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    Skiing in Olympic National Park
    Skiing in Olympic National Park
    Skiing in Olympic National Park
    Ebook186 pages58 minutes

    Skiing in Olympic National Park

    By Roger Merrill Oakes

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    About this ebook

    With its glaciated peaks, temperate rain forests, and ocean wilderness, Olympic National Park has been called three parks in one. Efforts to protect and preserve these treasures began with the creation of a federal reserve in 1897, followed by a national monument in 1909, and then Olympic National Park in 1938. The 1920s and 1930s saw the building of many trails, shelters, and roads. In 1934, the US Forest Service completed a primitive road to the summit of Blue Mountain, affording skiing at Deer Park, and in 1957, the National Park Service completed an improved road to Hurricane Ridge. These two areas have offered alpine (lift-assisted) skiing to several generations. While these roads remain today, the recognition of the value of preserved wilderness has stopped road construction. In 1988, most of the park became federally designated wilderness. In 1981, Olympic National Park was designated a World Heritage Site.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 17, 2014
    ISBN9781439648537
    Skiing in Olympic National Park
    Author

    Roger Merrill Oakes

    Roger Merrill Oakes is a founder and past president of the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club, which operates a small ski area within Olympic National Park. This book has been done with support from the cultural resource group at Olympic National Park and with the cooperation of many local skiers.

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    • 5/5
      Having worked for 24 years, beginning in 1980, as a ranger at Olympic National Park, and having worked in the Hurricane Ridge and Deer Park areas, I am very familiar with the location and subject of this book. Though I have seen some of the pictures, I certainly have never before seen all that are included. Especially for the Deer Park area, this book is able to fill the gap between imagination and what really happened there. To visit Deer Park today, it is difficult to envision exactly where the ski runs and facilities were. But having worked there at the end of the era when one could drive beyond the park boundary in winter, I have experienced first hand the challenge of driving the road in poor conditions, especially when there is opposing traffic on the road.I am very familiar with the location, activities and many of the personalities portrayed in the Hurricane Ridge area. The only thing that does not come across is the extreme challenge of the weather when conditions deteriorated during a busy day and the place had to be evacuated. But that was not the intent of the book, but is etched in my memory and perhaps in the minds of many of the people who have experienced it.Roger Oakes was our family doctor for years, and I knew him to be involved in the ski program and as an avid park hiker as well. It's enjoyable to have the opportunity while we are both in retirement to pursue interests such as research and writing. Thank you for your friendship, Roger! And thank you for this little gem of a book about a place we both love.

    Book preview

    Skiing in Olympic National Park - Roger Merrill Oakes

    (ONP).

    INTRODUCTION

    In the 1930s, recreational skiing was just becoming popular in America. Ski lifts were being constructed, first with simple rope tows. Then, in 1936, Northern Pacific Railroad engineers designed America’s first chairlift at Sun Valley, Idaho. In the Olympic Mountains of Washington State, circumstances were such that a premier ski area was developed. In a time of economic depression and a New Deal response that created a ready labor force along with a Forest Service that wanted projects and development, a ski area was in the making at a place called Deer Park.

    Other circumstances afforded the opportunity for better access to another ski area in the Olympics at Hurricane Ridge 20 years later. This time, it was a National Park Service movement to improve park facilities, which led to the creation of a modern highway and new lodge in the alpine reaches of Olympic National Park and a new ski area. Deer Park was abandoned as a ski resort and the lifts moved over to Hurricane Ridge. This is a pictorial story about skiing at these two areas.

    When it was created in 1916, the National Park Service was given a complex mission to conserve the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, yet provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. In its early years, it clearly emphasized enjoyment, development, and recreation, often to the detriment of the natural environment. As the country has gradually recognized the importance of wilderness preservation, this emphasis has changed. As a result, Olympic National Park is a fairly well-preserved ecosystem of mountains, forests, and ocean coastline, road building has stopped, and most of the park is designated wilderness.

    Today, the Deer Park ski area is just a memory, while Hurricane Ridge remains a small recreational ski area where children learn to ski and visitors enjoy a variety of winter recreational activities. This access is increasingly enjoyed by sightseers, cross-country skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers, and backcountry skiers, most of whom appreciate the opportunity and value the protected wilderness of Olympic National Park.

    The Olympic Mountain Range on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State was formed millions of years ago by powerful tectonic forces with undersea lava flows (basalt) and the effects of ice and water. Its rivers run radially into the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and south to the Chehalis River, forming what has been called an Island of Rivers.

    These mountains are rugged and steep, surrounded by dense old-growth forests, and incised by deep valleys. They are largely composed of sedimentary rock, with a crescent of basalt stretching from the northwest corner, forming an arc eastward and then to the southwest corner of the range. The range is not volcanic and contains no granite, except for occasional glacial erratics deposited by previous ice sheets.

    Recent archaeological evidence shows that Native Americans explored the Olympic high country centuries ago. The first European explorers cruised by in the 16th century. In 1787, British fur trader Charles W. Barkley named the Strait of Juan de Fuca after the fabled Greek explorer who possibly visited the strait in 1592. Spanish explorer Juan Perez, said to be the first European explorer to see the Olympic Mountains, named them Cerro de La Santa Rosalia. In 1788, Capt. John Meares renamed the tallest peak Mount Olympus after the Greek mountain of a similar name.

    Another Spanish explorer, Manual Quimper, explored the strait in 1790 and established a small fort at Neah Bay, securing Spanish claim to the area on August 1, 1790. Exploration into the interior of the Olympics did not start in earnest for another century.

    From the early days of exploration of the Olympic Mountains, people recognized that these wilderness lands and the wildlife within deserved preservation. While Olympic National Park was not created until 1938, preservation efforts date back to the time of these explorations and were most significantly supported by the two Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin Delano. Teddy Roosevelt encouraged Pres. Grover Cleveland, a somewhat reluctant conservationist, to proclaim the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897 using the Forest Reserve Act of 1891.

    In 1909, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish Mount Olympus National Monument. Roosevelt was said to have had an abiding fascination with the Olympics and would have visited the area if not for lack of a railroad and time constraints. That visit was left to his fifth cousin FDR, who made the trip in 1937 when he advocated for a large Olympic National Park, which he signed into law on June 29, 1938.

    Largely because of its vast temperate rain forests with acres of potential timber harvest, Olympic National Park has had a long and contentious history. Once it became apparent that a park would be established, there was an immediate call for an expanded road system. Some thought the first thing the Park Service should do was reconstruct the road to Deer Park and connect with a road to Obstruction Point. Another proposal was to build a high-country road connecting Olympic and Sol Duc Hot Springs.

    Under the jurisdiction of the US Forest Service, the 1930s was an active period of road, trail, and shelter building. The Forest Service took full advantage of FDR’s New Deal, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. The CCC established several camps on the Olympic Peninsula and was instrumental in most of the development in the Olympics during that

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