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MARA: hot time in the cold Ski racing group has rich past By GREG STILES Its roots are as deep as the February snow. Its legacy reaches as far as you can see from atop Mount Ashland on a clear summer morning. Yet the Mount Ashland Racing Association nearly went the way of the spring melt until a flurry of community support brought it back nearly a decade ago. Today, MARA boasts one of the nation's largest junior ski programs. Its Mightymite program, for youngsters 6 to 12, counts roughly 100 members. The surprising part might be that the MARA board of directors was so busy building on a good thing that it really hadn't noticed. "In talking with people around the country, when I mentioned that we had 100 Mightymites, they found it unbelievable," says Steve Chamberlain, a board member who was a MARA racer in the 1960s. MARA's golden era stretched from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. During that period, eight MARA skiers either raced in national competition or earned spots on U.S. ski teams. Up until skiing began on Mount Ashland in the early 1960s, Rogue Valley skiers didn't have a lot of choices without spending the night away from home: The Rogue Snowmen set up a rope tow at Crater Lake in the 1950s. The mechanism was later moved to Mount Ashland and became the resort's first rope tow. Tomahawk ski area on Brown Mountain was a few miles east of Lake of the Woods and south of Pelican Butte on a hillside that overlooked the Klamath Basin. Many Rogue Valley residents learned to ski at Tomahawk, which fell by the wayside as Mount Ashland gained stature and drought reduced Tomahawk's snow. Mount Shasta had a Northern California monopoly for some time, but a series of avalanches knocked Shasta off the ski map for more than a decade. Back in 1963, access to Mount Ashland was via Tolman Road. "It was one-way traffic going up until 1 p.m.," say Dave Keiser, MARA's first president. "And one way going down after 1 p.m." Junior skiing was a weekend thing when Mount Ashland first opened. A teenager could travel to Crystal Mountain in Washington or McCall, Idaho, on a Friday and be back to school Monday. Like everything else in the late 1960s, however, the skiscape changed. "Things got more intense" in the Pacific Northwest Ski Association, says Keiser. "Kids who wanted to excel started going to ski academies, where they could ski and get coaching every day. We had trouble getting (students) out of school, because skiing wasn't a recognized activity." MARA, however, was becoming more recognizable and entering its heyday. A bad break for a couple French ski team members proved a big break for MARA. Rogue Valley resident and MARA ski school director Buck Martin met many of the French team members when he attended the French National Ski School in the mid-1960s. Two French junior champs -- Jean Paul Belmait and Roland Gay -- along with George Colombpattom lent their expertise. "The French were at the top of the heap at the time," Keiser recalls. Led by legendary Jean Claude Killy, the French allowed just one ski to skim the surface at a time instead of keeping both on the snow as others did. It was sort of what the Fosbury Flop was to the Western Roll for high jumpers. Roland Gay taught the strategy to Mark Keiser and Steve Chamberlain, and it wasn't long before both were among the best juniors in the Northwest. Chamberlain represented the PNSA in the junior national championships in 1970. The following winter, Chamberlain was on the CAN-AM race circuit. Mark Keiser who won the PNSA downhill championship and Northwest Cup, based on season-long performance, was 10th in the downhill and combined standings at the junior nationals. Throughout the 1970s, MARA spawned outstanding racers. It even played host to two of America's best-known skiers, Steve and Phil Mahre, when the PNSA's junior national qualifying competition was staged at Mount Ashland. The event featured two days of slalom racing on Winter Run. "Our biggest worry was that the course had to be at least 35 seconds long," Keiser says. "Phil won the first day just over 35 seconds and Steve won the next day." By the mid-1980s, however, the MARA's string of standouts had run its course. An economic downturn, poor snow years and the mountain's own financial viability were reflected by MARA's diminished performance. Scarcely more than two dozen juniors were racing when Greg and Valri Williams enrolled their 6-year-old son in 1989. Soon, Greg Williams was in a leadership role with MARA and helping with the campaign to turn the ski area over to community ownership. The MARA board that had met three times a year began meeting monthly. An after-school program was launched, bringing scores of kids to the mountain. In four years, MARA grew to an enrollment of 150. "Like a lot organizations, there has been an ebb and flow," Williams says. "In the late 80s it was dwindling. By 1994 there was so much more positive energy. I feel honored to be one of those people that were a part of that." The emphasis in recent years has been on Mightymites, skiers 12 and younger. Under coach Tim Ferguson's eight-year leadership MARA thrived. Ferguson expanded MARA's skill base and ignited its competitive spirt. "I wanted to make it strong and productive and give the kids a sport for their lifetime," Ferguson says. His staff grew from six to 16 last year and participation grew from 28 to 130. Snowboarding and freestyle skiing were added to the program. Feguson left the program to concentrate on his masonry business after last season. The coaching torch has passed to Tony Nunnikhoven, who hopes to build on the competitive base. "The program I was handed is awesome and obviously well built," Nunnikhoven says. "I'm trying hard not to change what MARA has been in the past." Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,