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ALSAP Update Log (entries by Tim Kelley) |
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July 03, 2008 Added two pictures, obtained on eBay, of skiers in the Golden Stairs area by Mt. Eccles near Cordova.
Also, added an excerpt from the Northern Warfare Training Center "United States Army Alaska Arctic Light Individual Training Manual" that explains the history of Fort Greely arctic warfare and skiing training (see quotes from this reference at the bottom of the Fort Greely web page). |
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June 26, 2008 Added a scan of a 1950's US Army 100 Mile skiing patch to the Fort Greely web page.
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June 23, 2008 Information on an old Alaskan skiing postcard I bought on eBay lead to a new historical skiing area that is no longer used as it once was. And that location is the Raven Glacier north of Girdwood. This is not a true lost ski area, but back in the 1960's (perhaps, I'm still researching this) there was a commercial fly-in skiing operation that brought skiers to the Raven Glacier. And apparently skiers dropped off there would ski the 14 miles back to Girdwood. |
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June 21, 2008 Added a scan of an old Nancy Simmerman postcard that shows a picture of the original Alyeska day lodge. |
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June 14, 2008 Added scans of a vintage Eielson Air Force Base "Ptarmigan Skiers" patch, a US Army "Arctic Valley Ski Club" patch and an older Alyeska ski patch.
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June 05, 2008 Roy Nordyke sent a write-up about his time spent building the Arctic Valley "Bear Paw" Ski Lodge in 1960. And Walter Brown shared some interesting memories, by email, of his time living at Curry when he worked for ACS in 1948 and 1949. Thanks to Roy and Walter !! |
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May 30, 2008 Lawrence Myers emailed stories of his time spent in the 1960s at Sparrevohn and Indian Mountain Air Force Stations. Lawrence once skied from top camp down to base camp in late November with a 30-06 that the camp commander ordered him to carry for protection from bears. Thanks for the great stories Lawrence! |
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May 28, 2008 Roy Nordyke sent a fantastic series of photos that shows the construction of the Arctic Valley Ski Lodge in 1960. The many pictures Roy sent detail the lodge construction from felling and peeling the logs all the way to the dedication ceremony. An immense thanks to Roy for sending these great historical pictures! |
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May 16, 2008 Tony Feiza sent several pictures taken at Adak and Attu in 1943. Tony's father Simon Feiza was stationed at Adak and was a combatant at Attu. One picture Tony sent was of the AAA Revetment in snow at Attu with what are possibly skis in the background. Thanks a lot for sharing these unique pictures Tony !! |
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May 8, 2008 Added email text and a couple of Indian Mountain pictures from 1955 courtesy of Jean McCaleb. Thanks Jean !! |
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April 28, 2008 Added new 2002 pictures of the UAF Ski Hill lift engine building before it was torn down. And some 2002 pictures of Cleary Summit. |
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April 27, 2008 Reformatted and added more ski areas and pictures to the ALSAP Historical Photos web page. |
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April 19, 2008 Though not a true lost ski area, Portage Glacier has some unique, and crazy, history of past commercial fly-in skiing operations. |
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April 15, 2008 Bill Caroland emailed us with information about the Soldotna Ski Hill. Bill was there to help compact the snow on the ski hill, prior to the first ski runs down this hill in the mid-1950's. Thanks for the info Bill !! |
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April 14, 2008 Dave Brann communicated with Pamela Ables and Gary Titus of the Kenai National Wildlife Refugee and they sent ALSAP a couple of recently scanned early 1960's pictures of the Soldotna Ski Hill. Thanks for your efforts Dave, Pamela and Gary !! |
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April 8, 2008 Fred Trimble recently found a couple of pictures of the College Ski and Toboggan Slide in an old Alaskan mining history publication. One of the pictures showed a group of Fairbanks skiers who used the slide in 1922. Thanks for the pictures Fred !! |
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March 31, 2008 Jim Browning was involved in the creation of the Soldotna Ski Hill back in the mid 1950's when he was in the Army at the Kenai Base. Jim sent ALSAP some information and two nice 50's pictures from this lost ski area. Apparently back then Jim met Ralph Soberg, a Foreman of the Alaska Road Commission, and they started talking about their mutual interest in ski jumping. Soon thereafter Ralph "let one of his bulldozers get lost on a hill near Soldotna ... and that was the beginning of the ski hill" !! Thanks for contacting us with this great info and pictures Jim !!
