Arctic Valley Ski Bowl

1941 to 2003

1st Lieutenant Edith A. Spitzer, Army Nurse Corps (1943)
Photos courtesy of Sanferd "Sandy" Spitzer

Arctic Valley Skiing Photos Courteously of Veteran Skier, Ski Patroller and Anchorage Ski Club Member Harvey Turner 

[Photo credits:  Harvey Turner]

Arctic Valley rope tow in 1950

Harvey Turner running slalom in 1952

GI ski racer at Arctic Valley, 1952

[Above] Arctic Valley torchlight (road flares) parade in the 1970's.  [Below] ASC membership card.

Ed Corey Pictures and a great description of skiing at the Arctic Valley Ski Bowl in 1961-1963

[Photo credits: Ed Corey]

[Ed Corey - 11 and 12 September 2007 emails]   Here's a photo of the Bear's Paw Lodge. In its time it was a pretty nice place. You can see a chimney in the middle of the lodge on the photo. There was a HUGE open fireplace inside with tables and chairs arranged all around it on all sides. Hidden behind the man in the bomber jacket was a row of double pane picture windows where you could park yourself with a cup of hot coffee or chocolate and watch everyone on the slopes while you regained your body temperature.

If you look up to the top of the T-100 pomalift you can see a little house at the top of the mountain. This was just a place to get in out of the weather and warm up a little, usually very little. The house you described at the bottom of the B-20 was for the same purpose. The B-20 poma was notorious for breaking down. When it was working, the B-20 trails were the best thing since sliced bread. When it broke down, it was quite a struggle through incredibly deep snow to get back up to the lodge area. If you didn't or couldn't climb back to the top, you had to wait and when the wind was blowing, it was very frigid. The house was there to provide a little shelter, very little.

See all those poles on the mountain? Every one of those poles had a street light on it. This place was open until 9 PM every night except Sunday when they closed at 5 PM. When it wasn't snowing you could see every little bump on the snow at night and go around it (or over it).
The B-20 trails weren't lit so we had to ski on the T-100 slopes but that was good enough. This place was great for kids like me and my friends. We got out of school, ran home and changed, dashed over to the Enlisted Men's Club and caught the next shuttle. We could get in an hour so of time on the mountain, take the shuttle back down and still have time to do homework. Had it not been for Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara, I probably would have been a professional ski bum.

If you look above and to the right of the opening to the lodge there is a line of snow fencing poles at regular intervals. This was a snow fence put in place to hold the snow. This area was called Sunny Ridge.
The B-20 pomalift let off its riders there, although lower and hidden behind the lodge. I nearly became a soprano on one of those poles during a fall. I'll never forget that.

In the center of this photo is the rope tow engine housing for the bunny hill. It looks high up on the mountain but it wasn't. There seems to be a lack of perspective here. From the lodge, you had to skate over to the rope tow, ride it up, then slide down to the T-100 pomalift. You can barely make out the T-100 towers in this photo, they are to the left of the rope tow. You can see the return tower on top of the mountain, the other towers are in line with it.

Here's a photo from the top of the T-100. You can see the street lights going up the mountain in this photo. If you look at the guy in the lower left corner, behind him you can see the snow fence running across Sunny Ridge above the B-20 return tower. That tower is to the right of the fence. The B-20 trails started right behind the parking lot at the bottom of the hill. They were sometimes a little hard to get to because of this. The guys who ran the snow plows probably didn't ski and didn't care so they would bank up huge piles of snow, dirt, rocks and whatever they plowed up over the B-20 entrances. Typical Army. Those trails skirted around the side of the mountain for about a mile and all culminated at the pomalift station. If you were lucky you could find your way by following someone else's tracks in the snow. If there was fresh snow and you were the first one on the trail, well, you sure had to know where you were going. I was wrapped around a tree one day and buried in a creek on another while exploring new trails after a night of heavy snow.

Then, there was the notorious bathroom. That was the building to the left of the quonset huts in the center of the picture. Inside, there was only a toilet seat mounted on a big steel pipe that seemed to be bottomless. I have no idea where that pipe went nor do I want to know.

I have oomlahs of these old Arctic Valley lift tickets from 1961-1963.  [see below]  They cost $.50 back in those days. Would you rather have them individually scanned? How many do you want to see?. I'm working on getting some old photographs scanned, they're a little faded after all these years.

