Trivia #12 - Published 20 Dec 1993
Subject: THE COLORADO SKIER - TRIVIA 12
Greetings from THE COLORADO SKIER
This is part of a series on Skiing and Ski Area TRIVIA. It is posted
separately from our companion series on "THE LOST SKI AREAS OF
COLORADO" AND "THE COLORADO SKIER - SKI NEWS". Check 'em out.
THE COLORADO SKIER TRIVIA - EDITION 12
EDITOR'S REMARKS:
A. It's time for our quarterly explanation. Yes, you do reach "The
Colorado Skier" ... We
(TCS aka Snavely) are too cheap to buy a modem so have no
Internet access. We write the newsletters on our own PC,
transmit them to Mark via floppy and he posts. He then prints
all E-Mail replies and gives them to us via hard copy. Clear?
(Feel free to believe that Mark, Boris, TCS, and Snavely are all
one person - we don't mind.)
B. Some of the data in this post was obtained (with permission) from
"THE WHITE BOOK OF SKI AREAS", which is copyrighted by Inter-Ski
Services, Inc.
1. ** NEW ** TRIVIA QUESTIONS
a. From whence deriveth the ski area name "JAY PEAK"? (If you don't
know, ask your teenager.)
b. What two ski areas match up to the following sets of trail names?
o Valentine, St. Patrick's, Easter, Independence, Witches Haunt,
Veteran's, Turkey Chute, Christmas
o Champagne, Mardi Gras, Independence, Firecracker, Mistletoe,
Reindeer, Tannenbaum
c. Where and when were the first T-BAR, J-BAR, and ROPE TOW in the
U.S.?
d. Where is/was the PLAYBOY SKI AREA?
e. Which U.S. SKI AREA hosted a world-class "sport (rock) climbing
contest" on the outside wall of what HOTEL?
Bonus One: There is a HERTZ print ad (in many magazines) featuring a
Ford Aerostar van, and a Ford Explorer at the base of a ski area.
Which SKI AREA?
Bonus Two: At what SKI RESORT was the movie "Ski School" filmed?
Bonus Three: The new movie "Gettysburg" is over four hours long.
What is the only line spoken by a female character in that time?
HOLIDAY BONUS: What very popular Christmas SONG contains lyrics
indicating the rather unusual address of "Beverly Hills, L.A."?
2. TRIVIA 11 ANSWERS
a. At which SKI AREA do all the TRAIL NAMES begin with the letter
"W"? To Wit: Witness: Watch this:
Wall White Way
Waltz Why Not?
Warm Up Wing "N" It
Warpath Wipeout
Way To Go Wise Acres
Wedel Wolverine
What's Next? Wonderama
Whirlwind Wonderfully Wicked
Whisper Wooly Bear
Whistler Wraparound
Wheelchair (Never say "wheelchair" to a skier!)
[We assume that the ski SCHOOL slope is called "Wossamotta U"!]
ANSWER: The ski area is SKI WINDHAM in New York. (Of course
Bullwinkle Moose matriculated at Wossamotta U.)
GUESSES: TOM knew the answer. JAN-ERIK cleverly concluded that the
area name started with a "W". STEVE P (Ohio) suggested Whitetail,
Winter Park, Telluwide, or Bweckenwidge!
b. Where and when were the first TRIPLE chair, the first DOUBLE
chair, and the first SINGLE chair (in the U.S.)?
ANSWER: TRIPLE - Boyne Highlands, MI - 1963, DOUBLE - Berthoud
Pass, CO - 1947, SINGLE - Sun Valley, ID - 1936.
GUESSES: MICHAEL (UT) knew about the single at Sun Valley and JEFF
(CO) got the double at Berthoud. RIMA (city?) suggested that the
oldest EXISTING single chair is the one at MAD RIVER GLEN, VT circa
1949. Could be. The only other operating single is at KRATKA
RIDGE, CA. We can only trace that one back to about 1960.
c. Name two or more ski areas which cross state lines.
ANSWER: HEAVENLY VALLEY in CA/NV, and CATAMOUNT in NY/MA.
GUESSES: There were several guesses for Heavenly and Catamount.
