Washington Ski Museum seeks your help

[Lowell_Skoog]

 

I am working with a group of volunteers to launch a new Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum (WSSSM) at Snoqualmie Pass. The museum will be located in a new development opposite the Summit Inn at the top of the pass. Background information can be found on the museum's website here:

 

http://www.wsssm.org/

 

The officers of the new museum are President Dave Moffett (former owner of the Snoqualmie Summit ski area), Vice President Dollie Armstrong, and Secretary Hugh Armstrong. (The Armstrongs are the parents of 1984 Olympic gold medalist Debbie Armstrong.)

 

The museum will include exhibits on a variety of topics including Washington ski areas, elite competitors, equipment manufacturers, personalities, ski jumping and cross-country skiing, and more. Exhibits will consist of photographs, historic artifacts, and interactive displays.

 

My role in the museum is to develop an exhibit devoted to backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. For this effort, I'm gathering equipment and photographs from three eras of Washington skiing: 1930s-50s, 1960s-80s, and 1990s-2010s. The idea is for the ski mountaineering exhibit to display representative equipment from each of these periods together with photographs and interactive multi-media displays.

 

I'm posting now in search of equipment, particularly from the middle period from the 1960s through 1980s. I'd particularly like to showcase equipment representing the telemark renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s. For example:

• Telemark skis and bindings
  
• Climbing skins
  
• Leather telemark boots
  
• Ski poles from this period
  
• Period clothing (like early GoreTex, smelly polypro or whatever )
  
• Mountaineering gear (i.e. backpack and ice axe)
  

The museum seeks gear on either a donated or loaned basis. While I'm focusing now on gear from the middle period (1960s-80s), I would be eager to hear from you if you can help me locate equipment from either of the other periods.

 

I'm also actively seeking photographs from all of these periods. I'm off to a pretty good start, but would be eager to talk to anyone who'd like to offer more photographs for the museum to consider.

 

To follow up, you can contact me at lowell DOT skoog AT alpenglow DOT org.

 

The Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum committee is working toward an opening date of March/April 2015. I expect to post here from time to time to provide updates and seek more help. If you think you can help with artifacts, photos, or in any other way, please feel free to contact me.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[JasonG]

Neat project Lowell, thanks for sharing. I imagine it will be hard for us to provide info/contacts that you don't already have easy access to, but you never know.

 

 

[Lowell_Skoog]

The Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum is taking shape at Snoqualmie Pass. See: http://www.wsssm.org/

 

I need help to find some modern gear for the museum's ski mountaineering exhibit. You can see some of the older gear I've gathered below.

 

The exhibit will have a large monitor with historic movies and photos, as well as artifacts from three eras: 1920s-50s, 1960s-90s, and 2000+. The artifacts will include skis, skins, poles, boots, pack, ice axe, and avalanche safety gear.

 

I've got most of the gear figured out, but I still need to find the following:

 

+ A pair of 2000s-era alpine touring skis (K2 Mt Baker skis would be perfect)

+ A 2000s-era ice axe (a curved or ultralight axe would be ideal)

 

If you can help me find these items (for loan, donation, or cheap), please let me know. (I've been in touch with K2 for some Mt Baker skis, but I'm not sure they will be able to find any, since they've been out of production for a while. I like the Mt Baker skis, with their Salish artwork, because they really say "Washington.")