Anchorage Daily News

In December of 1959 when Bud Gibbs first showed up at the base of Mount Alyeska with five friends, he was greeted by eight feet of snow and a little Poma lift -- essentially a T-bar -- that yanked skiers several hundred feet up the 3,939-foot mountain along the route Chair 3 now occupies.

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ALYESKA FACTS

• AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 631 inches mid mountain, 742 inches summit
• AREA: 1,400 skiable acres
• ELEVATION: Summit 3,939 feet; base 250 feet
• NUMBER LIFTS: Nine, including one high-speed detachable quad, two fixed quads, three double chairs, two pony lifts, and one 60-passenger capacity aerial tram.
• RUNS: 68
• TERRAIN DIFFICULTY: 11 percent beginner, 52 percent intermediate, 37 percent advanced
• AVERAGE DAYLIGHT HOURS: December 7.22; January 8.29; February 10.58; March 13.52; April 16.20

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"Next year they built Chair 1," he said. "I'm a tough skier, and we skied in a lot of brush back then."

You had to be tough.

In 1959, there was no fancy lodge. There were no other lifts, no trams, no quads. Not a single snowboarder carved turns. Don't forget your gear, because no rentals were available. And know what you're doing too; no lessons available.

There was no ski patrol, no mountain restaurant and not many places to warm up on a frigid day.

There were injuries.

"You saw a lot of broken legs back then," said Matt Tanaka, who first skied Alyeska in 1966 on AT&T wooden skis with screwed-in metal edges in vintage Koflach leather boots attached to the ski with leather straps.

"It had a much more folksy atmosphere back then," said Tanaka, vice president of the Alyeska Ski Club and president of the Tanaka Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Matt's father, Jim Tanaka, that supports youth ski racing in Alaska.

And while both Tanaka, 50, and Gibbs, 75, smile when they recall Alyeska's humble beginnings, both Girdwood skiers are still bombing down the hill today and they'll gladly take the new version.

For Gibbs, there have been a lot of new versions.

"A few years later (after his arrival) when they built the old day lodge, we thought it was really upscale," he said.

"When they got around to building the old hotel, we thought we were Aspen bound.

"The new hotel and the tram are things I thought I'd never see."

Get ready for more additions. As Alyeska opened its slopes Wednesday for a 52nd season, more changes greeted skiers.

• New Quad -- Chair 3, which goes up 310 feet, has been replaced with a new fixed-grip quad called the Bear Cub that will double the number of skiers Alyeska can move up that part of the mountain. "The improvements on Chair 3 will be great for the resort," Alyeska marketing director Jason Lott said a few days before the opening. "We'll be able to cycle more people up." The terminal at the top of the lift has been moved slightly north in an effort to reduce the steepness of the terrain when skiers unload. From there, skiers can choose either beginner or intermediate terrain. One other advantage cited by Alyeska mountain manager Dave Wilson is that the quad lets ski instructors ride uphill with their students. "Let's say you had a couple of students you weren't comfortable sending up alone, the instructor can now go with them."

• Chair 7 Walkway -- A moveable walkway, or carpet loader, was installed at the base of Chair 7 outside Hotel Alyeska, and a mid-way off-loading station was added. The carpet loader allows the lift to run at higher speeds while helping beginners and children load easier without having to figure out how a chairlifts work. The mid-way off-loading station lets skiers and riders access the beginner terrain without having to travel all the way to the top of Chair 7.

"It allows for a greater flow, less stops," Lott said. "In the past, because they were largely beginners, you'd have somebody falling off here and there, stopping the lift. This makes for easier transition onto the slope."

• Access Cards: Beginning Dec. 1, an access card that skiers can keep inside their coats allows them to buy lift tickets online before reaching the slopes. After buying an Alyeska Access reusable card for $5, skiers can purchase skiing days -- or anything they might buy at Alyeska -- online by adding money to the card. "From the perspective of a day ticket user, it's a big change," Lott said. "I know I hate waiting in line. On a powder day you can stand in line for an hour. Now you can decide I'm gonna be one of the first ones on the mountain, and you don't have to wait in line to by a lift ticket." Skiers can add funds to their cards from a computer and head to the lift line.

"Everything that they've done so far (since new ownership took over two years ago) has been real good," said Gibbs, who estimated that he still skis 40 times a season. "That Magic Carpet for the little kids, that's one of greatest things that they could have done to encourage kids. Adults too."

Gibbs isn't the only one who likes what he sees.

"All the changes I've seen have been really positive," said Sparky Anderson, UAA assistant ski coach for alpine skiing and program director at Alyeska Ski Club for seven years before joining the Seawolves.

"It'll increase the capacity and it should improve the congestion where it bottle-necked before.

He'd like to see Alyeska turn Chair 4 into a high-speed lift next. Today the fixed quad takes 10 minutes to ascend 1,370 feet.

"The lower mountain is some of the best skiing on the whole mountain and it goes unrealized because that chair is so much slower," he said.

Other skiers have long sought an expansion of terrain into Winner Creek, boosting the number of intermediate runs.

Some skiers balk at the $55 price tag for a full day of adult skiing, noting that the much smaller Alpenglow at Arctic Valley is $20 cheaper.

But Alyeska's $55 price compares favorably with such Colorado destination resorts as Vail ($81) and Copper Mountain ($72).

And while most of Alyeska's upgrades under new ownership have been aimed at beginning skiers, some crusty veterans like Gibbs like what they see.

"It's wonderful," he said. "I've paid my dues and now I'm reaping my rewards. If they didn't have all the grooming and nice slopes, my old body couldn't take it today."

Reporter Mike Campbell can be found online at adn.com/contact/mcampbell or call 257-4329.

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