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Alaska Methodist University Ski Hill and Jump

1967 to 1980s

Name of Ski Area: Alaska Methodist University Ski Hill and Paul Crews Jump
Location: Anchorage, on the western side of the Alaska Pacific University, east of the Moseley Sports Center on the east facing hillside that slopes down from the presidents house.
Type of Area: Ski Hill, Ski Jump
Dates of Operation: Ski Hill: 1967 to 1980s ?  (still researching) / Ski Jump: 1967 to mid 1970's
Who Built It?: The Alaska Methodist University (Jim Mahaffey designed and helped build both the rope tow and the 30 meter jump - which had lots of scaffolding)
Elevation:

~400' / Vertical: ~80'

Lifts: Rope tow
Facilities: 30 meter ski jump, lights for night skiing
History: The ski hill and Paul Crews Jump was built in 1967.  The Alaska Methodist University closed down in 1976.  The Alaska Pacific University operates on the campus now and since 1999 it has been the home of the nationally renown APU Nordic Ski Center.
Sources of Information:

Jim Mahaffey, Colin Quinn-Hurst (October 2001 issue of "The APU Journal": "APU Nordic Ski History"); Tim Kelley; Benji and Shannon Uffenbeck; Mike Hopkins; Michael McGoodwin; Tony Reetz

Photos: Does anyone have pictures of jumping on the AMU jump or skiing on the AMU Ski Hill that they would like to contribute to ALSAP ?

~  PHOTOS  ~
 

Photos from 1960's Alaska Methodist University Publications

(Click on images below to enlarge them)
[Photo credits: Alaska Methodist University]

 [1968] Above: Coach Jim Mahaffey instructs student skiers on the University Ski Slope
 1968 AMU Information Bulletin cover  AMU standout skier Gene Morgan [1968] [1967-68] Building and skiing the Paul Crews Jump.  Pages from the 1968 "Amulet" AMU yearbook.
Skiing pages from the 1967 "Amulet" AMU yearbook.  Shots from the AMU Ski Hill.
1960's / 1970's Ski Team Patch

~  ARTICLES  ~
 

Colin Quinn-Hurst's October 2001 article: "APU Nordic Ski History"

(Click on images to expand to readable size)

APU_ColinQH_Page1.jpg (182610 bytes)

APU_ColinQH_Page2.jpg (314209 bytes)

 

1964? News article: "UA Outpoints AMU on Skis"

(Click on image to expand to readable size)

This article makes mention of a skiing tournament that was the first ever sporting event between UA (now UAF) and AMU (now APU).  The alpine racing was held at Alyeska and the cross country racing was held at the Forest Park Golf Course, which is now a lost skiing area.

 

1971 Ski Jump Picture
(Photo Credit: Michael McGoodwin)

~  AERIAL VIEWS  ~
 

This 2002 aerial view of Anchorage shows where the AMU / APU campus is located.

(click on this view to expand it)

terra_amu.jpg (133733 bytes)

A zoomed in view shows the Alaska Pacific University campus and the location of the old AMU ski hill and jump.

(click on view to expand it)

terra_zoom1_amu.jpg (151874 bytes)

Zooming in further, you can see the location of where the jump and outrun was located.  And the estimated location of the rope tow.

(click on view to expand it)

terra_zoom2_amu.jpg (105929 bytes)

These mid 1970's aerial views, provided by Benji and Shannon Uffenbeck, show the AMU ski hill and jump.  A zoomed in shot of the ski hill and jump can be seen on the right.

Note in the picture that there is not yet the Moseley Sports Center or the President's House.

(click on view to expand it)

 

Research Correspondence 

[Paul Wunnicke - 03 February 2005 email excerpt]
 
We were jumping off the APU jump in 1974/75 even though it was "closed". It got kind of scary as the boards were getting rotten and then i had a big wreck and quit doing it.
[Mike Hopkins - 17 July 2012 email]

You can see from the point spread in the article [see above] that cross country was the University of Alaska’s strong event. We won the two Alpine events but were overwhelmed by their strong cross country showing. Our team skied on cross county skis borrowed from the US Biathlon team who were doing some of their training on the AMU campus. Even with the Biathlon teams help we were no match in that event. Thank you for your ambitious project. It was fun to remember skiing from those days. I transferred from AMU to the University of Denver to finish school and continued to race and teach skiing for many years after that.
[Tony Reetz - 11 April 2014 email]

The picture of the young guy going off the AMU jump in 1967, right hand side of the page, with his hands up, is Bruce Fenn.  His whole family was active in alpine racing. We used to race together in the Mighty Mites and Alyeska Ski Team, and a bunch of us did a stint nordic jumping--even my dad, Augie Reetz.

 

 

Do you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to contribute about this ski area?