Lake Easton - XC skiing

Bob has anxiously been waiting for enough snow in the mountains to go skiing.  He went to Hyak to do downhill on Wednesday last week and announced that there was enough snow for us to do cross-country skiing on Friday.  Plans were made to try Lake Easton State Park, a mostly level easy cross-country area for beginners like me, located on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass.  Since it is a State Park it requires a Discover Pass and also a Sno-Park pass during skiing season.  Once off the freeway the drive through the woods was magical and gorgeous with a snow covered road and trees.

Last year we did not have enough snow for any of the cross-country ski trails to be open and groomed and there was barely enough for Bob to downhill ski a few times.  This year we have lovely snow already.  It was a clear, sunny, brisk 12 degrees F when we parked the car but after a couple of hours it was up to 20 degrees F.  My hands were so cold in the beginning that I did not want to take off gloves to use the camera which meant Bob had to take all the pictures.  Hands and feet warmed up quickly with the exercise and all was well.  

We had hiked here at the beginning of November when the lake was at low water level and there was no snow.  Now the water in the lake is frozen and covered with snow except for where the river enters. 

Along the trail there are signs and markers to identify the destinations and levels of difficulty.  

I am still a complete novice so we stuck to the blue (easy) trails and did approximately 3 miles round trip.  We had hoped to make it to the big bridge but met two men on snowshoes who said the bridge was closed and the grooming stopped just before the bridge.  We went to the end of the groomed trail then turned around and returned to the car.  Not too bad for a first time out.  No falls either much to my relief.  At one point when the return trail looked steep and had a curve at the bottom Bob suggested that I take off my skis and walk down to avoid a possible fall.   I was happy to follow his suggestion and ended the day with only the expected few achy stiff muscles and no bruises.

The groomed trails (with tracks for xc skis) follow along side the frozen snow covered lake and wind in and out amongst the trees.  Although there were lots of cars in the sno-park area most folks seemed to be using the snow play area for sledding and tubing.  There were a few people on snowshoes and a few xc skiers but it was not over crowded at all.  

There was even a group of people having a picnic in freezing weather!

The ride home on the freeway

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 125

Park City, Utah snowfall February 1909

This year has not been a good snow or ski year in Washington so far.  It is still winter and things may improve but for now something like the picture on the postcard above is not likely to happen here.  The card was purchased at the Park City, Utah museum and is one of those postcards made from a vintage photo as has been mentioned previously.  It shows a train engine with its coal car stuck on the Highline Spur.  The date of Feb 1909 and the place have been penciled in at the lower left of the card.   Park City is located in the Wasatch Back mountain area at about 7,000 feet of elevation.  Today it is a major tourist spot.

The photograph was taken after a record snowfall that occurred in Utah in 1909.   The two major railways that served this area at that time were the Union Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande.  Trains like the one shown above were used in the mining town of Park City to haul the ore mined out and to bring in some supplies but this one got stuck in the snow during that February storm and everything, roads and rails, came to a stand still.   This is a steam driven engine fueled by coal or wood and using narrow gauge rails.  All the ore, supply and any passenger cars would have been attached beyond the coal car. 

A few years earlier in 1902 there was a mine explosion that resulted in the deaths of 34 miners and severely impacted the silver mining industry and the general economy of Park City.  In desperation the town turned to alternate means of stimulating the economy one of which was winter sports such as skiing and snowshoeing. 

In February 1909 when there was so much snow the local newspaper, The Park Record, ran a story stating that skiers were coming down Treasure Hill so fast it made the reporter gasp.  About 300 people watched a month later in March when the Swede-Finn Benevolent Aid Association held a Snowshoe race.   Many of the miners were Swedish or Finnish immigrants having some expertise in skiing, which made for an exciting race.   It is a little hard to imagine given the way modern skis are made and how they look today but in 1909 some of the skis were made from wooden barrel staves and simply strapped onto a boot or shoe. 

As early as the 1920s or about ten to fifteen years after the 1909 blizzard townsfolk started using the underground mine trains and shafts to gain access to the mountain for skiing.  The aerial trams that had been used during the mining operations to haul ore were converted to chair lifts.  In the 1960s a resort called Treasure Mountain was opened and ended up providing the necessary economic stimulus to keep the town going.  The card below shows skiers exiting the shaft in 1965 carrying their extra long skis.   The skis used in 2014 are much shorter.  

Skiers exiting mine tram

As late as 1935 Park City still did not have an efficient way to plow the snow off the streets during the winter.  The result was these huge snow banks shown on the two postcards below.

A creative and novel idea is this homemade toboggan, soapbox derby car or snowmobile pictured on the next card below.  These two boys were said to be the envy of many as they whizzed down the hills and streets.  It is unknown if the device was motor or pedal powered or worked just by gravity and ski power. 

For additional information, see:

http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/mining_and_railroads/miningandsports.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_and_Rio_Grande_Western_Railroad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_City,_Utah

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 122

 

Emmett "Bud" Wright with skis, 1920

The Park City Museum in Park City, Utah has taken several historical photographs and made them into postcards.  This one, above, shows a group of telephone linemen including Emmett “Bud” Wright at the far left holding the skis.  The picture is dated 1920.

