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Ravenwood
Ski Area at Eielson AFB Mid 1950's to Mid 1990's / 2004 to present |
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NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ~
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Here is a shot of the Ravenwood Lodge at Eielson Air Force Base. |
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A vintage "Ptarmigan Skiers" patch from Eielson Air Force Base.
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Here is a shot from the Richardson Highway of this ski area. |
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Matt, Courtney, and Mark Cowan, military dependents, posing in front of the lodge sometime during the winter of 1988/89 |
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This large scale topo shows where the Ravenwood Lodge / Iceman Falls ski area is located relative to Eielson Air Force Base - 4 miles to the southeast. (click on this map to expand it) |
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A zoomed in topo view shows the area around the layout of the Ravenwood / Iceman Falls ski area. Notice that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline passes close to the base of this ski area. (click on this map to expand it) |
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[Erik D. Hilsinger - 14 November 2004 email]
There was a ski area at the air force base in Fairbanks (Eielson). I worked there one summer on an archaeological survey project where there was some concern about whether it was a historic site. It was an interesting area in that there were winter cabins hidden in the woods right off the trails, with bread wrappers and other junk that indicated it was in use in the 70s. Cabins covered with c ration boxes and other oddball things. There was a chairlift, lodge, and some rope tows, and a nice view of the Alaska Range. I'm not sure if it was working then (late 90s) but it looked functional. Cheers, Erik [Rodney Crews - 15 November 2004 email excerpt] Outdoor winter entertainment can be found at the Ravenwood Lodge. Located four miles southeast of the main base, the lodge has ski areas for both the novice and advanced skier, cross country ski trails, a sled hill and an ice rink. The lodge boasts a T-bar lift and rental equipment for downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and sledding. [Connie Storch - 16 November 2004 email excerpt]
Yes the hill is still in operation, along with the lift. The resort area was renamed "Iceman Falls" in Sept 04. If you require additional information, Mr. Hinch, the Outdoor Recreation Director has considerable knowledge of the area and its operations, he's the definitive expert. He may be reached at ****@****.**
Good luck with
your project.
Connie Storch,
354th Services, Eielson AFB, AK
[Bill McBeth - 10 December 2005 email]
Hi Tim,
The story began long before I got to Alaska. I was
born and raised in Atlantic City, NJ which is FLATLAND USA. The only
slopes were there little rolling curves in the grass landscaping
around the local high school, Atlantic City HS which had an
elevation of about eight feet. Skied that at about age six.10
years years later I ended up with some friends for some long
weekends in the Pocono MT.s of Eastern Pennsylvania where I spent
more time in the lodges chasing girls that I did on the slopes
skiing. Being an avid surfer and having taught water
skier downhill skiing came easy to me. 5 years later I was sent to
Ft. Lewis, WA after basic training at Ft. Dix in NJ and ended up in
the 9th Inf Regt. As part of the 2nd Inf.Div which was
scheduled to be gyro-scoped (Rotated-Move troops only no equipment)
with the troops presently serving in Alaska which was still a
territory at the time.
I was assigned to the HQ&HQ BN as a medical corpsman MOS
911.0 As you can see we were yet untrained in our MO's. We were
being trained by our own cadre as there was not time in the
scheduled troop movement to send us to FT. Houston.
I was bored with the program and volunteered to become an
instructor having spent two years on the drinking team in college
before being asked to leave. Anyway I met the Medical Service Corps
Officer for our unit, a Capt. Theodore Stone. Thru him I found out
they were looking for people with skiing experience. Again I
volunteered my services and was assigned to teach our cadre
officers & noncoms the rudiments of downhill skiing at nearby ski
resorts. So I got exposed to Snowqualime Pass Ski Area and 23
feet of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nevertheless I did my assignment taking 2.5ton Truckfulls up there
on the weekends for about ten trips in the spring of 1956. When our
BN was assigned to guard Eielson AFB when we arrived that summer
there was an old sergeant in charge of keeping the building at the
on base ski hill (it had no name then) who had no clue about skiing.
I was assigned to replace him early that fall before the full ski
season started.
The ski hill was on the base about three miles from the Army
Barracks we were housed in. I was later told the MOUND was the
top of the Nuclear Bomb storage site. (IT was COLD WAR time then.)
