Mount Waterman

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Mount Waterman is a ski area on Waterman Mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains (Angeles National Forest) of Los Angeles County, California. It is located on the State Route 2, the Angeles Crest Highway. It reaches a height of 8,030 feet, has an overall vertical drop of 1,030 feet. Mount Waterman is leased under a Special Use permit from the US Forest Service.

Warming Hut

Skiable terrain is distributed as: 20% beginner terrain, 20% intermediate, and 60% advanced.

Mount Waterman facilities include a ticket booth at the base near Hwy 2 (6,900'), warming hut (with a small restaurant), restrooms, ski school, ski patrol (first aid), ski rentals and a heliport, halfway up the mountain. Near the top there is a 5-million-gallon tadpole-filled reservoir for a future snowmaking system, and at the summit (8,036') there is a plateau with large boulders. Waterman has 3 double chairlifts to serve its ski runs. Mount Waterman has no snowmaking equipment.

Vehicle access for the skiing public is via State Route 2. During non-snow months, vehicle access to the ski area's buildings at the top of the advanced/expert face runs is available via a dirt logging road past the ski lift (East of Hwy. 2 winding through the forest for 1 mile. This old logging road ends at the warming hut, though it is not open to public vehicles.

There are popular, steep backcountry ski trails on the east side of the mountain, though skiing these trails is not recommended since it is not patrolled. During El Niño 1998 the County Sheriff ticketed some backcountry skiers who entered these areas. Several skiers and snowboarders went missing and had to be rescued that year. 1 mile down the road from Mount Waterman is the Buckhorn Ski Club.

1 History
2 Humble Beginnings
3 The post-Newcomb Years
4 2004-2005 Season
5 Events of Note
6 Recent Developments
7 External links

[edit] History

Much land in the San Gabriel Mountains was leased from the US Forest Service in 1888 to a master trailblazer and cabin builder by the name of Loise Newcomb. The official name of the hill is Waterman Mountain. Robert B. Waterman, pioneer mountain man and a Ranger in the San Gabriel Forest Reserve. Waterman, together with his wife Liz, and their friend Perry Switzer, completed a three week hike from La Cañada to Antelope Valley and back again (May 1889). With this epic feat, Liz became the first white(non Indian) woman known to have crossed the San Gabriels. Along the way, she placed a cairn on this summit and it was thus christened Lady Waterman's Peak. However, then current attitudes toward the "weaker sex" didn't deem this a fitting name. The peak has subsequently been called by different variants, all of which leave out the "Lady". To his credit Robert Waterman made numerous futile efforts to have the full original name restored.

[edit] Humble Beginnings

Lynn Newcomb Sr. his son Lynn Jr. built the first rope tow at the area in 1939. Mount Waterman claims to have had the first chairlift in California, opened by the Newcombs on January 1, 1942. The chairlift broke down during the opening day and riders had to jump off, but the resort continued operations.

Lynn Newcomb Jr. took over the operation when his father passed on, and ran the ski area for all but a two-year period, when it was sold to two San Gabriel Valley businessmen in the 1990s. Those new owners returned the resort to Newcomb when their ambitious plans for snowmaking and other improvements at the ski area fell through.

[edit] The post-Newcomb Years

Trails Magazine Winter 1937, Mount Waterman on front cover, photo taken looking out of warming hut.

Newcomb sold Mount Waterman to a group of Southern California businessmen lead by Barry Stubblefield of Valencia They formed Angeles Crest Resorts(ACR) and operated Mount Waterman and neighboring Snowcrest ski area beginning in 1999.

The resort has not been in operation since July 2001, mostly due to failure to meet U.S. Forest Service operating requirements. Mount Waterman has higher natural snowfall (average 180 inches) than most Southern California ski areas and its snow is fairly well preserved by tree shading and steep north exposure. However, the snowfall is very erratic and with no snowmaking the area was unable to operate in dry years such as 2001-02. Mount Waterman's commercial appeal is also limited by its topography: a nice beginner area up top and abundant steep glades for experts, but very limited terrain for intermediate skiers.

[edit] 2004-2005 Season

The SoCal region had near record breaking precipitation. Los Angeles nearly broke the record for precipitation. In Feb. 2005 there was 3-6 ft snowpack, then another 10-12 ft of powder fell. This is information was from the caretaker at Mount Waterman via mobile phone. The first snowfall was around Thanksgiving, November 2004 of about 3.5 ft; in early May 2005 there was still a snowpack of about 2 ft. This snowpack rivalled the record El Niño years of 1982-83 and 1997-98, but in 2004-05 the area was not open to the public.

[edit] Events of Note

Angeles Forest Supervisor Simeri E. Jarvi died of a heart attack while climbing this peak in 1964.

In September 2004, Todd Brugger, 33, a caretaker at the Mount Waterman Ski Area and volunteer forestry worker was reported missing, Brugger lives in a trailer on the mountain. Authorities said he rarely left the mountain during the four years he has lived there. A Joint search team was mobilized, from the US Forest Service, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), and private search parties. Brugger reportedly went up to the forest one night to check on what he thought was a suspicious fire. Mount Waterman became an instant search command post. Authorities at the command post received a call that a hitchhiker was picked up by a motorist on Highway 2 and brought to the Newcombs Ranch Inn Restaurant. A subcontractor for Southern California Edison, found Brugger. He was dehydrated but in good physical shape, Two days later Brugger returned to his home in the mountain.

In January 2005, Barry Stubblefield, 48, part owner of Mount Waterman, who was digging out Waterman after a snowstorm, died in a tragic accident on the hill. Stubblefield and two ski patrol members were skiing Friday afternoon when he fell and tumbled out of control until he hit a tree, said Sgt. Don Hudalla of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Crescenta Valley Station.

[edit] Recent Developments

On July 3rd, 2006, the Pasadena Star reported that Rick Metcalf, an associate of Lynn Newcomb, and longtime Waterman skier, has purchased the Mount Waterman and Kratka Ridge ski areas and is securing operating permits with the goal of reopening Mount Waterman for the 2006-2007 ski season.

As of 12/21/2006, Mount Waterman snow phone @ 818.790.2002 reports that ski lifts still need to be load tested, and work on mountain is ongoing. They currently have 4-5" of new snow, but the hill is not yet ready for operation.

March 2007, the Mount Waterman snow phone is no longer is service. Due to the driest winter on record, Mounta Waterman did not receive enough snow to open either. The future of the mountain is still unknown.