1984: Sandy Union High School graduate and Mount Hood racer Bill Johnson wins the first U.S. Olympic gold in the men’s downhill.
1986: Alan Pennington and John Smolich, climbers who helped save Silcox Hut, die in an avalanche on K2.
1986: Difficult search and rescue process leads to the development of the Mount Hood Mountain Locator Unit.
1987: Kirk Hanna, son of Oregon car wash king Daniel Hanna, buys SkiBowl out of bankruptcy.
1988: Snowboarding champ Craig Windell buys the run-down Shamrock Hotel on Highway 26 and starts Windell’s Camp, now billed as the ”funnest place on earth” and one of the world’s top training programs for hot young snowboarders and freeskiers.
1992: Jeff Kohnstamm takes leadership of RLK at Timberline.
2004: Dan Howitt climbs from Timberline to Summit in 1:57 with his dog Caddis in 2004.
2006: Matthew Drake takes over as president of Meadows.
2007: Timberline builds the Jefferson Flood chairlift.
2010: Freeski star Sammy Carlson lands the first triple rodeo at a jump built at Timberline.
2012: Meadows installs advanced rfid lift pass and tracking system.
2013: Ski Patrol celebrates its 75th anniversary.
May 1, 2014: Skier, philanthropist and Mount Hood legend Fred Noble dies after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Jan. 21, 2016: Olympic downhill gold medalist Bill Johnson dies in Gresham. Skibowl later changes the name of its classic Dogleg run to Bill’s Gold.
October 2018: Scientists discover significant fault lines on the north and south flanks of Mount Hood, capable of producing a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
Corrections? Suggestions?
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Sources:
The Oregonian
On Mount Hood, by Jon Bell
Mount Hood: A Complete History, by Jack Grauer
Timberline Lodge: A Love Story, edited by Jon Tullis
Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum
Last modified: June 15, 2013
