| Name of Ski
Area: |
McKinley
Park Hotel, Mount
McKinley Army Recreation Camp |
| Location: |
McKinley
Park. Main ski slope on south slopes of Mount Healy, north of the McKinley Park
Road. A smaller ski hill ("bunny hill") existed to the west of the
McKinley Park Hotel. And at a later unknown date this
small hill rope tow was moved to a location up the McKinley Park
Road called "6 Mile" (road mileage markers have
changed over time and the exact location of this third ski area
is still being researched). |
| Type of Area: |
Ski
Hills (a total of 3 different areas with tows) |
| Dates of
Operation: |
The
hotel opened on June 1, 1938 (unknown if ski slopes were built
at the same time). From 1942 to 1945 the hotel and ski
slopes were used exclusively by US Army soldiers. In 1946
the hotel and ski slopes were reopened to the public. In
1953 winter operations of the hotel were ceased. |
| Who Built It?: |
The
US Government built the McKinley Park Hotel to promote tourism
in Alaska. It is unknown who built the ski hills, though
it is likely the US Army built them. |
| Base/Vertical Drop: |
Main
Ski Slope: Base:
~2100' / Vertical: Unknown
|
| Lifts: |
2
Rope Tows for 3 ski hills. The rope tow for the small hill
near the hotel was "portable". In the spring it would be
brought out to the " 6 Mile" ski site. |
| Facilities: |
Warming
house (with hot coffee, sandwiches and candy), heated transport
trucks, one hundred sets of ski equipment available for free
use. Nearby luxury hotel. |
| History: |
During 1937 and 1938 the US
Government built the luxurious McKinley Park Hotel, to promote
Alaskan tourism, near the
southeast base of Mount Healy (at the start of the McKinley Park
Road). The Alaska Railroad ran the hotel. During World War
II tourism ceased due to the war so from 1942 to 1945 this
hotel was turned into an off-duty recreational camp for Armed
Forces personnel.
After a long tour in the
Aleutians or remote Alaskan outposts, servicemen and War Department
female employees were offered week long R&R (rest and
relaxation) trips to McKinley Park Hotel. When the train
arrived at the McKinley station, the guests would be greeted by a
hotel hostess that arrived on dogsled. According to a Life
Magazine article (see below) female guests, often employees of the
Army Engineering Corps, would be chaperoned by two Army hostesses.
A Mount McKinley Army
Recreation Camp brochure is the source of much of our information
about this ski facility (see below). However, the brochure
(which is believed to be dated to 1949) talks in the
future tense about some facilities. So it is not certain how
many amenities were put in place prior to the Army closing their
camp operations.
The hotel was reopened to
the public in 1946. One
source said the rope tow may only have been in place and operated for one year
(1950-1951). In 1953 winter operations of the hotel ceased
and the Alaska Railroad turned the hotel operation over to the
National Park Service, who contracted with a concessionaire.
The McKinley Park Hotel was severely damaged by fire on
September 3rd, 1972, though it was immediately rebuilt as a
temporary structure. The 'temporary hotel' served the
visiting public until September of 2001, when the entire
structure was removed. The site of the McKinley Park Hotel is
now being used for a new group of structures including the
Denali Visitor Center, due to open in summer, 2005.
|
| Sources of
Information: |
Mark
Moderow (the camp brochure and LIFE magazine scans below are
courtesy of Mark), Jim Mahaffey, Sheri Forbes "Denali Trails",
Jane Bryant; Tim Kelley; Frank Norris; Bob Powers |
| Photos: |
Does
anyone have old pictures of skiing at the McKinley Park Army
Recreation Camp (or current pictures of the vicinity) that they
would like to
contribute to alsap ?
|
|
|
~
PHOTOS ~
|
Skiing
photos from the Denali National Park and Preserve Archives |
| Jane
Bryant, the Cultural Anthropologist of the Denali National Park & Preserve,
searched the Park's photo archives for old skiing photos
from the era when Mount McKinley Army Recreation Camp was in
operation. Jane hit a gold mine of photographic
history and we are very grateful that she allowed these
images to be shared with others on ALSAP.
All of
the following images (the ones with captions that start with
"DENA") are the property of the Denali National Park and
Preserve. |
|
(Click on any of
the following images to expand them) |
|
Photos
from the small ski hill near the Hotel |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
DENA
30-2, Skiing at Hotel, Feb 27, 1950 |
DENA
30-3, Skiing at Hotel, Feb 27, 1950 |
DENA
30-8, Ski tow east of Hotel |
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|
DENA
30-9, Ski tow near Hotel |
DENA
30-10, Ski class at Hotel |
DENA
30-11, Skiing at Hotel |
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|
DENA
30-7, Skiing East of the Hotel |
DENA
30-4, Skating at Hotel, Feb 27, 1950 |
DENA
30-13, Ice skating at Hotel |
| |
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|
Photos
from the main ski hill on the slopes of Mount Healy |
 |
 |
 |
|
DENA
4843, Ski run from near the top |
DENA
4845, Half way up ski run, Hotel |
DENA
4842, Ski run looking up towards Mt. Healy |
 |
[Right]
DENA 3548, Charles Ott Photo, Denali National Park and
Preserve, McKinley Park Hotel Ski Slope, 3-1954 |
 |
|
DENA
4846, Trail to ski run, Hotel |
|
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|
Photo of
the "6-Mile" Ski Hill |
|
DENA
30-1, Denali National Park and Preserve, Ski Run Mile 6,
March 1944 |
 |
|
|
|
Mark
Moderow has a brochure from the Mount McKinley Army Recreation
Camp. He scanned several pages of the brochure for ALSAP.
