Wicken - Lost Ski Areas of Southern California

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2012 by Ingrid P. Wicken

All rights reserved

First published 2012

e-book edition 2012

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.716.7

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print ISBN 978.1.60949.387.5

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Kathy

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

This book is fascinating. It reveals that we skiers have ghosts in our midst. Not people ghosts, not ghost towns, but place ghostsski-area ghosts, places where, in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and even 60s at least a short rope tow provided an up-ski for more down-ski thrills and delights. These spots have now mostly slipped out of memory and perhaps left no vestiges of their once fun-filled snow-bound existence.

In a few places described in the pages of this enchanting recapitulation of ski days gone by, there, high up on the trunk of a thick-barked Jefferson pine or white fir, hangs a metal wheel, the tire rim off some old vehicle. Once upon a time, such skeletal remnants provided a means for the return portion for the tow rope. They are there for all ghost busters to see, to reminisce, to savor old pleasures. Now, obscured by branches and often many feet higher up on the tree trunks than originally, they may be hard to spot. I know of at least one not far from my home in Big Bear Lake, at a ski site once known as the Upper Mill Creek Ski Area.

The author of this important book, Ingrid Wicken, brings such ghost areas back to life, especially for those of us who snowplowed, stemmed, christied and tumbled on their often short and gentle hillsand, it seemed, had our arms pulled from our shoulder sockets by those all-too-often soggy, writhing rope tows. But wasnt it fun, especially as we tell tales to young listeners!

In an important way, this book is a sequel to Wickens first book, Pray for Snow: The History of Skiing in Southern California (Vasa Press, 2002). That is a book about the people and skiing sites of these times. It is fascinating to reread it and compare today with the ghosts of the past: names of pioneers like Walter Mosauer, Wolfgang Lert, Sverre Engen, Johnny Elvrum, Tommi Tyndall, Herb Leffler, Lynn Newcomb, Sepp Benedikter and Howard More, to name but a few of skiings foresighted pioneers who pop up in the pages of both books.

A few ghost ski areas grew into good-sized modern ski resorts. Witness, for example, Big Bears Snow Summit and Bear Mountain. The latter was originally a small one-rope hill called Moonridge Ski Area. Snow Summit once operated with rope tows only, not the twelve or so chairlifts of today. Wrightwoods Mountain High complex was once several ski areasTable Mountain, Blue Ridge and Holiday Hillall in the region known as Big Pines, where, especially in the 30s, world record ski jumps were established. Even Snow Valley west of Big Bear was originally a small center known as Fish Camp and pioneered by Norwegian ski jumping stalwart Sverre Engen.

Skier, professor of kinesiology at Moreno Valley College, historian and author Ingrid Wicken has done it again, this time creating another great book capturing the amazing saga of skiing in this improbable ski country of Southern Californiaimprobable because this region is most often thought of as being the home of sunshine, orange groves, beaches, surfing and, of course, movie studios.

Doug Pfeiffer

VP Emeritus, International Skiing History Association

Honored Member Canadian and USA Ski Halls of Fame

August 2012

Doug Pfeiffer emigrated from the Laurentian Mountain ski resorts of Quebec in 1950, coming first for the opening years of Squaw Valley, California, to apprentice with the great Emile Allais, creator of the direct parallel from the start method of learning to ski. Soon after, he moved to Southern California to run ski schools first at Kratka Ridge and then Moonridge and Snow Summit. He left the region in 1963 to direct the ski school at Loveland Basin in Colorado and to become the editor in chief of Skiing magazine. In 1976, he returned to Snow Summit, where he still hangs his skis.

PREFACE

For the purpose of this book, a lost ski area is any area, public or private, that was outfitted with at least one tow or lift that no longer exists or is no longer operating. Included are two unique areas that were never graced with a flake of natural snow: Sepp Benedikters Pine Needle Ski Slope in North Hollywood and Ski Villa in Carbon Canyon. Both areas operated rope tows for skiers to practice their turns on pine needles or schuss down a slope carpeted with plastic tiles.

Geographically, all ski areas located between Los Angeles and San Diego are included. With the exception of the Pine Needle Ski Slope and Ski Villa, all others were located in the Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest, San Jacinto Mountains or Cuyamaca Mountains.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All photographs and illustrations, unless otherwise noted, are in the authors collection housed in the California Ski Library. Many of these photographs are due to the generosity of a number of Southern California skiers and their families. My utmost thanks to:

Craig Van Degrift, son of Ethel Van Degrift, for his mothers incomparable archive.

Aileen Spiller, for Cecil Charless photograph collection.

Claudia Benedikter Pedersen, for Sepp Benedikters archive.

Jamie Lewis, daughter of Elmar Baxter, for her fathers photograph collection.

Posthumously to Wolfgang Lert for his extensive photographic archive.

A number of other individuals made valuable contributions to the rich history of Southern Californias lost ski areas:

Many thanks to Aubrie Koenig, commissioning editor at The History Press, for her guidance and suggestions throughout the development of this book.

Special thanks to Bev Brown, owner with husband Kerry of Rim Nordic Ski Area, and longtime mountain resident. Bev knows everyone and is an invaluable resource for tracking down people, information and photographs.

Thank you to Peter Brueggeman for his assistance with the history of Palomar Mountain Ski Area.

Ray Ransom generously provided photographs of the installation of Snow Forests triple chairlift in 198182.

Thank you to Randy Pattison, former owner of Trinity Mountain Resort in Green Valley Lake, for insight into his personal history of the area.

Thank you to Carol Meyers of the San Diego History Center for help locating and access to photographs of Palomar Mountain Ski Area.

A special thank-you to Chuck Morse for his archive of Ski Villa memorabilia.

Thank you to Russ Keller, Lake Arrowhead historian, for access to his photograph collection and use of Green Valley Lake Snow Bowl photographs.

Thanks to Rick Metcalf for providing key information about Kratka Ridge since his purchase of the area.

Special thanks to Tom Preston for details about his familys OOngo Ski Tows.

Heartfelt thanks to longtime Wrightwood resident and historian Barbara Van Houten. She is an invaluable resource for all things Wrightwood and Big Pines.

Thanks to Douglas H. Milburn, U.S. Forest Service archaeologist for the Angeles National Forest, for his assistance with the early history of Table Mountain.