Flathead ski museum and hall of fame in the works

Dressed in wool pants, knit sweaters and leather boots, ski pioneers Lloyd "Mully" Muldown and Ole Dalen first climbed and skied off the summit of "The Big Mountain" in the winter of 1934.

Unbeknownst to them, the tracks they left in the deep snow that day would carve the way for generations of skiing fun in the valley.

The Hell-Roaring Ski Club was formed in 1937, and a decade later The Big Mountain ski area officially opened.

Tim Hinderman, whose father Karl opened the first ski school on Big Mountain in 1947, says it’s critical the story of how alpine skiing came to the valley be preserved and told to future generations.

“It was a different time and a different world, but it was the beginning of skiing in valley,” said Hinderman, vice president of the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation. “The story needs to be told in a public way.”

The FVSEF will take a big step in preserving and promoting that history by developing the Flathead Valley Skiing Heritage Center at the Saddle Club on Wisconsin Avenue. Last week, city council unanimously approved a five-year lease with the foundation for the city-owned building.

Holding a set of original wooden skis, Dick Solberg told city council about the importance of the valley’s ski history. His wife, Jane, was the first person to ride the lift when Big Mountain opened in 1947.

“There’s an old expression, ‘For those who forget history are bound to repeat it.’

“Well, those who forget Big Mountain,” he said, choking up with emotion, “aint squat.”

The heritage center will include a museum and hall of fame, and will serve as a gathering place for locals and visitors to learn about skiing in the region.

“People have been talking about a ski museum in Whitefish for as long as I can remember” Hinderman said. “I remember my folks talking about it.”

About a year ago, the ski foundation board decided to formally move forward with the idea.

“The board started discussions about trying to honor past members with a ski team hall of fame,” Hinderman explained. “That was the seed for the idea and it evolved from there.”

The museum will feature key pieces of memorabilia — old photos, 8mm films, original ski gear — and will tell the story of how Big Mountain came to be Whitefish Mountain Resort.

“We don’t want to lose the culture and story of what happened,” Hinderman said.

The museum, he said, will mean a lot to the surviving pioneers who remember the days before the mountain had lifts.

“The center will create a tie between those who created the mountain and the story of where it all came from, and to the future kids who will be pioneers themselves,” Hinderman said.

The Saddle Club building will serve as a base of operations for FVSEF and for the Whitefish Mountain Resort Race Team. The existing log building will also be used as the “incubator” for the heritage center that will ultimately be housed in a new building adjacent to the existing log structure.

FVSEF will take over the Saddle Club on Sept. 1 and immediately begin renovations.

People with Flathead Valley ski history memorabilia are encouraged to go online at www.fvsef.org to learn more about the museum. Volunteers will be need to help sort and categorized the material as the project takes shape.

Financial donations to fund the center are also being accepted online.

“There is a long and storied history of skiing in the Flathead Valley and this is a great way for that story to be told - it’s great that FVSEF can be the one to lead the charge.” said FVSEF president and city councilman Bill Kahle.