Looking at the skis he his holding it is possible to see that one is significantly longer than the other one.  While Bud was out on his lineman duties repairing phone lines he took a fall and one of his 10’ long handmade skis broke.  He continued the rest of the way on one long and one shorter ski.   He, and others like him, became local heroes who kept the phone lines open, put up new poles, and checked the lines during the winter months.  In tribute to Bud Wright there is a bronze statue of him in Park City.

These telephone linemen were called “Boomers.”  They had special equipment to aid in climbing the poles such as hooks and braces for their legs and boots, belts with loops and pockets to carry the tools needed once they got up to the top.  They also worked in teams to install new or replacement poles.  Setting the new, young pole in place was hard, dangerous work.  It required the use of planks to slide the end of the pole into a pre-dug hole and ropes to haul it upright.  Cross-arms were attached before raising the pole.  Pine poles called “pikes” were used to guide the larger, longer pole into place.  The Boomers had to know when to get out of way to avoid being crushed by a pole that fell instead of being safely installed. 

First settled in 1848 by Mormon pioneers and named originally for Parley P. Pratt as Parley’s Park City the name was later shortened to Park City.  When gold and silver were found here many outsiders came to work the mines and Park City became a rough and tumble mining town by 1870 very unlike most of the rest of the Mormon towns.  Today many of the old buildings have been restored and it is primarily a tourist and ski town.  The museum, located on the main street, has a scale-sized model of the silver mining operation, many old photographs, and other displays from the early days. 

Bud Wright, Joe Holland and Chet Jensen, ca 1922

Also from the museum collection this second card, above,  shows Bud Wright at the left and two others, Joe Holland and Chet Jensen standing at the top of Main Street with Hillside Avenue in the background.  It is dated ca 1922. 

For more information about Park City and the Linemen, see:

http://www.the-electric-orphanage.org/the-boomer-lineman/
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMEA49_Emmett_Bud_Wright_Park_City_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_City,_Utah

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 118

Two women skiing at Mt. Baker, 1937

This is a rather silly postcard but it does illustrate the popularity of skiing.  The date is 1937; the place is the Mt. Baker ski area located in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest of Whatcom County, Washington.  These two women are wearing regular street clothes with simple straps across their shoes for bindings.  It must have been a warm day as a couple of the men in the background are shirtless and the one woman is carrying a sweater on her arm.  The long, wooden skis seem primitive by today’s standards.  At a guess the ladies are off to do some cross-country skiing rather than downhill racing. 

There has been skiing at Mt. Baker since the 1920s.  Even though it is a distance to travel, 52 miles from Bellingham, the nearest city, it is a popular ski area with an annual average snowfall of 641 inches.  The record snowfall for Mt. Baker was 1,140 inches set during the winter of 1998/1999.  

Today the ski area is comprised of approximately 1,000 acres with 31 ski runs, 8 chairlifts and 2 rope tows.  The range of difficulty goes from about ¼ of the runs in the easy category, almost ½ half listed as more difficult, and about 1/3 as most difficult coded as single or double black diamond runs.  In 1937 the first rope tow was installed and there was something called a “ski escalator” that had been built in 1935/1936.   No mention was made about what the escalator looked like or for how many years it was used.  It was not until 1953 that the first chairlift was constructed.   The original ski lodge at Mt. Baker burned to the ground in 1931 and was not rebuilt; however, there are two private lodges there that were built in the 1940s.  One belongs to the Mountaineers the other one belongs to a church and is used mostly for youth snow activities. 

Mt. Baker has been featured in many still photographs as well as ski and snowboarding films because it is such a beautiful setting. 

For more information, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Baker_Ski_Area

The postcard is a reproduction published by Discover Your Northwest and was available at the Verlot Ranger Station. 

Snowed in

Looking out the front window toward the street

Some people live in areas where snow is a common occurrence in the winter, I do not. Our climate is mild with rain and clouds. It rarely gets cold enough to snow and when it does everything comes to a standstill. The schools close, the buses change routes and sometimes don’t run at all or get stuck, cars slide and skid and crash. People stay inside if they can and wait for the Pineapple express (warm wet wind and rain coming from Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean) to melt all the mess and let us get back to normal.

Seattle is a city of many hills, steep hills; it is not equipped to deal with snow. This city has perhaps only 20 trucks to sand, salt and plow the streets. None of the residential streets are touched by a plow only the main roads. My mailbox is down on the street and I have 20 stairs to climb up and down to get to the driveway. The driveway is very steep so I use a hiking pole to help me get down in the snow. But guess what? No mail, no paper, nobody wants to drive on my quiet little road bracketed by two extremely steep streets. The street to the north of me is so steep that it is always closed when it snows the street on the south is a main bus route and is salted or sanded but probably not plowed. Even so the buses go a different way when it snows.

The snow is very beautiful. It is 28℉ and still snowing. Cat and I will stay snug and warm inside the house.

The stairs up to the house

The street looking north

The house from the driveway

The Bride of Satan looking out at the snow

Note: Some of these photos are from a previous winter, I'm not going outside today.