Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 1.28.15

1W6 | JANUARY 28, 2015
HITEFISH – In the dank and dusty rafters of the Bierstube, lingering high above the tart vapor of beer, snowmelt and skier-sweat, lives the endur- ing legacy of an iconic ski bar
whose heritage and singular cachet has come to define the Big Mountain.
As Big Mountain’s inaugural watering hole, the Bierstube, or simply the ‘Stube as it’s affectionately known, has survived fire and financial straits, schuss- ing skiers and keg-sucking contests, marathon drink- ing bouts, upside-down beer-chugging races, and the raucous quake of thousands of dancing ski boots.
Its beer-begrimed, boot-battered floors have host- ed untold leg-wrestling matches, and the rough-hewn timber beams and walls remain festooned with a hodgepodge of historic ski posters, antique signs, sepia- toned photographs, crudely carved names and initials, and scores of other assorted artifacts and curios, the timeless refuse of the bar’s rich and colorful history.
On a recent Wednesday night, the weekly Frabert awards were in full swing, carrying on a ski patrol tra- dition older than the ‘Stube building itself and honor- ing the “clod of the week” by bestowing one lucky recip- ient with a three-foot tall stuffed monkey and a stein of beer for the chugging. Outside the bar, a thin waxing crescent moon hung above the pitched, snow-blanket- ed roof, its lit sign offering a lambent supplication to the snow deities – “More Powder Please,” read its glow- ing appeal.
But new developments and plans for expanding Whitefish Mountain Resort’s holdings have cast a shadow of uncertainty on the future of the ‘Stube, and as nascent plans to build a hotel at the bar’s current lo- cation in the ski area’s Village emerge, neither the Bier- stube’s owner nor the managers of Whitefish Mountain Resort can predict its providence, even as they pledge to preserve the Bierstube in some capacity.
According to Riley Polumbus, spokesperson for Whitefish Mountain Resort, which owns the Bierstube building, the land beneath it and even the name on the sign, the company recently pursued a bid on what it would cost to build a hotel where the Bierstube stands.
“We have started the process, but a big part of our decision to move forward with building a hotel would depend on the future of the Bierstube,” she said. “The Bierstube is an important piece of our history and our culture. We don’t know if we will even go forward with the hotel but we’re not sure if the Bierstube is the best use of that location. We don’t know if this is what we want to do. But part of the decision to move forward to- tally depends on what happens with the Bierstube.”
Some locals who have frequented the watering hole since its early days are confident that the spirit of the ‘Stube will prevail; after all, they say, it has been a wandering establishment from the beginning, and has always survived with its spirit intact, even as it has moved to new digs.
“People come here for the Bierstube, and they re- member the Bierstube. It’s really a link to the old Big Mountain. It’s a fixture. It’s a tradition. And there isn’t a lot of that left anymore,” said Buck Love, a regular at the ‘Stube in the 1970s, when he worked as a ski in- structor on Big Mountain. “The atmosphere of the Bierstube back then wasn’t much different than it is today. It’s really reminiscent to what it used to be, and that’s not an accident.”
Bierstube owner Scott McCintosh said rumors be- gan running rampant last month, when the bar’s out- door deck was demolished due to unstable footings.
“That was kind of the first dagger,” he said.
And while McCintosh can’t speak about the nego- tiations with Whitefish Mountain Resort and doesn’t yet know the fate of the ‘Stube, he said his relationship with the company and his commitment to the bar re- main in top standing.
“The Bierstube is my livelihood. I have a lot at
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Ski patroller Ryan Friel wins the weekly Frabert award at the Bierstube. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
stake,” said McCintosh, who’s owned the Bierstube li- quor license for 12 years. “Eventually, I really think that all roads lead to the Bierstube. It’s kind of the pulse of the mountain. And it’s an everyman’s bar. The part- time lift operator is just as important to us as the bil- lionaire that is 100 yards away. And it contributes to the ski culture as well. We try to make it accessible, and I’m committed to the Bierstube.”
‘Stube history dates back half a century to loud and raucous parties in the original Ski Lodge, which burned down Halloween night 1963.
Mike Muldown, whose father, Lloyd “Mully” Mul- down, was a ski pioneer who helped start Big Moun- tain, remembers wondering about the shrieks of rev- elry emanating from the bar as a child.
“That was an iconic room in my case because we couldn’t go up there,” Muldown said. “It was for the adults and the kids would be down in the main Lodge area. We’d never be able to go in. There always seemed to be all kinds of chaos that we could hear but we could never see.”
Each Spring, Ed Schenck, Big Mountain’s co-found- er and the first general manager, and Norm Kurtz, his successor, tended bar and cleaned the empty cans out of the rafters, where skiers pitched them all winter long.
“The odor from the supply of months of old beer cans was so foul that the operation could only be carried out long after the ski season ended,” recalled Kurtz in the 1996 book “Hellroaring: Fifty Years on the Big Moun- tain,” by Jean Arthur. “Ed Schenck assigned the clean- ing job to me early one spring. I parked a dump truck under the eaves of the Bierstube, where I pulled off the underside boards of the overhanging roof to allow the beer cans to drop into the truck. I’ve never been capa- ble of drinking more than an occasional beer since.”
The original Bierstube was located in The Lodge, which now houses Ed and Mully’s, and the bar was in the building’s upstairs area, beside Schenck’s office.
On Oct. 31, 1963, The Lodge caught fire when a
spark from a hammer ignited some mastic, a resin that workers were using to lay tile, recalled Karl Schenck, Ed Schenck’s son. A few beer steins belonging to mem- bers of the Big Mountain Stein Club survived, as did a 50-cent piece in the jukebox, but the cafeteria and the Bierstube were destroyed.
The building was razed and its remains were buried in the parking lot, which was littered with thousands of nails from the timber. Karl Schenck was assigned the job of collecting the nails, which he sold to the moun- tain for 35 cents a gallon.
By the time ski season rolled around, a new Lodge had been built, and the Bierstube was back in business. “When the Lodge burned down they turned the old Toni Matt ski shop into the Bierstube and then built a
new ski shop,” Schenck said.
Although he was too young to drink in the Bier-
stube, Schenck said its presence was palpable and lent the mountain a unique character that is still present today.
“There was always a party at the Bierstube, but the kids were more interested in the skiing,” Schenck said. “Growing up in Whitefish I lived by the lake and went to the mountain every day I could. I learned how to ski the same time I learned how to walk, so don’t ask me how to ski. I would go up every morning with my dad and he would tell someone on the ski patrol to keep an eye on me. And then I’d go skiing. Around noon they had a PA system to broadcast the ski patrol report and they would say, ‘Would Karl Schenck please report to the Chalet for his nap.’”
In 1966, ski instructor Jim Black and his wife, Joyce, hired Gary Tallman to build a new Bierstube at its current location, which they managed for five years before selling it to Big Mountain. For all the revelry, the ‘Stube was failing financially, and in 1972 a bar owner named Gary Elliott bragged that if he owned the ‘Stube it would be a successful operation. When the moun- tain’s general manager, Kurtz, heard about the boast,