Ski the Great Potato: Idaho Ski Areas Past and Present

You'll find the histories of the 21 current Idaho ski areas and of the 72 historical or lost areas in this interesting new book. The book gives the basic facts about each area and how it started, and it includes little stories of some of the people who skied at each one. There are stories of stolen snow plows, an exploding stove, and a young woman who on a very cold night froze to the seat of a porta-pottie.

While researching the microfilms of Idaho newspapers, we found many hidden and forgotten stories of ski area startups in the weekly papers. It was almost always a community deal: meet in the basement of the drugstore on Tuesday night; we are forming a ski club, says the paper. A rancher, farmer, or mechanic promises to donate an engine for the rope tow. No rope for the tow? No problem, we'll hold a box lunch social, or sell ski club memberships that include free skiing. No land for a tow?

In April 2014, Ski the Great Potato won a Skade Award from the International Skiing History Association for the best books on ski history published in 2013. In Skiing History magazine, reviewer Tom West wrote, Ski the Great Potato opens with a fascinating account of the Eastport-Kingsgate ski jump that was located right on the Idaho-British Columbia border. The jump opened in 1928 and had an in-run in the United States, with the jumpers landing in Canada.