WHITE PASS — Three local legends were on hand Saturday afternoon at the White Pass fourth-annual film festival and reunion to celebrate the last runs of the season and to honor 58 years of community spirit, determination and drive as the resort shut down early to devote its energies to a large and long-awaited expansion.
Nationally acclaimed photographer and White Pass documentarian Ken Whitmire came with photos showing the birth of the resort in the 1950s.
Also on hand was Nelson Bennett, a World War II veteran, 1956 U.S. Olympic alpine ski team manager and White Pass general manager for 25 years.
They were joined by champion skier Steve Mahre, a silver medalist in slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The 58-year history of the White Pass ski area — fully illustrated in vintage films, contemporary videography, news clippings and photographs displayed at the event — made evident the love and hard work that has been poured into the building and development of this recreational community.
“We wanted to capture and celebrate what we have now before it changes next year. We’re a small ski resort with a real hometown feel. We hope that tradition will continue, even as we double in size next year,” said Marissa Christenson, the film festival creative force and organizational impetus.
The long-awaited expansion of the basin is currently underway, due to be completed before the start of the 2010/2011 season. It includes the addition of two quad chairlifts, a mid-mountain lodge and an additional 767 acres of terrain.
“This is what White Pass is all about, this family legacy of building community, generation after generation,” explained Kathleen Goyette, White Pass marketing director.
Early that afternoon, Ken Whitmire walked the large gathering of charmed onlookers through the official White Pass scrapbook, covering the earliest documentation of the development of the area. The image of the scrapbook was projected onto two large screens to enable viewers to enjoy the vintage photography while they were regaled with short and tall tales of the history of White Pass.
Whitmire, a nationally recognized portrait photographer, began his career at Naches Valley High School working on the school paper and yearbook. He left home to join the Navy, graduated from the U.S. Naval School of Photography in 1949 and specialized in aerial photography. But he returned home a few years later to marry together what became his lifelong work and obsession — skiing and photography.
As an original member of the Yakima ski club, Whitmire was among the volunteers who worked to blaze the earliest White Pass trails while he documented the journey through his camera lens every step of the way. His iconic black and white images are displayed throughout the day lodge and are as much a part of the vintage décor as they are a record of White Pass history.
Pointing to a photograph of him man-handling a chainsaw at the base of a tree stump with a pipe clenched firmly between his teeth, Whitmire said, “There was no OSHA in those days to tell me I couldn’t smoke in the woods, but it was so wet out there you couldn’t have started a fire with an explosion.”
A mountainside of tree stumps was the first order of business for Nelson Bennett, White Pass general manager from 1960 to 1985. Bennett — a WWII veteran and member of the 10th Mountain Division, manager of the 1956 U.S. alpine ski team and the director of ski events at the 1960 Olympics — left a lucrative position in Sun Valley to take on the daunting tasks and responsibilities at White Pass.
“I left a good job at Sun Valley to come up here to the biggest stump patch I ever saw,” he laughed. “Some of these stumps were 6 feet tall. My first job was getting rid of those darn stumps. It paid off the first year, and it has been paying off ever since,” Bennett said.
Steve Mahre, 1982 World Championships Giant Slalom gold medalist and 1984 Olympics silver medalist, gave credit to Bennett for helping him and his brother — fraternal twin Phil Mahre, also an Olympic medalist and World Championship skier — to get their start in skiing.
Current general manager, Kevin McCarthy said that without Nelson and Dave “Spike” Mahre, Steve Mahre’s father, the expansion and the future of White Pass would not be possible.
“Our dad was a fruit farmer in Yakima, originally,” explained Mahre, “and during the winter months he would come to White Pass and work on the ski patrol and ski school. Nelson was nice enough to ask dad if he wanted to be the mountain manager when we were about 5 or 6 years old.”
“Dad loved the mountain and said he would gladly sell his orchards. We want to thank Nelson for getting our dad into the industry, otherwise I’d be a really good fruit farmer, instead of a good skier,” said Mahre.
Mahre attended the event to pay tribute to the place that he called home for 10 years, where he got his start as an Olympian, and to honor the new management and their plans for expansion.
“This will always be our home ski area. So often people ask where your favorite place to ski is. If I had my druthers, I’ll always go back home to White Pass,” said Mahre. “We’re looking forward to the future and I’m thankful that I’ll always be a part of the White Pass family.”
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Season Pass Discounts
The White Pass discount season pass sale runs through May 31. Purchase online at skiwhitepass.com or by phone at (509) 672-310 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday
$375 Adults (regularly $700)
$179 Juniors (regularly $440)
Season passes are free for children 6 and under and senior 73+ (with a $20 processing free).
