Voices from the past

I've been listening to interview tapes to gather notes and quotes for my historical writing. I've finished reviewing conversations with skiers from the 1950s and 60s. <br><br>These conversations capture a bit of what it was like in the "dark ages" of backcountry skiing in Washington (as John Meulemans described it). All of these people have been prominent skiers and mountaineers since the 1950s. A couple of them have ski memories going back to the 1920s! Some were involved in the Mt Olympus IGY project or the Crystal Mountain snow surveys. Most of these conversations happened a few years ago, and five of the subjects are no longer with us.<br><br>I'll be using just bits and pieces of these conversations in my book. But the totality of what the subjects had to say is worth recording, I think. So here's the list:<br><br> Stella Degenhardt <br> Dorothy Egg <br> Joe Firey <br> Jim Hawkins <br> Marion Hessey <br> Ed LaChapelle <br> Walt Little <br> Tom Lyon <br> Cal Magnusson <br> John and Irene Meulemans <br> Gary Rose <br> Pete Schoening <br> Ira Spring <br> Duke Watson <br> Chuck Welsh <br><br>I have other conversations to review, and people I haven't even talked to yet. So this work is far from complete.

Thanks again, Lowell.<br><br>It's an impressive effort to maintain such an historic, well-organized, and encyclopedic documentation of Washington skiing.

In my line of work I on occasion have the opportunity to speak with some of the old timers you speak of. All (and not climbers only of course) have great stories to tell. From war, to growing up poor and destitute, to the adventures - both local and abroad, in the mountains and elsewhere...they are all something to hear, and many of these oldtimes love nothin' more than spinning a yarn.

Great stories, thanks for sharing.<br><br>My grandmother grew up in Leavenworth and told me they used to go over to the ski hill when she was a teenager. She didn't remember much other then watching the ski jumpers.<br>She said she never did ski herself, it wasn't for her.

My grandmother grew up in Leavenworth and told me they used to go over to the ski hill when she was a teenager. She didn't remember much other then watching the ski jumpers.<br>She said she never did ski herself, it wasn't for her.

<br><br>There are a number of Leavenworth ski jumpers still around. Kjell Bakke is the authority. His father and uncle (Magnus and Hermod) were local legends going back to the 1930s. Kjell was responsible for building the new little 'D' hill over there.<br><br>Just this year, Randy Garretson, a young (at the time) jumper who was paralyzed on the big hill in the 1960s, was inducted into the NW ski hall of fame. My dad and uncle used to jump on one of the smaller hills at Leavenworth in the 1960s in the veterans (old guys) class.