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This publication is available on microfilm at UW.

Town Crier, Dec 16, 1933, p. 18 - Giese, Hans-Otto, "Sport of the gods"

"Five years ago," writes the author, "there were but a dozen skiers in Seattle who knew that the snow-covered mountains of our Pacific Northwest would bring them more happiness on week-ends than sitting around the fireplace at home reading the funny papers. [...] Today we have thousands of skiers in Seattle [...] and some of us ski all summer and thus the year around." While the numbers quoted by the author may not be exactly correct, his statement faithfully describes the explosion of skiing in the early 1930s. He discusses the varied attractions of the Northwest and notes, "Those of us who have been skiing in other parts of the world know that there is no such locality with all these combined features."

According to the author, fifteen cabins were available for rent at Paradise during the 1932-33 season. This season, over forty cabins and more than fifty private rooms will be leased from early autumn to late June. One inventive skier constructed a high shaft at the entrance of his cabin with ladders on the inside and outside and a tight cover on top so that he would not have to dig a tunnel to his door and shovel snow to clear it. There is night skiing at Paradise under powerful flood lights, dancing Saturday evenings, and ski trips and contests on Sundays.

The Pacific Northwest Ski Association has member clubs in Portland, Spokane, Bend, Leavenworth, Cle Elum and Seattle. The author describes cross-country and ski jumping tournaments held by these clubs. In recent years, slalom racing has become popular because it is more accessible to the average skier than the traditional disciplines. Slalom races were held every weekend at Paradise last season. This year a downhill will be added from Panorama Point to Paradise Lodge. On certain occasions, such as Easter and the Fourth of July, a downhill will be run from Camp Muir to Paradise. The July 4th downhill is envisioned as an annual event. This reveals early thinking about the race that would become the Silver Skis downhill.

Town Crier, Dec 1936, p. 6 - Proctor, Gordon, "Northwest Ski Guide"

This guide is interesting because it describes facilities available during the last season before rope-tows were installed widely throughout the Northwest. The author opens with statistics about the number of skiers in the Northwest, the amount of money they spend, and the recent growth of the sport. He then describes the following ski areas:

• Snoqualmie Pass
• Cayuse-Chinook Pass
• Paradise
• Mount Baker
• Monte Cristo
• Stevens Pass
• Deer Park
• Stampede Pass

At Snoqualmie Pass there are accomodations for five ski clubs: Washington, Commonwealth, Seattle, Mountaineers, and Alpine. The author describes the Seattle Park Board hill, the Beaver Lake jump hill, and the Guye Rock Slide.

Describing the north side of Mt Rainier, he writes that Chinook Pass is called Naches. Frequently, Seattle skiers meet skiers from Yakima there since the American River ski area is just a few miles on the other side of the divide. When the higher pass is closed, the best place to ski is Cayuse, which is kept open by the state highway department.

At Paradise Valley, busses will run for the first time this season from Narada Falls to Paradise. A Federal ruling against the use of cabins which do not have a door or window above the snow level at all times has crowded accomodations into the lodge, inn, guide house, and a few other buildings, because most of the cabins will be closed.

One of the main attractions at Mt Baker is the 900-foot ski escalator. This is the only lift mentioned in this article.

"Three comparatively unknown areas were brought to the attention of the skiing public for the first time last year: Monte Cristo, to the north and east of Seattle, Stevens Pass, farther south, and Deer Park on the Olympic Peninsula. Even though many people have never heard of any one of the places mentioned, the list of followers of each area will multiply manyfold this season." The author doesn't provide much information about these areas.

Finally he describes skiing at Stampede Pass and Martin on the Northern Pacific railroad. "Snow trains are not confined entirely to Boston and the east," he notes. At Stampede the railroad provides more than a dozen box cars for accomodation, fitted with spring bunks, heating stoves, and free coal. Martin, a few miles east of Stampede, has similar accomodations as well as the Mountaineers' Meany Ski Hut.

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