief, suggested having the group come

to the Valley the rst week in January as that was the slowest week during the winter, and he

could arrange special rates of half-price rooms and $30.00 for a 5-day lift passes for the group.

The rst ofcial Sun Valley Reunion was held the rst week in January 1985. In later years the

week was moved to the last week in January as there was more assurance of good snow.

In the early years when the numbers at Sun Valley were around 50, members living in

Sun Valley entertained them. Some of those were Don and Gretchen Fraser, John and Gloria

Osberg, Randy and Norma Zimmer, Bob and Sally Behnke, Don and Nonie Hall, and Dave

and Barbara Faires. As the numbers increased, fortunately the crop of people living in the

Valley took over with events for the group that could not be handled in homes. Some of these

were Ross and Corky Williams, Walt and Gevie Page, John and Helen Hansen, Joan and Bob

Mickelson, and others.

As the Reunions became more popular, the committee grew to include: Walt and Gevie

Page as Chairmen, Reid and Nancy Barker, Bob and Sally Behnke, Boots and Marci Blatt,

Bob and Martha Cram, Bill and Eleanor Eul, Dave and Barb Faires, John and Helen Hansen,

Lou and Jean Mackie, Ross and Glenda McLaughlin, Al and Barb McNicholl, Bob and Joan

Mickelson, John and Gloria Osberg, Ted and Mona Preece, Leigh and Louise Rabel, John and

Carla Williams, Ross and Corky Williams, and Dick Moulton and Patti Morrow.

Events planned were a buffet supper at the American Legion Hall; Cross Country trip from

the Sun Valley Nordic Center to Trail Creek Cabin for lunch; Ancient Skier Ski Race on Dollar

Mt. (the Yarn Good Race); Ram Dinner; plus the big band and dinner dance the last night. The

programs have continued close to the original set-up. Through the years, the Ancient Skiers

Association has made donations toward the operation of the Ketchum-Sun Valley Historical

Society’s Ski and Heritage Museums as they have become a denite part of the Reunion

events.

- 83 -

Each year, Ancient Skiers vied for the clever and unique trophies made by Al McNichoIl,

who took great joy in designing the trophies to be awarded at the Lodge Dinner to the

winnersof the races for the Hot Dog, Cross-country, Classic Skier, Cool Skier, Gracious Skier,

Amiable Skier, Stylish Skier, Blythe Spirit, Non-Skier award and Aggressive Skier. Now, the

Sun Valley Golden Sun Award created by Peter Wick is awarded to members with outstanding

achievements.

By 1997, 173 Ancient Skiers attended the Sun Valley Reunion. Because Ancient Skiers

week proved to be so successful, Sun Valley decided to offer a National Senior Ski Week for

all seniors 60 and over the same time as our week. This would not detract from our reunion,

but rather augment it with special rates and activities that Ancient Skiers could add to their

own agenda.

In 1998, over 300 Ancient Skiers attended. The program changed to having the Sunday

Reception and Registration at the Sun Valley Lodge. The Buffet Dinner Dance was held at

Elkhorn Lodge on Tuesday, and the Dollar Mountain Race was set by John Hansen as Chief

of Course. The Big Band Buffet Dinner Dance was held on Friday with a reserved section for

Ancient Skiers.

In 1999, John and Kay Besterman took over the reins as chairmen. Ross Williams and John

Hansen took on more responsibility with Walt Page aiding as needed to make the transition.

In 2001, 273 attended the annual event. John Hansen was made Chairman of the Sun

Valley committee with Ross Williams and Jack Keeney. He served as Chair until he was

elected President, though he worked closely with the committee.

2006 saw 350 skiers enjoying the Sun Valley Reunion. The committee grew even more:

Ross and Glenda McLaughlin were Co-Chairs with their committee: Sally Behnke, Pat Berg,

Buzz & Joanne Birkeland, Marci Blatt, Bob & Martha Cram, Bill & Eleanor Eul, Marlys & Len

Gerber, John Hansen, George Kohn, Frank & Linda Leibly, Dick & Patti Moulton, Bob & Lynne

Nicholson, Nick Parish and Sandy Bowman, Vicki Sutler, Bill Talbott, Solveig Thomson, Susan

Thurston, and Anna Marie and Peter Wick.

