|
Centennial
Park 1973
to 1987 |
| Name of Ski
Area: |
Centennial
Park |
| Location: |
Northeast
Anchorage |
| Type of Area: |
Downhill Ski Area, Cross Country Ski Trails |
| Dates of
Operation: |
1973 to 1987 |
| Who Built It?: |
Municipality
of Anchorage, Parks and Recreation Department |
| Base/Top/
Vertical Drop: |
Base:
~250' / Top: ~350' / Vert: ~100'
|
| Lifts: |
1 electric
powered rope tow.
|
| Facilities: |
Two downhill ski
trails, 5 kilometers of cross country ski trails with 1km
lighted. |
| Miscellaneous: |
This park shows features of
the Elmendorf Moraine geological formation. There are small
and steeply sloped
hills here with a lot of nooks and crannies. This terrain
was one a lateral or terminal moraine of a large glacier.
Such terrain would have made for superb and exciting cross country
ski racing trails in the, slower, wooden ski days. And the
steep slopes also would make fun alpine skiing slopes.
Cross country ski trails
are no longer used here for racing. The last ski races here
were likely in the late 70's / early 80's. A ski race called
the Oilwell Race was run from Service High School to Centennial
Park during the lat 70's / early 80's. The Nordic Skiing Association of
Anchorage no longer maintains these trails.
|
| Sources of
Information: |
John
McCleary and Jerry Walton of the MOA Parks and Recreation
Department; Tammy
Thiele (raced here in 70's); Tim Kelley (site visit and photos
Oct. 2004); Leo Hannan
|
| Photos: |
Does
anyone have pictures of skiing at Centennial Park that they
would like to
contribute to ALSAP ? |
|
|
~ Photos ~
|
Site Photos
- October 2004
(Click on pictures to enlarge them)
[Photo
Credits: Tim Kelley] |
|
|
The
remains of the rope tow power plant can be found at the top of this ski
area. A large electric motor, which was wired to a nearby power
pole, turned a drive shaft that was connected to half of a large truck
axle. It looks like the structure that housed this tow drive was
burned down. |
 |
|
There
are about 6 lift towers with wheel pulleys installed to support the
down-line of the rope tow loop. The majority of these supports are
made of welded steel. But a couple were made from timbers.
Perhaps the wooden towers were installed at a later date to correct
initial design problems. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Here is a view of
the ski area. In the trees to the left you can just barely see a
blue rope tow tower. The clearing in the center is a steep narrow
ski slope. To the right is the main downhill ski slope. This
slope is presently used as a sledding hill. |
 |
|
|
The
old cross country ski racing trails in this park are picturesque and
enchanting. They still call out to ski racers, on freshly pine-tarred
wooden BlaSkias and Rex Crowns, to be poled and strided. |
|
~
Documents & Maps ~
|
1973 "X-C
Ski Trails" by Leo Hannan |
| In
1973 Leo Hannan wrote an Anchorage area ski trails
guidebook entitled "X-C Ski Trails". Leo's guidebook was
republished in 1982, when it was called "A Guide to Cross
Country Skiing in Anchorage". This later "Subaru World Cup
Commemorative Edition" was published by the Nordic Ski Club of
Anchorage as a fund raising tool for the FIS World Cup cross country ski
race that was held at Kincaid Park that year. Below are
pages from this out of print guidebook that describe the
Centennial Park Trails.
(Click on page or map
below to expand to readable size)
[Text and
map credits: Leo Hannan] |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
1973 description (1) |
1973 description (2) |
1973 map |
1982 map and description |
|
Centennial
Park trail map from a 1975-76 Winter Recreation brochure
published by the Municipality of Anchorage, Division of Parks
and Recreation |
|
 |
|
To
view the full images of the 1975-1976 Anchorage Trails brochure,
click on the images below |
 |
 |
~
Aerial Views ~ |
|
This
2002 aerial view shows the location of Centennial Park in Anchorage
(click on the map to enlarge it). |
|
|
Here's
a zoomed in view of Centennial Park with the locations indicated of the
rope tow and the main downhill ski trail (Click on
image to enlarge it) |
|
|
Further
zooming in, here again is indicated the locations of the rope tow and
alpine ski trails. Also indicated is the location of the rope tow
engine and shed remains (Click on this view to enlarge it) |
|
| Research
Correspondence |
| [John
McCleary and Jerry Walton, MOA Parks and Recreation - October 27, 2004
email]
Tim,
The
following information is the best we, Jerry and I, can put together:
Centennial
Park was operated by the Borough in the early 70’s. The ski hill
was built by Borough staff the summer of 1973 and the rope tow operation
began that winter. It was operated by the P&R department.
There was never a ski jump at Centennial. After the poor winters
of 1985 and 1986 when tow operations were suspended and coupled with the
opening of Kincaid in 1986, the ski tow rope operations was officially
closed the winter of 1987.
|
| [Steve
Gruhn - November 4, 2004 email excerpt]
I
recall participating in a cross-country ski race [the Oilwell Race] that
started at Service High and finished at Centennial Park in 1981 or 1982.
|
[John McCleary,
MOA Parks and Recreation - December 01, 2005 email]
There were at
least three loops that we had designated as ski trails that were set
by our Park Maintenance section by snow machine in the 70’s. We had
a lighted loop that was set on the camp ground paved roadway system
that was approximately 1km and then the other two loops as shown on
the brochure totally approximately 5 km. The use of the trails was
low due to the competition by other trails such as the Bartlett H.S
and Russian Jack Springs trail systems that had more lights.
Eventually trail grooming was ended when the mid 80’s budget cuts
forced the closure of the ski hill and log cabin staffing.
Volunteer grooming by individuals and by the skijoring club was off
and on since then. With the lack of annual grooming and trail
maintenance, trails became victim to natural processes as you have
discovered. While they have become overgrown, they are still found
on the master park plan as park trails.
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Do
you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to
contribute about this
ski area? |
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