White Wolf Mountain is a 460 acre Ski resort located in the Lake Tahoe area, California. The resort is often discussed relating to the the ongoing merger between Squaw Valley Ski Resort and Alpine Meadows, California, and the interest in using White Wolf Mountain's interconnected property to create a mega resort. The property is named after a large white dog the owners rescued from a cliff of the property.[1]
Contents |
White Wolf Mountain is located between Squaw Valley, Placer County, California and Alpine Meadows, California.[2] [3] The property runs from the parking lot at Alpine Meadows to Squaw Valley, and includes KT-22, which Squaw Valley leases from White Wolf Mountain.
Currently the land is used as a private ski resort with 1123 vertical feet, and ski areas are accessed via Snowcat.[2] A chairlift is also currently being installed, and its installation is the subject of litigation with Squaw Valley Ski Resort.[2]
Troy Caldwell purchased the property in 1990 from Southern Pacific Railroad for $350,000.[4] According to Troy Caldwell: "The section of land that I own borders Alpine Meadows and butts right up to their parking lot...I own KT-22. It is my mountain. I own about 70 acres of Squaw. I bought it from Southern Pacific Land Co. in 1990."[2]
It is the stated goal of Troy Caldwell to use the land to interconnect Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows ski areas.[2] There is also significant community interest in connecting the two resorts. [5][6]
In September 2011, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley Ski Resort merged ownership. The two resorts will retain their distinct identities but unite under common management dominated by Squaw’s Valley’s parent company, KSL Capital Partners LLC. Alpine Meadow's parent, JMA Ventures, will own a smaller part. The new umbrella entity over both resorts will be known as Squaw Valley Ski Holdings LLC.[3] It has been discussed in the media that the new company Squaw Valley Ski Holdings LLC, will seek to eventually combine the two resorts into one mega resort through an agreement with a ski resort located on the mountain connecting Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley, called White Wolf Mountain.[7] This proposed combination is supported by White Wolf Mountain owner Troy Caldwell.[2] If connected via White Wolf, the combined ski area would be the second largest resort in North America, only slightly smaller than Whistler Blackcomb.
Caldwell's vision[8] for White Wolf Mountain includes:
Troy Caldwell is currently in litigation with Squaw Valley over his installation of chairlift towers that would interconnect the two resorts. [2] There have been many rounds of litigation, with the California Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that Caldwell was allowed to open his proposed chairlift, subject to limitations.
There is some indication that Squaw Valley's new ownership, KSL Partners, are seeking to work with Caldwell, and put aside their differences. In December 2011 KSL paid for Caldwell to study ski resort development in the American West. He visited Jackson, Vail, Aspen, Snowmass, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, Beaver Creek, Steamboat, Grand Targhee, & Big Sky. KSL footed the bill for that on-site research and “treated us like kings and queens.”[9]