While we couldn’t nd other results, here are a couple showing some results of the

Yarn Good Races

Sun Valley Races - 2006:

Men’s NASTAR: First, Daniel Deward - 2nd, Joe Crosson - 3rd, George Bailey

Women’s NASTAR: First: Marlys Gerber - 2nd, Linda Orton - 3rd, Eloise Stevenson

Special Awards went to: Joan Meyer - Slickest Chick on Skinny Stix; Marr Mullen - Most

Bionic Body Parts; Rees & Eloise Stevenson - Oldest Couple still Ski Racing;

Doug Devin & Anni Gschwandler - Anni for Coming the Farthest Distance (Kitzbühl, Austria)

and Doug for the Most Embarrassing Moment on Skis That Week;

Dick Loudon - Saddest Injury Award.

January - 1997

Couples

1. Eloise Stevenson & Bill McNabb

2. Tom & B Jo Allen

3. Bob & Betsy Withington

4. Laila Lie & Gus Raaum

5. Bob & Lynne Nicholson

6. Kay Haley & Harold Mathers

January - 1998

Couples

1. Bob & Sally Behnke

2. Boots & Marci Blatt

3. Bob & Martha Cram

4. Dave & Barbara Faires

5. John & Helen Hansen

6. Dick Moulton & Patti Morrow

- 84 -

Paradise Clamfreezes

The rst Paradise get-together was held June 1-2, 1985, with 100 Ancient Skiers attending

to help Otto Lang celebrate his 49” anniversary of his arrival in the Northwest. Just for old times

sake, he was forerunner for the slalom course set by ex-Olympian Don Amick for the Ancient

Skiers on the hill behind Paradise Lodge for the gathering.

More than 3 dozen Ancient Skiers, some of them wearing pre-World War II garb, sidestepped

up the hill to make their runs. There were also cross-country and obstacle courses, with cups,

plaques, and ribbons presented at the evening banquet.

Grace Carter Lindley, who represented America in the 1936 Olympics, came from Minneapolis

with a huge scrapbook of clippings. Gretchen Fraser, who won an Olympic Gold medal in 1948,

came from Sun Valley with her husband, Don, also a great skier of his time.

The second Paradise Clamfreeze was in May 1989 with another June 12, 1993, when 50 old

skiers came to race and visit. The events were discontinued after that as the Company was not

interested enough to work with the Ancient Skiers.

The Biennial Banquets

The biennial banquets continued to be a great success, each year having from 250 to

350 people to attend the festivities, rst at the Double Tree Inn at Southcenter and later at the

Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. John Mullhollan, Tom Allen, Loody and Jean Christofero, Bob

and Norma Johnson, Bob Pederson, Roy and Mari Bordner, Gus and Claire Raaum, Otto Lang,

Al and Barb McNichoII, Jim Nussbaum and Gus Raaum helped organize the banquets for several

years before adding Julie Fiorini, Carol Stori, and Bob Cram. Len Gerber took over the reins as

chairman in 2004.

Gus Raaum and Bob Cram were the M.C.s to the delight of everyone. Besides honoring the

Hall of Famers - old ski movies of Devil’s Dip - Otto Lang - slides of Mt. Everest and Mt. McKinley,

with Jim Whittaker - and lms from Lowell Skoog and Warren Miller Films have all been a part of the

programs. But always, the special time before the dinners was when old ski friends “mingled and

mangled,” revisiting the olden days. Long Live the Golden Years of Skiing.

- 85 -

The “80 and Over Club” was formed at the 1998 Banquet

Thanks to Sid Pinch, charter member, musical watches were presented at the banquet in 1998

to the following Ancient Skiers who were coaches, lettermen and

University of Washington Ski Team Members.

