So, I skiied with Bronka today...

well, actually I mostly just gave her and friend Judy a lift up on the snocat today since I was grooming on the MTTA (16" fresh).  Bronka Sundstrom, it's been mentioned here before, first summited Mt Rainier, years ago on her 77th birthday, in August, 2002.  But she now prefers it earlier in the year to avoid crevasse issues.   sigh...

Cool lady.  She telemarks.  Reminded me to weight the rear ski.   double sigh..   We had lunch on the trail, and I think I got  a date for coffee later.., but I had to suggest bringing Letty, also a Swede.    triple sigh...

Anybody else got a Bronka story?     

sounds like a story to me! Ake Sundstrom (Bronka's husband, now deceased) used to tell me there was no such thing as telemarking until it was invented by American ski manufacturers. Ake was a Swede and skied all over Scandanavia before we were all born; including a multi-week XC trip to the "North Pole"--I think that meant the arctic circle--from Norway. We have Bronka's skis on our wall from when she used to ski lift-served at Paradise. She and Ake were renowned for their day XC trips from Paradise to Box Canyon (down Stevens Canyon) and back. Never knew Bronka to telemark!

Now Andy, don't go ruining a perfectly good story with hard facts..  Fact is Bronka skis with a free heel, and I needed the double sigh..  And, besides, being her friend and neighbor, I knew you would be guarding the ladies' gate..     

Letty and I had bumped into her briefly on a Rainier hike a couple of years ago, but this was my first time to actually have some conversation with her and she was delightful.  Would be fun to hear some more personal accounts about our local celebrity.

Mt. Rainier has been the home to some remarkable women, including Bronka. Our neighbor's friend 94+ year old friend Nadine (who live in AZ now), built her own wooden skis in high school in Tacoma and came to Mt. Rainier year after year to climb up with canvass tube climbing skins and then ski down. Our friend (and Bronka's and Vogtski's and Robie's and ...), Dorothea Driggs was an accomplished bc skier (tele gear), actually climbed and skied off Mt St Helens just few years ago, when she was ca 75; she still skis with Vogtski, milder slopes (Cowlitz Rocks), now that she is in her early 80s. All are looked up to by us young folks who just wish we could be as active and fit as they in their 70s and 80s. Until just a few years ago, Bronka told me she was hiking to Camp Muir 50 times a year.

bronka is my hero .. i haven't talked to her for a few years now .. glad to hear she's still getting out

I ran into Bronka somewhere in the Paradise/Muir area about 8 years ago with my wife and daughters and we chatted for awhile. She entertained us with her climbing stories and I was so impressed with her enthusiasm and vigor. As inspiration for us all and evidence that using it prevents you from losing it. I didn't know that she was a skier also!