Dwight Watson - Northwest Mountain Skiing, B.C. Home
This 16mm film is silent, black and white, with a running time around 10 minutes. The title "Northwest Mountain Skiing, B.C." is not on the film, but Dwight Watson refers to the film by this name in his movie notes (see watson-dwight-shoeboxes-A-folder-A). In his notes, Watson explains that "B.C." stands for "Before Chairlifts." The film depicts early ski ascents of Mt St Helens (June 5, 1938), Glacier Peak (July 4, 1938), and Eldorado Peak (May 15, 1938). There are still photographs inserted between the movie segments showing other ski destinations, including the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, White Pass (near Glacier Peak), and Lyman Lake.The Mt St Helens segment begins with a scene of a seaplane taking off from Seattle, followed by Ralph Eskenazi rowing a boat across Spirit Lake. Whether the party actually flew to Spirit Lake or the filmmaker was just being fanciful is unknown. The film includes footage of Watson's companions (Sigurd Hall, Ralph Eskenazi and John James) skiing roped together near large crevasses. Hall has a crew cut and is the lead skier in most scenes. Eskenazi wears a white cap. Watson himself makes a cameo appearance, digging himself out of a snow hole.
The Glacier Peak segment shows Sigurd Hall climbing to the summit above clouds. There are scenes of glacier skiing and shots of Hall zooming down snowfields at high speed.
The Eldorado segment begins with a scene of two skiers waking up from a bivouac. I believe this is actually Erick Larson and Andy Hennig, taken from Watson's Mt Rainier ski ascent film. This is followed by scenes of skiers traversing the ridge between Sibley Pass and the Eldorado Glacier, around the south side of The Triad. There are views of Forbidden Peak, Boston Basin, Cascade Pass, Mt Johannesburg, Hidden Lake Peak and Snowking Mountain. The high point of the trip appears to be a point on the ridge between The Triad and Eldorado Peak. There are some dramatic scenes on this ridge. I believe Sigurd Hall is the skier in shorts. There are no scenes that show that Watson's party traversed to the Inspiration Glacier or climbed Eldorado Peak on skis.
(Film notes and video clips by Lowell Skoog.)