There was one guess for Stateline, which is actually a town. JAN-
ERIK suggested Mt. Rose and Incline. Those areas are both well
within Nevada. FWIW, MT. ROSE and adjacent SLIDE MTN operated
jointly as SKI RENO back around 1980. Does anyone know if SLIDE
MTN is now part of MT. ROSE? (or is it closed?)
New reader JOSHUA mentioned a closed area with 3 different names
near the NY/MA border. We found PETERSBURG PASS, 4 miles east of
the town of Petersburg, NY; name changed to MT. RAIMER around 1976;
and finally changed to TACONIC TRAILS IN 1980 (last reference).
The key find is a 1968 map which lists PETERSBURG PASS as a
MASSACHUSETTS ski area, "3 miles southwest of Williamstown, MA".
Thanks Joshua, we love the opportunity to do research.
d. WHERE are the following ski runs and WHO were they named after?
AL'S RUN - TAOS, NM - Named after DR. ALBERT M. ROSEN who, when
his doctor said he couldn't ski any more after a heart attack,
continued to ski, wearing an oxygen bottle. (some pundits say
that actually, Dr. Rosen was a knee surgeon who made his money
off accidents on the super steep run!)
ALF'S HIGH RUSTLER - ALTA, UT - Named after ALF ENGEN, former
ski jumper and long time director of the Alta ski school. (BTW,
there is now an "Alf Engen Ski Museum" at the new ski jump
facility near Park City.)
BOBBY'S RUN - WATERVILLE VALLEY - Named after BOBBY KENNEDY,
who skied there as a little kid (he was also U.S. Attorney
General at the time).
GRETCHEN'S GOLD - SUN VALLEY - Named after local ski racer
GRETCHEN FRASER who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1948 slalom.
JILL'S RUN - MAMMOTH MTN, CA - Named after local ski racer JILL
KINMONT whose life story was depicted in the movie "The Other
Side of the Mountain".
STARR - STOWE, VT - Named after CORNELIUS VANDER STARR, early
financial backer of Stowe.
GUESSES: We expected that AL's RUN would be the best known, but the
honors went to ALF's. STEVE H knew C.V. Starr. JIM CARR didn't
play trivia this time but he was the one who suggested "Gretchen's
Gold".
e. What two sports items is HOWARD HEAD best known for?
ANSWER: Metal skis and metal tennis rackets.
GUESSES: Jan-Erik, Jeff, and Steve P knew this one. MICHAEL had the
best line: "The two sports items were RIGHT and LEFT metal skis".
Cute. Whatever happened to Head Skis? For a time the Head 360 was
the most popular ski in the U.S. (while we skied Hart Super-Pros).
Bonus One: In which JAMES BOND MOVIE did the Bond character actually
"shred - board - ride"?
ANSWER: In the prolog of the movie "A View To A Kill", Bond was
trapped by the baddies in Alaska. He lost his skis so he jumped
a snowmobile (which crashed) and fashioned a snowboard out of one
of the runners. In succeeding scenes no doubt a real
(camouflaged) board was used.
GUESSES: New reader DAVID (NC) suggested "The Living Daylights"
(right thought, wrong movie?). Actually that movie started with
the practice parachute assault on Gibraltar. JAN-ERIK listed some
of the other great ski scenes in other Bond movies, most of which
we have covered in previous TCS Trivia issues. (Altho we never did
discuss Bond riding the cello case. Perhaps that was what David
was referring to.)
[It was summer, so we used some non-skiing trivia questions]
Bonus Two: Who played basketball CENTER at UCLA between the Lew
Alcindor and Bill Walton eras?
ANSWER: STEVE PATTERSON, who later played for the Phoenix Suns.
Patterson once remarked that his greatest claim to fame would
probably be as an answer to a trivia question! True.
GUESSES: None (no interest in basketball from skiers - conflicting
seasons)
Bonus Three: Where do the names "AAMCO, ARBY's, JARTRAN, MAACO, and
WBUR come from?
ANSWERS: Anthony A. Martino founded the A.A.M. COmpany (AAMCO
Transmissions). Later he reversed the AAM to MAA and started
the MAACO car painting chain. ARBY's comes from "ARE BEE" or
"R.B." or "Roast Beef". James A. Ryder founded the Ryder truck
rental company ("Ryder Rents Trucks"), which he sold. Then he
got bored and founded another truck rental company called J.A.R.
Transportation, or JARTRAN. WBUR stands for Boston University
Radio. Lots of college stations use the acronym format.