Also, Fred Trimble identified the source of the Alyeska Chair Two construction photos as Al and June Hampton. Al was a construction superintendent for this project. |
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March 13, 2008 Today I added a web page for a once proposed ski lift on the Harding Ice Field, west of Seward, near the head of the Exit Glacier. In 1970 the Arness-Stanton fly-in snowmobile tour operation was going great guns and there were plans for an Exit Glacier gondola and a T-Bar for skiers up at the top of Exit Glacier. But BLM permitting problems put a quick end to these plans. Thanks a lot to Steve Gruhn for bringing this to our attention !! |
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March 12, 2008 I added a NEW lost ski area today. During WWII the Alaska Territorial Guard regularly skied while patrolling St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs. Recently pictures of Territorial Guardsmen skiing there in 1943 were put up on ViLDA. You can now see several of these pictures on the ALSAP St. Paul web page. |
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March 9, 2008 Franz Froelicher emailed a story about how Fred Pabst of the Pabst Beer Company had made plans to come to Alaska in April 1964 to assess development of a ski area at the Independence Mine. Mr. Pabst had previously been involved in developing the Mad River Glenn ski area in Vermont. But the '64 earthquake interrupted these plan. Thanks for this very interesting story Franz !!
Alice (Straley) Palkow contacted us about her fond childhood memories skiing at her family's ski area at Gunsight Mountain. She said they would leave the chalet door unlocked and food inside should travelers on the then rustic Glenn Highway need a place to stay. Thanks Alice !!
Finally, I recently skied to the site of the former Ptarmigan Valley Resort ski area. I took some site photos and put them on this web page. |
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March 8, 2008 On the ALSAP links and vintage photos web pages I added a links to the Roundhouse at Alyeska historical project web site. There are many neat historical pictures of skiing and of the Roundhouse at Alyeska on the web site of this great project.
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March 7, 2008 Russell Gill and Julie (Straley) Hildebrand sent emails to us about their childhood days in the 60's at the Straley's Gunsight Mountain Ski Hill. Julie confirmed that a 2nd rope tow was planned and partially constructed, but never finished. Russell recounts how his brother, John Gill Jr., was sleeping in the 2nd lodge built there when it caught on fire. His father, John Gill, rushed into the burning structure and saved his son. Thanks again to the Gill and Straley siblings for sharing these stories !! |
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March 6, 2008 John Gill Jr. and Jacquie Gill contacted us with fond memories of their time spent when they were kids helping their Uncle Larry and Aunt Laura Straley build the Gunsight Mountain Ski Hill. Most of the 13 Straley and Gill kids would cram into the upstairs loft of the octagonal chalet while they stayed there! Thanks John and Jacquie for contacting us about your time spent at this incredibly beautiful ski hill your family helped establish !! |
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March 1, 2008 Added pictures and stories of Alyeska's "lost chairlift" - Chair Two. This short-lived ski lift was built in 1972, and destroyed by an avalanche in 1973. Fred Trimble supplied many pictures of Chair Two's construction, which I put on the ALSAP Vintage Photos web page. Thanks Fred !! |
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February 29, 2008 Before the Alyeska Ski Area, what was this area called by skiers? The answer is: Mt. Solar. This information is thanks to Bill Wood. Bill Wood was friends with Ernie Baumann back in the mid-1950's. Ernie wanted to build a ski area this location he called Mt. Solar. The name Mt. Alyeska became the official name of the peak that rises above the Alyeska ski area. But Ernie is remembered by the official name of Max's Mountain, which you can see on USGS maps. And that name is Baumann Bump. Along with information about Ernie Bauman, Bill sent several mid-1950's skiing pictures from Mt. Solar that are now on the ALSAP Vintage Photos web page. Thanks a whole lot Bill !! |
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February 15, 2008 John Rogers sent ALSAP excerpts of the 1937 memoirs "Another Man's Life" by his late relative C. A. (Bert) Bryant. On page 150 of this book it mentions Bryant spending 57 days prospecting on skis near Eagle in the winter of 1902. This information was needed documented evidence of skiing at Fort Egbert , the remote U.S. Army post where Bryant worked as a teamster and woodcutter. Thanks again John !! |
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February 9, 2008 Ed Plumb of Fairbanks took an impressive series of photos of the Cleary Summit ski lodge fire. See them near the bottom of the Cleary Summit web page. Thanks for sharing these photos Ed !! |
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February 6, 2008 Fred Trimble unearthed some Mountain Magic, made in Healy, Alaska, "After Ski Simmer" hot spice drink. Fred thinks this drink dates back to the 80's. Is this an "Alaska Lost Skiing Beverage"? Does anyone know who the principals of this "Mother - Son Company", Mountain Magic in Healy, were? (See pictures below, click on them to expand their size.) And when was this Alaskan skiing product produced? By the way ... it smells great even after 20? years. Thanks for bringing this Alaska skiing mystery to ALSAP Fred !!
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February 3, 2008 John Rogers contacted us about a relative of his, Bert Bryant, that was a packer / teamster for the Army at Fort Egbert in 1899. Though John has no evidence that Bert skied at Fort Egbert, John provided documented proof that Bert sure as heck could ski ! A clipping from an 1886 Columbia Fall, MT "Columbian" tells a story about Bert and partners in Montana - schussing downhill on skis into a herd of elk and then lassoing selected elk to capture them live !! This crazy story is now on the Fort Egbert web page, along with a picture of Bert Bryant. Thanks for sharing these family legends with us John !! |
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January 31, 2008 Today's Fairbanks News Miner had an another article about the Cleary Summit ski lodge fire. A 22 year old man was arrested in connection with the Cleary Summit fire. This person may have been squatting in the lodge for a while. Troopers are trying to determine if he torched the lodge intentionally or if the fire was the result of negligence on his part. I would link to the Fairbanks News Miner web site articles, but the News Miner organization keeps breaking the web page links. So for now I have put copies of the articles from yesterday and today on the Cleary Summit web page below the pictures of the fire. |
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January 30, 2008 Today's Fairbanks News Miner had an article about the Cleary Summit ski lodge fire. In it they stated that a theory for why the lodge caught fire was that a motorist that had a broken down truck nearby went to the lodge and started a fire inside to stay warm, and the fire got out of control.
