1960’s
Aukee’s Ski Patrol (Professional & Volunteers) L to R back row – Jerry Lincoln, Clive Hughes, Daryl “Animal” Aukee, Ron Heck, “Fang”, ?, L to R front row – ?, ?, Freddy Pinkham, Bob Clow & Bob Hart.
1960-1961
Daryl “Animal” Aukee (1959 – 1965) took over Earl Morris’s position as patrol leader. The 18 yr old Aukee had a group of hard-headed, hard playing, hard working individualist’s who took their job as seriously as they took their recreation – which now included a handful of paid patrollers along with volunteers. “We did it because we wanted to ski” Aukee reminisced. “Money had nothing to do with it”. (The Mammoth Ski Museum) Among Aukee’s ever changing list of volunteers of skiers and surfers from Southern California was the well known surfer and surfboard shaper Dewey Weber.
L to R – Dick “Gremlin” Dahlgren (pro), John Harmening (pro), Clive Hughes, Frier Gottfried, Bob Clow, (?) all weekend volunteers – 1960 (?) (photo contributed by Dick Dahlgren)
Salary schedule…$25 per week plus room and board. $25 a week was enough to buy 100 twenty-five-cent beers at Dick Agee’s Mammoth Tavern. All that was needed was a Red Cross first aid card. It was so much fun we would have paid Dave to ski. — Dick “Gremlin” Dahlgren.
L to R – Dick “Gremlin”Dahlgren, Bob “Ringer” Kesselring, Phil Kerridge – 1960(?) (photo contributed by Dick Dahlgren)
1961-1962
Chair 4 – Riblet Tramway Company – fixed – double – 1200/skiers per hour. Length – 4500ft. Vertical – 1000Ft. Ride time – 8:19.
T-bar 2 – Riblet & “homemade”. 1100/skiers per hour. Length – 2840ft. Vertical – 700ft. Ride time – 3:43. Located in front of Main Lodge up thru Thunder Mountain to the top of Bowling Alley.
1963 – 1964
Chair 5 – manufactured by Paul Hunziker – fixed – double – 1200/skiers per hour. Top Elev: 10,400ft. Bottom Elev: 9350ft. Length – 4000ft. Vertical Rise 1050ft- 1300ft. Ride time – 6:32.
T- Bar 2 (Photo by Dave McCoy)
1964 – 1965
Daryl Aukee – 1962 in red patrol parka. (photo contibuted by Daryl Aukee)
Wendy Carlson takes over as Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol Leader. Wendy Carlson institutes ski patrol bump stations around the ski area at the top of the chair lifts.
Chair 6 – 1960’s (photo by Dave McCoy)
Gondola 1 – Designed by Bell – Built by MMSA employees. 1200/skiers per hour. Length – 3445ft. Vertical – 715ft. Ride time – 6:00.
1965 – 1966
1966 – 1967
Chair 6 – manufactured by Paul Hunziker – fixed – double – 1100/skiers per hour. Length – 1500ft. Vertical – 400ft. Ride time – 3:14. Located in front of Main Lodge to the top of Jill’s Run and Over Easy.
1967 – 1968
Bob Wood – Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol, 1966-68, 72-78. Sitting Bump at the Top of the World.
“The toboggan and Bob’s boots say it all – not many people can say they ran a Sun Valley off the top.” – Peter del Giudice
No maze – just a mess in the mid 60’s. (photo by T J)
Gondola 2 – Designed by Bell – Built by MMSA employees. 1125/skiers per hour. Length – 4405ft. Vertical – 2144ft. Ride time – 8:00.
John Garner steps in as Ski Patrol Leader. Wendy Carlson heads to Washington to open a ski area.
The Historic Winter of 1969 (Lost in the Woods) – photos by T J.
I heard about the rescue of four patrolmen who were stranded on Mammoth Pass. I believe the photos show them getting out of the helicopter.
One patroller got turned around in a whiteout at the top and headed down the back side. When he realized what he’d done it was too late to climb back up in the deep snow. He figured he was dead, so he decided he would go out with an epic powder run, all the way down to the pass. Three patrollers searched for him, found his track, and followed him down. I can’t say what they had in mind regarding retrieving him. It was snowing hard and they all wound up sitting it out down there for four days, and they didn’t have any equipment other than what was in their belt packs. No food, no water, no sleeping bags. Fortunately, one of them was a smoker and had matches. They built a fire, and when that sunk too deep in the snow they would build another one. Their biggest issue was getting enough water. They used a reflector from a flashlight to melt snow. They had space blankets in their belt packs, but found when they used them they were soaked with condensation. After four days the weather cleared and the helicopter was able to pick them up. Then it socked back in and snowed for another two weeks.
After that the patrol stocked up with survival packs that included food, cooking gear, and foam sleeping bags that would keep you warm even when wet.
I don’t recall who the patrollers were. I don’t recall if any of them were still on the patrol when I got back, although one might have been Clane Burnham (sp?). He might have been the one who related the story to me.
– Bob Wood (1966-1968 & 1972-1978)
Chair 7 – Yan – fixed – double – 1200 skiers per hour. Length 2632ft. Vertical 382ft.
Chair 8 – Yan – fixed – double – 1200/skiers per hour. Top Elev: 9129ft. Bottom Elev: 8340ft. Length – 3600ft. Vertical – 900ft. Ride time – 6:18.
Chair 9 – Yan – fixed – double – 1200/skiers per hour. Length – 6000ft. Vertical – 1700ft. Ride time – 11:30. (seats were fashioned with a safety bar and foot rest at one time.)
1969 – 1970
Chair 10 – Yan – fixed – double – 1200/skiers per hour. Length – 4500ft. Vertical – 1000ft. Ride time – 7:40. Located at the bottom of Easy Rider, Over Easy and Wall St to the top of Lost in the Woods.