I’ve been having an interesting email conversation with ski historian and prolific ski writer John Fry. Question is when the first “ski train” in North America happened. I define “ski train” as a train used by an organized group of skiers, such as those from a club. The train could be a regular run, or chartered. With that definition, it appears that the first ski train was in Utah. It took a group of Wasatch Mountain Club skiers to Parley’s summit in winter of 1924-25. I got this info out of Alexis Kelner’s history book, Skiing in Utah, and published it in my Wild Snow history book, as well as in the Chronology here on my website.
In “official” ski history, the first ski train is usually considered to be one from Montreal to the Laurentian mountains in 1927. The Utah train takes the cake, but perhaps the Montreal train was specially chartered for skiers, and thus really the “first?” Such is the incredibly earth shattering stuff that historians converse about.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