I was a teen-ager in the sixties and I practically lived at Arctic Valley for six months out of the year. I knew the place inside out.  The pomalift to the top of the mountain and it's associated ski area down to the lodge was called the T-100. The six trails skirting around the side of the lower half of the mountain were known as the B-20.  These trails weren't marked anywhere so we were somewhat on our own finding our way to the pomalift at the bottom. This pomalift was also called the B-20. I can tell you much more, what mysteries are there?

Ed Corey

Arctic Valley Pictures Courtesy of Milt West, who was stationed at Nike Site Summit during 1965-1965

[Photo credits:  Milt West]

Locating the Site of a Tragic 1955 Ski Area Accident

In 1955 Bob Thompson was tragically killed when a truck carrying John Goetz and him rolled down the mountain on which the Arctic Valley Ski area is located.  Bob was a member of the Castner's Cutthroats Army Scouts and one of the founders of the Arctic Valley Ski Area.  At the time Bob was driving a 6-wheel "deuce and a half" (2 1/2 ton) military truck loaded with fuel for the lift power plant at the top of the ridge.  The truck apparently started sliding and then began rolling down the mountain.  Goetz was hurt badly, but lived through the accident.  In May 2005, 50 years after this accident, Jim Renkert, Stuart Grenier and Tim Kelley located the truck and Tim photographed the remains.

Chair 1 at Arctic Valley, built in 1971 by the Anchorage Ski Club, is named the Thompson Lift after Bob Thompson. The chairlift has not been operable for several years but the Anchorage Ski Club is working hard to hire contractors and start a fundraising campaign to renovate its use. There is also the 'Thompson Trophy' that the ski club gives to its most dedicated volunteer every year.

[Photo credits:  Tim Kelley]

[Right] Jim Renkert heard that the truck was carrying 55 gallon drums of fuel.  But this large fuel tank is directly downhill from the truck wreckage.  Possibly this tank was on the truck instead of the drums?  More research is needed.

Grace and Bob Thompson, circa 1955

[Photo credit:  Grace Thompson]

Closing the Arctic Valley Ski Bowl - for Missile Firing Practice

In 1960, according to an August 1960 Anchorage Times article entitled "Closing of Ski Bowl", it was mentioned that the Arctic Valley Ski Bowl would be closed that coming March for the test firing of missiles.  Nike Hercules missiles were launched close to straight up from the missile batteries of Site Summit on a neighboring hilltop.  After 4 seconds the main missile would separate from the first stage booster and continue on towards Mt. Witherspoon in the Chugach Mountain Range.  The spent first stage booster would then coast to 45,000 feet of altitude before plummeting to the ground near the ski area.  Judging by the pictures below, and the size of the booster segments - it was a wise decision to keep skiers out of the area !!

[Photo credits:  Tim Kelley, except where otherwise credited]

Sleuthing the little known Arctic Valley Ski Jump - November 2005
(Click any photo to enlarge it)

[Photo Credits: Tim Kelley]

This flat section is the lip of the jump, from which the jumpers would take flight.

The Search for the (Almost) Forgotten Arctic Valley Ski Area Poma Lift

In May 2005 Stuart Grenier led Jim Renkert and Tim Kelley on a search for remnants of the almost forgotten Poma lift that once served slopes BELOW the ski lodge and parking lot site.  What was found is documented below.  This was a sizeable Poma lift, the vertical it serviced was almost 1000 feet.  Stuart quoted Norm Pitchler as saying the slopes the Poma lift served back in the 1960's were very windswept and eventually the lift was abandoned due to the prevailing southeast Ship Creek Valley winds.

[Photo credits:  Tim Kelley]

Above tree-line a couple of the old Poma lift tower pedestals can be found.  The one in the far right picture was apparently the top tower's base.

Good luck finding these lift remnants when the leaves and grass come out.  As you can see, we made the search just after the snow mostly cleared from the area.

Late Summer and Fall 2005 Shots of the Arctic Valley Ski Area Site

[Photo credits:  Tim Kelley]

November 2005 shots from the Arctic Valley Ski Area: tower base on the left, highbush cranberries on the right (VERY tasty after the first freeze!).

November 2005 panoramic shot from the top of the Arctic Valley Ski Area site.
(click on this image to expand it)