Meany Names

From the file names on the old Meany web site.

by Brian Thompson and Emilio Marasco

Ferguson’s Pond

Named to commemorate Stu Ferguson who fell into the pond while skiing (in the 1960s?)

Railroad Creek

An “official” name, presumably honoring the Northern Pacific’s route through the Stampede Tunnel. Sometimes shown on maps as Tunnel Creek and on others as Stampede Creek.

Psychopath

A play on words referring both to the single-track width of the get-back and the extreme steepness of the terrain it traverses. (Named for its twisted character).

Karen’s Corridor

The steepest place in the whole area. Karen Bergman didn’t ski it much but went across below on psychopath and always seemed to get in trouble.

Railroad Curve

Parallels the curve of the railroad track coming out of the tunnel below.

Cat Track

The committee wanted help to keep the trails better so they got the Pack Rat and built a road and called it the Rat Track. Over time it changed to the Cat Track.

Railroad Meadows

From the top of the lane on the left there is a long gentle run from which you can see the trains go in and out of the depot.

The main run down beside the tow (a classic example of Meany understatement.) Very early on the lane was thick with trees. A retired doctor hired loggers to clear the lane but they did a bad job and left big stumps and logs. The Lodge Committee worked really hard for many years getting rid of the stumps, but The Lane was named by the doctor.

Soffreenia Woods

A play on words (so-free-in-the-woods).

Iggle’s Nest

There was a creature in Al Capps L’il Abner cartoon strip that had one foot, a blue head and no body. It only grow in the country of Lower Slobbovia. The Lower Slobbovians were like Meany people - they wore ratty clothes and lived in snow holes. Ferguson used the Iggles Nest for a jump takeoff and got 40-50 ft of air.

North Slobbovia

From Li’l Abner. Now usually just called “North”

Ape Swing

Above Kirkland Park there was a tree with a line hanging from it. People would ski down and swing on the rope to see how far out they could go.

Kirkland Park

The area just above the Tow Hut (to the left of the tow looking uphill) that gets groomed. Named after Bill Kirkland. He cleared the area of stumps with large quantities of explosive. He did not make it back from WW II.

Harvey’s Slot

Harvey Mahalko was a lodge Chair. Harvey’s Slot is part of railroad meadows. Harvey opened up a slot when he went crazy with a saw and cleared a run. That’s why it is named after him.

Jacob’s Ladder

the power company wanted to cross the property and Meany agreed. Jacobs’s ladder came from the Bible, if you go to the top you go to heaven real quick.

South Slobbovia

From Li’l Abner. In the cartoon strip Slobbovia was kind of a satire on Siberia. To get to South you have to make a long traverse and you end up a long ways away from anywhere, kind of like in Siberia.

Henrietta’s Meadow

Named after one of the Li’l Abner Characters.

Walter’s Woods

Named for Walt Little, organizer of the first Ski Mountaineering course for The Mountaineers. It originally had no hair like Walt, Walt didn’t think it was funny.

Al’s Fringe

Al Allmen was active until the 1980s. Al’s Fringe was the get-back from Walt’s Woods and Henriettas’. Al wanted this to be a cross country trail. It used to have sheets of yellow metal so you knew were it was.

Junior Trail

From the Lodge to the Tow Hut without climbing, it was all cut by juniors.

Kitchen Run

Originally it was called the down hill course but later renamed because it came out at the kitchen.

Meany Woods

Meany woods was where the woods started at the top of a burn and races started there, went straight down, hit Lower Slobbovia and traversed over to railroad curve and then kitchen run.

Bullmoose Ridge

From Li’l Abner (‘What’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA’.)

Telephone Cabin

The lodging for the tenders of the first transcontinental telephone line.

Cat House

here the guys hang out.

The Zoo

Here the cats hang out.

Mach Tow

If you had a rope tow that ran twice the speed of sound what would you call it?

Worm Tow

The intermediate tow. It is faster than a slug but definitely not Mach speed. if worms don’t have feet how can they have tows?

Turtle Tow

The baby tow - about the speed of a turtle and only a little longer than one. Use to be known as the Slug tow.

Big Tree

At the top of South Slobbovia they left a tree. This is one of the few things at Meany with a logical name.

Coatrack

A landmark that once had branches.

Yellow Rock

It might be yellow rock before you chuck yourself off it, but it will be brown rock afterwards.

Third Peoples dorm

Couples, family sleeping area (top of the lodge)

Pack-Rat

A vintage Thiokol Sprite used for hauling children and other baggage.

The Mouse

A vintage snowmobile with a busted fairing used for late night trips to Trollhaugen.

Tombstone Canyon

Named after Roger Colvi. He decided to go straight down but ran into sticky snow. His tips went in and he took a face plant and only his skis could be seen. He was digging his own grave, hence the name. His ski is still on the wall in the lodge.

Phogbound Gulch

After the loggers were done they left one tree which was 20 ft tall and it had needles on only one side. The lodge chairman and others on the committee proposed declaring it the Lower Slobbovian National Park. Billing himself as Senator Jack S. Phogbound, the chairman held a mock hearing in the main Meany lodge on the matter. (The Phogbound character comes from L’il Abner. The hearing may have been held as a comment on the North Cascades debate.)

Richard’s Ravine

Richard’s is named after Richard Swenson who still is alive and plays accordion at dances. His photo is on the wall at Meany in several locations.

Damnation Run

Art Nation thought it would be good skiing so they cleared out the brush and put in a trail to the spring that was the water supply for the Lodge. You could only call it Dam Nation because he was the one responsible for all the work it took and because it went to the dam.

Oedipus Rex

A run from the railroad track down to the road.

Helser’s Ess

Named after Lee Helser. At that time, the trip was made from the top of the Lane to the bottom through the woods with just the three turns and no checks or side slipping. Lee had a great deal of trouble making this with out landing on his Ass. However, Ass is not appropriate family language so it was shortened to S to reflect the twisted character of the run.

Ice Fall

The bank that had to be climbed down and back up when crossing the railroad tracks. After the trains ceased stopping at Martin in the 1960s, access to the Lodge was by snow cat. The cat stopped below the tracks and people hiked (with gear and food) the final half-mile to the Lodge. This trip required a tricky crossing of the plowed tracks with their high berms.

Martin

The station at the eastern portal of the Stampede Tunnel. This was where people originally got on and off the train at Meany. It also was where signal crews and other railroad people were housed.

9-G pullout

Also known as the ‘Hot Tub Run’ for its steepness and for the hole at the bottom.