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The Latest Updates on ALSAP - 2012

ALSAP Update Log 2012 (entries by Tim Kelley)

 

December 29, 2012
Michael McGoodwin sent a nice picture from on top of the AMU ski jump in 1971.  Thanks a lot Michael !!

 

 

November 3, 2012
With regret I add a new lost ski area to ALSAP.  This winter will mark 5 years since the last Grandview Ski Train was run.  Due to the Alaska Railroad's financial challenges and not wanting to take on the risk of avalanches at Grandview - the likelihood of another Grandview ski train in the future is not good.

 

October 25, 2012
Clark Fair wrote an excellent article for the Redoubt Reporter about the history of the Manitoba Ski Area.  Here is a link to the article.  A wonderful article, thanks Clark !!

 

July 25, 2012
Greg Dixon emailed to say he remembers the shooting range at the Forest Park Golf Course that was swapped out for a rope tow come winter.  Greg used to work at the golf course as a kid and once while working there he had a brush with death when a lightening strike took down a nearby tree!  Thanks for the info Greg !

 

July 24, 2012
Randy Sauder emailed a summer of 1966 picture of the top of the Independence Mine Ski Area.  Thanks Randy !



 

July 17, 2012
Mike Hopkins, the ski racer in the picture below, sent a scan of a newspaper article entitled: "UA Outpoints AMU On Skis".  This 1964 article tells of a ski tournament pitting UA (now UAF) against AMU (now APU).  This was the first ever sporting event of any type between these two Alaskan universities.  The alpine racing was held at Alyeska and the cross country race was held at the Forest Park Golf Course, which has long been a lost ski area.  Thanks a lot Mike for passing this article on to us !



 

July 10, 2012
Margery Black used to be an instructor with the Hans Metz Ski School at Arctic Valley in the 1950's.  Margery still has her ski instructor patch and sent us a picture of it.  Thanks a lot for sharing this bit of Alaskan skiing history with us Margery !



 

June 20, 2012
Fred and Jeralyn Beardsley, via Randy Sauder, emailed two pictures of the Arctic Valley base structures from the summer of 1999.  Thanks to all of you !



 

May 3, 2012
George Hanson emailed an old movie still of his father skiing a slalom course in Cordova in the 1940's.  Thanks George !

 



 

April 30, 2012
Randy Sauder emailed us some old movie stills, and information, of skiing at the Forest Park Golf Course in 1967-1968.  These are the first pictures we have received of skiing at this location near Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage.  For a short period of time in the 60's a temporary rope tow would be set up on the golf course in the winter, and removed in the summer.  Thanks again Randy !

 


 

April 22, 2012
Randy Sauder emailed some memories of skiing at Arctic Valley, and pictures from the winter of 1967-1968.  Thanks a lot Randy !

 


 

April 16, 2012
Seth Steben sent pictures of skiing at the site of the old Tripod Ski Area in Cordova.  And Seth reports that his talks with old-timers in Cordova confirms that the old engine block near the Tripod Ski Area site was indeed once used as a power  plant for a rope tow.  Thanks again Seth!!

 


 

April 15, 2012
Terry Talbot sent an email with 1965-66 memories of cutting ski trails and running the lift at the ski hill next to the Fire Island Air Force Station in Anchorage.  And Terry also sent some great pictures of the ski hill and life on base at Fire Island.  Thanks a lot Terry!!

 


 

March 29, 2012
Sarah Carter sent in several pictures of the once lost but now re-opened Salmonberry Hill ski slope in Valdez.  Thanks for the pictures Sarah!  And congratulations to the citizens of Valdez for seeing your efforts come to fruition with this wonderful Alaskan skiing project!!



 

March 01, 2012
Bevinne McCann Morse sent in more vintage pictures from her family's old ski area - Cleary Summit.  Yet again ... thank you Bevinne !!



 

February 27, 2012
Sam Chapman sent some more pictures from skiing in the 70's at the Eielson Ski Slope (Ravenwood). Thanks Sam!

 


 

February 15, 2012
Rick Steeby sent a remembrance of his brother breaking his leg at the Ptarmigan Valley Ski Area.  Thanks Rick!

 


 

February 9, 2012
Jim Isbell sent an email with a great account of fly-in skiing at the Raven Glacier north of Girdwood.  Thanks Jim!
 

January 23, 2012
Russ Gregston used to drive the snowcat for Glacier Snowcat when they were in operation at Hatcher Pass.  Russ sent in a few 1992 pictures and also mentioned that Glacier Snowcat might be in operation again one day.  Thanks for the pictures Russ !!

 


 

January 20, 2012
Today I removed a site from the list of Alaskan lost ski areas.  Early on in the Alaska Lost Ski Areas Project I created a web page for the Cold Bay AFS.  I included this site because there was Air Force documentation from the 50's that said skis were available for use at this remote radar station.  But over the course of this project I have received 6 or so emails from Cold Bay AFS veterans that said there was definitely no skiing going on at Cold Bay.  So Cold Bay AFS is off the list.  I'll put it back on ALSAP if documented proof of skiing at Cold Bay ever shows up.
 

January 17, 2012
Added a web page for a previously unknown proposed ski area at Hatcher Pass.  Information about this proposed ski area was found in Alaska Pacific Consolidated Mining Company documents by the top-notch and fantastic archivists at the Consortium Library at UAA.  A big thanks for this impressive discovery to Arlene Schmuland, Megan Friedel and Mariecris Gatlabayan !!

 


 

January 13, 2012
On January 6th this website had the most number of hits per day ever - 267,809.   On the 6th a picture of skiing in Valdez was the background image for Microsoft's  bing web search page.  Gil Aegerter saw this Alaskan skiing image on bing and emailed Microsoft to suggest that one of the action boxes that you see when the cursor moves across the image ... be a link to www.alsap.org.  Microsoft followed through with Gil's suggestion and as a result - many thousands of people checked out ALSAP on that day.  So thanks a lot Gil for making ALSAP world famous (for a day at least) !!

 


 

January 3, 2012
Added a web page for a ski area that was once proposed in the 1970's at Sugarloaf Mountain near Valdez.  Thanks to Peter Stahley for emailing a link to a reference article on this piece of Alaskan skiing history.  Also - made updates to the Thompson Pass and Salmonberry Hill web pages.
 

2011 ALSAP Log

2010 ALSAP Log

 

2009 ALSAP Log

2008 ALSAP Log

2007 ALSAP Log

2006 ALSAP Log

2005 ALSAP Log

2004 ALSAP Log