Ski Library - California ski history timeline

1873 - February 3

First recorded account of skiing in Southern California, from the Joseph B Tyler diary.
1921

Edi Jaun, ski pioneer and promoter, arrives Lake Arrowhead. One of the first in So. Cal who was a skilled skiier.
1922 - January 16

First ski ascent of the summit of Mt. San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) by George O. Bauwens, a professor at USC.
1924 - February. 24

First ski jumping meet held in Big Bear Valley.

1924 - Sept.ember 1

Big Pines Park, summer and winter playground operated by the Los Angeles County Dept. of Parks and Recreation, officially opens.
1927

First Annual Midwinter Carnival is held in Lake Arrowhead.
1928

Edelweiss Ski Club formed. One of Southern California's earliest clubs.
1929

First ski jump in Southern California built at Big Pines.

1930 - February

First world record ski jump at Big Pines. 137.5 feet set by Halvor Bjorngaard.
1930 - Oct. 7

California Ski association is created. Becomes the Far West Ski Association in 1949.
1930 - December

Walter E. Kruckman forms the Rim of the World League to promote winter sports in the San Bernadino Mountains.
1931 - February 3

First ski ascent on the summit of San Gorgonio by Murray Kirkwood, Bill Cover, George Gibbs, and Lloyd Cooper.

1931

Van Degrift's Ski Hut becomes the first store in Los Angeles to sell ski equipment.
1932 January 2

Big Pines Ski Club formed. Still in existence, it is the oldest continuous ski club in Southern California
1932

Halvor Halstad designs and constructs a ski jump at Lake Arrowhead. It is christened Halstad Hill. Halstad was a well-know ski jumper and a member of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
1932

Walter Mosauer, father of Alpine skiing in the Southland, arrives in Southern California.

1933

Walter Mosauer, professor of Zoology, starts a ski team at UCLA.
1933 February

California State Ski Championships are held on the jumping hill at Big Bear Lake.
1934 - January

First slalom race in southern California is held at the Camp seeley Snow Carnival.
1934 - October 6, 7

Edelweiss Ski Hut is built on the slopes of San Gorgonio..

1934 - November 7

Ski Mountaineers section of the Sierra Club is formed by Walter Mosauer. He and 13 others make up the inaugural group.
1934

First instructional ski book published in Southern California: " On Skis Over Mountains" by Walter Mosauer.
1935 - March 16

First San Antonio downhill race held. Race began on the summit and covered two miles. Oldest ski race in Southern California.
1935-36

Sling lift is built at Fish Camp (now known as Snow Valley). This is the first ski lift in Southern California.

1936 - January

First recorded account of skiing in Southern California, from the Joseph B Tyler diary.
1936 - September

San Antonio Ski Hut burns. New hut is finished by winter of 1937.
1936 - September

Ethel Severson van Degrift becomes the first female member of the Sierra Club Ski Mountaineers.
1936

Clarita Heath Bright, a South Pasadena native, becomes member of first U.S. Women's Olympic Ski Team and competes at the 1936 Olympic Games at Garmisch.

1937

Sverre and Lois Engen re-name Fish Camp "Snow Valley". The Forest Service makes the name official later in the year.
1937

Harlow Dormer and Craig Wilson install the first tow rope on Table Mountain (now Ski Sunrise).
1937 - April

First attempt to develop San Gorgonio into a downhill ski resort.
1937 - August 10

Walter Mosauer dies of a form of plant poisoning contracted on repile hunt in Mexico.

1937 - October 29

Ski run built on the roof of the May Company's downtown store.
1937 - Fall

San Diego Ski Club formed. It is the second oldest continuous club in Southern California.
1938

Sling lift, modeled after Fish Camp lift, installed at Big Bear Lake. First lift at Big Bear.
1938

Eid Jaun and John Elvrum build a sling lift on the hill behind the Lake Arrowhead Village School (where fire station is now located).