|
1950 |
|
Elizabeth "Schatzi" Wood was appointed section chief of the National Ski Patrol. Elizabeth was the sixteeth woman to be named to the National Ski Patrol and the second in Southern California. |
|
|
First chairlift was installed at Holiday Hill (later a part of Mountain High) by Joseph "Sepp" Benedikter and John Steinmann The chair was a mile long with a vertical of 1,600 feet. |
|
|
Joe Diener, Andy Hauk, Corty Hill, and Fay Lawrence were some of the members of the San Gorgonio Ski Club that scratched Kratka Ridge (Snow Crest) out of the mountain. |
1951 |
January |
The first junior ski school in Los Angeles was opened. The lessons were free and taught by Far West Ski Instructors at Griffith Park. |
|
September |
Pacific Southwest Summer Ski Jump Tournament was held at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. The take off rose 225 feet high and sloped downward for 500 feet. At the time this was the world's largest man-made ski jump using artificial snow. |
1952 |
|
Morgan Adams Jr., along with J. Stanley Mullin, Bob Crary, Bob Cheesewright and Southern Skis members became investors in the Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts enabling the first two chairlifts to be added to Mt. Baldy by Herb Leffler and Jim Chaffee. Thunder Mountain was opened. |
|
|
Tommi Tyndall opened Snow Summit with a one mile-long double chairlift with a vertical of 1,300 feet, two major ski runs and several rope tows. |
|
|
By petition of its residents, Camp Baldy name was legally changed to Mt. Baldy |
1953 |
|
Herb Leffler and Jim Chaffee sold Mt. Baldy Tows to the corporation, where it became an adjunct to the main area. |
|
|
Rebel Ridge Ski Area opened in Big Bear City spearheaded by Chuck Smith. |
|
|
Bob Engelien, an amputee & WWII vet, starts first handicapped skier program in southern California. The American Amputee Ski School continued at Snow Summit after Bob's death in 1954. |
1954 |
|
Kratka Ridge gets first chair lift. |
1955 |
|
San Gorgonio Primitive Area became San Gorgonio Wilderness Area protecting it from any ski area development. |
1956 |
Summer |
Mt. Baldy hosts its first summer ski jumping tournament. |
1958 |
|
Chuck Smith began experimenting with making snow on a small rope tow called "Rebel Ridge" near Big Bear City. |
1959 |
|
Holiday Hill (Mountain High) sold to a corporation made up of some of John Steinmann's sons, Heinz, Hans and Kurt. |
|
|
Far West Ski Association runs a charter flight for their members to Europe. This was the brain child of Sutter Kunkel. |
|