Fort Richardson Biathlon Center

1950's to 1970's

~  Photos ~

USA Biathlon Team, Fort Richardson, Alaska - November 20, 1959
Skiers: Ronald Seater (left) and William Rudd [Photo credit:  Alaska State Library, Historical Collections]
Biathlete John Morton at Fort Rich Biathlon Range in 1973		Women's XC ski race at Biathlon Range in 1973.  Will Whiton photo.
Pictures from the 1974 Arctic Winter Games Biathlon Races that were held at the Fort Richardson Biathlon  Center
	[Left] At the range, prone position. [Photo credit:  Alaska State Library, Historical Collections] [Right] Two skiers head out onto the course. [Photo credit:  Alaska State Library, Historical Collections]
	[Left] Two skiers approach the shooting range. [Photo credit:  Alaska State Library, Historical Collections] [Right] A woman uses a spotting scope to observe the shooting accuracy of competitors. [Photo credit:  Alaska State Library, Historical Collections]

~  Documents & Maps ~

1982 "A Guide to Cross Country Skiing in Anchorage" 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 trails at the Fort Richardson Biathlon Center. (Click on page or map below to expand to readable size) [Text and map credits: Leo Hannan]
Map of biathlon trails (1982)	Description of biathlon trails (1982)

~  Site Photos ~
 

The Fort Richardson Biathlon Refurbishment Project - Dec. 2007 A visit to the Fort Richardson Biathlon Training Center in late December 2007 revealed a new biathlon complex had been built (lodge, timing building, parking lot, outhouses, new trails and a new shooting range).  But - there was no sign that this facility is seeing any winter use.  The road to the site was gated shut and the road was not plowed.  The road to this site was never plowed open during the previous winter either. [Photo Credits: Tim Kelley]
New lodge		Shooting positions on new shooting range	Target marker
Some old firing range markers remain	New timing building	New signage on new trails	Many of the new trails have fallen trees blocking them, a sign that this facility is not being used.
	"Biathlon Ski Team Training Area Keep Out"
Old trail signs still can be found nailed to trees			"Snowhawk Training Off Limits To All"

 

Site photos taken by Tim Kelley - Oct. 2004
Both sides of the southern edge of the shooting range are marked by these red and white striped safety markers.
	A fence still stands at the southern end of the range.  Targets were hung on this fence as is evidenced by the posts.  The posts still show scars from the days biathlon competitors used REAL guns: 223 caliber rifles instead of the 22 caliber "make believe" rifles used today!
	[Left] The shooting range, where I once skied during the 1976 North American XC Championships (almost 30 years prior to this photo), is now covered with dense alder growth.  [Right] An old trail sign. UPPER LOOP ONLY ???
Street lights on the power line poles leading to this site must have provided night skiing illumination.

~  Maps and Aerial Views  ~

This topo map shows the location of the old US Army Biathlon trail system in relation to Anchorage (click on the map to enlarge it).

The Todd Communications "Anchorage & Vicinity Roads and Recreation Map" (circa 2000) shows the layout of the old biathlon trails.

(Click on image to enlarge it)

This 1996 aerial view shows the biathlon center layout.  An access road came in to a Quonset warm-up hut (which no longer exists).  To the south of the quonset hut was the shooting range.  Trails were cut on the lower western slopes and the upper eastern slopes.  A powerline that came to the hut and range was rigged with street lamps to provide light for night skiing.  (Click on image to enlarge it)

This is a zoomed in view of the range.  (Click on this view to enlarge it)

The Fort Richardson Biathlon Center was the first place I ever raced in Alaska.  I went to the National Championships in Bozeman, MT in 1976 and won a unexpected trip, the next week, to the North American Cross Country Skiing Championships at this trail system.  I stayed at George and Judy Morelein's home (parents of my Dartmouth College roommate and fellow ski team member Tim Morelein).  I remember driving down Muldoon Road, which was all gravel then, and having to sign in at the guard shack at the Moose Run golf course.  The warm-up facility was a quonset hut with a wood stove.  The temperatures were quite cold for March, I believe we were skiing packed powder tracks on green and special blue hard wax.  From the start/finish area next to the shooting range, the course went downhill for a couple of kilometers.  Then there was a long, very tough 5 km or so climb up past the range to the high point of the trail system to the east.  A couple of kilometers of screaming downhill then brought you back to the range and the end of a 10km loop.  To make other distances, various cutoff loops were used.  This being my first time to Alaska, I was quickly enamored with this place and the people.  And soon I would be calling Anchorage my home.  So ... in a way, I can thank this "lost ski area" for calling me north to Alaska.  Something I've never regretted.

Do you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to contribute about this ski area?