The first two images below are the logo for the camp and the cover of
the brochure.
|
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|
 |
|
|
|
Two
pages from the brochure are shown below (click on them to expand for
reading) ... |
|
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|
This
1938 photo shows the McKinley Park Hotel under construction. The
center ridge in the background was where the ski slope was. (Click
on this photo to enlarge it) [Photo
credit: UAA Archives & Manuscripts Dept, Russell Dow Collection] |
 |
|
Here
is a 1940s view of the completed McKinley Park Hotel. (Click
on this photo to enlarge it) [Photo
credit: Anchorage Museum of History and Art] |
 |
|
The
cover of the January 3, 1944 LIFE Magazine had a picture of Barbara
Brubaker holding skis while on vacation after military duty at the
McKinley Park Hotel. (Note: Mark Moderow recently (2004) bought
this copy of LIFE off of ebay. Thanks Mark!) (Click
on this image to expand it) |
 |
To
view the pages of this LIFE magazine article, you can click here.
Warning:
This is a big Adobe Acrobat file. You will need Adobe Acrobat
installed on your computer to read it. And the file is 1418 KB in
size. Also - the scan quality of this document is not the
greatest. |
|
From Page 34
of the January 1947 Alaska Sportsman Magazine |
| The caption for
the bottom picture says:
I Like Close-Ups
Jack Van Gilder,
of Ketchikan, while skiing at the McKinley Lodge saw a large
black wolf about 200 yds away. He moved within 75 yds of
it to get a picture. It wasn't until after he had taken
the picture and checked the range that he realized that while he
was focusing the wolf had approached to within 15 FEET of him
before being chased off by another skier!
(Click on the
image at the right to expand it to full size) |
 |
|
Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative
History of Denali National Park and Preserve, Volume I
by Frank Norris, National Park Service Regional Historian;
Published: 2006 |
| |
 |
|
|
Frank
Norris' "Crown Jewel of the North ..., Volume I" was published
in 2006. Mr. Norris makes reference to the Army skiing
facilities. On page 108 he mentions: "and during the
winter of 1943-44, Army personnel rigged up a ski tow and
warming hut at Mile 6 of the park road and offered skiing from
December through April." The Superintendents Monthly
Reports (SMRs) for the winter months of 1943-44 are the
reference for this information.
Page 124 has
this skiing related passage: "beginning in the winter of
1950-51, the military offered a ski run and toboggan slide on
the slope just west of the hotel. ... the military's
"skiing activities", in the spring of 1951, temporarily shifted
to Mile 6 on the park road due to the lack of snow at McKinley
Park Station." SMRs are also the source of this
information. |
|
|
2005 Site
Photos by Tim Kelley |
|
[Left] Here is
a shot of the spring skiing "6 Mile" ski hill. A portable
rope tow would be set up here in the spring after skiing near
the McKinley Park Hotel ran out.
[Right] For
comparison, here is a 1944 Denali National Park and Preserve
archive shot of the "6 Mile" ski hill. |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
| This
view from the Parks Highway shows where the main ski hill on
Mount Healy was located. |
The
Denali Park "Spring Trail" passes by the base of the "6 Mile"
ski hill. |
Ski
tracks on "6 Mile" hill. Was this the first ski
run down this lost ski area in 40 or 50 years? |
|
 |
|
Here is a
panoramic view from near the top of the "6 Mile" ski hill site. |
|
|
~
MAPS ~ |
|
This
large scale topo map shows the location of McKinley Park ... it's the
settlement at the beginning of the McKinley Park Road that runs west
into Denali National Park. The location of the hotel's main ski
hill and the "6 Mile" ski hill are shown. (click
on this map to expand it) |
 |
|
The
estimated location of the ski slope is indicated by the red ellipse.
The road that leads up to the base of the ski area is now part of the
Mount Healy Overlook Trail. (click
on this map to expand it) |
|
|
On
this Denali Park Entrance Trails map you can see the Mount Healy
Overlook Trail map. You can see how the first section of the
trails follows the old road grade (see map above). (click
on this map to expand it) |
|
| Research
Correspondence |
|
[Mark Moderow - 06
December 2004 email excerpt]
"Denali
Trails", written by Sheri Forbes and published by the Alaska Natural
History Assoc. (of which I am currently Chair), describes the area
around the scenic overlook approx. 1 mile up the Mount Healy Overlook
Trail which starts near the former Denali Park Hotel site: "As the
trail ascends from the ridge, very small spruce give way to a dense
thicket of alder, the later creating a swath heading straight up toward
Healy Overlook. During World War II, Denali was turned into an
off-duty recreational camp for Armed Forces troops. This trail
zigzags through what was then a ski slope!" This puts
it approx. 1 mile WNW of the old hotel site (the hotel having been
demolished or moved over the last two years). The
"Denali Trails" book is being reprinted by ANHA and updated
due to the front-country construction of the Murie Science and
Learning Center (now open) and new Visitor Center and related facilities
scheduled to open next summer.
|
|
[Mark Moderow - 29 December 2004 email excerpt]
Got the
1944 Life issue on the Mount McKinley Recreation Camp with a couple of
good skiing photos. No detailed info on location or pictures
of the tow, but the cover shot and several interior pictures show
skiing. One shows what appears to be the Hotel's entry with ski
racks, probably for storage while waiting to go to the hill. The
others show skiing, but without a large perspective.
|
|
[Mark Moderow - 24 January 2005
email excerpt]
...two more ski tows/areas! Jane Bryant talked to Bill Nancarrow, a long-time ranger at Denali, and in fact there were two
rope tows near the old hotel. We've correctly identified the
main hill up on Mt. Healy, but there was apparently a "bunny
hill" right adjacent to the hotel...probably where the Life
photos were taken. Then, at some time, the small rope tow was in
fact moved out to "6 mile". Still working on when,
exactly where. Remember that the road miles have changed over
the years.
More
later....
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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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