Written in the Snows - Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest

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Written in the Snows - Across Time on Skis in the Pacific Northwest - Author's Synopsis

Prologue: Faint Tracks
   The personal journey that led me to write this story.
Chapter 1: A Far White Country
   How early Northwesterners were attracted to the skyline that beckoned to townspeople living near the coast.
Chapter 2: The Big Snow
   How a historic snowstorm in Seattle and the growth of mining communities in the Cascades boosted the early development of Northwest skiing.
Chapter 3: Skis Triumphant
   The birth and revival of one of the oldest ski races in North America, the Mountaineers Patrol Race from Snoqualmie to Stampede Pass.
Chapter 4: A Movement Without Parallel
   The spread of ski fever to mountain centers from Mt Baker to Mt Hood and from the Cascades to the Olympic Mountains.
Chapter 5: The Ski Climbers
   The birth of ski mountaineering through historic attempts to ski the great peaks of the Cascades.
Chapter 6: A Winter Paradise
   The golden age of skiing on Mt Rainier in the years before World War II, including the Silver Skis race and the arrival of ski instruction and rope tows.
Chapter 7: The Last Mountain Men
   The passing of an era on the eastern flank of the North Cascades, when men (and a few women) lived and worked year-round in the mountains.
Chapter 8: Into the Range of Glaciers
   The beginning of ski exploration deep in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, led by skiers such as Ben Thompson, Ome Daiber, Dwight Watson, and Sigurd Hall.
Chapter 9: Mountain Soldiers
   World War II and the experience of Northwest skiers serving in America's mountain troops.
Chapter 10: Wilderness Alps
   How the post-war growth of skiing collided with a deepening appreciation of wilderness and the role skiers played in balancing development and conservation.
Chapter 11: Counterculture
   The revival of human-powered skiing in the 1970s and 1980s, led by the rediscovery of cross-country and telemark skiing.
Chapter 12: Skiing the Skyline
   The use of skis to explore deeper in the Cascades and Olympics, pioneering high-level routes through remote wilderness.
Chapter 13: To the Rescue
   The story of avalanches in the Northwest and the men and women who hunt them.
Chapter 14: The Backcountry Boom
   The dramatic growth of backcountry skiing in recent years, spurred by improvements in equipment, navigation and forecasting technology, community building, and guiding.
Chapter 15: Beyond Boundaries
   The risks and rewards of pushing ski mountaineering steeper, faster, and farther in the modern era.
Epilogue: The Big Thaw - Skiing Into the Future
   Thoughts on skiing in a time of global climate change.

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