On Christmas Eve as I cruised across Otowi Bridge, I was excited to see the huge turnout for the Ice Rink’s Christmas Eve Skate. The main lot was packed, the overflow lot was packed. The rink was packed! What a beautiful night to skate!
In a past post, (you can check it out HERE) I discussed the development of a the Ranch School’s Douglas Pond into our beautiful ice rink. As I stated then, Los Alamos has the only outdoor ice rink in New Mexico. It is one of many “onlies” that happen here on the Pajarito Plateau. But as we gear up for the Los Alamos Ice Rink’s New Year’s Eve Party, I got to thinking about the long history of ice skating parties here in Los Alamos.
Los Alamos Loves Winter
There is absolutely no getting around this fact. Winter is an important part of our lives here in Los Alamos! We have a ski mountain so close that you can actually see skiers tooling down the mountain from certain places here in the townsite. Our ice rink is a constant gathering place full of parties and fun. We have access to snowshoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, skating, and sledding. You can get a permit to cut your very own Christmas Tree for ten bucks which involves a glorious amount of trekking through snow in an area barely thirty minutes from town. We exist in the shadow of a mountain range that has offered recreational activities to residents of Los Alamos since the ranch school opened sometime in 1917. And if you want to get really technical, it’s been going on longer than that!
This image of the Ranch School Boys playing hockey in their camp shorts is one of our local faves. I grew up looking at this image and always being so distracted by the fact that they’re wearing shorts, that I didn’t necessarily look at the big picture.
In John D. Wirth & Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book, Los Alamos, the Ranch School Years, they spend a lot of time discussing the reasons why families paid a crazy amount of cash to send their sons to school out west. The boys came out here to get strong and healthy.
Go outside and take a big, deep breath of air. It’s so difficult to even imagine what it might have been like to breathe the air in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, or even Chicago and St Louis in the 1900’s. Just getting to spend a few months in the clean climate at the Los Alamos Ranch School could make a significant impact on the physical health of these city kids. Add in the activities and parents probably wouldn’t even recognize their boys when they came home for break!
The image above is a Toboggan Slide built by the students and masters in 1919-1920. How cool would that be to have a Toboggan Slide on the lawn at Fuller Lodge? Think about it from an academic standpoint. Building something like that requires a lot of mathematics, engineering concepts, hands on woodworking, location of resources, acquisition of resources, and a heck of a lot of teamwork! Then you follow it up with the enjoyment of actually using the slide. What an incredible educational perk!
The school eventually owned more than 780 acres. However, the big draw of the ranch school was the additional acreage and activity opportunities offered by land contracts with the Forest Service. In order to expand their opportunities, Ranch School operations made agreements to obtain leases on quite a lot of forest land.
These land areas came complete with several tumbledown cabins that were renovated thanks to donations from some of the ranch school families. This winter scene is at a place the Ranch School called Camp May. Sound familiar? This was a crazy popular place for the boys to use as a base camp to go snowshoeing, skiing, and sledding in the winter. I think it’s pretty darned amazing that it’s providing the same services today!
At the end of it all, the boys of the Ranch School loved parties. In the winter, skating and hockey parties were as intensely popular back then as they are now. So if you’re ready to tie on some skates, hit the Los Alamos Ice Rink on New Year’s Eve!
The County is pulling out all the stops for this event! There will be a mini carnival, hot cider, popcorn, and music. There’s even a ball drop at midnight to celebrate the new year!
Festivities begin at 8:00PM and end at 1:00AM. General Admission applies and rental skates are available. Get dressed for the occasion and enjoy a night on the “new” Douglas Pond! And when you’re ready to call this wonderful community your own, give me a call! I’d love to talk Los Alamos Real Estate with you!
Kendra I really enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!
Thank you ! History of Los Alamos is so important . Love this story .