By Ron Brown
 
March 12, 2010
 
CRATER LAKE, Ore. - It's been more than 80 years since a group of ambitious ski pioneers strapped on the slats and launched a legendary ski race in the South Central Cascade Mountains.
 
The Crater Lake Wilderness Race began in 1927 as a grueling run from Fort Klamath uphill to the rim at Crater Lake and back, 21 miles each way.
 
"There's no groomed trail. Nobody had a machine that magically made these little tracks, or there's probably nobody that even went up and broke trail, so that here these guys are sharing the burden," Cross-country skier Niel Barrett said.
 
At first, it was just a one-way downhill race. However, in 1927 24 hardy skiers entered for a chance to win a first prize of $250. Any style, make or length of ski was fair, except no metal skis. The pine boards weighed about 15 pounds each and were some 8 or 9 feet long. Manfred Jacobson, described as a "sandy-haired logger from McCloud, California and Waldemar Nordquist, said to be a "powerful lumber piler" from Klamath Falls, battled it out.
 
"It's the love of the sport. For anybody that cross-country skis, you love getting out there and being able to push the envelope. For those guys about that time, they were definitely tough characters to be able to ski 21 miles there and back," Barrett said.
 
Jacobson won 21 minutes ahead of Nordquist, in 7 hours and 34 minutes. A second race in 1928 drew 16 entrants, but 12 dropped out. Jacobson also won the second race, this time in a little over six hours.
 
Then in 1929, another Swede, Emil Nordeen of Bend, won what was now called the Klamath Cup Race in a record 5 hours and 57 minutes. He was 43-years-old, the oldest person in the race. In 1930, Manfred Jacobson was back with a winning time of 7 hours and 40 minutes. Emil Nordeen was just 34 seconds behind after battling two feet of fresh snow.
 
"They did a 42-mile round trip. 21 miles breaking trail up to the rim; turn around and come back down. These people were very strong. They worked hard. And they were able to go up and play hard too," Cross-country skier John Bellon said.
 
In 1931 there were four entrants, but only two finished. Nordeen broke his old record with a time of 5 hours and 35 minutes, even though he almost didn't enter because he was recovering from an injury. It was his second win. An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 came to Fort Klamath to see the races.
 
In 1932 the race was shortened to 32 miles, but a new ski jump was added and buses brought spectators to the events. It became an annual snow carnival and ski tournament, Poor snowfall forced cancellation of the 1934 race.
 
After the 1935 event, ski club officials realized that maybe the race was too tough, and shortened it to just five miles. Several women also entered over the years, including Myrtle Copeland of Fort Klamath in 1927, who forgot her boots and skied in her house slippers. By 1938 the races dwindled to just one mile.