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Mystery Glimpse: Ski The Cone

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This Should Be Easy.

If you’ve skied this…structure, tell us your story. Where, why?

Last Week

Feb 1941. Ski Jumpers.

This iconic image is of seven great ski champions from the past.  All have been inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and are regarded as SkiSport Legends.  The image comes from a early 1940s clipping Alan Engen included in his donated ski history, four volume scrapbook series, The Engen Skiing Dynasty.  The books currently reside in the University of Utah J.Willard Marriott Library Utah Ski Archives. 

The photo was taken in Sun Valley, ID at the base of the old Ruud Mountain Ski Jumping Hill in February 1941.  In the photo are, left to right:  Corey Engen, Barney McClean, Sverre Engen, Gordon Wren, Alf Engen, Torger Tokle, and Art Devlin.  Not long after this photo was taken, the great ski jumper, Torger Tokle, went into the military service, joining the 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale and ultimately lost his life in combat during WWII.  Torger and Alf father were two of the greatest U.S. ski jumpers of that time period.

 

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Mystery Glimpse: Seven Great Champs

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All Inducted In US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Hints: Photo from Feb. 1941, Sun Valley. One of these men later enlisted in the 10th Mountain Division and was killed in action. Can you name them all?

Thanks to Alan Engen for contributing this photo from his four-volume scrapbook series, The Engen Skiing Dynasty, currently at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library Ski Archives.

Last Week

Yes, Rip McManus. We were surprised to see so many correct entries, and even anecdotes from commentators about his colorful, but much too short career in the ski business and sport.

We remember meeting Rip at an SIA Ski Industry Trade Show, back in 1970 or so. He was a smiling, fun-loving guy with a lot of energy who left a positive impression with everyone he met.

Rip was born in Boston, raised in Connecticut, and raced in the East until he went to Denver University. In 1964, we was a member of Bob Beattie’s US Olympic team. He was a three-event racer who captured North American and Canadian GS and downhill titles. At one time, he ranked 11th in the world in FIS points.

Rip left racing in 1965 and joined the Head Ski Co. as product manager and director of racing. He later moved to Lange as director of the boot division. He also consulted in marketing, ski testing, racing and product development with the Olin Ski Company.

Rip (r) in his role as TV sports commentator in Downhill Racer.

You may remember Ripper as a commentator and technical advisor to ABC-TV for the 1968 Winter Olympics, also covering the 1970 World Alpine Ski Championships for NBC-TV. He was an associate editor of Ski Racing magazine. What most people probably don’t realize is that Rip did the downhill racing sequences for the Robert Redford classic, Downhill Racer. He also played an onscreen role as a TV commentator.

He was clearly a unique character, coming up through the ranks of ski racing with few connections, little money, working on the trail crew at Stowe to earn entry fees and lift money. He did it all by himself.

Rip McManus’ life so full of potential was cut short by a traffic accident in 1982. As veteran journalist John Henry Auran wrote in a 1965 profile of McManus, “He’ll be remembered because he may be the last of his kind.”

[Note: This article was adapted from January, 1983 SKI magazine]

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Mystery Glimpse: Racer R.

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This Is A Challenge. Hints Below.

He was on Bob Beattie’s 1964 US Ski Team. He later worked for Head Ski and Lange Boots. Do you know who he is? Put your guess in the comment box below.

Last Week

Thanks to ski correspondent Dave Irons for supplying last week’s picture and this description:

“John and Joe Luc Roy Jr. got it right away.  Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton (now Shawnee Peak) is Maine’s oldest continuously operated ski area starting with rope tows in 1938.  In 1951 they built Maine’s first T-bar which is in the picture. The T-bar is long gone, but you can still ski the lift line, a narrow run lined by trees. The base lodge has expanded and is more than triple the original size. The lake in the picture is the real give away. Moose Pond is 13 miles long and provides the area with unlimited water for snowmaking, something many areas envy. 

Sorry Marilyn, although my association with Sunday River is well known, we skied Pleasant Mountain in the fifties before Sunday River opened in 1959. We switched to Sunday River because as we were living in South Paris it was an easier drive, and Pleasant Mountain had become known for lift lines.  That’s no longer the case, with two top to bottom triples, a quad and another triple for beginners.  For more on the area, my book, Shawnee Peak at Pleasant Mountain is available on Amazon, and at Shawnee Peak. How’s that for a shameless plug?  I’ll try to answer any questions about the area.” 

