[hyak.net]

Was wondering if anyone had anything to contribute to the Lost Ski Area information I've been compiling over the last few years at; http://hyak.net/lost Pictures, stories, maps, etc....... I'm not looking for free items, just scans of pictures or your own stories if you have been to any of the places. Of the more recent lost areas I've found a lot on Mt. Pilchuck but virtually nothing on Satus Pass and Yodelin. Thanks!!! Jack Lost Ski Areas of Washington Hyak Ski and Snowboard Adventure

[Allison]

Sorry I don't have anything to add to your site. I did get a lot of enjoyment from looking around at your site though. I hope that Mission Ridge does not become part of your list any time soon. I believe it was bought fairly recently.

[Backpacker Joe]

A very good friend of mine's father started Ski Acres. Hyak used to be called the Milwaukie Ski Bowl. His name is Doug Tanner. I get TONS of good stories about that area and his growing up working up there all the time. You know that Ski Acres had the FIRST chair lift on the west coast. That single chair of theirs. Tom B

[salish]

Jack - great site! I did ski at Yodelin and Mt. Pilchuck, in the 1960's, but most of my time was spent at Stevens and Snocrummy. How many people remember the palma and t-bar's? I've bookmarked your site and I'll start digging through old photos and things to see if I can find anything to add to your site. Good job! Cliff

[lopper]

This is great. I do remember that single chair at Ski Acres......back in the late 60's. Remember how slow it went? Wooden skis, cable bindings, lace boots, stem-christies.....ah the nostalgia.

[Malachai Constant]

It was the only way to get to the top of the ridge where 360 quad goes now. It was the most difficult Terrain at Ski Acres. I remember it as really slow high and somewhat terrifying 1940's technology.

[hyak.net]

Thanks for the good word on the site... I'd wondered where the single chairlift was located since I had never seen any pictures of it, but there used to be a couple of the chairs in the Rock Chalet before they tore it down sitting in the little museum-ish area they had upstairs. One of the locals at Hyak built a scupture type thing up behind the kiosk with railroad wheels and a bull-wheel from the old Poma that used to be at Hyak where Keechelus lift now is located. Up on the hill below the cliffs at Hyak is still 5 Ski-Boggans from the old Milwaukee Ski Bowl. I've talked to some others about a possible rescue of a couple to try and get at least one restored......who knows... (they are heavy!). I'm still baffled as to how they ever ran a ski area at Satus Pass for as long as they did. (That area rarely gets much snow) Later..

[Brian Curtis]

I took my kids up to Ski Acres last Sunday. I was telling them all about that single chair. The triple chair is the one that serves the route of the old single chair. Where the quad is now was served by two chairs. some of the poles from one of those chairs is still there. One was called Bonanza and I can't remember what the other one was called. (MC, I think you are remembering the single chair in the right spot, but you have the current quad express shifted over)

[Malachai Constant]

Brian you are probably right the Single was just to the left of the run 360 and I guess it is a triple rather than a Quad it used to be purple. The chair next to Bonanza was called Alpine. I also remember when the old chair at Hyak went backward one day injuring several people, I belive Dan Evans was there at the time. You used to be able to by night tickets for Hyak at Ernst for $2 in the early 70's and later we got a book of tickets for tuesday nights for next to nothing (but for some reason it Rained every Tuesday ). They also had a branch of Tai Tung from the international district there and a nice big circular fireplace in the lodge.

[hyak.net]

Here is a picture of the Dinosaur chair in its hey-day (1971). Sure looks much different today..... I never did ride the chair, but I was told many scary stories about it.

Dinosaur Chair from 1971

[Brian Curtis]

I think that's just right, MC. Sunday was the first time I'd skied at Ski Acres with the quad and without the single chair being there. I learned at that area (leather boots, cable bindings, etc) and I remember being really scared of the runs right below the chair. I don't think I ever skied them. This time I was itching to ski those runs but my 9 year old is challenged on steep blue terrain so I still had to just look. They used to run the chair at White Pass during the summer. Four days after the last time I rode that chair there was a group of school kids going up when it went into reverse injuring several. That was the last time they ran it in the summer, I think.

[lopper]

This shot hasn't much detail, but gives a ravens-eye perspective of "Acres" and "Summit" as they looked in the spring of 1974. At "Acres", you can see the patch of trees by the dog-leg on Alpine, and a row of trees to the right of it, showing the "steeps" under the single chair.

Snoq1

[Duncan]

MC and Brian, didn't the old single chair used to run a little more to the west than that? I thought the "high" point of the ridge was reached via the old "Bonanza" and "Alpine" chair lifts (I think those names are correct, although the name "Edelweiss" (sp?) instead of Alpine seems to ring a bell as well). If you look at the attached current map of the area, I seem to remember the single chair running right up the steep face where the runs called Freefall, Nosedive, Revenge and Showoff currently run. That chair used to scare the hell out of me because it was so high over the slope and seemed to climb right up that steep face, plus it was so old and rickety (sp.?). I could well be wrong, that was a long time ago. Remember at Hyak, I forget what the name of the chair was, there was one that went up and over the top of mountain and down the backside as well so you ski back there as well.

[Brian Curtis]

Duncan, that jibes with MC's recollection the single chair was just to the left of where the Triple 60 is now and I can't disagree. I remember it went right up over those steeps. Going up the Triple 60 now feels like it is going right up, I didn't realize how much it angled to the right. There really isn't all that much room there. I've got an old free pass to Ski Acres I never used. I got it one day in the mid-seventies when my skis were stolen. It turned out the guy had the same skis and bindings in the same size. Mine had CURTIS in huge letters that he hadn't noticed when he picked them up. He managed to track me down waiting on my bus to go back down the mountain so I ended up getting them back. I have a feeling they won't honor that ticket any more

[Allison]

I too have fond memories of skiing up at the Pass in the 70s and 80s. My first chair lift ride ever was on Julie's, at age 5 I think. I remember how BIG the whole chairlift contraption was, and how hard it was to get off at the top with the big hill to get off, withough falling. Sometimes Mom and Dad had to kind of halfway drag me off it. When I was a little, but not much, older, I was a Powder Pig. That was fun. Me and the rich kids go skiing. I have a great picture somewhere of myself at about age eight in full PP regalia, including the blue hat with the red pompom and my name embroidered in yarn (by mom) across the front. Then in Junior High all of the lessons paid off. I was a fearless hotrod. Unfortunately I was still a tomboy and a geek. Despite this, a lot of the boys had no problem chasing me up and down Bonanza Face and Alpine Bowl. On Saturdays, all through Junior High, there was a ski bus that left the Ernst parking lot in Puyallup at 1pm to take us up to Ski Acres. I always bagged a lot of runs of those Saturday nights. I still ski there a couple of times a year for the sake, I am sure, of nostalgia. I skied there this week and got bored pretty quick with the terrain. Still though, fond memories...