30 Years Ago in Ski Industry Magazine
Those interested in providing a rope ski tow or tows at Cayuse Pass in Mt. Rainier National Park may secure information by contacting the Park Superintendent. The Mt. Sunapee, N.H. ski lift has been toting 2,300 passengers to the top every Thursday for a lobster and clam bake. Visitors pay $.75 for the ride and $2 for the food.
The Bridger Ski Lift, of Bozeman, Mont., has introduced a platter-pull lift. A 3,000-foot lift with 73 seats sells for $12,280; a 500-foot lift with 13 seats sells for $3,710. Dan Deering and Reider Tanner of Seattle are building a chairlift at Snowqualmie Pass to be known as Ski Acres. It is a 2,600-foot long Riblet, and will cost $75,000.
Executives from Aspen and Lake Placid, sites for the World Ski Championships this coming February, met to coordinate planning and policy. Finance Committee chairman, Adolph Coors of Denver, said, “In choosing these skiing villages for their world championships the FIS has indicated its full appreciation of the fact that skiing has come of age in America. Now, for the first time, Americans have the opportunity to compete on home grounds for world ski titles.”
14 Years Ago in SAM
The first major ski development in the San Juan mountains of Colorado is planned, and will be called Purgatory. The Durango Ski Corporation says it will invest $550,000 for a double chair, base facilities and trail clearing. At Brodie Mountain in the Berkshires, which opened this past winter, they are sufficiently encouraged to start cutting a 6,200-foot liftline for another chairlift and commence plans for a 100-unit motel and large swimming pool.
A feature article entitled “Upward rise of the Aerial Tram” discusses the sudden boom in tram construction: three in the next three months — Jackson Hole, Wyo., Sandia Peak, N.M. and Grouse Mt., B.C.
10 Years ago in SAM
New officers for NSAA include Steve Bradley as President, Sepp Ruschp as First Vice President and Peter Seibert as Second Vice President. Nils Ericksen named Killington maintenance supervisor. Sierra Club filed suit to halt Walt Disney Productions’ master plan for developing Mineral King.
At a panel session on snow care at the NSAA Convention at Stratton, Cal Conniff of Mt. Tom said snowmaking is expensive, with labor making up about half the cost. Mt. Tom has budgeted $72,000 for 900 hours of snowmaking. A foreman is paid $230 a week, laborers $2.60 an hour and mechanics $3.70 an hour. In another panel, Frank Snyder of Stratton Mt. said, “…the ski industry cannot prove to Wall Street that we are financially stable…”
Eerie subhead to an article on Squaw Valley’s tram: “Squaw’s aerial tram makes the area impervious to some of Mother Nature’s dirty tricks, like 60 mph winds…”
The Forest Service estimates 5.8 million “visitor days” to National Forest winter sports sites for the past winter; Bridger Bowl, Montana reported an increase from 52,400 to 72,000. Under New Products, the German-made Linde low-pressure snowmaking system, which operates without the use of air compressors by expelling aerated water through 180 individual nozzles.
