History Pub: Mt. Bachelor’s Nordic Center and the History of Cross-Country Skiing in Central Oregon

Mt. Bachelor’s Nordic Center and the History of Cross-Country Skiing in Central Oregon:

A Conversation with Bob Matthews and Glenn Voelz

In 1976, Mount Bachelor’s founder, Bill Healy, approved a one-page proposal creating a cross-county ski area at the resort. What began with a seven-kilometer loop on Dutchman Flat evolved into one of the nation’s premier Nordic ski areas and a training ground for numerous Olympians. 
 
Join Mount Bachelor’s first Nordic director, Bob Mathews, and local author Glenn Voelz as they discuss the history of cross-country skiing in Central Oregon and Mount Bachelor’s Nordic Center. 

Bob Mathews moved to Bend in 1973 and worked as a ski instructor at Mount Bachelor. In 1976, he presented a one-page memorandum to the resort’s founder, Bill Healy, proposing to create a cross-country ski area. Over the next twenty years, Mathews led Mount Bachelor’s cross-country ski program and developed it into one of the premiere Nordic ski areas in the United States and a training ground for numerous Olympians.  

Glenn Voelz is a professional ski patroller at the Mount Bachelor Nordic Center and the author of Mount Bachelor: A History. He specializes in Oregon’s outdoor recreation history. Glenn served for 25 years in Army intelligence at NATO, the Pentagon, the White House, and abroad.