Examples: KUNC at Univ of Northern Colorado and KRCC at Colorado
College. (What schools do WGBH and KQED represent?)
GUESSES: Two of you knew WBUR but then assumed that everything else
was also Boston related. (no acronym nuts out there?)
3. MORE SKI NEWS
a. SUNLIGHT, CO - This relatively tame area has opened several
double black diamond runs (50 degrees?) in an area formerly called
East Ridge but now referred to as "Sunlight Extreme".
b. ASCUTNEY MT, VT - There is a rumor that this area is reopening.
Is it true?
c. PARK CITY, UT - correction - The old King Con triple chair which
was moved to the base area will be used for race training only.
d. WOLF CREEK, CO - BILL (CO) says that Wolf Creek dropped out of
"Colorado Ski Country" because they didn't think they were getting
their money's worth. Unfortunately the snow reports have now
become sporadic (which is fine with Bill if it reduces crowds).
e. KILLINGTON, et al - Last time we kiddingly said that the big K
should buy SUNDAY RIVER to stop their squabbling. TOM pointed out
that K did actually own Sunday back in the late 70's but gave up
on 'em. (Here is a shocker. The stats for Sunday River in 1978
list one chairlift and 20 acres of snowmaking!)
Also, there are still rumors about K buying nearby PICO.
Apparently the buyout attempt is in the papers. The last official
thing we read (1-2 years ago) was that the deal was dependent on
acquisition of a major water supply. K obviously believes that
snow making is the way to go to run an eastern ski area
successfully. At that time the water deal had fallen thru (due to
the "greening" of the Green Mountain state) so K turned the deal
down. Anyone know the current status?
f. HESPERUS LIVES! - New reader ILANA (CO) reported that some of
her friends and relatives assured her that this small area west of
Durango is, indeed, still open. Then the peripatetic KELLY
reported that a motel operator in Cortez "skis Hesperus every
year". Thanks gang.
BTW, if you folks are so good at this, what is the status of the
CHAPMAN HILL area in Durango (east of downtown climbing the hill
up to Fort Lewis College), and the CRANOR HILL area just north of
Gunnison?
g. GENEVA BASIN, CO - The folks in Park County tried to pass a
measure which would have collected a tax on recreation activities
in Park Co. The tax monies would than be used to buy and reopen
the GENEVA BASIN ski area. Hunting and fishing interests were
irate, as they would pay the tax and receive nothing in return.
The measure was defeated back on 2 Nov. [CHESTER, please don't
read the rest of this!] The next day, without notice, the U.S.
Forest Service BURNED DOWN the Geneva base lodge! Apparently the
USFS is bound and determined to erase any evidence of this ski
area (must have learned from the Stalin purge!).
h. MONARCH - Bad news. Monarch has given up on their expansion plans
(4 new chairs and doubled acreage) because they can't afford to do
the EIS.
i. ASPEN HIGHLANDS - The buyer, Gerald Hines, scaled down the size of
the planned base area "village" in order to get county planning
commission approval. Once he got approval (just a few days ago),
he bought the ski area from Harvard, and then traded it to Aspen
Ski Co. in return for part ownership of Aspen. After the
contracts were signed, the area finally opened for the season on
14 Dec. It will, of course, be operated by Ski Co. No word on
lift ticket price, which was only $30 last season.
4. FOLLOW-UP AND OTHER TRIVIAL STUFF
a. SNEAKY TRIVIA - STEVE (MA) and JEFF H (city? D.C.?) knew that
"Nellybelle" was the jeep ridden by Pat Brady on the Roy Rogers TV
show. FWIW, Pat Brady was part of the singing group "Sons of The
Pioneers" ("Cool Water", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds").
b. "BRISCO COUNTY, JR" - We asked where the steam train used in
this TV show is located. KEVIN (MN) guessed the "Durango &
Silverton" or "Cumbres & Toltec" railroads. Good guesses; they
are used in lots of movies. However they both use 1923 type steam
locomotives and the TV show takes place around 1895. The railway
most used in movies (e.g., "Unforgiven") is in Jamestown, CA, in
the western Sierra foothills. It has an 1891 locomotive.