Eielson was a SAC Base with B-36's,B-52's and the B-29 Polar weather
flights. The fighter aircraft were most test work.
One of my first objectives was to obtain loaner ski
equipment for use by the base personnel and dependents. So special
services supplied me with some WWII "White Bear" wood skis, a bunch
of old style reverse throw cable bindings with toe irons. Installed
those suckers with a hand drill and manual screwdriver. Say
no more..................
The hill had a rope tow powered by a six cylinder truck
motor mounted on a sled arrangement to allow for adjustment of the
rope tension. The bull wheel pulley at the top was and old aircraft
nose wheel. The rope just dragged in the snow.( IT was a bitch to
get out of the grove when I started things up in the morning. The
Lodge as it was know was heated only by the big fireplace and a huge
old kerosene stove. But it worked
There was one Air Force Col. who had a large family and
really promoted the place for dependent family fun so we had lots of
ski parties with pot lock food, etc. Taught many people how to
ski including hundreds of Army with 90lb Rucksacks on their backs.
So we decided to start a ski club which was called the
Ptarmigan Skiers. I had the honor of being the 1st president. It was
a great success.
We also formed a base ski team to represent Eielson AFB and
participated in the military races, ALCOM Championship and other
besides our own little club races, kids included. I recall many
exciting days at Birch Hill at Ladd AFB outside Fairbanks and two
weeks TDY to ski in the races down at FT. Richardson, Anchorage,
Artic Valley SKI BOWL. WHAT A TERRIFYING DOWNHILL RACE IN A WHITEOUT
CONDITIONS. Also remember weekends at Cleary Summit north of
Fairbanks with the reversed hill setup.
I forgot to mention that Captain Stome was a NATIONAL SKI
PATROLMAN at the time so we started a Local Patrol of the N S S P
under his guidance. My skiing hero at the time was Stein
Ericson and his famous reverse shoulder ski technique. Boots were
HENKE's, skis were 6'9" with reverse cables and SKI-FREE "B" toe
pieces. That Spring myself and a fellow army PFC Casper Bye
cut the first cross-country ski trails for a "skifire" exercise
being developed which later became the OLYMPIC Biathlon Event.
This was done on the old WWII White Bear downhill skis with the old
US Army issued Biloted leather bindings and black rubber MICKY MOUSE
BOOTS. Remember to ask me about the MYSTERIOUS MOTOR REPLACEMENT
EPISODE.
More later,
Bill McBeth
A "MANCHU"
[Sam Chapman - 16 June 2006 email]
I was very pleased to have found the ALSAP site. My dad was
stationed at Eielson from 1970-1974 and all of the five kids in
my family learned to ski at Eielson. The ski area had no
official name during that time. My dad was head of the Eielson
ski patrol and my older brother and I were on the Jr. Patrol.
Dad also set up the winter carnivals held at the ski area for
three years.
At Eielson, there was a lower slope, an upper slope and the beginner hill. The lower slope was served by a poma lift and was open weekends and Wednesday afternoon and evenings when temps were above -20. The upper slope was served by a poma lift and was awkward to ski as it dropped off to the left all the way down. A short rope tow served the beginner hill. My guess is the vertical drop was around 400’. Many of us banded together to ski Cleary Summit, Birch Hill on Ft. Wainwright and Skiland. In addition, we sometimes had someone truck us up Pedro Dome and we would ski sown to the Steese Hwy. Attached are some pictures you can use on your site if you feel they are appropriate. The flag flew at Skiland. The Ski Patrol there gave it to my dad. There is a close-up of the patches. The top patch with the E was Eielson’s. The rest are easy to figure out. The photo of the jumper was me at age 16. We had built a jump on the steep side on the lower end of the hill just to the right of the poma lift. One of the Ferree brothers took the photo – George, I think.
