This Well-Dressed Athlete Was The First Of Many.
Thanks to the Colorado Ski And Snowboard Museum for sending this picture along. We’re reaching deep here, dear readers, and if you can get this one, we will be really impressed. Who is he and what did he do that gave him a place in ski history?
Last Week
This is a glimpse of the famous Winter Park ski train that has recently shut down after 69 years of service. Ski trains were very popular with skiers from metropolitan areas on both coasts and the Rockies during the 30s and 40s. But, with roads and interstates, the trains became unprofitable. According to the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum, the ski train that brought Denver citizens to the mountains was one of the few that survived.
You can only now imagine how convenient and almost luxurious it must have been to take a train to a station near a ski area and get picked up by a bus or horse-drawn sleigh to be taken to a mountain hotel or base lodge. Must have been some fun times on those trains going back and forth.
Anyone remember taking a ski train to and from the mountains? What was it like?
To read more about the history of the Winter Park ski train, click here.
Visit A Ski Museum
SeniorsSkiing.com salutes the many ski museums who have contributed to the Mystery Glimpse series this season. Our readers should be aware that these often very small museum carry the stories and pictures of the past years of snow sports, going back to the early renderings of hunters and warriors on skis and ski-like gear. If you have a ski history museum near you, visit and support their efforts.
Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum
Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum
National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
We very much appreciate the contributions these ski museums made to SeniorsSkiing.com’s Mystery Glimpse. It was our way of keeping ski history and heroes alive and in front of an audience who appreciates the value of nostalgia. Next season, we hope to expand our list of contributors.
Dick Durrance, first American to beat some Europe skiers, 1936 Olympic skier who did not win but finished well. Also a photographer and movie maker. Had the skiing style called the “dip-see doodle” contributed to Aspen CO growth.
In 1985 the US SkI Writers (Now North American Snowsports Journalists) held the annual meeting at Winter Park and Amtrak offered special rates.We left Boston in late afternoon, and traveled in a bedroom on the Lake Shore Limited awaking in Cleveland and arriving in Chicago around noon. Changing trains we headed west with a sleeping compartment, went to sleep and woke up in Nebraska, and arrive in Denver in early morning. After going through what I believe was 22 tunnels and a bunch of switchbacks we came in sight of the ski area, but didn’t stop. Instead we continued on to Fraser where we were dropped at a crossing with nothing but a few scattered houses in sight. Vans picked us up a took us to our lodging paces. We were told a station was being built at the ski area. It wasn’t like taking a ski train as it was a regular East West Amtrak run but having a two day party was more fun than simply flying into Denver. I’m more familiar with trains here in the East.In the early 30’s skiers could ride a train from Portland, Maine to Fryeburg to ride a rope tow at Jockey Cap for 99 cents. Dave Irons
Anders Olsen Haugen, ski jumper
Spot on. Well done, Patricia.
Wasn’t the Dipsey – doodle technique credited to Alf Engen ( affectionately known to some at Alta in the 70’s as Ralph Engine. For his incredible endurance into his 80’s)