Walter Little

by Dave Claar

Walter B. Little was born in Tacoma, WA on April 29,1909 and died in Seattle, WA on February 28, 2002, at the age of 92. Walt was educated at Stanford University, graduating in 1932 with a BS in Civil Engineering. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, entering the service in 1942 as a 1° Lt and left the Army in 1946 as a Major.

Walt joined the Mountaineers in 1937. His first documented trip to Meany Lodge was during the New Years week of 1936-37. He quickly realized that this was a place where he could be involved with a group of people who shared the same passion - skiing. His talents as an engineer would prove to be of great value to this lodge and to other lodges in the future.

Many of the projects for improvement at Meany have Walt’s hand on them. Pictures show him and many others hand clearing “The Lane” so that skiing would be better the next year. He designed and helped to build the first rope tow system for the lodge which made skiing so much less work and a lot more enjoyable. This rope tow system would be the model for the original rope tows at Crystal Mountain. He was also the construction foreman for the 1938 addition to the front of the main lodge.

During all the time that Walt spent at Meany he was also active in other skiing adventures both in and outside the club. He spent several winters skiing at Mt Rainier where you could use the cabins at Paradise - that is assuming you could find them. Each weekend you skied up to Paradise from Longmire and then tried to find your cabin. You first tried to locate the bamboo pole you left in the snow the previous week and then you dug down to the trap door and then climbed down to your cabin - sometimes as deep as thirty feet. You reversed the process by adding more ladder, then the trap door and then the bamboo pole so you could find it next weekend. The big event then was the Silver Skis Cup race from Paradise to Longmire.

Walt chaired the planning committee to build the Stevens Lodge in 1939. During the actual building of Stevens in 1947 he was the temporary cabin chair. He continued to be active at Meany during this time and he organized the last “Patrol Race” in 1941. This race of three people was from Snoqualmie Lodge to Meany Lodge. The winning team was determined by the time of the slowest team member and the entire team had to finish within 5 minutes of each other.

In 1941, Walt, as chairman of the ski committec, he was the architect of the club’s first ski mountaineering course, largely writing the course handbook himself. The course included overnight camping on snow, roped skiing practice, and extended tours involving snow camping and glacier skiing. 100 people registered that first ycar and in spite of the war, which began about midway through the course, 31 people took the final exam and eight fulfilled the stiff requirements for graduation. Walt was one of them. That may have been the first ski mountaincering course in North America and it was almost certainly the first to teach glacier skiing. Walt’s 1941 Mountaineer Annual article, “Mountaineering on Skis” is a classic, describing Northwest ski Mountaineering history and offering the rationale for the new course.

Walt helped move ski mountaineering in the Northwest from a sport of mostly self-taught individuals to one with a systematic foundation. Walt was more a teacher than a pioneer, but during the war, he made the earliest recorded ski trip into the Enchantment Lakes. His 1943 Mountaineer Annual Article, “Snow and Skis in the Stuart Range’, includes the first published photo of Prussik Peak. This picture inspired rock climbers like Fred Beckey to explore the Cashmere Crags and the Enchantments after the war.

In 1947, with Charles Cehrs and other Mountaineers, Walt made the first recorded ski ascent of Whitehorse Mountain. After retiring from Federal Service, Walt worked for the John Graham Architectural Engineering firm. Among the projects that are noteworthy were his work on the Mud Mountain Dam on the Green River and the design and feasibility work for the Space Needle for the 1962 World’s Fair. Walt also taught engineering at The University of Washington. He took great pride in the fact that he was given those students who were struggling in their engineering courses and that most of them were able to graduate under his tutelage.

Most downhill skiers have never heard of Walt, but they owe a lot to his efforts. Beginning in the mid 1950’s, Walt was one of a small group of skiers who investigated the feasibility of the Crystal Mountain Ski area. Walt did the snow surveys on skis into the ski area basin several times a winter, for many years in a row. He was the lead engineer developing the chairlifts that opened in autumn of 1962. Walt’s reputation as a consultant in the ski industry grew and he was asked by Wenatchee skiers to consult on the proposed Mission Ridge ski area in the early 1960’s. Around this time he also consulted on a ski area proposed for the Seven Lakes Basin in the Olympics. In the 1970’s he was also involved with the area in California that became known as Alpine Meadows.

In addition to Walt’s activities in the Mountaineers he was very active in the sailing communities - one had to find something to do when there was no skiing available. Walt was a life member of the Seattle Yacht Club. It was with the SYC that he became involved with yacht racing. Walt never owned a boat of his own but was a good sailor and he crewed on numerous winning boats throughout the years -“Lady Van”, “Maruffa” and “Meridian” in addition to others.

It was in sailing and racing that Walt earned the title of “Mr. PHRF-NW”. In 1966, he perceived that the rating system for handicapping racing boats was not meeting the needs of the Northwest sailors. After consulting with others, in 1966 he brought what was to become the Pacific Handicap Rating Fleet system to the Northwest. He along with friends at the SYC put the system into place and Walt became the Chief Handicapper. The system grew as more skippers and yacht clubs accepted the system and by 1986 when he stepped down as chief handicapper there were over 2000 boats sailing with PHRF-NW ratings. Other rating systems used in the United States have fallen by the wayside but “Walt’s Baby” continues to be used to this day. He developed the documentation we know today as the Handicapper’s Manual, including Table IlI. In addition to PHRF-NW, Walt’s contributions to sailing include writing most of what we know today as the PIY A Category Requirements.

In time, Walt became less active in sailing and devoted more of his life to skiing. He became the historian for Meany Lodge as he documented all the work parties and significant events. During the last twenty years of his life he made many trips to Europe and to areas in the United States with the Ancient Skiers and other groups. He would disappear for weeks on end and you would know where he was by the postcards he sent home. Walt, as a skier, had the distinction of being the oldest season pass holder at both Crystal Mountain and at Whistler, BC both of which were free to him. At Crystal because he was a founding member and at Whistler because of his age and the fact that he had skied there every year it was open starting in the 1965.

Walt’s last few years at Meany were spent as the “Senior Brush Cutter”. His passion was to ensure that the brush was always cut so the lodge could ski on “6” of packed snow. He made sure that every one took a break at the end of the day by providing “Spring Water” to enjoy after a hard day of work.

Walt was directly involved with the proposed chairlift project for the lodge. He had reviewed the proposed installation and had given it a thumbs up. The Meany committee would like to honor Walt’s long time commitment to the lodge and to Northwest skiing in general buy building a chairlift and naming it after Walt. Donations to this project may be made in the form of pledges to be collected later OR money may be sent directly to the Mountaineers at 300 Third Ave West, Seattle WA 98119. If you choose to send money now please indicate that the money is to be placed in Meany Lodge Property Development Fund. Pledges should be mailed to Dave Claar at 5100 NE 54th, Seattle WA 98105. They also may be e-mailed to MrBunz11@aol.com. All pledges will be collected over a three-year period and will be kept confidential.

A celebration to honor Walt’s long-term commitment to the Northwest skiing and sailing will be held at the Mountaineers clubroom in Seattle on May 19 at 4 PM. All are welcome. Refreshments will be served. Bring all your stories and any pictures you have of Walt to share with others.