First T-Bar
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Mystery Glimpse: First T-Bar

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Can You Name The State And The Ski Area Where This First T-bar In The State Appeared?

Hint: It’s 1951.

Thanks to veteran ski journalist Dave Irons for contributing this photograph. That should be another hint for those who know Dave.

Last Week

The National Ski Patrol expanded rapidly after its 1938 organization. One well-known and famously crusty patroller from Massachusetts was Henry “Swampy” Paris of Woburn. He and William Putnam organized the Mount Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol in 1948, and for decades Swampy was the ubiquitous patrol director in Tuckerman Ravine during spring ski season.

We had one successful contribution from Dr. Gretchen Rous Besser who nailed it, calling Swampy a “legend in his time.”

Special thanks to Jeff Leich, Executive Director of The New England Ski Museum for suggesting this photograph.

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Mystery Glimpse: On Patrol

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Early Red Parka Person

Who is this guy? Sure looks like he knows the snows. Photo courtesy of the New England Ski Museum and executive director Jeff Leich. Worth visiting their online gift shop by the way if you’re looking for skier/snow sport presents. The New England Ski Museum now has two locations: Franconia and North Conway, NH.

Last Week

Yes, Mount Superior. Here’s a wonderful description from Alan Engen, recent winner of the S.J. Quinney Award from the Utah Ski Archives, honoring his life time achievements in the snow sports world. Thanks to Alan and the Alf Engen Ski Museum for contributing these photos.

“The photo was taken by the legendary early ski pioneer/legend, Dick Durrance in 1940.  He was living at Alta at the time with his new wife, Miggs Durrance.  Here’s a good photo of both of them on the deck of the old Alta Lodge, which Dick helped to initially build.

“The “Pointy Peak” photo shown is of Mount Superior and was taken not far from the top of Alta Ski Area’s current Wildcat Lift location.  It is an impressive shot.  Both Dick and his wife, Miggs, were excellent photographers.”

Dick and Miggs Durrance at Alta circa early 1940s

In the book The Man on the Medal, about the life of Dick and Miggs Durrance, written by John Jerome (1995), the following information was provided on their coming to Alta.

Dick and Miggs first came to Alta in the spring of 1940 to attend the wedding of Friedl Pfeiffer and a Salt Lake City girl (name not identified in the book).  So recorded, they both “fell in love with the place.”  They were married shortly after on June 9, 1940.  In the fall of that year, Dick made contact with the Salt Lake Winter Sports Association (who ran the Alta ski area operation) and expressed interest in coming to Alta and helping to build the fledgling area with one chairlift and a lodge which at that time was only half finished.  The Alta group welcomed Dick’s proposal with “open arms.”

It was through Dick’s efforts that he made contact with a friend named James “J” Laughlin and invited him to come and see the area he was involved with.  Laughlin did come, and quickly fell in love with the beauty of Alta and ended up purchasing the Alta Lodge from the Salt Lake Winter Sports Association.  The lodge had been started through a $25,000.00 gift to Salt Lake Winter Sports by the Rio Grande Railroad.  The gift had been authorized by one of the trustees of the railroad, Wilson McCarthy.  Laughlin agreed to finance completion of the Alta Lodge in return for interest in the lodge and the lift operation which the Salt Lake Winter sports Association agreed to do.   

Laughlin, in turn, quickly hired Durrance to oversee the lodge completion and general lodge operations.  This was in addition to running the ski school operation (which he had been granted through Forest Service approval).  Dick’s ski school staff consisted of his wife, Miggs, Gordy Wren (who would become one of America’s finest Olympic ski jumpers), and Si Brand, a racer from California.  The Durrance Ski School at Alta was based on the stem turn, “Which Mathias Zdarsky had advocated shortly before the turn of the century in Lilienfeld, Austria.”

Dick and Miggs first lived at Alta in one of the small mining buildings, below the Alta Lodge, left over from the mining era.  Unfortunately, the old mining shack burned down and some of Durrance’s valuable competition awards were lost in the fire.

The Durrances lived at Alta for the first two years of their married life and left Alta after completion of the 1941-42 ski season.

In reflection, Alta has had a number of skiing legends who have, at one time or another, called that place at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, home.  For certain, the Durrances fit that category and both contributed in helping to develop Alta into a world class ski resort.

Miggs passed away at the age of 83 on November 11, 2002.  Dick passed away at age 89 on June 13, 2004.