Kongsberger Ski Club

 The long-awaited permit is in place, and below is a letter from The Nature Conservancy allowing the warming hut on Amabilis.   The hut is now officially open to the public; to find it, take the left fork at the Y and head up to the saddle. *** Updates on the Amabilis Mountain Hut, Trail System, and Land Transfer   We are happy to announce that there will be a ski hut, built by Kongsberger Ski Club volunteers, on Amabilis Mountain for public use for the remainder of the winter 2022 season. The hut, the Pickett trails adjacent to it, and various open viewpoints off the Amabilis Road are the result of a 6-year partnership between the Kongsberger Ski Club and The Nature Conservancy, who currently manages this area, with the shared mission to provide the public with winter recreation opportunities and access to Amabilis Mountain.    The Nature Conservancy is in the process of transferring its Amabilis Mountain parcel, part of the 48,000-acre Central Cascades Fo...

 Below, a letter from Rune Harkestad, Kongsberger Ski Club president, to the State-wide Nordic skiing community: As I am currently watching the City of SeaTac council meeting on-line right now, I would like to draw a parallel to the system of how our taxes are collected and spent on a State, county and city level, all depending on where you live.  Unfortunately, the State's sno-park system doesn’t operate that way.  Can any of you imagine what it would be like if, e.g., the Methow were a part of the sno-park system and had to argue for annual funding for the Methow trail system in front of the WRAC?  It  would  have no data as to how much revenue was actually generated from pass purchases in the Methow, and it would be a case of comparing a private grooming operation in the Methow to State-operated grooming operations, where machinery is paid for through the sno-park budget.   It would be a very messy situation, and that is precisely why I am asking al...

Seriously, people, does Race Director Jeff Hashimoto know how to throw a race-day party or what!  Maybe it was the bright bluebird day after this crazy winter of snow/rain/cold/ice, or maybe it was just so much fun to put a number on again, but the energy was high and the racers were stoked.  The excitement started when you entered the parking lot, with the big red "Race Today" sign setting the mood.  Friendly parking volunteers squeezed an amazing number of cars into the parking lot!  Then you crossed the overpass and the first tent you saw had more friendly volunteers, handing out bibs and draw prizes.  Then you were enveloped in the energetic, upbeat music and the crowds of people swarming back and forth, getting ready for their race, and over it all, Jeff's happy voice, herding the cats, marshalling the troops. There were 268 racers (a new KSC record!) spread over five different races, five different courses -- so fun for everyone, even the littlest tykes, t...

Many thanks to Rob Corkran, our own historian, for this fun report from the 1975 Stampede!  You may recognize some of these names, all these years later. Was that the year that the sheriff of Kittitas County started the Stampede with a shotgun blast?  Memory does not serve me well there.  But another distinguished personage, Norway’s Ambassador to the United States, was certainly there.  The occasion was the Norwegian-American Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the first Norwegian emigration to the United States.  Norway was presenting awards in each state with prominent Norwegian American communities to individuals who had made distinguished contributions in that state.  Selected in Washington were Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Kongsberger Ski Club founder, Olav Ulland.  Olav was not only a force in making ski jumping a popular spectator sport in the 1940’s and 50’s.  He was the co-owner of Osborne and Ulland, a seven-branch winter an...