Don & Betty Amick

Wolf Bauer

Kjell Bakke

Hans Bebie

Bob Behnke

Bud Brady

Palmer Chambers

Loody Christofero

Fran DeBruler

Jack Diggs

Don French

Buzz Fiorini

Julie Fiorini

Martin & Shirley Fopp

Sam Fry

Borge Giese

Margaret Graham

Lou Grunwald

Bob Johnson

Jack & Evie Kappler

Jan Kiaer

Hal Kinkade

Larry Linnane

Walt Little

Jim & Joy Lucas

Tordis Mittet

Webb Moffett

Wen Norquist

Dee Molenaar

John Mulhollan

Jim Nussbaum

Willa & John O’Connor

Walt & Gevie Page

Bob Pederson

Gerry Perry

Irv Pratt

Harry Pruzan

Gus Raaum

Duncan Reid

Ruth Reynolds

Lonnie & Alice Robinson

Don Sandall

Milt Scarlatos

Hank & Elsie Seidelhuber

Hank Simonson

Harold & Trudy Stack

Rees Stevenson

Karl StingI

Bill Talbott

Wendy Trosper

Chuck Welsh

Stan White

Jim Whitman

Bob & Betsy Withington

Leighton Wood

John Woodward

Graham Anderson

Kjell Bakke

Bob Behnke

John Behnke

Art Chetlain Jr.

Jack Doctor

Dave Faires

Jan Kiaer

Don French

Otto Lang (Coach)

Ole Lie

Ross McLaughlin

Gordon Mills

Walt Page

Gustav Raaurn

Leigh Rabel

Duncan Reid

Lonnie Robinson

Jack Schneider

Bob Smith

Harold Stack

Bob St. Louis

Karl StingI (Coach)

Rees Stevenson

Bill Talbott

Chuck Welsh

Ross Williams

Leighton Wood

John Woodward

- 86 -

You know that Stein is a skier as well as a vessel to hold beer.

Entrants in the Yarn Good Race at the 1992 Sun Valley Reunion

B Jo and Tom Allen with the Olympic Torch Bearer,

Rod Tatsuno, in Sun Valley in 2002

Randy and Norma Zimmer entertained

the Ancient Skiers at their home during

the Sun Valley Reunion

- 87 -

The Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame

By March of 1988, the Ancient Skiers organization had a charitable, non-prot status while

the Northwest Ski Museum Hall of Fame had a 501(c)(3) tax-free, non-prot status so that

tax deductible contributions could be accepted. Now, they could collect funds for the greatly

desired Ski Museum. While now there were two organizations, both were under the umbrella

of the Ancient Skiers. The Ancient Skiers handled the Sun Valley Reunions and other events

while the Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame searched for a suitable site for the Ski

Museum and handled the induction of skiers to the Hall of Fame.

The rst ofcers were: Irv Pratt, President; Loody Christofero, Vice President and Treasurer;

Chuck Welsh, Secretary. The rest of the board consisted of Bob Pederson, Otto Lang, Dave

Gossard and John Mulhollan.

In December 1987, the Moffetts donated space in the Forest Service building at the

Summit, to start a ski museum. Plans were made to dedicate the museum during the 50th

anniversary celebration of the Snoqualmie Pass Ski Area. The Ski Museum was opened Feb.

9, 1988, with a showing of 50 years of fashionable skiing. The Seattle Times offered free ski

lift tickets in exchange for memorabilia which could be made a part of the Museum. However,

in 1991, the Forest Service moved out and the displays were all removed, contrary to the

agreement they had made with the Ancient Skiers.

Finding a permanent home for the ski memorabilia proved to be a daunting task, a task that

was to go on through the years. Friends of Paradise were contacted to see if Paradise Lodge

or Inn had been designated a historical monument, but this never came through. Research

was made into the Nordic Museum and Museum of History and Industry, all to no avail. In the

mean time, several temporary sites were used - The Sleeping Lady in Leavenworth and the

Washington State Museum in Tacoma.

Other sites were researched. The Leavenworth Fire Station and Boehm’s Candy in

Issaquah were interested but they involved large sums of money to bring them to completion.

It was felt the organization did not have the funds to build a site and maintain it on its own.

Finally, in 2003, the new owners of Crystal Mt. accepted some of the ski equipment and made

a ne display of old-time skis on the walls of the Day Lodge for all to see.

