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Indian Mountain AFS 1953 to 1982 |
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~ MAPS ~ |
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This large scale topo map shows where Indian Mountain is relative to Hughes (a village of less then 100). Other than that, this remote radar station is not close to any town or road. (click on this map to expand it) |
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A zoomed in view of the topo map shows Bottom Camp and the access road climbing about 3200' to Top Camp. The dashed red line shows where a ski run would make sense - start above tree line and ski down the ridge until you met the powerline clearing that led to Bottom Camp. (click on this map to expand it) |
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[Mike Gantz - 20 December 2004 email]
Tim, |
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[Ed Bertschy - 20 December 2004 email]
Saw your
post. There definitely was skiing at Indian Mountain. At bottom camp,
there was a graded slope where cables were buried. This was pretty much
a beginners slope. The service section which loaned out camping
and sport equipment also had ski's you could check out.
At top
camp, no one ski'd that I know of. But many of us use to run survival
sleds down the side of the mountain. We tried to build a jump so you
could catch some air, but everyone tended to get dumped when they tried
to take it. Our commander decided he'd show us all. He dislocated
his shoulder on the run, and got sent back to the states. We even got it
on film.
There is at
least one good picture of the ski run on the Indian Mountain web site.
Ed Bertschy Indian Mountain 77-78
Ed,
Thanks for the information and story on
skiing at Indian Mountain. This info will help our web site
(www.alsap.org). Not many
people in Alaska these days even know where Indian Mountain is ...
even much less know that there was skiing there when the radar base
was in operation. On radomes.org there is a picture of the
cleared power line swath going from behind the power station up
to top camp. I figure this is the ski run you guys used?
Thanks again,
Tim
Tim,
Yeah,
that's the run. We'd get a good 12 foot base on that. People still
managed to hit trees and each other.
Ed |
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[Ron Nigg - 4 July 2005 email]
I was stationed at Indian Mountain 72-73 (top camp). We lost two guys that froze to death due to tracking a wounded moose and getting lost. There were three guys tracking and only one was found alive the next morning. One of the guys was in radar ops and the other was in radar maint. The one that made it out was a civilian and retired from the navy. I don’t remember any names. I also don’t remember the skiing but I was stranded on the road going to the hill top with 5 other guys one time and two of us walked up about a half mile to the next survival shack and called for help as our pickup crew cab had broken down and no one had missed us, they sent a bulldozer after us so we all made it in good shape. I was also stationed at Tatalina 63-64 but that is another story. I will look around and find my old pictures of the site as I know I have a good one of what the hill top camp looked like in 72-73
Ron Nigg |
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[Don Chaffin - 12 July 2005 email]
Skiing at Indian Mountain I arrived at Indian Mountain on June 23, 1982. My first day off was Sunday June 27th. On that day I decided to walk from top camp to bottom camp (10 miles by road). After walking down about 2 miles I spotted some snow lying in a ravine and it extended all the way down to the creek below (approximately a 4000 – 5000 ft elevation drop.) I figured that if I slid all the way down to the creek on this crust of snow I could then walk downstream to bottom camp. Not only would it be fun but it should be a little shorter. So, standing in a nice breeze on this mountain and looking out over this beautiful valley I was determined to embark on this little skiing adventure. Without skis or a snowboard I walked over to the snow and placed myself in a squatting position so as to have a lower center of gravity. I then began the slide of my life! I certainly never expected to be traveling at the speed which this little ride was affording me! Within seconds I was at the bottom and landed in a thicket of willows that saved me from serious injury which would have been caused by the large rocks, only a few feet away. And now for my introduction to the Alaska Mosquito! Here's what I found out. It's not that they are so big; it's just that there were so darned many of them!!! They started eating me alive! There was no way that I was going to be able to walk down this creek without being driven insane by these pesky little blood suckers. I recalled that before I started this slide I was not being bothered by mosquitoes. This was probably due to the slight breeze at the higher elevations. So, I decided to climb back to my starting point and walk down the road to bottom camp. This was easier said than done! As I started my climb the mosquitoes followed me. They were ferocious! As I climbed back to the top I was waving my arms trying to keep them away from my head. The exertion of climbing caused me to breathe harder which produced more carbon dioxide. This seemed to attract more mosquitoes. They were so thick that I started breathing them into my lungs! In order to filter them from getting in my lungs I clinched my teeth and breathed through my mouth. They actually started building up so thick on my teeth that I had to clean them off every few seconds. My arms and legs were black with a covering of mosquitoes. I can only imagine how much blood I was about to lose. I could brush them off of my arms and legs but I couldn't get them off my back. I envisioned that I was going to become exhausted or maybe have a heart attack. The mosquitoes would suck me dry and no one would ever know what happened to me. With every bit of strength I had in my body I finally arrived at a high enough elevation that the mosquitoes began to dissipate. That was not only the last time I attempted any form of skiing at Indian Mountain; it was also the last time I went on a hike by myself! Don Chaffin RCA Radar/Digital Tech. 1982-84 |
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[Doug Cummings - 05 April 2006 email]
I was stationed at Indian Mountain in 75-76 as a heavy equipment operator. It was our job to keep the runway and the 10 mile road to top camp open in the winter. Our skiing was done on what we called a cat trail, which was used by us as a shortcut in the dozers and trackmasters to bypass the jug handle on the road to top camp. It started somewhere past "fish camp" at the bottom and came out just above Langford Switch on top. It was about a fifth of a mile long and we would pack it with the cats for skiing. Forty to fifty feet wide and no room for errors. We had shirts made that said "Ski Indian Mtn." with an Indian on the edge of a radar dish. I still have it somewhere. If you're interested, I'll find it and send you a pic. We didn't ski the power line as it was quite rough. Regards, Doug Cummings |
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[Jake Huether - 12 December 2006 email]
My son found your website
http://www.alsap.org/IndianMountain/IndianMountain.htm.
