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outdoorstdn.com/lifestyles | Friday, march 15, 2013 | Section coutdoors reporter: tom paulu

tpaulu@tdn.com | 360-577-2540 submit story ideas:

frontdoor@tdn.com

the Daily NewS

The Mount St. Helens Hik-ing Club holds several hikes each month. For more information and the meeting place for carpooling, contact the hike leader listed or visit www.mtsthelensclub.org.

saturday: “Jerry’s peak” (moder-ate). hike 8 miles with 1,500 feet eleva-tion gain to unnamed peak above Cold-water lake. excellent views of Coldwa-ter, Fawn, elk, and hanaford lakes, as well as mount St. helens and the toutle River valley. Jerry, 577-8992.

monday: Kalama waterfront (easy). hike 3+ miles round-trip from Kalama post office to the marina and along the river and back. ed and trudy, 414-1160.

march 23: Catherine Creek (moder-ate). hike 3 to 5 miles with up to 1,800 feet elevation gain. David, 577-4218; anne, 673-2996.

march 25: mosier twin tunnels and memaloose Vista loop (moder-ate). hike up to 9.4 miles with 960 feet elevation gain or shorter distance. hike under tunnel and through wildflowers on level trails. pat D., 295-0570; Becky, 560-4170.

march 30: Sand lake snowshoe (moderate). Snowshoe 8 miles round-trip from white pass with 1,900 feet elevation gain. Jerry 577-8992; mary Jane 355-5220.

Hiking Club’s March schedule now available

by craig hillthe NewS tRiBuNe

TAMPEDE PASS, Wash. — The instructions for time travel are as follows:

Step one: On a winter weekend, follow Interstate 90 east to Exit 62, then drive south until the road ends.

Step two: Haul your gear to the southeast corner of the parking lot and step into your skis.

Step three: Put on a pair of heavy duty leather gloves and wait.You’ll hear a rumble rising from the woods before you see your

escort to the winter of 1938.Seventy-five years ago, Washington’s ski scene took a giant

step toward the future thanks to the arrival of a device called the rope tow. The relatively simple contraption used a long rope

loop, a car engine and pulleys to tow skiers up hills that they pre-viously had to hike.

A Tacoma lumber baron urged on by an East Coast visionary installed rope tows on Sno-qualmie Pass, Mount Rainier and Mount Baker while others assembled a tow on Steven Pass.

Meanwhile, near Stampede Pass, an outdoor recreation club called The Mountaineers built its own rope tow at its 10-year-old ski hut, Meany Lodge.

Most of Washington’s first rope tows saw popular ski areas take shape around those tows before these glove-shredding lifts were replaced with comfy chairlifts.

But at Meany Lodge, it’s as if time stood still. Here, just 10 miles from the Summit at Snoqualmie’s crowds and mod-ern lifts, a Chevy truck engine still powers the longest of three rope tows.

But that’s not the rumble you’ll hear as you prepare for time travel. That noise is from Tom-Cat, a 1954 Bombardier snow tractor.

When it arrives, two long ropes are tossed off the back of the covered tractor with tank-like tracks. Skiers grab hold and

are towed down a popular snowmobile road

before

veering left onto a less-used route. Here, the tractor might pick up speed, slowing only to cross the railroad tracks that once delivered skiers from Seattle for 50 cents each before service stopped in 1960.

After 2.7 miles, Meany Lodge comes into view.Most lodge visitors these days come Friday night and

stay for the weekend. Because I was the only person ar-riving on a recent Sunday morning, I was towed in by a snowmobile.

While the 80 guests in the lodge enjoyed a pancake breakfast, I followed ski instructor Jim Fahey to the tow house where Andy Smith was firing up Mach, the main lift.

Fahey calls the tow house “a living museum,” and I im-mediately saw why. A still working — but barely-used — hand-crank phone hung just inside the door. Ropes, pulleys and tools hung from the walls.

