BY JOHN W. LUNDIN

Before skiing became a popular recreational sport, other sliding sports were popular, especially tobogganing.

In places like St. Mortiz, Switzerland, tobogganing dates back to the late 1800s. The St. Moritz Toboggan Club was formed in 1887, shortly after the famous Cresta Run was built in 1884-85. The club still offers toboggan rides at the area on the Cresta Run, a natural ice run built from scratch every year with snow, which is then iced, as it was from its inception. The course was used for competitions and recreational riding.

The famous course starts in St Moritz and winds its way down a narrow valley to what was the village of Cresta, which now is part of Celerina. It is approximately 3/4 mile in length with a drop of 514 feet. The gradient varies from 1 in 2.8 to 1 in 8.7.

Early Big Bear Lake, Calif., had a toboggan slide and ski jump. COURTESY: John W. Lundin

In the early 1900s, English visitors enjoyed toboggan rides and bobsledding at St. Moritz, as skiing did not emerge until the late 1920s, led by Sir Arnold Lunn, a British authority on skiing.

In the U.S., toboggan slides were popular at areas that later became ski resorts and often were built alongside ski jumps, taking advantage of the steep slopes of the hills. Toboggan runs were particularly popular in California, according to Historian Ingrid Wicken, who operates the California Ski Library.

In the state where early pioneers such as Snowshoe Johnsen used rudimentary skis known as Norwegian snowshoes, toboggan riding was also popular.

In the Pacific Northwest, toboggan riding was an early popular sport, often happening at ski jumping areas. The Pacific Northwest was a national center of ski jumping from the teens until the 1970s.

Toboggans were used to haul supplies into Pioneer Cabin where Guests backcountry skied. COURTESY: The Community Library

In winter 1917, Seattle’s Norwegian Community held the first ski jumping tournament in Western Washington at Scenic Hot Springs at the west end of Great Northern Railroad’s tunnel through the Cascades, 90 miles and four hours from Seattle. The area received between three and five feet of snow a year and was a popular winter-sports destination.

The Scenic Hot Springs Resort offered skis, bobsleds and toboggans to use on long sloping hillsides and specially constructed ski and toboggan runs.

In 1928, the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club was formed in Washington State. Leavenworth was a stop on the Great Northern Railroad line east of Stevens Pass that connected Minneapolis and Seattle in 1883.

In 1928, a ski jump and toboggan run were built on the northern outskirts of town by 23 volunteers who contributed $60.50 to buy materials and worked for 27 days, using lumber donated by the Great Northern Lumber Company. By the winter of 1929, the Leavenworth Ski and Toboggan course was in operation. Leavenworth was the site of ski jumping tournaments from 1929 to 1978 when it closed after hosting a National Ski Jumping Championship.

On February 17, 1929, the Seattle Times published a story about the growing popularity of winter sports. Winter sports were being enjoyed at Lake Placid, Montreal, Quebec and St. Moritz in the East and at Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Lake Tahoe, Banff and Lake Louise in the West,

“Tobogganing, skating and snowshoeing have their devotees. But skiing, which combines the swiftness of tobogganing, the balance of skating and the ability to get about in deep snow, has become king of winter sports,” it reported.

On Jan. 25, 1931, the Seattle Times said, just five years earlier, Vogue Magazine carried pictures of St. Moritz in January and February. Now Seattle and its slightly less pretentious friends--Portland and Vancouver—have discovered winter in seven or eight places. The western haute monde migrates every weekend in cars and gets its fill of skiing, of tobogganing, of unexpected falls...And everyone skis....and the tobogganing hill is separated from the ski hill.

In 1933, the Spokane Ski Club hosted a jumping competition on a hill above the Wandermere golf course, 15 minutes from the city center, where previous winter carnivals featured ice skating, toboggan riding and hockey. Seattle engineer Peter Hostmark designed a Class A jump and laid out the hill’s specifications. The hill was 700 feet long, with a 34-degree angle of steepness, for jumps up to 185 feet. Parking was available for 1,000 cars.

According to Ty Brown in his book, Wandermere, Legacy on the Little Spokane River, amenities offered at Wandermere during the winter included the two-track toboggan run with a 490-foot shut including sideboards for safety. The speed of the sled reached up to 45 miles per hour on the 34-degree slope that extended 1500 feet at the bottom of the hill, making this a thrill ride of nearly 2,000 feet.

