This page is dedicated to Clark Hunt. It was his enthusiam and memories of the ski trail that made this page happen. A special thanks to Lori Perez of the Helper Mining and Railroad Museum for searching for the articles in the Sun Advocate newspaper. If you have memories of the ski resort that you would like to share with others please send an e-mail to Kathy Hamaker. Your memories will be added at the end of this page.
Fired by plans to make a newly selected site at Clear Creek, one of the best ski spots in the state, about fifteen of the more ardent enthusiasts of the sliding slabs spent last Sunday swinging axes to clear trails for the proposed new slides.
Knee-deep snow made the work arduous, but by the time aching muscles forced a halt, a considerable area had been cleared. The Price skiers were aided by several residents of Clear Creek, who have evidenced interest in the development of the site.
This week-end it is planned to begin work on a tow and if plans are successful it is hoped to have it in operation before the holidays.
This week the Coal Mountain Ski club is beginning a membership drive which is intended to raise funds for the completion of the tow and other work on the trails. It is planned to have skiing films available at a meeting in the near future to aid local novices in mastering control of their skis.
Those who put in last Sunday working on the tail included the following: Hubert Hreinson, Shep Olsen, the Walkington brothers, Pres. Summerhays, Lynn Goetzman, Larry Malaska, Bud McIntire, Paul Hreinson, Keith Leavitt, Fuzzy Wiseman, Ivor Koski and John Vlavovich.
Plans for the Centennial Ski Meet to be held at Clear Creek on March 9 are nearing completion, according to Pres. Summerhays, centennial sports chairman, and invitations to participate have been sent to all ski clubs in the state. A team from the University of Utah has already signified its intention of entering the meet, Mr. Summerhays stated.
This meet, the first of its kind to be held in Carbon county, is being sponsored jointly by the county centennial committee and the Coal Mountain Ski club and is indicative of the increased interest in this sport that has been developed in the county this winter.
In preparation for the meet, the Intermountain Amateur Ski Association will send a man to the area to stake out the respective courses and events will consist of slalom and down hill events.
In addition, Mr. Summerhays reported that work will go forward on lengthening the runs before the tournament.
Another event planned is a huge banquet following the meet to be held at Clear Creek for visiting skiers.
More elaborate plans to make the Clear Creek ski run one of the best in the state were announced this week by the Coal Mountain Ski club. These plans call for the installation of lights along the course to make night skiing possible, and it was reported that these would probably be installed by Saturday night. In addition, to make for more spectacular night skiing, arrangements have been made to obtain flares which can be carried by the skiers as they come down the hill which will result in an interesting display for spectators.
Pres. Summerhays, chairman of the Carbon county centennial committee's sports committee, announced today that a large number of entries from throughout the state have been received for the ski tournament which will be held at the Clear Creek run on March 9.
Men's and women's downhill, slalom and novelty races will be last day feature.
Carbon county's first big centennial sports event of the year will take place this coming Saturday and Sunday, March 8 and 9, at Clear Creek when several skiers from out of the county and county ski enthusiasts will meet to vie for trophies in downhill, slalom and novelty race events. This big event, the first of its kind ever held in Carbon county, is under the sponsorship of the Coal Mountain Ski club with the able cooperation of the Utah Fuel Company, operators of the Clear Creek mine.
According to Tournament Chairman Pres. L. Summerhays, the skiers will get together Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. for some novelty night skiing on the newly lighted course. The Utah Fuel company has completed the installation of lights and in addition, flares will be carried by the skiers as they race down the hill. This combination is expected to result in a very attractive outdoor display.
Following this, at 10:00 o'clock the skiers will meet at the Clear Creek boarding house for breakfast and at noon a meeting of the officials and participants will be held at which time drawings will be held for contest places.
The actual contest events will begin at 1:00 p.m. with women's downhill races. These will be followed by men's downhill races. Slalom events for both men and women will follow and the contest will be concluded with a novelty race. Two runs will be allowed in each event.
The first special train for ski enthusiasts in the history of the sport in this section has arranged by the Coal Mountain Ski club to transport 200 skiers from Helper to Clear Creek, site of the newly completed ski run, next Sunday, March 9.
Efforts are now being made to assure a guarantee of 200 persons necessary for the railroad to make the run. The train will leave Helper at 9:00 a.m. stopping briefly at Castle Gate and arrive at Clear Creek at 12:10 p.m. Return trip will start about 5:00 p.m.
Those who desire to go are advised to furnish their own lunch. Total fare for the round trip is $1.82.