Below: Hjalmar Hvam‘s rst handmade safety binding - displayed at Marymoor Park.

In 2014, a reorganization occurred where the Northwest Ski Museum in Leavenworth

would establish the Ski Museum and manage the display of Hall of Fame Inductees and where

the Ancient Skiers Association would be responsible for selection, election and induction of

Hall of Fame nominees.

- 88 -

NORTHWEST SKI HALL OF FAME

In 1987, at the third Ancient Skiers’ banquet, the rst of the Northwest Legends of Skiing

were honored. They all had been previously inducted in the National Ski Hall of Fame. In

1990 all the remaining Northwesterners in the National Ski Hall of Fame were inducted along

with four others. Inductions take place at each Ancient Skiers biennial banquet. In February

2014 The Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame opened the Northwest Ski Hall of Fame

exhibit in Leavenworth in the Enzian Inn. If your travels take you through Leavenworth be

sure to stop at Enzian Inn on the north side of Highway 2 in the middle of town. Below is our

list of current Northwest Ski Hall of Fame Inductees. Their photos and bios are displayed at

the exhibit. Also, visit the Ancient Skiers Association website at www.ancientskiers.com for

photos and biographies of all the member inductees.

1987

Donald “Don” W. Fraser

Gretchen (Kunigk) Fraser

Hjalmer Hvam

Otto Lang

Grace (Carter) Lindley

1990

Graham S. Anderson

Debbie Armstrong

Hermod Bakke

Magnus Bakke

Christina “Kiki” Cutter

Walter “Walt” A. Hampton

John C. Jay

William “Bill” Johnson

Elvin Robert “Bob” Johnson

Jannette (Burr) (Bray) Johnson

Richard “Dick” Kohnstamm

Earle B. Little

Phil Mahre

Steve Mahre

Fred H. McNeil

Gustav Raaum

Lyle St. Louis

Dr. Merritt Stiles

Olav Ulland

1992

Nelson A. Bennett

Joy (Piles) Lucas

Webb Moffett

Karl Stingl

1994

Clarence F. “Buster” Campbell

Wolf G. Bauer

Shirley (McDonald) Fopp

Michael Joseph “Jim” Lucas

Elizabeth “Betsy” M. Withington

1996

Donald “Don” H. Amick

David “Dave” S. Faires

Sebastian “Buzz” L. & Julie Fiorini

Hazel Edward “Ed” Link

1998

J. Stanley DeBruler

Hans-Otto Giese

William “Bill” A. Healy, Jr.

Irving “Irv” H. Pratt

John B. Woodward

2000

Arthur “Art” J. Audett

Franz X. Gabl

Bruce Kehr

Jack E. Nagel

2002

Ivor John “Buss” Allsop

Donald “Don” Christianson

Leif Clarence Odmark

Hank & Elsie (Nelson) Seidelhuber

2004

Robert “Bob” W. Cram

Randall “Randy” W. Garretson

Robert “Bob” Eugene Mickelson

Robert “Bob” St. Louis

2006

Tom & Barbara Jo (Paxton) Allen

Ivar W. Birkeland, Sr.

