History - Looking Back for September 20, 2023
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
September 20, 1973
According to The Big Mountain resort’s general manager, Ed Schenck, “Current events and the so called ‘squeeze’ have made it necessary for the company’s board of directors to increase our ski lift prices slightly for the 1973-74 skiing year, just to keep apace the rising costs of merely staying in business.” Schneck continued, “However, to try and compensate for the loyalty of local skiers, we’ve come up with a special discount offer for those families and individuals who will wish individual or family plan season passes, as starting now and through Nov. 4 only, we’re offering a 5% discount on all individual and family plan season passes.”
40 Years Ago
September 22, 1983
A small neighborhood shopping center might have been built on Wisconsin Avenue, just north of The Place and Alpine Village Market. John Kramer of Whitefish announced preliminary plans for a 20,000 square foot, two-story building housing eight or 10 small businesses. Kramer, who built the nearby Alpine Village Market and Laundry, and the Mountain Mini-Storage, said he planned on the small center “to service the local neighborhood and also summer and winter visitors.” Bud Boerner, who owns the Alpine Laundry, was a partner in the project with Kramer.
30 Years Ago
September 23, 1993
The Whitefish City Council voted to write a letter to the Forest Service to support The Big Mountain’s own recommended alternative for expansion of the ski area north of Whitefish. The modified Alternative D, which The Big Mountain supported, would allow building two new lifts, a T-bar and 16 runs in the Big Creek drainage on the back side of the mountain and a half dozen more runs and a T-bar in the Hellroaring Basin. Winter Sports Inc. President Mike Collins explained the modified Alternative D would allow no road cutting into Hellroaring Basin and would delay the building of a third new lift on the backside of the mountain.
20 Years Ago
September 18, 2003
The Whitefish City Council toured a property that would provide a vital ink for a long-awaited bike path and authorized a purchase. The Drynan property appraised at $300,000 abuts the Whitefish River in several places and is located at the east end of Birch Point Drive. Plans included retraining the lower riverside portion, which has been appraised at $7,500, to secure the beachhead needed for construction of the west side of the bicycle and pedestrian path.
10 Years Ago
September 18, 2013
Traci Stolte and Glenna Bergland were the two baddest mothers around. The mothers of three and two children, respectively, left no doubt after their jaw-dropping performance at the Endeavor Team Challenge in Bear Valley, California. The two-person, 30-hour race covers more than 40 miles of mountainous terrain, with obstacle courses and physical and mental challenges along the way. The race motto says it all - “Not for the weak or fainthearted.” Of the 48 teams crazy enough to sign up, Bergland and Stolte were the only women in the field.