In addition to the sleds, ashcan lids were also available for rent on the mountain. This ride originated with the Yosemite Winter Club in Yosemite National Park, with kids riding down a slope on the lid of a garbage can, or in this case the top of an ashcan bucket. Wandermere’s ashcan hill, the only one in Spokane, was 100 feet long and ended on an ice surface 50 feet square. The patrons of this slide used ashcan lids as their means of transport and to find themselves whirling as they went down the hill.

Another new sport added to the winter lineup at Wandermere was skijoring, where horses were used from the stables on the grounds to pull people on skis in the area covering approximately 40 acres. Floodlights over the skating rink and the entire ski and toboggan slide facilities allowed participation in the nighttime. These attractions along with music blasted from the bathhouse on the west end of the lake provided a winter carnival atmosphere.

In January 1938, Inspired by the success of Union Pacific’s Sun Valley Resort, the Milwaukee Railroad opened a new ski area at its Hyak stop on the east end of its tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass. The area was accessible by train in two hours from Seattle, had a modern ski lodge, an over-head cable ski lift known as a J-bar, and lighted slopes for night skiing. It revolutionized skiing in the Northwest and created some of the same excitement locally that Sun Valley did when it opened. The American Ski Annual for 1947 discussed the reopening of the Milwaukee Ski Bowl

The American Ski Annual for 1947 discussed the reopening of the Milwaukee Ski Bowl after World War II. The area’s three-year plan included a one half mile long toboggan run adjacent to the ski lodge with a 400-foot drop in elevation; an eight-mile ski lane to Bandera from the top of Rocky Point where ski trains would pick up skiers to return to Seattle, and snowcat skiing from the top of Rocky Point to the top of Silver Peak.

TOBOGGAN RUNS IN SUN VALLEY

It is not well known these days that toboggan runs were part of the non-skiing amenities offered by Sun Valley after it opened in December 1936. Toboggan runs were found all over the west before skiing became popular, as Count Schaffgotsch learned when he was looking for a place for Averall Harriman’s planned new ski resort.

Shortly before Christmas 1935, Count Schaffgotsch was in Los Angeles after examining potential ski areas on the west coast and gave Harriman his first report: “I have done practically all the developed resorts from Mount Baker near Seattle to Mount Baldy in California. All these places are weekend resorts, and no competition of any sort.

“Besides,” he added, “Most of them are four to seven hours drive from the towns, which makes it too near for a longer stay and again too far for every weekend. The hotels and inns are built as summer resorts and now only adapted for winter sports, which is jumping and tobogganing.”

One of the first things Averell Harriman did when he decided to build Union Pacific’s new ski resort outside of Ketchum, Idaho, was to hire the famous publicist, Steve Hannagan. Steve Hannigan, known as the “Prince of Press Agents,” invented techniques that are used by public relations and marketing experts to this day.

He made the Indianapolis 500 race a nationally loved event and changed Miami Beach from a mosquito infested swamp into a winter wonderland “Where Summer Spends the Winter,” using pictures of bathing beauties and other creative techniques.

Hannagan virtually planned the Sun Valley Resort for Averell Harriman and Union Pacific Railroad in 1936, dictating the amenities that he said had to be offered to make skiers from all over the country ride the train to the remote mountains of Idaho. Hannagan’s March 28, 1936, memorandum to Harriman laid out his vision to make the resort a successful venture for the railroad and “a memorable experience for guests.” His memo became the blueprint for the resort.

Hannagan said the resort must not be just another ski mountain like those in the East: “It has to have European cachet, smart people, vivacious celebrities and an elegant ease that would motivate people to travel by train across the country in mid-winter to an isolated town where flat land vanished and all roads went uphill.”

Nothing less than first class would do, from the transportation to Ketchum to the quality of the resort. Upon seeing Sun Valley, visitors’ “eyes should pop open,” and after spending time there, they should say, “Well, I’ll be damned. They’ve certainly done this place well. There isn’t a single thing I could wish for that hasn’t been provided.

“This is one city in which roughing it must be a luxury. It may seem isolated, rustic, Continental. But it must have every modern convenience. It is not enough to build a hotel and then mark with flags and signs the things you propose to do in time to come. You must do these things and have them in operation when the hotel opens.”

Hannagan had specific recommendations:

There should be an ice skating rink. There should be a glass-walled but open hot water pool...

