where ski history lives

collection posters

 

VIEW THE COLLECTION

ski library displays


standup display

 

map table

 

Visit other interesting sites about Ski History and Skiing:

The International Skiing History Association

New England Ski Museum

Mammoth Mountain Ski Museum

Colorado Ski Museum

Vermont Ski Museum

University of Utah Ski Archives

History of Ski Mountaineering in Washington

Donner Summit Historical Society

LA84 Foundation Sports Library

American Ski Jumping

Ski Jumping USA

 

Southern California
Ski history timeline

Scroll this timeline for interesting dates of importance:

  1873 February 3 First recorded account of skiing in Southern California, Joseph B. Tyler diary.
  1921 Edi Jaun, ski pioneer and promoter, arrives in Lake Arrowhead. He was one of the first people in Southern California who was a skilled skier.
  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 September 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.
Big Pines 1930 February First world record ski jump at Big Pines. 137.5 feet set by Halvor Bjorngaard.
calif ski assn newspaper 1930 October 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 Bernardino Mountains.

  1931 February 3

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

Van Degrift's Open House 1931

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

Big Pines ski club 1932 January 2 Big Pines Ski Club formed. Still in existence, it is the oldest continuous ski club in Southern California.
Halstad Hill ski jump 1932 Halvor Halstad designs and constructs a ski jump at Lake Arrowhead. It is christened Halstad Hill. Halstad was a well known ski jumper and a member of the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
Walter Mosauer 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.

1st Calif State Ski Championships program 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.
Edelweiss Ski Hut San Gorgornio 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: Leland Curtis, Frank "Tug" Richardson, Stanley Allen, Robert Frampton, Louis Turner, Eric Varney, Seth Blakeman, Miles Werner, Dick Jones, Mac Salter, Louis Simon, Glen Dawson, and Murray Kirkwood.
1st instructional ski book 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.
1st sling list at Fish Camp 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 San Antonio Ski Hut construction completed by Sierra Club Ski Mountaineers.
San Antonio ski hut 1936 September San Antonio Ski Hut burns. New hut is finished by winter 1937.
Ethel Van Degrift 1936 September Ethel Severson Van Degrift becomes the first female member of the Sierra Club Ski Mountaineers.
Clarita Heath 1936 Clarita Heath Bright, a South Pasadena native, becomes a member of the first U.S. Women's Olympic Ski Team. Competed in the 1936 Olympics at Garmisch.
  1937 Sverre and Lois Engen re-name Fish Camp "Snow Valley". The Forest Service officially makes the name change later in the year.
Buzz Dormer 1937

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

San Gorgornio 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 a reptile hunting expedition in Mexico.

May Co ski lift 1937 October 29

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

  1937 Fall San Diego Ski Club formed. It is the second oldest continuous club in Southern California.
Big Bear's first ski lift 1938 Sling lift, modeled after the Fish Camp lift, is installed at Big Bear Lake. This is Big Bear's first lift.
  1938 Edi Jaun and John Elvrum build a sling lift on the hill behind the Lake Arrowhead Village School (where the fire station is now located).
  1938 January 29 First issue of The Mugelnoos, official newsletter of theSierra Club Ski Mountaineers, is published.
Colliseum meet program 1938 February 27 First Annual Southern California Open Ski Meet is held in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Sponsored by the Lake Arrowhead Ski Club, this is the first ski jump tournament in Southern California to be held on man-made snow.
  1938 First ski tow installed on Mt. Baldy by Fuzz Merritt for Pomona College students. Tow was located on Movie Slope.
Keller Peak ski hut 1938 Keller Peak Ski Hut, located across the highway from Snow Valley, completed by the Sierra Club Ski Mountaineers.
2nd Annual Colliseum meet program 1939 January 22

Second Annual Southern California Open Ski Meet is held in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Sepp Benedikter 1939 June Sepp Benedikter opens Pine Needle Ski Slope in North Hollywood at the present site of the Sheraton.
Ski Slants column 1939 November 28 Ethel Severson Van Degrift begins the first regular ski column, "Ski Slants," in the Los Angeles Times. She is one of the first woman ski writers for a major metropolitan newspaper. Her last column appeared on April 13, 1954.
  1939 Lynn Newcomb installs first rope tow on Mount Waterman.
  1939 Southern Skis ski club formed. It is the third oldest continuous club in Southern California.
  1939-40 Les Salm, Lake Arrowhead's first fire chief, installs a 300-ft rope tow on "Suicide Hill" in Green Valley Lake.
1st San Gorgonio race 1940 April First San Gorgonio Downhill Race is held.
  1940 Spring Southern California section of the National Ski Patrol is formed by Walter Clemmons.
  1940-41 Bob Wubben installs a rope tow about 150 yards east of Les Salm's tow at Green Valley Lake.
John Elvrum 1941-42 John Elvrum purchases Snow Valley from the Arrowhead Springs Corporation.
1942 January 16

Dorothy McClung, member of the San Diego Ski Club, is named the first female member of the National Ski Patrol.

