Category: Historic Event

Wes Howell operates Reno Ski Bowl in 1958. In 1962 Wes takes over Reno Ski Bowl, now Slide Mountain, and installs the following lifts: Overland (with mid-station), Little Red (in Red Bowl Area), Poma Platter (Slide Bowl Beginner Lift), and Pony Lift (near Shangri-La). From this point on everyone can ride a chairlift, including beginners.

Jim and Margaret Luescher are principals in starting the Mt. Rose Development Company. They own the Sky Tavern property (often referred to as the “Mt. Rose Bowl” in the past) as well as the terrain on the North face of Slide Mountain where the Northwest Passage was already cut.

New Ski Area Opening Thanks to the snow, there’s a new ski area operating weekend. – Tannenbaum, between the Christmas Tree Restaurant and Rosemount Lodge, will put a 1,700-foot-long rope tow in operation, say owners Lew Ferguson and Jim Francis. Tannenbaum has its own parking.

 

Tannenbaum Ski Area Opens 06 Jan 1966, Thu Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Nevada) Newspapers.com

 

Tannenbaum Opens 24 Jan 1964, Fri Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Nevada) Newspapers.com

history of mt rose fritz buser

Fritz Buser becomes the owner of Mt. Rose Ski Area after acquiring the majority of shares in the company.

 

Fritz was born in the small farming village of Hemmiken in the northern part of Switzerland on April 29, 1921. He grew up with the daily hardships, surviving by milking cows and harvesting apples and potatoes. From these experiences his entrepreneurial spirit was ignited; at an early age, he sought to break away from his humble beginnings.

 

After the obligatory eight years of schooling, during which he spent all eight grades in a single classroom with the same teacher, Fritz pursued an apprenticeship with a bank in a nearby small city called Liestal. Still in his teens, on the eve of World War II, he began his first business venture – trading sardines. Some of the start-up capital for this venture came from the money he saved by riding a bicycle 20 miles every day instead of taking the train.

 

In his early twenties – at the end of World War II – Fritz decided it was time to think bigger…America. He secured agreements with various prominent Swiss manufacturers to represent their products as a salesman in the United States, including the ski boot company ‘Henke’ – the first company that produced buckled (vs laced) boots. He set up an office in New York City that he managed from Liestal, Switzerland where he continued to reside and raise a family. This endeavor, however, was not enough to satisfy his ambition. Fritz continued to expand his vision by starting a linen distribution company in Liestal called ‘Loyal’ which he later turned into the headquarters for all of his future business ventures. Eventually, he even acquired the principal ownership rights of the Henke boot company.

 

In the 1960s, he joined his childhood friend Ernst Rieder to form a very successful real-estate development company known as Himac. The two of them remained best friends for decades, conducted several trips across the United States, and supported each other’s business ventures.

Upper Ringer replaced with a Riblet (became Pioneer Chair). The Ringer lattice towers were still used.

From Press Release – Commencement exercises were held for the fastest growing winter snow sports on March 22-28, 1971 at Mt. Rose, Reno, Nevada. The Third World Skibob Championships with 11 nations represented showed skibobbing had truly graduated into a major competitive activity worthy of Olympic sanction.

The downhill event in particular was the greatest challenge ever in the world skibob competition. Although the course was short by previous standards—only a mile and a half—it made up for its length by steepness and a 500 ft. headwall so steep, that skiers would not venture down it. The one skier who did, an Austrian skibob coach on skis, the morning of the race ended up with a broken leg. But among the skibob competitors, there were no injuries and only four fell on the steep schuss. The Swiss team coach, predicting ten racers would be killed, refused to allow his racers to run the downhill.

At the bottom of this steep wall, skibobbers hit speeds of more than 70 m.p.h. Top individual honors went to Germany’s Josef Estner with the first place in both the giant slalom and downhill and the combined championship as number one in the world. However, the Austrians dominated most events and handily retained the team title “World Champions”.

FISB President Gfaeller commented that the Austrians had always complained about how easy every race course was in previous championships. “But they did not say that about the Mt. Rose downhill course.”

19 Mar 1971, Fri Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Nevada) Newspapers.com

Mt. Rose offered night skiing for the first time on what is now called Showoff near the main lodge.