Walter “Walt” B. Little

Shirley Delight (Scott) Mahalko

2008

William “Bill” J. McNabb

Otto Ross

Rees & Eloise (Mulhauser) Stevenson

2010

John Martin Hansen

Ross Perry Williams

2012

Kjell Magnus Bakke

Yoshiteda “Yosh” Nakagawa

Walter R. Taulbee

2014

Joe & Doris Harlacher

Wini Jones

Susie Corrock Luby

Jim Martinson

- 89 -

Ancient Skiers Ofcers and Directors

Irv Pratt

Glenn Jones

Robert St. Louis

Mel Borgersen

Glenn Jones

Jim Whitman

Robert St. Louis

Mel Borgersen

Glenn Jones

Robert St. Louis

B Jo Allen

Robert St. Louis

Mel Borgersen

Jim Whitman

Irv Pratt

Glenn Jones

Jim Whitman

Robert St. Louis

Mel Borgersen

Irv Pratt

Mel Borgersen

None

B Jo Allen

Delight Mahalko

Bob Johnson

Glenn Jones

Irv Pratt

Jim Whitman

Robert St. Louis

B Jo Allen

Delight Mahalko

Bob Johnson

Glenn Jones

Irv Pratt

Mel Borgersen

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

I986 - 1987

I988 - 1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

Jim Whitman

B Jo Allen

Betsy Withington

Delight Mahalko

Bob Johnson

Glenn Jones

Irv Pratt

Mel Borgersen

Robert St. Louis

B Jo Allen

Betsy Withington

Delight Mahalko

Bob Johnson

Jim Whitman

Irv Pratt

Gus Raaum

Robert St. Louis

B Jo Allen

Betsy Withington

Delight Mahalko

Jim Whitman

Irv Pratt

Gus Raaum

John Hansen

B Jo Allen

Gus Raaum

Betsy Withington

Delight Mahalko

John Hansen

Irv Pratt

Chuck Welsh

Jim Whitman

B Jo Allen

Robert St. Louis

John Hansen

Ed Taylor

Delight Mahalko

Bob Albrecht

Christine Marshall

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P. &

Pres.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

1994 - 1995

I996 - 1997

1998

1999 - 2000 - 2001

2002 - 2003

John Hansen

Len Gerber

Ed Taylor

Delight Mahaiko

Peggy Newsom

Christine Marshall

John Hansen

Len Gerber

Ed Taylor

Frank Leibly

Christine Marshall

Peggy Newsom

John Hansen

Len Gerber

Ed Taylor

Frank Leibly

Mary Lynne Evans

Peggy Newsom

John Hansen

Len Gerber

Ed Taylor

Frank Leibly

Mary Lynne Evans

Richard Merritt

John Hansen

Ed Taylor

Frank Leibly

Tex Steere

Bill Price

Mary Lynne Evans

Bill Price

Mary Lynne Evans

Tex Steere

Leland Rosenlund

Judy Sweeney

Kirby Gilbert

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

Pres.

V.P.

Secty.

Treas.

Dirs.

2004 - 2005 - 2006

2007 - 2008

2009

2010 - 2011 - 2012

2013

2014

- 90 -

Northwest Ski Museum and Hall of Fame Ofcers & Directors

The rst ofcers were:

President

Vice Pres

Secretary

Treasurer

Directors

President

Vice Pres

Secretary

Treasurer

Directors

President

Vice Pres

Secretary

Treasurer

Directors

President

V.P. & Treas.

Secretary

Board

Irv Pratt

Robert St. Louis

Chuck Welsh

Loody Christofero

Dave Gossard

Otto Lang

John Mulhollan

Bob Pederson

Irv Pratt

Gus Raaum

Chuck Welsh

Graham Anderson

Bob Behnke

Bob Johnson

Robert St. Louis

Irv Pratt

Gus Raaum

Chuck Welsh

Graham Anderson

Bob Behnke

Bob Pederson

Loody Chistofero

Irv Pratt

Loody Chistofero

Chuck Welsh

Dave Gossard

1997

1999

2001 -2006

- 91 -

What would an Ancient Skier history be without

Gus Raaum’s Ole and Lena Jokes?

Any time Gus got the podium at get-togethers such as the Ancient Skiers banquets and reunions,

they were certain to hear a few like these.

• Ole and Lena got married and they headed for Everett, checked into a motel there, and

went to bed. Ole leaned over and gave Lena a peck on her cheek. Then Lena said to Ole,

“Now that we are married you can go further.” So Ole got up and got dressed and they drove

to Bellingham.

• When the Norwegian accidentally lost 50¢ in the outhouse, he immediately threw in his

watch and billfold. He explained, “I’m not going down there for yust 50 cents!”

• Two Norwegians from Minnesota went shing in Canada and returned with only one sh.

“The vay I gger it, dat sh cost us $400.00,” said the rst Norwegian. “Vell,” said the other

one, “at dat price it’s a good ting we didn’t catch any more.”

• Olga talked to her friend, Lena, “My husband vent out for a loaf of bread six weeks ago

and never returned. Vat should I do?” “I wouldn’t vait any longer if I vas you,” said Lena, “I’d

go get de bread myself.”

