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Legends of Showdown · The Shareholders Era, 1957–1973
1960s Jim and Pat Thompson
1960s Jim and Pat ThompsonPhotos 1957-1973

Jim and Patti Thompson

He managed Kings Hill for its last eleven winters and built its double chair; Patti wrote to the paper for it

Legend of Showdown
Born
Jim, 23 December 1924, Hurley, South Dakota · Patti, Connellsville, Pennsylvania
First skied at Showdown
First worked here
Jim Thompson, manager from October 1962; Patti Thompson, the restaurant that winter
Years at Showdown
Jim and Patti, 1962–1974
Positions
  • Jim Thompson — Manager of Kings Hill for Ski Lift, Inc., October 1962 to the 1972-73 season
  • Jim Thompson — with his crew, rebuilt the lodge in 1969 and built the double chairlift in 1970
  • Jim Thompson — one of the larger stockholders of Ski Lift, Inc., who sold in April 1973
  • Patti Thompson — the restaurant and concessions, 1962-63
  • Jim and Patti Thompson — their Kings Hill Mountain Shop, ski sales in town and rentals at the base, 1972–74

What they did

26 entries
  1. October 1962Jim named by Ski Lift, Inc. to manage Kings Hill, succeeding Floyd Dupuis
  2. 1962-63Patti ran the restaurant and concessions, the papers reported in October and December 1962
  3. March 1963Patti brought the hill's snow report down to Great Falls
  4. Summer 1964Jim cut access trails linking the Hallo with the Funnel and with the Mile, so skiers could cross between the three runs
  5. September 1964Jim helped with the foundation of the Hasterliks' A-frame Ski Hut
  6. February 1965Jim thanked by the ski club's president for working long and hard on the Nordic and Alpine Invitational
  7. March 1965Patti opened the Jonal Studio of Ballroom Dancing in Great Falls as its manager
  8. 3 December 1966Jim, as area manager, reported about three feet of snow at the top of the runs for the season's opening
  9. 19 November 1967Jim photographed in new-cut ground south of Porphyry Peak, saying seventy percent of skiers were beginners and intermediates and an area had to be built for them
  10. 1967-68 to 1972-73Jim signed the season passes himself, over the printed word Manager, to the last Kings Hill winter
  11. George Willett worked for Jim that year, taking his pay in season passes for the family
  12. Summer 1969Jim and his crew rebuilt the lodge, adding about 1,800 square feet and a sun deck
  13. January 1969Jim wrote for Ski Area Management, on rebuilding the sheaves of the 4,100-foot T-bar
  14. 13 April 1970Patti answered a Tribune columnist who had written that Kings Hill wasn't much: her husband was its manager, she wrote, and a new double chair was going in that summer
  15. May 1970Jim and Patti were to spend a week in Zurich as guests of the chairlift's Swiss maker, the Tribune reported
  16. June 1970Fritz Schmutz, the engineer for the lift going in that summer, stayed with Jim and Patti as their houseguest
  17. Summer–fall 1970Jim and his crew built the double chairlift; he called its top terminal, 150 tons of concrete, The Monument
  18. November 1970Jim and Dr. Earl Hall were the first to ride the new Stadeli chair, which opened to the public on 27 November
  19. March 1971The ski club marked Jim and Patti's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary
  20. April 1971Jim thanked by the club's president: they could never have a good function on the hill without his help
  21. October 1971Phil (Woody) Woodford named Jim's assistant for the 1971-72 season
  22. 17 November 1972The Kings Hill Mountain Shop's first ski sale, at the Thompsons' house in Great Falls
  23. April 1973Jim among the larger stockholders of Ski Lift, Inc. who sold to Ted Cogswell and George Willett
  24. Easter 1973Jim and his crew thanked, in a Helena couple's letter to the Tribune, for keeping the lifts running for the new owners
  25. December 1973Merry Christmas from Jim and Patti Thompson and the employees of the Kings Hill Mountain Shop — their own shop, renting at the base in Showdown's first winter
  26. 10 August 1974The Kings Hill Mountain Shop's last sale

Photographs

1 in the archive
1960s Jim and Pat Thompson

All photographs of Jim and Patti Thompson in the search →

In the papers

6 documents

Search the papers for Jim Thompson →

Also

  • Built access trails linking the Hallo with the Funnel and with the Mile, summer 1964
  • Built the lodge rebuild of summer 1969 — about 1,800 square feet more and a sun deck — Jim and his crew
  • Built the double chairlift, summer and fall 1970, Jim and his crew — opened 27 November 1970

Added by the people who were there