However, in one show the locomotive was shown travelling thru an
orange grove. None in Jamestown. We wondered about the 1881
locomotive (formerly of the Colorado Southern) at Knott's Berry
Farm. It used to travel thru an orange grove, but we would think
that by now, due to expansion, the orange grove has become an
employee parking lot. Any thoughts?
c. "PLUNK YOUR MAGIC TWANGER, FROGGIE" - We bet that no one was old
enough to remember that line. Wrong, two of you old geezers
(names withheld) remembered. The line came from an old children's
radio show called "The Buster Brown Show". ["I'm Buster Brown and
I live in a shoe. This is my dog Tige and he lives there too."]
Other characters on the show were Squeakie and Midnight and there
were stories about young boys named Baba and Ghangi (Michael
Jackson has all the audio tapes). The show debuted on NBC radio
on Saturday mornings in 1943 and ran for several years. We polled
some 50+ year olds who remembered it and one guy only 45 years old
suggested that he probably heard it in 1952. Both alert TCS
readers called it "Andy's Gang" (?). The sponsor was Buster Brown
Shoes (do they still exist?) and the host's name was Ed McConnell.
No Andy there. (??)
Questions: Are you sure about the title? What year(s) did you
hear the show? (names will continue to be withheld)
d. WHAT WE THINK - Isn't it great that we have a Constitution and
that Colorado judges have read it.
5. THE PENULTIMATE SKIING QUESTION - WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SKIING? Which items or processes have
contributed most to the success of skiing in the U.S.?
OK, you have sent in your suggestions. After reading them, we
decided to limit the question to "success since WWII". That
eliminates the obvious invention of the ski lift (rope tow, J-bar,
T-bar, et al), and in general assumes the invention of a primitive
ski, ski boot, and binding.
So, what factors contributed most to the SUCCESS of skiing? Pick
five choices from the following list (write-ins are allowed):
Release bindings, metal edges, metal skis, buckle boots, plastic
(warm) boots, step-in bindings, ski brakes, chairlifts, high speed
chairlifts, snow grooming, snow making, waterproof breathable
fabrics, increased leisure time, Ski Patrols, Winter Olympics on
TV, Warren Miller films, condo tax writeoffs, stretch pants.
6. FAVORITE SKI VILLAGES - When you have taken a week long or long
weekend ski trip, what have been your favorite ski villages? That
is, what ski towns have the best restaurants, shops, and all-
around ambiance (we picked Vail mostly because it is a pedestrian
village). Send in your votes for your top 3 ski villages, in
order of preference. We will tally the votes with our Talleyrand
(or is that Sally Rand) computer and print the results in the next
"TCS LISTS". There have been several entries already but we won't
discuss the leaders so as not to influence your vote.
7. THE TCS SKI CLUB
a. BYRON (CO) skied A-BASIN on 3,4 July. He reported excellent
conditions. It snowed hard on the 4th. There was a wedding and
the party had to use umbrellas to ward off the heavy snow.
b. BYRON (again) skied STEAMBOAT over Thanksgiving. 18 inches of new
snow on Wednesday and easily the best conditions in the entire
country on Thanksgiving Day. He was tired from skiing the deep
powder.
c. AMIE (SC) was at STEAMBOAT from 11-19 Dec (How was It?).
d. HAROLD (PA) was visiting friends in Boulder from 9-14 Dec and
planned to at least get up to ELDORA.
e. PHIL (Chelmsford, MA), the official TCS stockbroker, skied
KILLINGTON on 10 Dec. The runs that were open were in good shape,
he reported. However, he quit after six runs when the "snow" (ice
pellets) started flying horizontally. The next day it rained, so
he quit and went home.
f. BORIS and NATASHA plan to ski SANTA FE and TAOS on 27 and 28 Dec.
g. JAN-ERIK will be at 49 North, Red Mountain, Kimberly, Panorama,
Fernie, The Big Mountain, Silver Mountain, Schweitzer, & Mt
Spokane from 15-23 Jan. Looks like a list carefully calculated to
keep him in First Place on the "Areas Skied List"! [Do you
suppose that "Jan" and "Erik" are really two people?]
8. EPILOG
a. Thanks for providing your CITY NAME in E-Mails to TCS.
"Most of the people we know who've skied in Europe and Colorado
say the skiing in Colorado is much better. There aren't as many
people - and they're friendlier."
Former President Jimmy Carter
