On-line book: Written in the Snows

Written in the Snows
Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest

"The Ski Climbers"

A decade ago I began researching the history of backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering in Washington.  Several detours occurred along the way and to date I've spent 5000+ hours working on this project.

When I started my research I hoped the result would be a published paper book.  I still plan to finish the book, but for now I've given up the paper part of it.

I've written my first chapter of the book and published it on line.  This will ultimately be Chapter 4 (or so) in the finished story.  It's called "The Ski Climbers." It describes an iconic period in Northwest skiing, the years between 1928 and 1948 when pioneering ski ascents and descents were made on Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Hood. 

You can find this new chapter on the website devoted to the book:

written-in-the-snows.net/

Ultimately, the book will have about a dozen chapters.  "The Ski Climbers" shows the sort of coverage I hope to provide for the 100-year history of backcountry skiing in Washington.  Publishing on line will enable me to include more stories, more pictures, and more diverse media than a traditional book could do.  "The Ski Climbers" contains movies, and future chapters may include other multi-media material.

Publishing on-line will also enable me to add new information, make corrections, and publish something before I reach retirement age.  I'm excited about this approach.  I hope you enjoy the first chapter.

Beautiful. An amazing piece of work and research.
Congratulations and thanks.
I just scrolled through it but am looking forward to reading it in depth.

Thanks Chris. I hope your initial impression holds up after a more thorough reading.

This morning I got the movies formatted right so that I can watch them on my iPod from the website. Very cool!

Love those big turns on old skool gear!

Publishing on-line will also enable me to add new information, make corrections, and publish something before I reach retirement age.

Congratulations on your second baby! Who says a man can't have a child? This one took a lot more than nine months to gestate. Thanks for your hours of collecting, editing, and finally sharing your distilled results with us. When is "retirement age" and what does that mean to you?

When is "retirement age" and what does that mean to you?

I don't know exactly, but I can tell it's not in the cards for me for some time.

I just began reading through your first chapter. I love what I'm seeing so far! Keep up the awesome work! It's a another great contribution to the community.

Fabulous work you have done! Great read while waiting new snow to fall. I take my "skis" off to you.

Written in the Snows
Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest

I've completed another chapter of my on-line history of Northwest skiing:

"A Far White Country"

My previous chapter ("The Ski Climbers") dealt with events between about 1928 and 1948.  In this chapter, I've jumped back to the beginning, roughly the years between 1890 and 1920.  This chapter describes how skis first came to Washington's mountains, how the railroads made winter recreation possible in the Northwest, and who the first skiers were.  I expect to insert another chapter between this one and "The Ski Climbers" as I continue my work.

You can find the new chapter on the website devoted to the book:

written-in-the-snows.net/

I hope you enjoy "A Far White Country."

Lowell just fantastic!
Is there any more artwork by Yngvar Sonnichsen ?
"Ski Tourney Thrills Mountain Crowd" in Part 4 was great.
A block print ?

Lowell just fantastic!
Is there any more artwork by Yngvar Sonnichsen ?
"Ski Tourney Thrills Mountain Crowd" in Part 4 was great.
A block print ?

Hi Robie,

Yes, I think the Sonnichsen artwork may have been a block print. You would not believe how much work it took to get that. I found it in the newspaper microfilms at UW, printed it out on their crummy copy machines, scanned it at home, then spent hours scrubbing the whitespace using GIMP so it's legible. But it was worth it.

Last winter I received an email from Christine Anderson of the Sons of Norway. She told me this about Sonnichsen:

The Sun, 5 August 1917 "Ski Tourney Thrills Mountain Crowd" it is probably Yngvar Sonnichsen who did the drawing only because he was an artist living here in Seattle. His brother S. Engelhard Sonnichsen was the architect for Norway Hall in Seattle. In the Seattle Times February 4, 1917, article it would be Thomas Kolderup. He was a member of our lodge. His grandnephew still is.

That's all I know about the Sonnichsens at this point.

Magnificent! I look forward to reading this all very carefully, several times.

Lowell ,
I downloaded it and printed it on some nice 8x11 1/2 .It came out real nice. If any relatives are still around they ought to make some good prints.
The vantage point  appears to be a bit  combined but the effect captures the spirit of hallowed ground.
further edit
Wow! First google hit on this guy.
finearts.luther.edu/artists/sonnichsen.html

Here's a quote from the Tacoma News Tribune, July 6, 1918:

"The slide is situated on the eastern or right hand slope of Alta Vista, as one faces the mountain from Paradise Inn. There is a long incline on this side and half way down the slope is a natural ledge that permits a long leap to the sweep below."

July 2017 will be the 100th anniversary of the first tournament. Mark your calendars now...