Ancient Skiers
By
Willa O'Connor
As
an Ancient Skiers Hall of Fame nomination committee member, I had the dubious
honor of condensing into a half page apiece the lives of six candidates. Four of
the six have been on the rolls of our organization and the other two have made
considerable contributions to our sport. Ancient Skiers get to vote on which
four are honored at our fall banquet. I can't imagine who could be left out!
Ivor
"Buss" Alsop, (1915-1997)
Bellingham inventor, had been area manager at Snoqualmie Pass and Mt Baker and
had owned and operated two ski shops. He founded the family business of Alsop
Inc. in his garage in 1964 with the production of the "Boot-In", which
went from being a convenient boot press to a nationally used display-marketing
tool for retail ski shops. His bindings and poles were also well known. These
were some of 450 patents supplying six different industries in 40 countries.. In
1995 he received the Business Pulse Magazine's Whatcom County Lifetime
Achievement award and was named Northwest Father of Invention by the Seattle
Times. In 1960, Ivor suggested the Mt. Baker Summer Racing Camp to Franz Gabl.
The first paying customers were Ivor's three sons and in a few years it
grew to more than a hundred from all over the country. Said Franz: "It
was all the idea of Ivor. He was the most gentle, far-sighted man I knew in the
ski business."
Art
Audett, for
whom the PSIA-NW Service Award is named, is the subject of rhapsodic letters
detailing his charismatic career. One is from Joe Jay Jalbert, photographer for
Robert Redford's Downhill Skier movie, and a member of the 1960 Olympic team
that Audett coached to go to Squaw Valley. "Arthur Audett, to this moment
played a major role as to who and what I am today. I feel honored to relive some
of those incredible experiences we shared together at Lookout Pass." Backed
by the Kellogg Idaho YMCA, Art built the Lookout free ski school into the
largest in northern Idaho. He later headed five other ski schools--Coronet Peak
(New Zealand), Ski Professionals, Edmonds, Stevens Pass, Crystal Mountain-plus
his own Audett Ski School. He started his career at Anthony Lakes and ended at
Alyeska, Alaska, where he was killed in an industrial accident. His tireless
work for the PSIA-NW organization included many years service on the board of
directors as education vice president, examiner, clinic leader and coach and
making it all fun. He was also well known as a ski and equipment sales rep.
Frank
Cumbo for
fifty years has been North Central Washington's MR. SKI. He learned on Army
surplus equipment while finishing his UW degree after his WWII Navy discharge.
As a teacher at Wenatchee Junior High, he started a ski school by busing
children to Waterville's Badger Mt. rope tow. For ten years he organized and
coached Wenatchee high school and community college ski teams to state and
intercollegiate championships. He "enriched" his college team with
students from a small town in Norway. To train his teams, he built a small ski
area at Squilchuck state park, with a 30 mile an hour rope tow made from an old
jeep transmission. Frank co-owned the town's first ski shop with a branch at
Stevens Pass, where he also coached
for several ski schools and was well known for getting his racers in the
equipment best for them. Not to be outdone by his students, he won a USAA Senior
Class III giant slalom championship at White Pass and placed sixth in national
Nastar. For 15 years he has led recreational ski groups to areas in United
States, Europe, Canada, and South America, and is still at it at age 76.
Franz
Gabl made
his way back to St. Anton after four years of wounds
Bruce
Kehr with
Don Adams started Stevens Pass Ski Area in 1937 with a Ford V-8 engine, some
wheels and a rope. Already a Mt. Rainier racer, he was a 1936 Olympic alternate
with the Washington Ski Club team. But his innovation with lifts kept Stevens at
the forefront. His safety gate system for rope tows was later copied by the
Forest Service. When snow was sparse on Big Chief in 1946, he ran the skiers on
ropes 1, 2, and 3 up to the bowl, where they could use rope 4 all day. In 1947
he built a mile long T-bar on Barrier, supplanting some of the 22 ropes then on
the area. The 1953 double chair lift running on rubber tired wheels was the
first of its kind in the world, with the then unheard of capacity of 600 skiers
an hour. His low voltage control system for chairlifts was later copied by the
Riblet Tramway System. His lift operators were so well trained that during his
39 years at Stevens, there was never a lift related injury. Bruce served a term
as president of the Ski Area Operators, and was a well known supporter of
racing, including hosting the 1969 Veterans Nationals. Though retired in '77 to
Lake Chelan, Bruce
and his wife Virginia are still interested in what goes on at the Pass.
Jack Nagel, whose Skykomish logging family gave him skis at age 4, got a fast racing start with the Stevens Pass Penguins after being discharged from the service in '45. He won his first race, a Class B Championship, his second race, a Class A Championship, and the Mt. Baker Heather Cup all in one year. While supporting his family-wife Donna, daughters Cathy (1949) and Judy (1951)-with summer logging and winter ski patrolling, Jack continued to win races. At Squaw Valley, Emile Allais, said "Jack has more raw talent than any skier I have ever coached"'. He was the 1951 US National Champion/Combied title winner and the next year went to Norway for the Olympics. In 1955 he was National Giant Slalom Champion. Jack was the course setter for the 1965 National Downhill at Alyeska and the Giant Slalom and Downhill for the first World cup ever held at Crystal Mountain. The Stevens Pass Yellow Jackets, his junior racing school, flourished in the 50's, as did his Crystal Mountain ski school, with Saturday classes of 3500 in the 60's. His daughters became national champs, with Cathy the youngest winner ever at 12 landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated. They all designed clothing for Jack's J-Line company, started in 1970. You'll now find Jack skiing at Schweitzer and pursuing creative art work..