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Grandview / Grandview Ski Train

1940's to 2008
Name of Ski Area: Grandview
Location: Between Portage and Moose Pass, adjacent to the Alaska Railroad
Type of Area: Backcountry skiing area serviced by a ski train
Dates of Operation: 1940's to 2008
Base/ Vertical Drop:

Variable, depends on how much you could climb up and ski down before the train left.
Lifts: None
Facilities: Alaska Railroad passenger train cars.  Certain cars were designated for alcohol consumption and polka dancing.
History: From the mid 1940's to 2008 the Alaska Railroad would run special passenger trains to Grandview, between Portage and Moose Pass, most every year.  This special event was called the ski train.  The Alaska Railroad (ARR) arranged such ski trains in the early days.

Then in 1972 the Nordic Ski Club of Anchorage, which would eventually become the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage (NSAA), took over organization of this event.  Their last ski train to Grandview was in 2008.  A Grandview ski train has not been run since 2008 due to Alaska Railroad budget tightening and the ARR not wanting to take on risk related to avalanches any more.  The NSAA and the Alaska Railroad now run annual ski trains to Curry, north of Talkeetna.  There is little risk of avalanche in the terrain that is skied at Curry.

Occasionally people still ski at Grandview, either with snowmobile support or by long distance crust skiing from Portage to the end of the Placer River Valley and over the ridge into the Grandview Valley.
Sources of Information:

ViLDA; Anchorage Daily News article; Mel Monsen; Ernie Jeffs

~  PHOTOS  ~
 

Anchorage Museum at the Rasmussen Center Mid-1940's Photos of Skiing At Grandview
Grandview April 1945 - 11 feet of snow

[Photo credit: AMRC]

 Offloading the ski train at Grandview - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]

 Offloading the ski train at Grandview - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]
A skier at Grandview - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]

 Two skiers at Grandview - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]

 Grandview skiers on a mountainside - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]
   
  Grandview skiers on a mountainside - 1944

[Photo credit: AMRC]

  

 

Ernie Jeffs 1953 Grandview Picture, Courtesy of Mel Monsen

~  MAPS  ~

This map shows the location of Grandview on the Alaska Railroad between Portage and Moose Pass.

(click on this map to expand it)

 

 

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