Mountain High

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Mountain High resort is a winter resort in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County in California. Mountain High is the most-visited resort in Southern California. The resort is located along State Route 2 west of Wrightwood, California. The elevation of the resort is 6,600 to 8,200 feet for the Mountain High East Resort, 7,000 to 8,000 feet for the West Resort and 7,200 to 7,800 feet for the North Resort.

1 History
2 Resort
3 2006-2007 Ski Season
4 The North Pole Tubing Park
5 Sunrise Disc Golf
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Mountain High panorama. East resort on far left, and west on middle. Taken from the top of the north resort.

Coinciding with the population growth of Southern California in the 1920's, Hikers and ski enthusiasts began using Big Pines, an area near the present day Mountain High resort. In 1929 the construction began on the world's largest ski jump at that time to in an attempt to attract the 1932 Winter Olympics. In 1931 when it was completed, Alf Engen set the new world record by jumping 243 feet.^{[dubious — see talk page]}

The Mountain High West Resort was originally known as Blue Ridge and is one of the oldest ski resorts in the country. Its first year of operation was 1937 with a rope tow, and it built the 2nd chairlift in California in 1947. In 1975, upon being resold by it’s original owners, it was renamed Mountain High. ^[1]

The Mountain High East Resort, originally known as Holiday Hill, opened in 1948. ^[2] In the 1960’s, the cost of a lift ticket was $1.50. ^[3] In 1979, the resort was sold to the new owner of the Mountain High resort and used primarily as parking for the West Resort, as well as add terrain when there was adequate snow and skiing conditions.

The Mountain High North Resort was originally known as Table Mountain Ski Area in 1938 and later changed to Ski Sunrise in 1975. Due to several years of poor snow conditions and lack of snowmaking equipment, it was sold in 2004 to the owners of Mountain High. Mountain High now operates the North Resort as a ski school, tubing and snow play area to relieve congestion at the West Resort, but have not yet installed snowmaking equipment there.

[edit] Resort

Mountain High's resort is separated into three different areas along State Route 2. Lift tickets purchased at any one of the areas are good at the other two, and a shuttle normally operates between the west and east resorts, ferrying skiers and snowboarders back and forth.

The Mountain High West Resort (7,000-8,000 ft.) is the most popular of the three resorts, and most of its terrain has been dedicated to Mountain High's Faultline Terrain Park. Faultline contains many original terrain features such as the Slayer Box, Paradox and the Double Trouble Wall Ride catering mostly to the sport of snowboarding. Aside from the terrain parks, the West Resort also has excellent glade skiing and snowboarding in an area known as "The Reef." This area is only open when there is a substantial amount of snow. Due to its slightly higher elevation, the West Resort is usually the first resort in Southern California to open and the last to close.

The Mountain High East Resort (6,600-8,200 ft.) has longer runs and more open terrain providing a more alpine snowsports experience. The longest run at Mountain High and in Southern California (Goldrush) is 1.6 miles and located at the East Resort, and is also the longest run in Southern California.^[4]

The Mountain High North Resort (7,200-7,800 ft.) is dedicated to mainly beginner and intermediate terrain and snow play. This resort only has one quad chair lift and three handle tows. It is also the location of the North Pole Tubing Park.

[edit] 2006-2007 Ski Season

Mountain High finished a $2 Million dollar project in order to expand the West Resort's base area including:

Expanded West base deck.
New Patio Bar, and Barbeque.
New snowboarding terrain features.
Enlarged Tubing Area.
New Moving Carpet at North.
New Website.
New Handsfree Ticketing System.
Return of Queen of the Mountain.
Volcom Peanut Butter and Rail Jam.
Grenade Pull The Pin Event.

Mountain High and Faultline also host many large events such as the $25,000 Kawasaki Triple Big Air Event, the Active Sponsor Me Jib Jam, and Utility Boardshop's Battle of the Boards.

Due to aggressive marketing and season ticket sales, Mountain High is often extremely crowded on weekends and holidays (especially at the mountain's West Resort), with long lines for lifts and services. Oaktree Capital Management which currently owns Mountain High is marketing the resort for sale.

One of the driest and warmest years on record forced Mountain High to close earlier than normal for the season on March 19th.

[edit] The North Pole Tubing Park

The North Pole Tubing Park is a part of the North Resort that is dedicated entirely to Snow Tubing. The tubing facility is served by two handle tows and has many lanes, so many tubers can get down all at once. The tubing park has a new moving conveyor belt lift and has now officially opened for the 2006-2007 winter season.

[edit] Sunrise Disc Golf

The Mountain High North Resort is open during the summer to offer Disc Golf. "Sunrise" as it is called offers 3 courses with 9 holes that meander throughout the Angeles National Forest. The course was first developed in 1999 by Dave Dunnipace when the resort was still known as Ski Sunrise.