• In Ballard. the homeowners discovered there were skunks in the basement. He asked

his neighbor how to get rid of them. He was told to put lutesk in the basement and he did and

the skunks left. Then he had to gure out how to get rid of the Norwegians.

• A Norwegian went shing and brought home 150 pounds of ice - and his wife damned

near drowned trying to cook it.

• A rooster was walking past an Easter basket full of colored eggs and got so mad that he

went over and beat the hell out of the Peacock.

• Ole and Knut were out on the lake shing, and they were having pretty good luck. Ole

said to Knut, “Vy don’t you mark de spot so ve can nd it tomorrow?” Later when they were

tying the boat to the dock, Ole asked Knut, “Did you mark de spot like I told you?” “Ya,” said,

Knut, and he pointed to a small “x” on the side of the boat, “You dummy,” said Ole, “Vat if ve

don’t get de same boat tomorrow?”

• Ole and Knut were good friends. Ole moved out of town and got a job as a chauffeur for

a rich lady. Knut went to visit Ole and he picked him up at the airport in a Rolls Royce. Knut

asked Ole how he liked chauffeuring this car. Ole said, “I own this car now.” “How is it pos-

sible?” asked Knut. “Vell, “ said Ole, “I drove this lady out to a picnic, and I laid out the blanket

on the ground, and the rich lady took off all her clothes and told me I could have anything I

wanted, so I took the Rolls Royce.” “That was a good idea,” said Knut, “because the clothes

wouldn’t have t you anyvay.”

- 92 -

Skiers Loved to Sing!

Before and after World War II and before the arrival of tapes and CDs, skiers would crowd

around lodge replaces and sing skiing songs, and they would do the same when driving back

from the mountains. Here are some of those songs.

Penguin Ski Club Songs from 1939

I once took my wife to the mountain

She said she would learn how to ski

She thought the instructor was handsome

Oh, bring back my wie to me.

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my wie to me, to me

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my wie to me.

The instructor said now you can christie

I started to schuss down the slope

He yelled as I started my christie

Oh, was that instructor a dope.

Bring back, bring back

Oh, bring back my christie to me, to me

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my christie to me.

I said to my friends in Hoboken

I’m off to the mountains to ski

And now that my ankle is broken

It’s back to Hoboken for me,

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my ankle to me, to me

Bring back, bring back

Oh, bring back my ankle to me.

Tune:

Spring Time in the Rockies

When it’s springtime in the mountains

That’s where I long to be

Midst a host of friendly faces

That remain so clear to me

There’s good fellowship and laughter

With a happy skiing throng

When it’s ski time in the mountains

I know that’s where I belong.

Tune:

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Tune:

That’s Where My Money Goes

I know a gal, I do

Her name was Sloughfoot Sue

She’s chief engineer in a shirttail laundry

Down by the riverside view.

Her shape was all she had

She had a face like a soft-shelled crab

She had a stiff upper lip like a rudder on a ship

By Gad, but she looked sad.

Chorus

That’s where my money goes

To buy my baby clothes

I buy her every little thing

To keep her out of Walla Walla Walla

She wears my BVDs

I stand outside and freeze

Yea, Bo, that’s where my money goes.

Tune:

Among My Souvenirs

There’s nothing left of me

I’ll never learn to ski

I fell and broke my knee

And tore off both my ears.

The thing I tried to do

Was follow after you

The things that I’ve been through

Will leave their scars for years.

A few more hairs are left

Upon my manly chest

Although I know the rest

Are gone forever.

Through wind or snow or rain

I’ll try it once again

Cause I’m immune to pain

And I’ve been nuts for years.

- 93 -

Two Boards Upon Cold Powder Snow

A year may have more than one season.

But I can remember but one,

The time when the rivers are freezin’

And the mountains with whiteness are spun.

The snowakes are falling so fast,

And winter has come now at last.

Chorus:

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo Ho!

What else need a man know?

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo Ho!

That’s all need a man know.

Chorus:

The hiss of your skis is passion, you cannot imagine a spill,

When, Bang!, there’s a goshawful gash in that smooth, shining track on the hill.