Waterman ski lift 1942 January First chairlift in Southern California, and the second in the state, opens at Mount Waterman.
Howard More 1943 Howard More purchases Table Mountain Ski Area.
Herb Leffler and Jim Chaffee 1944 Herb Leffler and Jim Chaffee install a rope tow on Movie Slope at Mt. Baldy.
Green Valley Lake Snow Bowl 1945-46 Larry Ferguson, Joe Fox, and Ernest C. "Doc" Vawter open Green Valley Lake Snow Bowl.
Blue Ridge ski lift 1947 March First chairlift built on Blue Ridge (now Mountain High West) by Frank Springer and Tom Triol. This is Southern California's second chairlift.
  1949 January Tommi Tyndall starts Southern California's first training program for ski instructors.
Big Bear ski lift 1949 The Lynn Lift is constructed in Big Bear. This is Big Bear's first chairlift.
1949 The first chairlift at Snow Valley begins operating.
Holiday Hill 1950 First chairlift installed at Holiday Hill by Sepp Benedikter and John Steinmann.
Kratka Ridge 1950 Kratka Ridge is developed by the Angeles Winter Development Association, a group of San Gorgonio ski club members.
Elizabeth "Schatzi" Wood 1951 Elizabeth "Schatzi" Wood is awarded the Yellow Merit Star by the National Ski Patrol for her outstanding patrol work.
County Fair Ski Jump 1951 September Pacific Southwest Mid-Summer Ski Jump Tournament held at the Los Angeles Country Fair, Pomona. Ski jump was the brainchild of Sepp Benedikter.
  1952 December First two chairlifts open at Mt. Baldy.
Tommi Tyndall 1952 Tommi Tyndall opens Snow Summit with a 1,300-foot long chairlift.
  1953 First American amputee ski school is started at Snow Summit by Bob Engelien.
  1953 Chuck Smith opens Rebel Ridge Ski Area in Big Bear.
  1954 First chairlift at Kratka Ridge is constructed.
Mt. Baldy summer lift 1956 Summer Mt. Baldy stages summer ski jumping exhibitions and tournaments.
  1958 Junior Skiers of Southern California is founded by Betty Morning
  1959 Permanent ski jumps built at Mt. Baldy.
  1959 First annual Tyler Van Degrift Memorial Race held at Mt. Baldy.
  1961 Rebel Ridge is the only ski area west of the Mississippi operating during Christmas 1961. Chuck Smith devises a successful snowmaking system.
Snow Forest brochure 1963 Dave and Dan Platus buy the Lynn Lift area and rename it Snow Forest.
  1963 September 12 Palm Springs Tramway opens.
Ski Villa 1966 June 25 Ski Villa, the first and only year round ski resort in the United States, opens in Carbon Canyon.
  1969 Moonridge is under new ownership and is renamed Goldmine.
  1969 After 25 years of operating tows at Mt. Baldy, Herb and Jane Leffler sell Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts to Western Resorts Corporation.
  1971

After 30 years of ownership, John Elvrum sells Snow Valley.

  1974 Rebel Ridge closes permanently
  1975 Table Mountain is renamed Ski Sunrise.
  1975 Dick Woodworth buys Blue Ridge and renames it Mountain High.
  1979 First ski lift is constructed at Ski Sunrise.
  1979 Terry Tognazzini purchases Holiday Hill.
Dave and Sara Williams 1980 February Green Valley Lake Cross Country Ski Center is opened by Dave and Sara Williams.
  1988 Goldmine is purchases by S-K-I Ltd. and is renamed Bear Mountain
  1992 February Kerry and Bev Brown open Rim Nordic Ski Area.
  1993 December Ski Green Valley becomes Big Air Green Valley, the nation's sole snowboard-only area.
  1997 Oaktree Capital Management purchases Mountain High from Terry Tognazzini.
  1999 February

Kerry and Bev Brown, owners of Rim Nordic Ski Area, purchase Green Valley Lake Cross Country Ski Center from Dave Williams.