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Echo Summit

Coordinates: 38°48′47″N 120°01′48″W / 38.813°N 120.030°W / 38.813; -120.030
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For the Echo Summit at Johnson Pass in Utah & the Echo Canyon summit in Utah, see Onequi Mountains and Wahsatch, Utah.
Echo Summit
View from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.
Elevation7,382 ft (2,250 m)
Traversed by US 50
LocationEl Dorado County,
California, U.S.
RangeSierra Nevada
Coordinates38°48′47″N 120°01′48″W / 38.813°N 120.030°W / 38.813; -120.030
Topo map
Reference no.1048
 Echo Summit is located in California
 Echo Summit
 Echo Summit
class=notpageimage|
Location in California

Echo Summit is a mountain pass over the Sierra Nevada in the western United States, located in eastern El Dorado County, California. At 7,377 ft (2,249 m) above sea level, it is the highest point on U.S. Route 50 in California, which traverses it at postmile 66.48 between Twin Bridges and Meyers, south of Lake Tahoe.

The "Sierra Nevada Southern Route" (aka the "Pioneer Route") of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, was routed over nearby Johnson Pass[citation needed] in 1913. The current alignment over Echo Summit was constructed between 1936 and 1939.[1]

The "Sierra Nevada Northern Route" of the Lincoln Highway went over Donner Pass.

Echo Summit is a trailhead for the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.[2]

1968 U.S. Olympic Trials

Echo Summit is notable for being the location (sometimes listed as "South Lake Tahoe") of the 1968 U.S. Olympic track and field trials for men, held September 6–16, a month before the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.[3][4][5][6][7] (The women's trials were at low altitude in Los Angeles County, at Walnut.)[8] The Echo Summit site opened in July as a training camp for high-altitude acclimation, being virtually identical to the Olympic Stadium in Mexico.[6] The picturesque alpine location was on the cover of the July 1968 issue of Track and Field News.[9] The original men's trials were in Los Angeles in late June, but a second round of trials was added to the training camp.[10]

With a motel tax and financial support from Harrah's Tahoe casino, a synthetic Tartan track was purchased which was very similar to that to be used in Mexico City.[2] Installation was completed in early July and was designed to be easily dismantled and reinstalled, being moved the following summer to nearby South Tahoe Middle School where it survived until 2006. Installed southwest of the summit in the parking lot of a small ski area, hundreds of Ponderosa pine trees remained in the infield, densest on the north end. The high jump pit was also surrounded by huge boulders.[2] Four world records were achieved at the trials.[11]

The location became a California Historical Landmark in 2014 with a roadside sign along Highway 50. At the time, this was only the fifth sports-related historical site in California.[12][13][14][2]

The ski area, known as Nebelhorn and later Echo Summit, closed twenty years later in 1988. It is now Adventure Mountain, a snow play area for sledding and tubing.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ "California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Routes 49 through 56". www.cahighways.org. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  2. ^ a b c d 1968 Olympians Return to Echo Summit, USA Track & Field, Bob Burns, June 27, 2014.
  3. ^ Underwood, John (September 23, 1968). "Triumph at tragedy at Tahoe". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
  4. ^ Burns, Bob (July 3, 2000). "Magic Mountain". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  5. ^ "U.S. begins first work at altitude". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. July 16, 1968. p. 13.
  6. ^ a b Payne, Bob (August 16, 1968). "Olympic camp's press 'ban' unpopular". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. 18.
  7. ^ "Vanderstock shatters record; Ryun 7th". Eugene-Register Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. September 12, 1968. p. 1B.
  8. ^ Hymans, Richard (2008), The History of the United States Olympic Trials (PDF), USA Track & Field, p. 4, retrieved 23 May 2021
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ Hymans 2008 p.137
  11. ^ Hymans 2008 pp.9-10
  12. ^ "Echo Summit" (PDF). State of California. Department of Parks and Recreation, Office of Historic Preservation: Application for Registration, California Historical Landmark. December 20, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  13. ^ Burns, Bob. "Echo Summit". Pacific Association. division of USA Track and Field. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  14. ^ Reed, Kathryn (June 28, 2014). "1968 U.S. Olympic track team, Echo Summit training site continue to make history". Lake Tahoe News. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  15. ^ Reed, Kathryn (March 3, 2014). "Old ski lodge set to open on top of Echo Summit". Lake Tahoe News. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  16. ^ Kingman, Bill (June 1, 2014). "Then and now: Echo Summit ski resort changes". Lake Tahoe News. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
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