How Was "Your Ski Mountain" Founded?

[Native Vail Gal]

I'm very touched by the stories behind how the ski industry was founded. Do you know how your ski mountain was first founded?

For me, the history behind Vail is fascinating! It was founded by a member of the 10th Mountain Division when they returned from World War II when they overtook Riva Ridge. Peter Seibert was part of that group (a ski run in Vail is named Riva Ridge).

In reality, many members of the 10th Mountain Division from WWII founded the ski industry in Colorado. Aspen, Snomass, Loveland, etc. were all founded and run by members of the 10th!

How was your mountain founded?

 

[Native Vail Gal]

History of Mammoth

Ok. Well, since there have been no posts here, I decided to do a little research.

I've never been there, but a lot of you speak about Mammoth.

Here is a link to some really great history of the area....and the ski mountain! Very fascinating!

https://www.mammothmountain.com/company_info/environment/pdf/Tmpl_history4.pdf

 

[volklgirl]

Our 3 closest/favorite areas are all family owned and have been forever. Crystal Mountain started out as Buck Hills and just celebrated their 50th ? anniversary last year.

 

[tradygirl]

Good thread!! Although I already knew a lot about the history of Alta, I did a little bit of reading to learn more.

Alta started out as a silver mining town in the 1800's and had a population of over a thousand people at one point! Once the mining resources were tapped and the town burned down, it was quiet until the early 1900's. Alf Engen and the Forest Service talked Mayor Watson into deeding 1800 acres of his mining land to them to build a ski resort. Alta Ski Lifts is born, the ski resort opens in 1939, and the rest is history.

The coolest thing I've found about Alta history is that skiing has been such a huge part of that community, even during the mining days. Some of the photos are great!

There's a ton of interesting stuff on the Alta Historical Society page. I'm excited to start looking into some of my other local resorts.

https://www.altahistory.org/index1.html

 

[tcarey]

Here ya go!

https://www.okemo.com/okemowinter/pressroom/presskit/history.asp

 

[Sheena]

My old home mountain, a brief history:

Seven Springs has a rich history. In 1932, founder Adolph Dupre built a Bavarian cabin for his family; by 1935, the world’s first mechanical rope tow pulled skiers up the top of the mountain, powered by a Packard automobile engine. Seven Springs has been growing ever since.

 

[SnowHot]

This thread came to mind recently while I was on a service call in the subdivision at Caberfae Peaks.
The homeowner is an older gentleman (emphasize older) who had tons of pictures of himself and friends who founded the first non profit "club" that got Caberfae up and running. I had known a little bit of this history but had no idea just how involved some of these guys were in making it happen.
This guy had an awesome picture of himself skiing out there that was embedded in glass somehow, with a light behind it.
(maybe 2 1/2 feet by 4 ft)
Here is a short video from Michigan Skier
There is some awesome history there!

I know all the REAL sh!t about caberfae ;)
(for those of you who get that comment :D)

 

[joycemocha]

Mt. Hood has an interesting history, as does Timberline. It was originally a WPA project, and had various royalty skiing the Magic Mile. Pucci is named after the Italian noble who taught at T-line for years (and founded the Pucci fashion house).

Timberline almost went under in the 50s, until the current concessionares took it over.

There's some good books out there on Timberline--the best is "Lonely On The Mountain" which talks about the old Forest Service days and how crazy things got.