[George Ferree - 26 December 2007 email]
The Ferree Family (Dad, Mom, and 5
brothers: Dave, George, Steve, John & Pat) lived at Eielson Air
Force Base between 1971 and 1974. All 5 brothers enjoyed the
Eielson AFB Ski Hill -- especially the youngest 2: John and
Pat. The Air Force ran a free Shuttle Bus from the housing
areas to the ski hill every day after school, and the ski hill
stayed open until 8 or 9 PM -- with skiing under the lights, of
course. Several winters during our stay at Eielson John and Pat
managed to get in almost 100 ski days during a season. Their
constant companions on the ski hill were the Swanson brothers
(Jim, John, Jerry & Jeff) and the Chapman family (Cal, Sam, and
several younger siblings whose names escape me). I recall that
the price of a Season Pass for the entire family was $50. I had
my first ski experiences on the Eielson AFB Ski Hill -- on
rented, 200 CM Head Standard Skis (black, of course), with Cubco
Bindings, leather, lace-up boots, and heavy, steel ski poles! I
rented all of the equipment for about $2.00 per day.
The attached files [see above] are photos of 13-year old John Ferree and 11-year old Pat Ferree. They were all taken in 1974 at the Eielson AFB Ski Hill by oldest brother Dave Ferree -- as a project for his photography class at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I suspect that the previously posted photo of Sam Chapman (contributed by Sam in June 2006) was also taken by Dave Ferree on the same day as these photos. I recall that several times the Ferree's, the Swanson's and the Chapman's all journeyed "en masse" to terrorize the Birch Hill Ski Area on Fort Wainwright, and the Cleary Summit and Skiland ski areas near Mile Post 20 on the Steese Highway. The Eielson AFB Ski Hill was a great (and cheap!) place to learn to ski and it holds many fond memories for all who enjoyed it.
[Sam Chapman - 22 July 2010 email excerpt]
Back when we were at Eielson, the
ski area did not have a name that I can recall. We just called
it the Eielson ski slope. I think Bill McBeth must have been
there before my family was because when we got there the area
had a Poma Lift for the main lift, not a rope tow. There were
Poma Lifts for the lower and upper slope and the bunny hill had
a rope tow. Regarding Captain Stone, that name is unknown to me.
Regarding being on the Jr. Ski Patrol, I think my brother and I both did that to ski free. We would join the adults on weekends and on Wednesday afternoons and evenings. The adults would assign us times on where on the hill we should be. Neither of us saw a lot of dramatic accidents, but we did help get injured people off the hill in the toboggan a time or two. We also got to patrol at Skiland, which is now Mt. Aurora. That place had more vertical and better terrain than Eielson and we loved skiing there. Skiland also had 2 1,500 foot long rope tows that were just brutal on gloves and mittens. Dad organized the Eielson Winter Carnivals. The carnivals eventually included slalom, giant slalom and downhill races for various age groups from kids all the way up through the older skiers. The kids also had distance and hot dot ski jump contests. The Chapmans and Ferrees and others were happy when the Swansons left because those guys cleaned up on just about every skiing contest. The last Winter Carnival we participated in also included hot dog skiing, cross-country ski races and speed skating races. We also had a costume day and many people got very creative for this one. Dad has miles of 8 mm and Super 8 mm film of these, but the condition of the film is very bad and he no longer has a projector. I would love to be able to see the films again. After the carnival was over, Dad would splice together reels and have a show for the kids at the base Teen Club. For the last several Carnivals we had some kids from Ft. Wainwright, the Army base in Fairbanks, come out. In turn, we went to their Carnivals. One of the families had a group of very good skiers and we became friends. The Chapman kids and other Eielson kids usually did well at the Ft. Wainwright as there was only one really good skiing family that I can remember. Skiing at Eielson was always subject to snow conditions and temperatures. Central Alaska does not get a lot of snow so Eielson never seemed to open very early. When the air temperature was minus 20 or colder the slope was closed. When it was cold, but not lower than 20 below, we often experienced temperature inversions. We would literally break through the layer of cold air toward the top of the lower lift. There would often be a temperature difference of up to around 20 degrees. The inversions also created optical illusions. We could sometimes see Mt. McKinley even through it was normally way out of sight. The temperature inversion bent the light in strange ways, making objects from afar look near. Not only did McKinley look near, the image was also magnified and it looked huge.
[Jen Rhuda - 14 May 2011 email]
When I was 5-6 yrs old, our
family was stationed at Eielson in 1964-1966. I learned to
ski at the base's ski area. I remember it being quite busy
and lots of fun.
[F. Larry Zentner - 29 March 2016 email attachments] |
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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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