What’s happened you cannot understand,

There’s two splintered boards in your hand!

Chorus:

Two boards and some snow down your neck, Oh Heck!

Your boards are a heck of a wreck!

Two boards and some snow down your neck, Oh Heck!

Your boards are a heck of a wreck!

When Spring with its torrents and thunder, destroys winter’s magic, O God,

The world and its spell that it’s under, awakes to a nightmare of mud!

The skier all pufng and sweating,

Will climb any mountain and sing,

Chorus

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo, Ho,

The craziest song that I know,

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo, Ho,

The craziest song that I know.

I care not if government taxes take everything else that I own,

Just give me my boards and my waxes and I’m off to the mountains alone.

And if death nally takes me in spring,

Inscribe on my tomb what I sing,

Chorus:

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo Ho!

That’s all a man need know,

Two boards upon cold powder snow, Yo Ho!

That’s all a man need know!

- 94 -

The Arlberg Ski School Song

Oh, we’re from the Arlberg Ski School,

An honorable clan are we,

We teach you to ski for a dollar,

For a dollar, we’ll teach you to ski.

We press pants for fty cents extra,

And throw in a ski school pin free.

Tra la, tra la, tra la, tra le

An honorable clan are we.

Oh, we’re from the Arlberg ski school,

An honorable clan are we,

We’ll iron out your faults for a dollar;

For a dollar we’ll teach you to ski.

Pressed pants for fty cents extra,

And throw in the ski school pin free–

And when you hear the cry slalom!

Dig down deep in your wallet;

Christies, stem turns, and tail waggin’ too;

If you have a turn, we will call it.

Slalom, slalom, slalom, slalom.

Oh, we’re from the Arlberg ski school,

An honorable clan are we,

We’ll teach you to bend at the elbow,

But we’re not so sharp at the knee.

And every night we drink gallons of beer,

To keep in condition you see–

And when you hear the cry slalom!

Rally ‘round if you’re able,

And if you nd the beer’s all gone,

You’ll nd us all under the table.

Slalom, slalom, slalom, slalom.

I love to go a-wandering along the mountain track,

And as I go I love to sing, my knapsack on my back.

Val-de-ri, Val-der-ra, Val-der-ra, ha ha ha ha ha.

Val-der-ri, my knapsack on my back.

I wave my hat to all I meet, and they wave back to me,

And blackbirds call so loud and sweet, from every

greenwood tree,

- 95 -

Snow Snake Song

There are systems and theories of skiing

But there’s one thing I surely have found.

That skiing’s conned to the winter time

While the drinking’s good all the year ‘round.

Chorus:

Walla, walla, walla,

Here’s to the trail and the mountain top

And here’s to the skier who dares,

But give me my glass and my bottle

To drive away all of my cares.

There are Christies, gelundesprungs and telemarks

And jump turns and mambos and such,

But these I’ll leave to the kanonens*

Cause I like my drinking too much.

Chorus:

Walla, walla, walla,

Here’s to the trail and the mountain top

And here’s to the skier who dares,

But give me my glass and my bottle

To drive away all of my cares.

Each skier must dodge every tree he sees

And miss every rock in the trail,

But the thing I fear most is the heebie jeebies

And the snow snakes’ loud hideous wait.

Chorus:

Walla, walla, walla,

Here’s to the trail and the mountain top

And here’s to the skier who dares,

But give me my glass and my bottle

To drive away all of my cares.

*Kanonen: an expert skier

Vaf-der-ri, Val-der-ra, Val-der-ra, ha ha ha ha ha,

Val-de-ri, Val-der-ra, from every greenwood free.

Oh, may I go a-wandering, until the day I die

Oh, may I always laugh and sing, beneath God’s

clear blue sky.

Val-der-ri, Val-der-ra, Val-der-ra, ha ha ha ha ha,

Val-der-ri, Val-der-ra, beneath God’s clear blue sky.

