Milwaukee Ski Bowl
Hyak, Washington1938-1950
Shop Milwaukee Ski Bowl tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. Torger Tokle set a North American distance record of 288 feet on its big ski jump in 1941, and after the war the Skiboggan hauled skiers uphill in a 32-person sled. When the lodge burned in December 1949, the last season ran out of parked rail cars. Choose a style below and scroll down for the full Milwaukee Ski Bowl history. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
5 products
Milwaukee Ski Bowl History
The Milwaukee Ski Bowl at Hyak, Washington, sat at the east portal of the railroad tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass, just north of Keechelus Lake. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, known as the Milwaukee Road, built it in 1937 and opened it on January 8, 1938 as the Snoqualmie Ski Bowl, with about 1,200 skiers on hand. The railroad ran ski trains out of Seattle and Tacoma, about two hours each way, with a baggage car for skis and a recreation car for dancing, and advertised the trip with the line Let the Engineer do the Driving. The first lift was an 1,800-foot overhead cable lift, billed as the first ski lift in the Northwest, and the slopes were lit for night skiing. The runs were named after the railroad's own passenger trains.
The two-story lodge opened with a 94-foot lunch counter and was doubled in size for the second season. The Seattle Times sponsored a free ski school for high school students that ran from the first winter, and by 1950 it had taught about 20,000 skiers. For the 1940 season the railroad spent $15,000 on Olympian Hill, a Class A jumping hill built for the National Four-Way Ski Championships. Torger Tokle set a North American distance record of 288 feet there in 1941, and the hill later held the 1947 Olympic team tryouts and the 1948 national jumping championships.
The area shut down for World War II after the 1942 season. When the railroad reopened it in 1946, it renamed it the Milwaukee Ski Bowl so it would not be confused with the ski area at Snoqualmie Summit two miles away. Postwar additions included four rope tows and the Skiboggan, a lift that hauled skiers up the hill in a 32-person sled. On December 2, 1949, the lodge burned to the ground, leaving only the fireplace. The railroad finished the 1950 season out of rail cars parked on a new spur, then got out of the ski business for good.
The slope sat idle until 1959, when a new owner opened the Hyak ski area on the site. It now runs as Summit East, part of The Summit at Snoqualmie. The railroad's line over the pass, tunnel included, is now a trail in Iron Horse State Park.