Seth
07-02-2008, 08:03 PM
Your article on Aspen [“Aspen: The Metamorphosis of a Skiing Icon,” March] was by far the best of all the many, many stories that have been written about Aspen.
It brought back so many memories of the happy years I had in Aspen. My first year was 1955. I ate at the Red Onion and had the “Skier special” for $1.98. I skied with Fred and Friedl [Pfeifer]. I soon met our good friend Charlie Patterson, and even had the experience of “Lord,” the giant English bulldog, sitting on my skis.
Thanks for bringing it all back.
Alan Crane
Chicago, Ill.
Morten Lund’s summary of a century of Aspen history is an excellent example of editing, with minute detail mixed in with broader trends. Because Skiing Heritage sets a standard for getting the story right, I offer these additions/corrections concerning the 1930s.
Lund characterizes Andre Roch as a “guide.” Roch was hired by Fisk-Ryan-Flynn-Rowan to design the ski area. He was an engineer and the head of the avalanche department, a very distinguished position, in his native Switzerland. He was also a noted skiing expert and mountaineer, a member of the 1953 Swiss Everest expedition that pioneered Sir Edmund Hillary’s route.
The Highland Bavarian partners visited Aspen in the summer, choosing the open slopes of Little Annie Basin for skiing and, at the base, built a lodge before they hired Roch. His snow and avalanche studies and extensive exploration led Roch to choose the area above Ashcroft (six miles above their lodge) for the ski area. He designed tram/lift lines, marked out runs, took snow measurements for an entire season, and selected a village location.
Roch organized, advised, and inspired the Aspen Ski Club to build a beginner’s area at the base of Aspen Mountain and, as Lund points out, to cut a racing trail. Roch believed that if Aspen was to distinguish itself, it had to focus on hosting races. The club cut Roch Run and secured WPA funding to built a 55-meter ski jump—necessary for major competitions—and warming huts.
Lund writes that the Ski Club did not “bother with” securing surface rights when they cut Roch Run. Actually, at the time, consolidated mining companies were either still mining or on hold while waiting for mineral prices to rise to reopen their mines on Aspen Mountain. There was little trust among the many parties. Leases for the surface rights were negotiated by the mayor. The only way an agreement could be reached was if the city of Aspen held the leases rather than the Ski Club.
Between the Highland Bavarian partners’ promotions on both coasts and the Ski Club’s focus on hosting races, Aspen was known by many skiers before the beginning of the war.
[I]Tim Willoughby
Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
I’ve been reading and enjoying Skiing Heritage for many years, and I very
much appreciated Morten Lund’s article on Aspen. I thought I might add a couple of details regarding the early days.
The chair lifts actually were operating before New Year’s Day, in December of 1946, although the official opening wasn’t until January 11. My first ski trip (and first visit) to Aspen was during that New Year week. I came up from Denver with my high school pal Hubert Weinshienk, later a member of the Colorado and 10th Mountain ski teams and volunteer lawyer for the National Ski Patrol. We stayed in the bunkhouse at Skimore Lodge, up the hill at the south end of Mill Street, a place run by Liz Forbes, who had a handyman named Ralph Jackson! Ralph had the only stretch ski pants and black nylon parka in town—very stylish. We were able to stay there and didn’t have to sleep in the abandoned building halfway up the hill—the jail, later the Hillside Inn.
A minor point: The caption for the photo on page should read “Roch Run,” not “Ruthie’s Run,” which, as the article notes, wasn’t cut until several years after the lifts began operating. Silver Queen and Bell Mountain were open, and were perhaps the most challenging runs, even more so than Roch. There was one chairlift passenger who wasn’t an employee but who always rode free—Fred Iselin’s St. Bernard, Bingo, for whom Bingo Slot is named.
R. Stephen Berry
Chicago, Ill.
It brought back so many memories of the happy years I had in Aspen. My first year was 1955. I ate at the Red Onion and had the “Skier special” for $1.98. I skied with Fred and Friedl [Pfeifer]. I soon met our good friend Charlie Patterson, and even had the experience of “Lord,” the giant English bulldog, sitting on my skis.
Thanks for bringing it all back.
Alan Crane
Chicago, Ill.
Morten Lund’s summary of a century of Aspen history is an excellent example of editing, with minute detail mixed in with broader trends. Because Skiing Heritage sets a standard for getting the story right, I offer these additions/corrections concerning the 1930s.
Lund characterizes Andre Roch as a “guide.” Roch was hired by Fisk-Ryan-Flynn-Rowan to design the ski area. He was an engineer and the head of the avalanche department, a very distinguished position, in his native Switzerland. He was also a noted skiing expert and mountaineer, a member of the 1953 Swiss Everest expedition that pioneered Sir Edmund Hillary’s route.
The Highland Bavarian partners visited Aspen in the summer, choosing the open slopes of Little Annie Basin for skiing and, at the base, built a lodge before they hired Roch. His snow and avalanche studies and extensive exploration led Roch to choose the area above Ashcroft (six miles above their lodge) for the ski area. He designed tram/lift lines, marked out runs, took snow measurements for an entire season, and selected a village location.
Roch organized, advised, and inspired the Aspen Ski Club to build a beginner’s area at the base of Aspen Mountain and, as Lund points out, to cut a racing trail. Roch believed that if Aspen was to distinguish itself, it had to focus on hosting races. The club cut Roch Run and secured WPA funding to built a 55-meter ski jump—necessary for major competitions—and warming huts.
Lund writes that the Ski Club did not “bother with” securing surface rights when they cut Roch Run. Actually, at the time, consolidated mining companies were either still mining or on hold while waiting for mineral prices to rise to reopen their mines on Aspen Mountain. There was little trust among the many parties. Leases for the surface rights were negotiated by the mayor. The only way an agreement could be reached was if the city of Aspen held the leases rather than the Ski Club.
Between the Highland Bavarian partners’ promotions on both coasts and the Ski Club’s focus on hosting races, Aspen was known by many skiers before the beginning of the war.
[I]Tim Willoughby
Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
I’ve been reading and enjoying Skiing Heritage for many years, and I very
much appreciated Morten Lund’s article on Aspen. I thought I might add a couple of details regarding the early days.
The chair lifts actually were operating before New Year’s Day, in December of 1946, although the official opening wasn’t until January 11. My first ski trip (and first visit) to Aspen was during that New Year week. I came up from Denver with my high school pal Hubert Weinshienk, later a member of the Colorado and 10th Mountain ski teams and volunteer lawyer for the National Ski Patrol. We stayed in the bunkhouse at Skimore Lodge, up the hill at the south end of Mill Street, a place run by Liz Forbes, who had a handyman named Ralph Jackson! Ralph had the only stretch ski pants and black nylon parka in town—very stylish. We were able to stay there and didn’t have to sleep in the abandoned building halfway up the hill—the jail, later the Hillside Inn.
A minor point: The caption for the photo on page should read “Roch Run,” not “Ruthie’s Run,” which, as the article notes, wasn’t cut until several years after the lifts began operating. Silver Queen and Bell Mountain were open, and were perhaps the most challenging runs, even more so than Roch. There was one chairlift passenger who wasn’t an employee but who always rode free—Fred Iselin’s St. Bernard, Bingo, for whom Bingo Slot is named.
R. Stephen Berry
Chicago, Ill.