Lost Ski Areas of Tahoe and Donner
Ingrid P. Wicken 2020 188 pages
Ingrid Wicken founded the California Ski Library (skilibrary.com), a wonderful collection of ski information. She’s had also written four books until this fifth came along. This fifth is a gem.
“Once snow removal brough about winter access, ski tows sprang up anywhere there was sufficient snow and open slopes.” In this book Ingrid Wicken brings these long lost “mom and pop” ski are back to life, and fortunately for the reader, many of those ski areas were on Donner Summit. Those early ski areas “paved the way for today’s large resorts that draw millions of snow sports enthusiasts every winter. And these lost ski areas marked the beginning of the Tahoe and donner area becoming the skiing mecca that it is today.”
The book starts with a little recreational ski history focusing on adventurous individuals, then on to the first ski clubs and larger organizations and “the awakening of California to the prime ski fields right in their own backyard…” The popularization of winter sports brought about the building of ski lodges, improved ski instructions and ski lifts. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on No. Lake Tahoe and Highway 50 but then, of course, the real meat is in Chapter 6, Highway 40 and Donner Summit, “California’s first winter sports areas.” That Donner Summit and Highway 40 were “California’s first winter sports areas” was due to accessibility via the railroad.
By 1941the Auburn Journal (February 3) said, “it was estimated that there were more ski lifts along Highway 40 than in any other winter sports area in the United States.” One Tahoe National Forest publication showed how rich the Donner Summit Highway 40 area was in ski areas about 1940: “…At the Sugar Bowl there are two rope tows and the giant chairlift. At Soda Springs two rope tows and a J-bar are operated. At donner summit, opposite Vanderford’s, two rope tows are located. To the south of the summit maintenance station a long rope two will be found by following the Sierra Crest ski trail to the edge of Lake Mary. At the S.P. Station at Norden a rope two has been recently installed…. The Sierra Club maintains a double tow…” The quote goes on to enumerate small ski areas at Rainbow, The Auburn Ski Club, Yuba Gap, Emigrant Gap, and Pioneer Gap.
Ms Wicken has done an amazing amount of research for this book getting so much information about so many lost ski areas. Many pictures and reproductions illustrate the text, such as the stylized map here (see a larger size in our January, '21 Heirloom) of Donner Summit ski areas. There are also many quotes that enliven the text,
The Sierra is beautiful on July but in winter it’s in “the fullness of its glory… winter… is not bitter, but is warm and friendly… the purple shadows of the trees and the pure rose of the alpenglow are colors as rich as those of columbine and heather… the smooth folds of sparkling virgin snow, the glitter of icicles, and the living green of firs showing beneath their heavy white mantels – all constitute an enchanted world which can be entered by the magic of the ski.”
Joel Hildebrand, among other things, one of the early Sierra Club members.
John Muir visited the west shore of Lake Tahoe (as well as Donner Summit) and described ski fun, “My friend, however, heedless of advice, launched himself in wild abandon, bouncing and diving, his limbs and shoes in chaotic entanglement, now in the snow, not in the air, whirling over and over in giddy rolls and somersaults that would same the most extravagant performances of the circus acrobat. How original and inimitable he was!”
Lost Ski Areas can be ordered from Amazon, direct from History Press (www.historypress.net), and other online retailers. Word After Word books in Truckee is carrying it. If people would like a signed copy, they can order direct from me. Shipping would be $4.00, payment via PayPal (ingrid@skilibrary.com).