Eddy Starr Ancinas - Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows: Tales from Two Valleys 70th Anniversary Edition

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by Eddy Ancinas

All rights reserved

Front cover, top: Amie Engerbretson makes first tracks in Alpine Bowl. High Traverse and Lake Tahoe in background. Photograph by Tom Zikas; front cover, bottom: Wayne and Sandy Poulsen, 1940, in Squaw Valley Meadow with friends, contemplating how and where to build their ski area. Courtesy of the Poulsen family.

First published 2013
Second printing 2013
Revised edition 2019

E-Book edition 2019

ISBN 978.1.43966.819.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019945075

Print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.405.6

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Comments on
Squaw Valley & Alpine Meadows: Tales from Two Valleys

Congratulations on a wonderful reading. I really enjoyed every minute of it. You have a wonderful droll take on the events in Squaw and your sense of humor shines through. Everyone was leaning forward, eager to hear the rest of your story. Weve all been talking about it; screenwriter Gill Dennis thought your writing was terrific.
Brett Hall Jones, executive director, Squaw Valley Community of Writers

The book is a great piece of writing that chronicles an extraordinary story about bigger-than-life, over-the-top movers and shakers in your two valleys. I knew some of the personae, but not all, and most of the events described were new to me, so it was a great read, full of success and failure, dreams achieved and smashed, elation and tears. And the story is not over, but the period you covered will probably be the most exciting, because it was a virginal landscape, with many strong-willed would-be players with different, opposing visions on what should be drawn on the unmarked palette. Ive read a number of mountain resort histories, and yours is the best by far. You really know how to tell a story and hold the readers interest. Congratulations!
Tom Corcoran, Member 1958 and 1960 U.S. Olympic Ski Team, former president of the Eastern Ski Areas Association, chairman of the National Ski Areas Association and member of the United States Ski Hall of Fame

It was a great pleasure to read your fine Squaw and Alpine booka real page turner. I was amazed how complete and balanced you were able to be. You seemed to have avoided getting opinions in the way of history. There are many stories about the collapse of the Arena, most claiming a conspiracy. I know your account is correct.
Henrik Bull, architect

I took the past two nights to read Eddys book. I think it is an important, delightful read. She has insights I havent found in some of the other books Ive read about skiing in this regionand I have read almost all the books in her bibliography. Very well done and very enjoyable.
Ray Garland, March 24, 2013

Eddy, you write beautifully. I find your book a real page turner, and I am learning a lot I didnt know about my old buddy, John Reily. Well done.
Steve Brandt, March 2013, former president, League to Save Lake Tahoe, writer, professor

Skade Award: Presented for an outstanding work on regional ski history.
2014 International Ski History Association

To Osvaldofor getting on the chairlift with me.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Growing up in Squaw Valley was just about as good as it gets for a kid. For starters, the mountain provided an ideal playground, with all the terrain and snow conditions you needed to become a top-level skier in whatever discipline suited you. When we werent training on Olympic runs, we were launching off cornices, cliffs and jumps or tackling endless moguls on the steeps of West Face. Beyond the mountain itself, Squaw was home to an international smorgasbord of talentdaring, skilled and enthusiastic athletes and coaches who inspired and encouraged successive generations of skiers. Many of them had stayed on after the 1960 Olympics, and by the 70s a vibrant ecosystem breeding world-class athletes was in full swing. Even starting out as weekend warriors from the Bay Area, our family was wrapped snugly into that culture. As young ski racers, we were guided and pushed by French, Swiss, Austrian, Japanese, Argentinian and American coaches and welcomed by the local athletes, with whom we strove to keep up. When I went from the Mighty Mite Program to the U.S. Ski Team and to the Olympics, I followed a well-worn path.

Back then, the mountain was home to not one, but four different ski clubs, each of which operated independently. As with the privately owned businesses at the base area, these clubs operated at the behest of a single owner, Alex Cushing. On the one hand, it created a wacky dynamic of ongoing turmoil and consternation, one that defied the model of corporate resort development. On the other hand, the free market approach where nobody reigned and everybody belonged supported unlikely friendships and a dynamic feeling of equal opportunity.

Meanwhile, Alpine Meadows, a snowballs roll from Squaw, had an entirely differentand entirely peacefulfeel. The unique identities of each valley endure to this day. Where Squaws vibe is rock and roll, Alpines is easy listening. Squallywood popularized and celebrated extreme skiing culture, where skiers earn their stripes by skiing exposed lines in view of the adoring masses. Alpine cultivated its reputation as a quieter, family mountain, where skiers routinely hike for fresh turns and are less likely to seek or find notoriety for their exploits. Even to first-time visitors, this distinction is immediately and visually clear. From the first bend in the access road, Squaw Valley unfolds dramaticallyits alluring meadow backed by five peaks issuing both an invitation and a challenge. Just around the corner on Highway 89, Alpine Meadows is nestled in the privacy of its own valley. It only reveals its full beauty when you venture in for a deeper look and explore its folds and trees for the best terrain.

In both cases, these first impressions aptly represent what each areas original visionaries intended.

Alex Cushings audacious bid for the 1960 Olympics did indeed put an unknown area on the map and entice an international population of skiers to build it, grow it and shape it. When John Reily first gazed at Alpine Meadows from horseback in 1957, he envisioned a quieter alternative, the family-friendly paradise Alpine would become. Through multiple owners at Alpine Meadows and beyond the Cushing era at Squaw, through the vagaries of weather, finances, growth, natural and economic disasters and changing technology, the resorts and their communities retain their characters.

In the