Beaver Mountain Oral History Project collection, 2022

Beaver Mountain is a small, local ski area located in Logan Canyon, Utah. Established in 1939 by the Mt. Logan Ski Club, Beaver Mountain was purchased by Harold and Luella Seeholzer in 1945. It remains owned and personally run by members of the Seeholzer family, and today is apocryphally known as being the longest continuously owned family ski resort in the country. Generations of families in Cache Valley have grown up skiing at Beaver Mountain; it is an important and beloved community asset.

Utah has long played an important role in the history of recreational alpine skiing in the west. The majority of existing research on skiing in Utah, however, is from an economic or environmental perspective, while historical studies largely focus on more well-known resorts along the Wasatch Front. This project expands understanding of Utah ski history and ski culture by focusing on a smaller, local resort and its importance to the local community. It does so by documenting the voices, perspectives, and oral histories of friends, employees, volunteer ski patrol, and users of Beaver Mountain ski area, offering multiple perspectives on this local resort and on local ski culture.