The Happy Wanderer

Underneath the Takeoff

Underneath the takeoff every Sunday morn,

A jolly bunch of skiers come to jump and show

their form

Oh! The big and the small, the small and the big,

They all come dressed up in a skier’s rig,

They jump until they’re blue, and when they

are through,

The President pulls a string and they drop their

skis and sing:

Ja, ja vi skall ha – lutesk og lefsa, lutesk

og lefsa

Ja, ja vi skall ha – lutesk og lefsa, og lefsa,

brenneven og snus.

And when the jumping’s over and the day

is done,

They hurry from the mountain top to have

a little fun,

Oh! The small and big, and big and small

They congregate at Svenska Hall.

They drink a foaming brew, take on a rosy hue,

The President pulls the string and they blow

their foam and sing:

Ja, ja vi skall ha – lutesk og lefsa, lutesk

og lefsa

Ja, ja vi skall ha – lutesk og lefsa, og lefsa,

brenneven og snus.

Alouette

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Alouette je te plumerai

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Alouette je te plumerai

Je te plumerai la tête

Et la tête, Et la tête,

Alouette, Alouette

O-o-o-o-Oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Alouette je te plumerai

Manana

Oh, the rope tow she is busted,

the engine will not run,

The guests are all complaining at

missing all their fun.

They ask us when we’ll x it,

and we can only say:

“We x it up Manana,

but we gotta ski today.”

Manana, Manana, Manana is good enough for me.

The tows they are all nished,

they are frozen in the snow.

The chair lift, she’s no function,

for why we do not know.

The guests are not complaining,

they do not give a hoot.

They’re all down in Skykomish

a goin’ on a toot.

Manana, Manana, Manana is good enough for me.

The customers are coming

all the way up here to ski,

Why the damn fools do it is

something we can’t see.

It snows like hell all weekend,

‘til the folks all go away,

Then skiing is just wonderful,

the sun shines everyday.

Manana, Manana, Manana is good enough for me.

- 96 -

Is Everybody Ready?

(Battle Hymn of the Republic)

Is everybody ready said the starter looking up,

Our hero feebly answered “yes”

and then we stood him up,

He jumped into his bindings but

one of them came unhooked.

Oh, he ain’t going to race no more.

Chorus:

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die, and he

ain’t going to race no more.

He felt the wind upon his face,

he felt a hell of a drop,

He tried to stem, he tried to check,

and then he tried to stop.

There was a crash, a horrible gash,

a mighty ow of blood

Oh, he ain’t going to race no more.

Chorus:

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die, and he

ain’t going to race no more.

There was blood upon the bindings,

there was blood upon his skis.

His intestines were a hanging from

the tallest of the trees.

They scraped him up from off the snow

and poured him from his boots,

Oh, he ain’t going to ski no more.

Chorus:

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die,

Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die, and he

ain’t going to race no more.

- 97 -

Ninety Pounds of Rucksack

(Bell Bottom Trousers)

(From the 10th Mountain Division)

Once there was a barmaid in a mountain inn,

T’was there she learned the wages of misery and sin.

Along came a skier fresh from off the slopes,

He ruined all her dreams and shattered all her hopes.

Chorus:

Singing: “Ninety pounds of rucksack

A pound of grub or two

He’ll schuss the mountains

Like his Daddy used to do.”

He asked her for a candle to light his way to bed.

He asked her for a kerchief to cover up his head.

And she being a foolish maid and thinking it no harm,

Jumped into the skier’s sack to keep the skier warm.

Chorus:

Singing: “Ninety pounds of rucksack

A pound of grub or two

He’ll schuss the mountains

Like his Daddy used to do.”

Now early in the morning before the break of day,

He handed her a ve-spot and with it he did say,

“Take this my darling, for the damage I have done...

Maybe you’ll have a daughter, maybe you’ll have a son.

Now if you have a daughter, bounce her on your knee

And if you have a son, send the bastard out to ski.”

Chorus:

Singing: “Ninety pounds of rucksack

A pound of grub or two

He’ll schuss the mountains

Like his Daddy used to do.”

The moral of this story as you can plainly see,

Is never trust a skier an inch above your knee.

I trusted one and now look at me

I’ve got a bastard son in the Mountain Infantry.

Chorus:

Singing: “Ninety pounds of rucksack

A pound of grub or two

He’ll schuss the mountains

Like his Daddy used to do.”