I was stationed at Top Camp as a Radar Maintenance Technician from
December of 1965 until December of 1966. We were stationed with a
guy from Portland, Oregon who was a ski instructor and he taught
many of us to ski. We would ski down the road to Lower Camp and a
guy from the motor pool would drive us back up to Top Camp in
whatever vehicle was available -- usually a dump truck. During my
time at Indian Mountian one USO show visited us -- Christmas of
1965. Nothing after that.
The 1962 "Guide to AAC
Remote Stations" was a bit of a stretch. As I remember, there were
two pool tables, two ping-pong tables and a one lane bowling
alley -- you either became very good at these activities or didn't
use them. There was no T.V. and we had AFRN reception about 4-5
hours/day. Indian Mountain truely defined a "Remote Assignment".
We depended on the movies that came in periodically for
entertainment -- we saw lots of re-runs. At 19, I was the youngest
person on site. As you can imagine, I had quite an education during
my time there. Your web site brought back many
memories........
Jake
Huether
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[Joe Bell - 24 December 2006 email excerpt]
Arrived at Indian Mountain right after Thanksgiving , 1953--took over as site chief --10th Radio Relay detachment--stationed there one year--have lots of slides and b&w--will try to send you some--we had a bunch of army engrs come out in summer of 54 to survey for new antenna arrays for the new tropo scatter stuff--screwed up their compass settings and located antenna's in valley --we maintained good communications using GE commercial fm transmitters at 1kw--lots of stories here about how we did it--don't know about the power line ski area but there was cleared path on the side of the mountain toward Hughes that was supposed to be used for a aerial lift for supplies--had a snow fence all the way along it--this project was abandoned and the Indians that operated the gold dredge got permission to salvage the gear--they took everything but the building--even the big buda diesel engines that operated the lift--they were good mechanics and took a lot of the gear apart to transport it on dog sleds back to Hughes--my bunch made a toboggan and used that area to slide down--did not know they had brakes until we found out the hard way--we had a few visual sighting of soviet aircraft and our radar had very good coverage due to the elevation--we saw lots of U.S. aircraft enter soviet airspace (on radar) and soviet aircraft entering ours--all denied in the press--our radio was supposed to be line of sight but the best programs we could get were from radio moscow and they had a lot of news about our sites. |
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[Joseph Bonta - 05 September 2007 email]
My name is Joseph Bonta and I was
stationed at Utopia (Indian Mountain) from May1954 to May 55. I
live in the Boston area and worked as an engineer for Sylvania &
Raytheon Co. I am now retired and still think of my life at
UTOPIA. I was a Radar mechanic on the FPS 3 radar. WE
named it Utopia because it was so unutopian , Did you know that?
Time Magazine sent a photographer to the site and in their
December 20 1954 issue there are photos of the site on pages 18
& 19 [see below]. We had no sledding or skiing when I was
there. No water (one Gallon a day to wash-up), an outhouse
and there was 50 men on top site and about 150 at bottom camp
The Old Utopian
[Joseph Bonta - 17 September 2007 email]
We all have our individual
experiences about our tours up in Alaska. When I
first got to Ladd AFB I was assigned to what were called
the Russian Quonset huts. I was there for my arctic
indoctrination for about two weeks before I went to
Utopia. The guys that I met there told me that I was
going to the worst site in Alaska. That the runway was
up hill and that because I was a Radar mechanic I would
be up on Indian Mt. where there was no water, or
indoor plumbing , but an outhouse. Well I thought
that they were pulling my leg as they all would laugh
when I said I did not believe all the stories that they
told me. When I left for the site, the crew chief
told me he would show me where I would be for the next
12 month, and when we got to Utopia he showed me from
the plane the Radar dome sitting on top of the mountain.
I will give you an example of what could and did happen to you after you were there for awhile. As you can imagine fire was a real problem at the site because we had no water to put out a fire....So..
Like I said we all have
individual experiences. But what I learned is that the
Air Force did not give a rats ass about us poor souls
stuck up on a mountain for 12 months straight. When I
went to my promotion hearing at bottom camp I was asked
tech questions about electronics. I answered all the
questions' without any problem because that was my
expertise ( I worked as an electrical engineer from 1956
to 1993) But when I was asked if I would re-up into the
AIR FORCE, I said "No way would I reenlist" The Air
Force had a policy that once you had experience at a
remote site chances were good that you would be sent
back to one after a year or so of state side duty.
