Oral History
Oral history interview with Lena Ruiz, 2019
- Title
- Oral history interview with Lena Ruiz, 2019
- Description
- At the twenty-fifth anniversary Reunion Night, Lena Ruiz talks about racing the Tincup Cup, joining the ski patrol at nineteen, patrolling the Tincup Chute, and why she started the reunions in 2004.
- The recording here is an edited three-and-a-half-minute excerpt with synthetic voices, generated for this demo with ElevenLabs text to speech.
- Date
- 2019-03-23
- Rights
- Fictional demonstration content created for the Omeka S demo. Free to reuse (CC0 1.0).
- Subject
- Oral histories
- Ski patrol
- Ski racing
- Interviewer
- Sam Ortega, Tincup Mountain Historical Society (fictional)
- Interviewee
-
Lena Ruiz
- Location
- Reunion Night, Harlow Grange Hall
- Transcription
-
ORTEGA: Tell me about the Chute.
RUIZ: The Chute was the only run where you could hear yourself breathe. You dropped off the knob, and for about four turns it was just you and the snow. Every patrol shift I'd take one run down it before sweep, and I'd tell myself it was to check the conditions. It wasn't. - Original Format
- Digital audio, copied to cassette for the project archive (Tape 7, side B)
- Duration
- 3 minutes 26 seconds (edited excerpt)
- Time Summary
- 00:00 Reunion Night, twenty-five years on
- 00:39 Winning the Tincup Cup in 1976 and 1979
- 01:30 Joining the patrol in 1977
- 01:59 The Chute; avalanche control in the Big Winter of 1985
- 02:47 Starting Reunion Night
- Site pages
- Voices
Interview audio, Tape 7 side B (synthetic voices)
Transcript — follows along as audio plays
Okay, we're recording. This is Sam Ortega for the Tin Cup Mountain Historical Society. It's March 23, 2019, reunion night, and we're in a side room at the Harlow Grange Hall.
So if you hear a party, that's why. I'm here with Lina Ruiz. Lina, 25 years since the last chair.
Twenty-five years. Can you believe it? There are people out there tonight who weren't even born when it closed, and they came anyway. Somebody brought a bib from the very first Tin Cup Cup, 1958. I almost cried.
You won the Tin Cup Cup twice.
'76 and '79. Giant slalom. The first time, I was 17. I'd come second the year before by four hundredths of a second, and I was so mad about it, I trained all summer. I ran gates on the grass behind the high school, if you can believe that. My mother thought I'd lost my mind.
What do you remember about the race?
The bib. Bright yellow, with Harlow Feed and Supply across the bottom. And standing in the start gate on Big Dipper with my knees knocking and Ray Albright yelling from the lift line, “Go get him, kid.”
I don't remember the run at all. I just remember the bottom and my dad jumping up and down.
And then the patrol.
1977. I was 19. The patrol director told me I was too small to haul a toboggan, so I hauled one up and down Spoonful all afternoon until he gave up.
Seventeen seasons after that. First aid, rope lines, sweep at closing, all of it. The red jacket with the white cross. I've still got the patch.
Tell me about the Chute.
The Chute was the only run where you could hear yourself breathe. You dropped off the knob, and for about four turns, it was just you and the snow. Every patrol shift, I'd take one run down it before sweep, and I'd tell myself it was to check the conditions. It wasn't.
Was it dangerous?
It could be. In the big winter, '85, we did avalanche control up there almost every morning. Hand charges. You'd toss one, and the whole slope would let go and go roaring down past you. That's the one time I was really scared on that mountain. But we never lost anybody on the Chute. I'm proud of that.
Why did you start reunion night?
Because after it closed, everybody just scattered. You'd run into somebody at the grocery store, and you'd both get sad and not know what to say. So in 2004, I booked this hall, and I figured maybe 40 people would come. Two hundred came, and they brought everything. Passes, patches, old menus, all of it. That's when I knew we had to save it.
Thank you, Lina. Go enjoy your party.
Oh, I will. Somebody's got to tell these kids about the Chute.