People like to leave the hotel. Nearby, there might be a billiard parlor. And a bowling alley. And, certainly, a motion picture show.

Mechanical devices must be installed to take people to the top of the mountain.

Hannagan convinced Harriman that he had to think big: “If you build a luxury resort in the wilderness, that will be news.” Union Pacific should build a million-dollar resort for 250 guests in a facility that looked traditional but had the conveniences and sophistication of the best hotels, he said.

Starting a $1 million luxury hotel where the glamorous and famous would go and become part of the attraction, exuding robust health and vigorous exercise in the sun and snow, would create much more publicity for the railroad. “If it is not done on this scale, it should not be done at all.”

Sun Valley publicist Dorice Taylor said Steve Hannagan organized so many activities because he didn’t believe anyone would want to just ski. Harriman understood that people staying for several weeks had to be entertained with more than skiing, so a range of amenities were provided.

When it opened, the lodge had an elegant dining room, a dance floor, billiard tables, beauty parlor, barber shop and a branch of Sax Fifth Avenue, which included a ski shop. South of the lodge, there was a natural ice skating and curling rink and a paddle tennis court.

The resort offered outdoor swimming pools with heated water, sun bathing in roofless igloos, tobogganing, skating, stables and dog sledding.

Said the Seattle Times on Nov. 18, 1936: “Sun Valley was born a fashionable ski resort costing Harriman and the Union Pacific something more than $1,000,000; offering a luxurious, ultra-modern hotel with accommodations for some 200 guests…mid-winter swimming in outdoor swimming pools fed by natural hot springs; ski-tows to raise skiers 1,470 feet in elevation on a 6,500-foot-long hoist…This is the ultra ultra in winter resorts and is super deluxe in everything from sports offered to smart ski togs. Skiing, skating, sun bathing, dog sledding and tobogganing are assured at Sun Valley…”

When Sun Valley opened for the winter of 1937-1938, there was a new ski hill (Ruud Mountain) with a 900-foot-long chairlift for the “spectacular circus-act of skiing jumping.” The hill was said to have the fastest downhill runs available and a slalom course serviced by the lift.

“It is as perfect for spectators as it is for participants for the entire face of this mountain is visible from a large meadow at its foot, which provides a natural audience stand capable of holding thousands.”

On Dollar Mountain, a station was built on the tram halfway up the hill for beginners who “find it too much to go clear to the top.” Ski Illustrated, America’s Foremost Skiing Magazine, said “A toboggan slide was built on Proctor “where much fun and thrills can be had.”

In late January 1939, Fortune published a story, “Sun Valley: If You Ski...it is a $3,000,000 monument to your pleasure…” And it took note of the toboggan runs, as well.

“Sun Valley Rates as Ideal Center of Winter Sports,” said the Seattle Times on March 10, 1940, noting that the climate is usually mild and for non-skiers the area offers tobogganing, among other things.

An article in the 1940 Sun Valley Ski Club Annual Season described a new toboggan run that was built on Bald Mountain for the first year the mountain was served by three single chairlifts that carried skiers up to the top of the mountain: “A toboggan run was built paralleling River Run from the top of the first chairlift to the base of the mountain, with “plenty of tricky turns.”

Harriman was interested in the toboggan run and kept following up to make sure it was properly run. But his Jan. 4, 1941, telegram to W.P. Rogers sent from a U.P. train enroute from Sun Valley to New York raised a number of issues.

He was disappointed in the toboggan run--it was an expense without being an asset. It was in excellent shape, but there was no effort to promote its use. A moderate rate should be charged, he said, someone should be available to take people down it, and there should be a sign advertising it.

In fall 1945, after the Sun Valley Resort had been closed and the facility used as a Naval Rehabilitation Hospital during World War II, General Manager Pat Rogers prepared a report discussing work necessary to bring Sun Valley back to a condition to accommodate guests in its traditional style. The River Run toboggan course needed to be re-designed to eliminate conflicts with skiers or transferred to Proctor or Ruud Mountain.

It is not certain how long the toboggan run on Bald Mountain operated, although it is likely it was not put back into use after Sun Valley reopened in December 1946.

    + John W. Lundin is author of several books, including “Early Skiing on Snoqualmie Pass,” “Ski Jumping in Washington State,” “Skiing Sun Valley” and “Sun Valley, Ketchum and the Wood River Valley.”