[size=10pt]Asit Rathod retraces his route 38 years later.
www.oregonlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2009...hes_boldly_skie.html
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You might be interested in the followup articles that were published after the one that Asit Rathod wrote in 2009.
The original version of the article (published in the paper) described Saudan's as the first summit ski descent of Mt Hood. I wrote the paper to correct this error. They published a followup here:
www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/20...1_summit_ski_de.html
[size=10pt]Hjalmar Hvam's '31 summit ski descent is one to beat
"The 1971 ski descent by Sylvain Saudan was historic and significant," ski historian Lowell Skoog of Seattle wrote in reaction to a Travel section cover story on Nov. 22. "However, it should not be called the first summit ski descent of Mount Hood."
No, it should not, and yes, we did call it that. In fact, it was pretty much the premise of our story.
Ouch.
Our freelance writer, Asit Rathod, a big-mountain skier himself, is not the only person who was sure Saudan's well-publicized, daring ski descent on the cliffy east face of Mount Hood was overall the mountain's first.
But readers let us know the easier south side of the mountain had been quietly luring skiers for years, even decades, before Saudan's feat.
"It is so very important to bring light upon the pioneers of our sport," Rathod said about the revelations.
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... see link above for more ...
The followup story from Bill Keil about Hjalmar Hvam, who made the first ski descent (with Andre Roch and Arne Stene in 1931) was very good:
www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/20..._innovator_hvam.html
[size=10pt]Ski athlete and innovator, Hvam did it all
At the time, the old Blossom trail was the only "road" to the timberline and, of course, it was still snow-covered.
In addition to setting a climbing time record, Hvam, Roch and Stene were the first ones known to ski off the summit.
Skis of that era were not the edge-holding marvels of today. Consequently, the trio carefully sidestepped all the way up the final chute and on to the summit, according to Hvam's account in the ski club's yearbook that year.
After resting in the lee of the fire lookout cabin, they skied back along the summit ridge to the top of the chute and sidestepped back down that pitch to where they resumed regular turns, occasionally side-slipping for safety. The nearly 1,000- foot steep chute, just west of the Crater Rock saddle, has been the scene of fatal falls.
In Hvam's written words, "We have set a record for a party climb -- Portland, Mt. Hood, summit, Portland again -- all in 8 hours, 49 minutes."
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... see link above for more ...
More information (plus a few photos) can be found here:
written-in-the-snows.net/ski-climbers4.html
