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Lake Perseverance Rope Tow

Unknown

Name of Ski Area: Lake Perseverance Rope Tow
Location: Ketchikan, east of Ward Cove on the west ridge of Diana Mountain, north of Lake Perseverance, on the Perseverance Trail
Type of Area: Ski Hill
Dates of Operation: Unknown (still researching)
Who Built It?: Ketchikan residents, led by Frank Klepser
Base/Vertical Drop:

Unknown

Lifts: Rope Tow
Facilities: Unknown
History: Not much is currently known about this ski area, except that it once existed and there was a rope tow.
Sources of Information:

Marcus Oder; Pete Ellis; Lucille King

Photos:

Does anyone have pictures of skiing at the Lake Perseverance Rope Tow (or current pictures of the vicinity) that they would like to contribute to ALSAP ?

~  MAPS  ~

This large scale topo map shows the location of the Lake Perseverance Rope Tow relative to the City of Ketchikan.

(click on this map to expand it)

This zoomed in topo map shows the estimated location of the Lake Perseverance Rope Tow.

(click on this map to expand it)

[Map provided by Cruiser at www.alaskatide.com A Place for Collectors of the Alaska Sportsman Magazine.]

Research Correspondence 

[Pete Ellis - 28 October 2007 letter on www.sitnews.us] 

"As Craig Moen indicates there are ski areas on the island and, in even more ancient times, there were even more locations. At one time we had a ski area on the Perseverance Trail complete with a ski tow hauled in and set up with Frank Klepser having been the principal motivator for that endeavor. Long before that and near the top of Deer Mountain there was a ski lodge built by some earlier local pioneers who hauled the lodge material all the way up the mountain in order to take advantage of those slopes. Unfortunately it burned to the ground and was never re-built but it must have been a major undertaking and challenging source of winter recreation. The remains of the lodge are still visible in the summers when the snow has disappeared and in the area that now serves as a lookout over the channel prior to a climb on up to the top. I have never seen any pictures but presumably some exist and should be located.

Unfortunately we seem to be short of winter snow cover except for a rather narrow spectrum of the winter months when snow does accumulate although not in sufficient amounts to provide an extended downhill surface area at Harriet Hunt."
 

[Lucille King - 07 December 2007 phone conversation] 

Lucille King of Ketchikan moved to Ketchikan in 1938.  She remembers going to the Lake Perseverance ski area.  There was a Forest Service road that went to the ski area, the ski area had a rope tow and it was popular with local kids.  She did not remember when the ski area was in operation.
 

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