Before helicopters, skiers fashioned rope tows and used a highway switchback across the Canada border to get their turns, long-time residents recounted at a recent membership meeting of the Haines Ski and Hike Club.
Bruce Gilbert, who came to Haines in 1965, said he was surprised that skiing wasn’t common here. “We didn’t understand how people lived here with winter for six months without enjoying the snow.”
Gilbert and others organized a ski club that…