But the real piece of history is the Chevrolet truck skele-ton that fills most of the room. From the radiator to the rear wheel that moves the rope, the machine is painted wred. A

protective casing around the fan is fashioned from wire fencing.

I watched as Smith opened the fuel line, checked the radiator and turned on the battery. Fahey

checked the oil.

Using rop tows, popularized in 1930s, skiers at Meany Lodge in Stampede Pass take a trip in time

S

rop tow historythe first rope tow in the united States was installed near woodstock, Vt., in 1934 and Jim parker, one of the men who helped run the tow, moved to washington three years later.in a 1978 issue of puget Soundings magazine, former Summit at Snoqualmie owner webb moffett wrote that park-er enlisted the support and financial backing of Chauncey Griggs, owner of a tacoma lumber company, to build rope tows in the Cascades.Rope tow operations popped up in the Cascades in places such as american River, and Cayuse and Chinook passes, moffett wrote, but they faded away when they couldn’t keep up with resorts that were installing chairlifts. mount Rainier National park wouldn’t allow permanent lifts, so its rope tow operations also van-ished leading to a new resort, Crystal mountain.

The ski lodge where

time stands still

photos by craig hill / the News tribune

Top: Skiers and snowboarders are towed back to their cars by a 1954 Bombadier snow tractor after a weekend of skiing at Meany Lodge.Above: Andy Smith pulls a rope that activates the clutch on the old Chevy pickup truck engine powering a 75-year-old rope tow at Meany Lodge.Bottom: A young skier is pulled by rope at Meany Lodge in Stampede Pass, Wash.

“Before the rope tows, skiing was mostly a pretty dedicated commu-

nity of people who parked at Narada (Falls) in mount Rainier National park and hiked up to paradise. it’s amaz-

ing that people actually did that. the rope tow made that much easier.”

— Lowell Skoog, ski historian

skiing / C6

Kids Fish-in will be april 27The Kids Fish-In sponsored by

Longview Parks and Recreation and Smiles Dental will take place on April 27 at Lake Sacajawea’s Martin Dock.

A netted area will be stocked with trout, making them relatively easy to catch.

There are seven time slots starting from 8 a.m. and begin-ning on the hour until 2 p.m.

The event is open to kids 7 to 14. The cost is $7 per child, which includes a rod and reel.

The registration deadline is April 22. Register at the Longview Recreation office at 2920 Doug-las St., by calling 442-5400 or at www.mylongview.com/reconline.

Writer, hiker to discuss her bookJudy Bentley will present a pro-

gram on “Hiking Washington’s History” at 6:30 p.m. March 21 at the Hop-N-Grape’s Smokehouse Pub, 924 15th Ave. Admission is for those 21 and older.

Bentley is a writer and historian who hiked and researched more than 60 historic trails in Washing-ton. Her book “Hiking Washing-ton’s History” includes 40 hikes from around the state, ranging from short day trips to multi-day backpacks. Her slide-talk will fea-ture historic hikes around Mount St. Helens as well as highlights of other regions,

Bentley teaches at South Se-attle Community College and is the author of 15 other books.

The presentation is sponsored by the Mount St. Helens Institute.

permit drawing ends march 31Deer and elk hunters have until

March 31 to enter their name in a drawing for a 2013 multiple-season permit, which can greatly increase their opportunities for success in the field.

In mid-April, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will randomly draw names for 8,500 multiple-season deer permits and 1,000 multiple-season elk permits.

Winners of the drawing will be eligible to purchase a special tag allowing them to participate in archery, muzzleloader and modern firearm general hunting seasons for deer or elk in 2013. Winners who purchase the mul-tiple-season elk tag by Aug. 31 can participate in general elk-hunting season in both eastern and west-ern Washington.

Hunters may purchase a mul-tiple-season permit application at an authorized license dealer, listed at http://wdfw.wa.gov/licens-ing/vendors/, or by calling (866) 246-9453. The permit application is $7.10 for residents and $110.50 for nonresidents.

— The Daily News