photo of Patti Polinsky

Patti Polinsky

Names

Events

Roles

Known For

History

1977

A highlight of the season was the Carnival weekend, which featured a “European Feast” complete with bratwurst, German hot potato salad, European pastries and homemade pretzels, in addition to the skiing events-all masterminded by Patti Polinsky. That was the weekend which saw record crowds. ma77

1978

50th Birthday Party: Patti Polinsky took charge of the elaborate, perfectly-prepared, and very efficiently served salmon dinner. ma78

A highlight of the ski season was the carnival weekend which featured many corny contests and crazy races, a clowns contest, and a “European Feast” complete with German hot potato salad and homemade European pastries, pretzels, and breadsticks. Many fancy relish trays with elaborate flowered vegetable “nibblies” and apple swans served from an outdoor snow table is an example of how embellished and painstaking the carnival events were. This fantastic weekend was masterminded by Patti Polinsky. ma78

1979

The Annual Spring Carnival was again a superb event as masterminded by Patti Polinsky. In addition to skiing events there were corny contests and crazy races, a clowns contest, and a “European Feast” complete with German hot potato salad and homemade European pastries, pretzels, and breadsticks. ma79

1982

Record crowds were drawn to Meany Ski Hut this season by plentiful snow, fantastic skiing, terrific ski lessons with capacity classes taught by Patti Polinsky, Dave Claar and Kim Nelson. ma82

late 90s

Norm Vigus begins instructing at Meany. “Patti was definitely a bonus in my early instruction efforts and I’ve enjoyed the relationship ever since. I hope I can last as long as she does instructing at Meany.”

2003

Innovative Programs are found at Meany Lodge75th

2020

I’m a ski INSTRUCTOR because of Patti. Because Patti encouraged me to take responsibility for the pre-and-early teens, the mostly mindless adolescent boys after they graduated from her class, to actually imagine that I might have something to give them. And then later, to connect me with the Olympic Ski School for my first experience with a “standard” ski program, and then with Ski Masters so I could get my Level 1 certification, and then with the bigger world of PSIA-NW that eventually lead me to the Summit Snowsport School, and that’s how I became a ski instructor. And by becoming an instructor, I became a skier, instead of the wannabe who could somehow get down the steep stuff without crashing and burning – too much. Because the best way to learn is to teach. Which I learned from Patti. – Dan Nord

This is Patti Polinsky. I started going to Meany in the late 60s, probably 68 or 69. At that point there was a cat that came out and picked me up on my first trip in. It was an interesting trip because they picked you up right at the top of the overpass. I had been dropped off there at 3 in the afternoon so I stood there until 5:30 wondering if anyone was going to come out.

On the way in, a tree fell down where the hill starts up by the old campground. Two fellows, Doug Damm and John Rice who had been riding in the cat with Tom, jumped out and grabbed an ax from underneath the cat, chopped the tree in half, picked the tree up, moved it out of the way. The Tomcat continued up the hill, they climbed in, never said a word about what they had just done, they continued their same conversation.

Later I started running one day weekend seminars. One weekend would be for intermediates, one weekend would be for fast, another weekend for beginners. I did all the teaching myself because I was an instructor certified by Fiorini ski school at the summit.

To get [to Meany], I’d get dropped off by another instructor. I would walk in carrying my skis, my boots on my feet, my sleeping bag because we were never allowed to leave anything in the lodge over a weekend. So everything went in every weekend and it came back out, even if you were going to the lodge every single weekend.

We did not have railroad curve to go up and walk along the railroad tracks, we went to Rex Edifice where the Tomcat was left and you had to climb up through the Ice Fall and across the railroad tracks and then up along the little valley, maybe there was a stream in there, up to the Lodge. You can kind of see where it was but most of the brush has covered it up now.

Then I changed to having some help in teaching. I think Dave may have been my first helper, and Bill Nichols and Glen Polinsky (nephew).v20