Dick Coerse, a former ski patroller at the Anton Larsen Pass Ski Area on Kodiak Island in 1962-1963 sent in a picture of three sailors from the Kodiak Naval Air Station skiing at this lost ski area in 1962. Thanks again Dick !! |
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January 29, 2008 Word came quickly via Fairbanks today that a big piece of Alaska skiing history was lost. This morning the abandoned Cleary Summit ski lodge burned down, apparently a victim of arson. Two pictures of the fire can be found near the bottom of the ALSAP Cleary Summit web page.
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January 27, 2008 Dick Coerse was a ski patroller at the Anton Larsen Pass Ski Area on Kodiak Island in 1962-1963. Back then the Navy ran the ski area and called it Pyramid Mountain. Dick sent some photos of 1962 ski patches that were on his patrollers jacket. A big thanks to you Dick !! |
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January 26, 2008
Larry Daniel sent an
email with great stories about life at
Tatalina AFS in
1971-1972. Larry skied while at Tatalina and he "retired from
sledding" out there. His retirement commenced shortly after a high
speed sled ride down the radar station access road ended on a corner ...
when the sledders met the fire truck. Larry went under the truck
and into the ditch and promptly proclaimed the end of sledding for him,
for life. Thanks for the great stories Larry !! |
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January 21, 2008 Today I added the Mendeltna Creek Lodge Trails to ALSAP as a "lost then re-found" site. Trails around the lodge were made in the early 1980's, then they fell into disuse in the 90's. New owners of the Mendeltna Creek Lodge, Mable and Russ Wimmer, re-opened the trails a couple of years ago. Thanks for contacting us with this info Mabel ! Also - Mabel would be interested in seeing older pictures of folks skiing or ski-joring on the Mendeltna Trails. She has yet to see any. So if anyone knows of such pictures, from the 1980s or before - you can email them to me and I'll get them posted on ALSAP for all to see. Thanks. |
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January 18, 2008 Dave Bulter spent a year at the Cape Romanzof radar station in 69-70. He said there wasn't any skiing going on out there during his tour of duty. Dave's email had a great write-up of what he did out there and what it was like serving in this extremely remote Cold War outpost. Thanks a lot Dave ! |
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January 16, 2008 Added maps of sites that were studied in 1985 for potential ski areas in the Hatcher Pass area I put this information on the Government Peak web page. |
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January 8, 2008 David Lappi contacted us asking about the ski area east of the Richardson Highway near Black Rapids. This was a good question, as this is a somewhat "mysterious" ski hill to civilians in the State of Alaska. The ski area David was asking about is the Gunnysack Hill Ski Area that is used by the U.S. Army's Northern Warfare Training Center based out of Fort Wainwright. This is a ski area that is not "lost", it's still in use. But it is likely one of the least known ski areas in Alaska.
David also mentioned that he used to ski at the Little Susitna Roadhouse Ski Hill back around 1960. Thanks for contacting us David !!
Speaking of the Hatcher Pass area: This weekend I noticed that the long proposed Government Peak ski area has "come to life" in a very small way. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is keeping the road open to the proposed base lodge site and grooming a small sledding hill above this parking lot. This weekend the sledding hill was groomed and replete with slalom poles. A couple of picture that I took of the groomed hill can be found on the Government Peak web page. |
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January 2, 2008 Karl Wolfe contacted ALSAP to correct picture captions on the Sitka Harbor Mountain ALSAP web page. Karl, who lives in Sitka, says that several of the pictures were definitely taken on Harbor Mountain and not Mt. Verstovia as originally noted. Karl says that even though the rope tow no longer exists at this ski site that it is used frequently for snowboarding and skiing via snowmobile and hiking access. Thanks for the info Karl !! |
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January 1, 2008 Happy New Year to all folks that read the Alaska Lost Ski Areas Project web site, and to those that have sent in old Alaskan skiing stories and pictures to ALSAP!
In review, 2007 was an amazing year for ALSAP. Five new lost ski areas showed up, making the total now 133. Plus ... the amount and variety of ski history information folks sent ALSAP was astounding. ALSAPPERS have made this web site the definitive Internet source for Alaskan skiing history. That's something to be very proud of. Thanks to all and I hope that 2008 is as fun a year running the ALSAP web site as 2007 and the previous years have been. (Actually - I bet it will be!) Cheers! |
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