Greetings--

The post on the alsap web site for the Fairbanks-area ski area known as Ullrhaven contains several serious errors.

The lodge and rope tow were built by a group of gung-ho then young downhill skiers who formed the Alaska Ski Corporation. It was not intended to be a nonprofit, though it certainly turned out that way.

The Alaska Ski Association, which was indeed the brainchild of several university students and was always meant to be a nonprofit, lay claim to land uphill and to the north of the rope tow, with an eye toward expanding skiable areas within the scope of the federal homestead act, which permitted 80 acres maximum per claiming entity--hardly adequate for decent downhill development. Note that the Ullrhaven land was originally in federal hands, not property of the university, which owned a plot nearby. I think your source confused the association with the corporation; perhaps the then much-disliked operator of the Cleary Summit ski area did too. I do know that his reputedly high-handed treatment of skiers was one of the motivations for the founding of Ullrhaven. The university itself had nothing to do with the ski area, except insofar as its construction of a geophysical observatory on the summit of Ester Dome led to road improvements and the availability of electricity to the hilltop, including to a power line that was easy and inexpensive for the lodge and tow to access. Of the founding members of the corporation, the hands-on builders of the lodge and tow, I know of only one still alive and still residing in Alaska, engineer Mark Fryer of Anchorage. There may be others, but I don't know who they are.

The lodge closure came because of no gubernatorial action, romantic though that sounds. It came, as so many have, because the effort was undercapitalized from the get-go. The restaurant and bar operating in the lodge carried the costs of operating the ski area for years, but eventually the then-poor road maintenance plus the appearance of more strict building and sanitation codes for food and drink service made it impossible for the corporation to break even, much less make a profit. They couldn't afford the needed improvements.

For years some diehards hoped and planned that Ullrhaven would rise again, but rope tows were no longer competitive, and the lodge was attractive to vandals; it also posed a huge liability potential, and so was dismantled for safety's sake. The corporation itself is still nominally alive, under the management of Charles (Mac) Fields.

I know all this because I've lived on Ester Dome, adjacent to Ullrhaven property, since 1962.

Good luck with your project of cataloguing the old ski areas. It's a worthy effort.

Carla Helfferich

Hello - I was a new student at UAF in fall of 1965, and I recall going to several parties at the Ullrhaven Lodge. I was far from 21 years old but everything was so loose in those days that it didn't matter and we were served and drank as much booze as we could consume. There were no problems until later that fall when student Tommy Dome got into a fight (probably over a girl) and the establishment became more strict with checking driver licenses.

I remember a pickup truck near the lodge with a rope tow arrangement. It never looked to me like it was operable but it may well have been at that time.

I vaguely recall that after November or December 1965 the bar in the lodge was only open on special occasions, such as student "holidays" and so forth.

The last time I was at Ullrhaven was mid-winter of 1968/1969, and I believe it was some kind of student organized Christmas party or holiday party. I graduated the next spring and haven't been back up there since. But I often think about the great fun we all had up there. Nobody ever got hurt and we all lived through it.

As for the road off Sheep Creek Road: It was always in good shape as far as I remember. I drove my Corvair up there several times. The Corvair engine was air-cooled and I had to be careful not to overheat on the steep grade, especially when hauling a load of college kids. Of course, going down was easy - I simply shut off the engine and coasted all the way.

It was this steep grade that made the hill great for sledding. We would go up there in the winter, point the sled or tobaggan downhill and let go. The speed would build-up very quickly and it wasn't long before one would fly off at a curve in the road.

Whitham D. Reeve

Anchorage, Alaska USA

Hello,

I stumbled upon your page on the old Ullrhaven Ski Lodge and associated ski area recently and wanted to add a few thoughts of my own to what is on the page.  Generally, the information on your page for Ullrhaven is correct, by and large, but there are a couple things you might have missed and/or have posted incorrect information about.

I want to give you a little bit of background on who I am.  My name is Liam Wescott.  I was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in April, 1965 and was raised (and have spent most of my life) in Fairbanks.  I grew up on Ester Dome.

My late father, Eugene Wescott (1932-2014) was a professor of geophysics at the Geophysical Institute at UAF.  He got master's and doctoral degrees there and he was a student at UAF when Ullrhaven first got going.  He and Merritt Helfferich, among others, were some of the original stockholders in the Alaska Ski Corporation. 

To the best of my understanding, the ski are was in use from the late 1950s up until the mid-1960s.  It was before my time, of course, but I can still remember as a young boy seeing some of the remnants of the tow rope structures in the woods on the north side of Ester Dome Road.  You could also see (this would have been in the early and mid 1970s) the bunny slope to the west of the observatory when you were coming up Ester Dome Road as well as some of the ski runs cut in through the woods, especially from about where Henderson Road intersects Ester Dome Road.

To the best of my recollection, the ski lodge was still being used as a place for wedding receptions, graduation parties, etc. well up in to the 1970s and I think it was finally more or less abandoned in the early 1980s. I can still recall the ski lodge existing in the early 1980s.  By the time I started going to college at UAF, the lodge was beginning to fall apart.  I have a distinct recollection of it finally being dismantled and taken down in May, 1992.  This would have been probably ten or more years after the last of the parties was held there.

Today, all that is left is a big, flat area with a large hole in the ground where the lodge used to be.  The area is totally overgrown with alders now (February, 2015) and the only remaining part of the ski lodge physical plant are the remnants of the outhouses that were directly south of the lodge itself.

On the issue of the "detour" right around the top of the hill where the lodge and parking lot used to be, my recollection is that in 1987, Joe and Mack Fields (the current majority owners of the ski corporation stock) were in a dispute with the State of Alaska about the right-of-way for Ester Dome Road.  They tried to reroute the road around their property, but ultimately, the state in essence played the Eminent Domain card and raised a number of issues about the "Detour" the Fields brothers had put in, that it was unsafe, no guardrails, etc.

As I say, I can remember as a kid seeing some of the remnants of the old tow rope structure in the woods on the north side of the road.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Liam Wescott
Fairbanks, Alaska

I just came across your page on Ullrhaven Lodge outside of Fairbanks. I found all the articles on it interesting, but what  I didn't understand was there is no mention of the couple that lived there (in an A-Frame next to the lodge) with their small children and ran the Lodge in the early 60's. I know they were running it in 1962, because we use to drive up there  in the Spring and Summer from Fairbanks and became good friends with them. We spent many days sitting in the lodge around the huge fireplace with them enjoying the beautiful surrounding views.

It was a long time ago, but I believe their names were Dave and Joan Teague. Is there no history of their time there taking  care of and running the Lodge? I would appreciate anything you could tell me about it - I have often wondered what happened to them and the lodge  and was so happy to discover your page on it.

Thank you,

Sue Berry

Ull, son of Siv and Tor, is the god of skiing and hunting in Norse mythology.  He was a great archer, skier and warrior, and he is said to be beautiful.  In some circles he is said to be Odin's competitor,  Other forms of his name: Ullr, Ullin, Uller, Oller.  His house, Ydalir, lies in the fortified city of Aasgaard in Midgard (the abode of human beings).

 Haven means garden.

 So, literally translated, Ullrhaven means Ullr's garden or Ullr's place.