Run off under almost perfect snow and weather conditions, the Coal Mountain Ski club's first annual ski meet Sunday was pronounced an unqualified success by some thirty participants and several hundred spectators.
As was expected, most honors went to out of county contestants. Two East High School students, Gordon Woolley and Peg Vorse, copped first places in the men's and women's events, respectively, with total times of 79.8 and 57.3 seconds. Only two events were run by the women.
Third place went to Carbon county's Keith Leavitt, who negotiated the two down mountain runs and the slalom course in the total time of 85.5 seconds, for the fourth best time of the day. Earl Miller, Provo ski instructor, who was running open, made second best time of 84.6.
Considering that local skiers have had a suitable course for only a few months, their performances against some of the best skiers in the state of Utah was considered extremely creditable. Seven skiers from the Coal Mountain club entered the various events, some of whom had never skied before this winter. This was particularly true of those from Clear Creek, who have developed into the most enthusiastic ski fans.
Results of the meet, in total times, are as follows:
Gordon Woolly, East High, Salt Lake, 79.8; Gene Smith, Sanpete, 82.3; Earl Miller, Provo, 84.6; Keith Leavitt, Price, 85.5; Delmonte Johnson, Provo, 87.1; Boyd Henrie, Sanpete, 87.2; Boyd Smith, Salt Lake, 87.4; Don Cook, Salt Lake, 87.4; Phil Snelgrove, Provo, 92.7; Bud McIntire, Price, 94; Verl O'Brien, Salt Lake, 97; Ben Fullmer, Salt Lake 104.4; Joe Hilbers, Provo, 112.5; John Wells, Salt Lake, 114.7; and Boyd Bunnel, Carbon, 115.
Contestants entering only the downhill events, and thus not qualified for the trophies, included; Jean Randall, Provo, 157.1; Irma Stirman, 78.8; Richard Watkins, U. of U., 91.4; Robert Bentley, U. of U. 22.3; George Scharman, Salt Lake, 49.4; William Thomas, Carbon, 61.9; Iver Koski, Carbon, 64.3; Lynn Goetzman, Carbon, 86.6; Jack Malaska, Carbon, 68.2.
Clark Hunt writes:
I learned to ski from my Uncle John Burton. John and Edna lived in Salt Lake in the late 1930's and early 1940's. When they lived in Salt Lake, John became a member of the amateur ski club led by Alf Engen that created Alta. As I remember Uncle John's discussions, Alta was a result of the club formed by Alf Engen that lobbied to create a ski facility at Alta.
When John and Edna moved back to Carbon County in the late 1940's, John helped to create the skiing hill at Clear Creek. As I was told, a large electric motor was moved out of the Clear Creek mine and used to power a "T-Bar" ski lift. The "Ski-Hill" was found beyond the left fork of the road when entering Clear Creek near the mine tipple. There was also a "Skier's cabin" at the right bottom of the ski hill. I remember being told that light snows in the late '40s and early 50's coupled with eventual failure of the ski lift electric motor closed the Clear Creek Ski Resort.
In the mid-50's, Uncle John Burton was an active member of the Carbon County Ski Club. The Clear Creek ski-hill was closed in about 1952. Uncle John Burton helped to organize the County Ski Club and seek interested parties in maintaining the equipment. This included a portable rope tow system used on the site after the mine equipment had been abandoned.
Bill Llewelyn writes:
My name is Bill Llewelyn Jr. I was born and raised in Clear Creek and have a lot off memories of the origination of the ski tow and cook shack or warming house at the bottom of the tow.
The first ski tow was a rope tow that was given or acquired from the Brighton ski lift area up Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The skier you see in overalls is my father William (Bill) Aurther Llewelyn. He had a great deal to do with helping build the rope tow and later the T-Bar as did just about everyone in the town of Clear Creek.
My mother along with a good many of the other ladies use to work in the cook shack on Saturdays and Sundays.
As young kids, if the week-end was busy we would not be allowed to ski so the older out of town people could ski. After all they paid their dollar or (was it more) to ski but that was alright with us kids because we could always talk one of our dads into going up to the lift in the evenings after work and running it for us. That is after they put lights in.
It was a great source of income for the town and I am sure it contributed to the welfare fund in which we would reap the benefit by having movies on Sunday and Wednesday nights.
I have a lot of great memories about my youth in Clear Creek. Mostly the thing I remember the most though is how everyone up there seemed like family. I still know several people that live or spend the summers in Clear Creek.
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