Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 7:
RECREATION MANAGEMENT

SKIING

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, downhill skiing and other winter sports activities grew in popularity at the monument, as area residents slid down snow-covered cinder cone slopes during winter months when Craters was closed. [2] Skiing compelled the Park Service to establish its first recreation policy regarding the development of winter sports facilities at Craters of the Moon. The Arco Civic Club asked the National Park Service, on August 5, 1941, for permission to build a winter sports facility on the northeastern slope of Sunset Cone. The club felt that the cone's proximity to the highway and the eastern boundary, and its lack of scenic qualities associated with the "main attractions" elsewhere in the monument would not interfere with the area's mission. The cinder hill, from this perspective, was far more valuable for recreation. [3]

The request caught the agency off guard. The monument's master plan carried no provisions for winter sports development, and Acting Regional Director Herbert Maier expressed reservations about granting this type of program at all, citing prohibitive development and maintenance costs. [4] The agency left the situation to Custodian Guy E. McCarty. The following summer McCarty reported that at first the civic club thought the Park Service should construct a ski lift in order to attract more visitors. McCarty informed the group that it was not NPS policy to lure visitors with constructed "attractions." Undeterred, the Arco Civic Club next hoped to install its own ski lift at the site, and owners of a rope tow, operating on private land just north of the monument, voiced an interest in moving the lift to and constructing a small-scale operation on Sunset Cone. McCarty favored development of some kind to accommodate the ski resort's supporters, a group of monument boosters from the Arco and Lost River areas who were just seeking "a place to get out for recreation," during a period when alpine rather than nordic skiing was the preferred sport. [5]

Regional Director O.A. Tomlinson made it all but impossible for the civic club to create a winter sports facility at the monument without overtly denying the proposal. Tomlinson stated, as had McCarty, that NPS policy was not to attract visitors with man-made features, but rather to showcase natural phenomena, and this philosophy applied to Craters of the Moon. More importantly, the regional director noted that a February 1940 winter-use policy decision by the Park Service emphasized that no developments should impair an area's scenic values, and that the entire proposed facility would have to be dismantled each season in order to comply with agency policy. In the case of Craters of the Moon, he agreed to award a permit only if the operators did not clear the slopes in any way and if they removed their buildings and equipment each spring. He also urged the operators to seek another site, which would be less expensive for all concerned. [6] No discussion of development continued after Tomlinson's decision; McCarty issued no permit, and no facility was established. Despite the civic club's impression, the monument's scenic qualities prevailed over the perceived need for recreational developments.

For a time, the sport of choice was snowmobiling around the loop drive, until Superintendent Robert Hentges ended the activity in the 1970s, finding that it was harmful to the delicate cinders if the snow machines wandered off course. The energy crisis of the early 1970s also contributed to this trend, and more traditional winter sports, again, gained in popularity. To conserve fuel, managers no longer plowed the loop drive to Devil's Orchard, yet Superintendent Paul Fritz observed that cross-country skiers and snowshoers would likely take advantage of the snow-covered road. [7] In the mid-1980s, Superintendent Robert Scott began promoting a cross-country ski program at the monument. The intention of the program was to provide groomed trails for skiers. [8] Furthermore, Scott explained that the "purpose of this service is to provide a method for winter visitors to use and enjoy the park. As the roadway is not kept snowfree from mid-November through mid-April, there is little opportunity for park visitors to explore beyond the visitor center except by traveling over snow." [9]

By the 1987-1988 season, the program lay in its incipient stages; a donated snowmobile and grooming equipment allowed monument managers to lay down tracks along the loop drive. Around one hundred visitors skied the trails. The following season use increased, and the monument charged a $2 user fee, and the Interpretation Division provided a free activity and safety handout for skiers. Winter skiing at the monument had a long history, yet this was the first time park staff had engaged in such a program. Still considered in its initial stages of development as of the early 1990s, the winter skiing service has continued to be a popular winter program. [10]