Snow Bowl access road - Flagstaff AZ
Description
The New Deal helped construct the 9-mile road from Fort Valley Road (Highway 180) to the Arizona Snow Bowl ski area on Mt. Agassiz in the San Francisco Peaks, northwest of Flagstaff AZ.
In the winter of 1938, the 20-30 Club, a Flagstaff service group, held a “snow carnival” on the southwest slope of Mt. Agassiz. It was so successful that the group ran a contest to choose a name for the area, and “Arizona Snow Bowl” was selected.
The Coconino National Forest managers saw the opportunity to help advance the ski resort and offered to build a better access road up the mountain from Leroux Springs.
In 1939-40, Ed Groesbeck, assistant supervisor of Coconino Forest, directed work crews of 100 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees in building the nine miles of cinder-surfaced road, as well as a log cabin shelter on the mountain.
Arizona Snow Bowl is still the premier ski area for the state. The access road has been paved and improved over the years, but still follows the original CCC route, as far as we know.
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Snow Bowl sign on Highway 180 - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl access road - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl access road - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl access road - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl ski area sign along access road - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl entrance signs on access road - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl and Mt. Agassiz - Flagstaff AZ
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Snow Bowl and Mt. Agassiz - Flagstaff AZ
Source notes
Platt Cline, Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century. Flagstaff AZ: Northland Publishing Company, 1994, p. 320.
Project originally submitted by Richard Walker on April 24, 2022.
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