122 FOREST OUTINGS 



surveys, and in other administrative duties ever since the Forest Service was 

 organized. 



And so when the boom in winter sports began, forest officers in general 

 gladly welcomed returning winter visitors. Here was something a man could 

 put his heart into more completely than meeting the often querulous com- 

 plaint of picnickers as to firewood. These youngsters strode forth as if they 

 owned the earth; they were hard and woodsworthy, most of them. They 

 asked no odds and uttered no complaints. Here were men, and adventurers. 

 And it surely livened things up there on the mountain in the wintertime to 

 have them coming in. 



Each week end when snow conditions favored, more people came. 

 Interest increased. Winter carnivals became popular. These stimulated local 

 business and encouraged more people to turn out. Soon many came who 

 lived outside the snow belt. Skiing (cross country, downhill, slalom, and 

 jumping), ice hockey, tobogganing, snowshoeing, and various combinations 

 of ice and snow sports were taking thousands up mountains that hitherto 

 were all but forsaken in winter, by the beginning of the present decade. 



The innkeepers rejoiced. Resorts, always handicapped by the brevity of 

 the summer season in mountainous and northern locations, began no longer 

 to stand idle all the long months of winter as property depreciation mounted 

 and taxes continued. Heating systems were enlarged, winter quarters were 

 remodeled, the lone winter guard was replaced by a score of employees, 

 and many a new resort especially designed and operated for winter vaca- 

 tionists was built in areas favored by a long snow season. 



Throughout the country now the approach of cold weather brings to 

 thousands a lift of the heart, a stir of the energies, more generally associated 

 with the coming of spring. Outdoor clubs look to the condition of their ski 

 jumps or install ski tows. Resorts, department stores, railroads, and winter- 

 sports shows begin building up an early season interest. The young army of 

 enthusiasts overhaul their equipment and prepare themselves. Many who 

 were spectators at a winter carnival or on some sports area the year before 

 enroll in preseason schools and are instructed on so-called dry courses. 

 Great arguments as to equipment, techniques, and the proper kind of ski 

 wax arise. 



