Last year was one of the few times where you could have even staged the race.
I would have liked to have seen that go forward. And if you couldn’t run it from Fort Klamath, come up closer to the park where there was snow. I think it was a really good idea. I wished it would have happened, and I hope that someday that it does. I think it’s just excellent. It didn’t interfere with anybody. It’s kind of like the Mason thing. So they go over there and have their meeting and whatever. The Masons never interfered with anybody more than a snitch. The same thing with this ski-type racing. What a wonderful thing. It didn’t interfere with anybody the way it’s held now, and it wouldn’t have interfered with anybody if you had brought it up the old power line or some other way from Fort Klamath. Again, I think it would have been a wonderful thing and I hope some day it happens.
The Rim Run, of course, is a different thing (69). It’s a somewhat spectator sport. It is clearly against the Code of Federal Regulations. It does have a major impact on the visitor to Crater Lake. And so, it should not be there.
Did you attempt to modify that?
Oh yeah. I attempted to eliminate it. I really did, and lost. I lost on the political reasons. Again, I believe we lost it because people were not willing to stand there and say, “Yes, hey, this is part of the Code of Federal Regulations. It’s clearly against the policies of the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior, and it’s over.” And nobody was willing to do that. So I lost, I suppose [it’s not] the end of the world. But I begrudge that. I do. It should have been stopped. It’s one I should have won, but I guess I’d rather win the geothermal issue than the Rim Run.
There’s a little difference in scale.
Yes, a little difference in scale.
With the ski race, did local contacts, like say John Day and John Lund, have a lot to do with the friendly atmosphere with its being staged?
I don’t know John Lund (70). John Day, of course, was a wonderful man (71). He was. He was great. I feel privileged having known him. I feel good about that. The big thing is, of course, the park was involved with both the Rim Run and the ski race. But I think the larger thing is I think that everybody felt better about the ski race because it is consistent with the things that Crater Lake does and it doesn’t hurt anybody. The Rim Run, the park was very heavily involved in that, but I think people were a little more hostile or perhaps less supportive of it primarily because it is certainly against policy and against the Code of Federal Regulations.