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[Charles Lowther - 11 September 2007 email]
My name is Charles Lowther and I was stationed at Indian
Mountain from June 1958 to June 1959. I worked as a ground to
air radio maintenance tech. (see photo of radio maintenance
shack) The radio shack was the only occupied building that was
not connected by the hallway system. We had no skiing when I
was there so we would just lay down on our backs, lift our legs
and slide down head first. (see attached photo) While at Indian
Mountain there were 80 guys at top camp including civilians.
Some of the civilians were tech reps and others ran the micro
wave station called White Alice. (see attached photo) Our Baker
went for a walk one afternoon and never was seen again. Later,
the ball field at base camp was dedicated to him. (See photos)
Also, there were no power lines to top camp. All power came from
diesel generators located at the top camp.
Originally from St. Louis, I am now retired and live in Reno Nevada. I spent most of my working career in the semiconductor industry working for Monsanto co., Hewlett Packard, and Siemens to name a few. I would like to hear from anyone that was there while I was. Thanks. |
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[Jean McCaleb - 08 May 2008 email]
MY NAME IS DORIS JEAN MC
CALEB AND MY HUSBAND WAS STATIONED HERE IN LATE 1954 AND
1955.
HIS NAME WAS FELIX ANDREW MC
CALEB, JR AND THE ONLY OTHER PERSON THAT I HAVE A NAME
FOR WAS OSCAR COGGINS. MY HUSBAND PLOWED THOSE RUN WAYS
AND KEPT THE ROADS OPEN DURING HIS TIME THERE.
I HAVE MANY PICTURES THAT
WAS TAKEN AT THIS TIME, SOME OF THE PICTURES HAVE
NAMES, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN SEEING THEM I COULD
SCAN THEM AND E MAIL THEM TO SOMEONE.
THERE IS A PICTURE OF A BEAR
CUB THAT SOMEONE HAD SHOT THE MOTHER AND ALSO SHOT THE
CUB IN THE LEG. IT HAD A CAST ON IT'S LEG, MY HUSBAND
SAID THAT EVERYONE STOLE ALL OF THE HONEY AND SWEETS
FROM THE MESS HALL AND FED IT.
I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN
HEARING FROM ANYONE THAT KNEW HIM. HE PASSED AWAY IN
DECEMBER 2005.
I TRIED TO FIND SOME INFO
ABOUT THE SITE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BUT HE ALWAYS CALLED
IT UTOPIA FIELD, BUT I KNOW FROM THESE PICTURES THAT
THIS IS THE SAME PLACE AND ALSO HIS OPERATOR'S PERMIT
LISTS INDIAN MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION ON IT, I
TALKED TO SOMEONE IN THE AIR FORCE RECORDS AND THEY TOLD
ME THAT IF SUCH A PLACE HAD EVER EXISTED THAT IT WAS
CLASSIFIED AS TOP SECRET. I KNOW HIS PAPERS WERE
STAMPED SECRET, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY HE NEVER TOLD ME
THIS NAME. THIS CARD JUST FELL OUT OF SOME PAPERS THAT
HE HAD SAVED AND I SAW IT JUST RECENTLY. WOULD BE NICE
TO KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE FROM THERE IS STILL ALIVE. I
TALK TO OSCAR COGGINS OCCASIONALLY, HE IS IN NORTH
CAROLINA.
I WILL WAIT TO HEAR FROM
SOMEONE
THANK YOU
jeanjean70 -at- bellsouth.net
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[Lawrence Myers - 29 May 2008 email]
Fall into winter 1966…..What I remember is the dump and helping the guys in the deuce and a half back into the dump area really quick and then hitting the brakes and letting the garbage slide off the truck ! Why? There were always 5 or 6 bears hanging around and no one wanted to unload in a more conventional way. I skied from top camp to bottom camp in late Nov., with a 30-06 rifle on my shoulder (per camp commander’s orders). Thank god for the trees, they gave me something to help break my many falls. I recall a fella “Wild Bill” this guy was crazy; he was a civilian at the white Alice operation at top camp but always came to bottom camp on Friday nights to win all the G.I. money floating around at the NCO bar. I heard he passed away a few years ago in Wasilla, Alaska. This guy was a true Alaskan in every sense of the word. He landed his plane upside down one time and when we got to the cockpit to take him out, he was strapped in his seat laughing like hell. A friend of mine at the site shot a Boone & Crockett size moose that fall and we used a D-8 Cat to bring it into the motor pool to hang up and butcher. We chained the moose to the blade and drove it in without any problem! We ate moose for 2 months after that, the cooks were even getting tired of finding recopies to try. It was 10 miles from bottom camp to top camp with a survival shack every mile. We took the weasel (track vehicle) to top camp in the winter and stalled right next to one of the shacks (mile 6). It was thee that I saw the largest Wolf that I have ever seen. Lots of memories…………….all good. |
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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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