MOUNTAIN OF GOLD SNOW SUMMIT CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF SOCAL GLORY.Byline: Michael Rosenthal Assistant Sports Editor Noun 1. sports editor - the newspaper editor responsible for sports news newspaper editor - the editor of a newspaper Only the hardy - or foolhardy fool·har·dy adj. fool·har·di·er, fool·har·di·est Unwisely bold or venturesome; rash. See Synonyms at reckless. [Middle English folhardi, from Old French fol hardi : - skied in post-World War II Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Big Bear, for example, was a four-hour drive from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. on dirt roads dirt road n (US) → camino sin firme dirt road n → chemin non macadamisé or non revêtu dirt road dirt n up the mountain. And once you arrived, the runs at the few small ski areas then in existence were forbidding. The snow could be both patchy PATCHY - A Fortran code management program written at CERN. and icy for lack of modern grooming Combining, consolidating and segregating network traffic using devices such as digital cross-connects, add/drop multiplexers and SONET switches. Grooming is a telephone term that typically refers to managing high-capacity lines between central offices, carriers, ISPs and very large . That and the primitive ski gear of the day made the sport dangerous. Broken legs were all too common. Still, Czech-born entrepreneur and avid skier Tommi Tyndall had big plans. He envisioned a thriving, money-making ski resort that would lure adventurous souls from the greater L.A. area and establish his beloved sport here on a grand scale. The result was arguably ar·gu·a·ble adj. 1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved. 2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. Southern California's most successful ski resort, Snow Summit, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season. ``No one could've visualized what it would evolve into,'' Richard Kun, a child living in Big Bear when Summit was founded and general manager since 1964, said of the pioneers. ``High-speed lifts, snowmaking snow·mak·ing n. Production of artificial snow in the form of granular ice particles for use on ski slopes. in particular, grooming, the technology of equipment, skis, boots, everything. ``Tommi had some grandiose grandiose /gran·di·ose/ (gran´de-os?) in psychiatry, pertaining to exaggerated belief or claims of one's importance or identity, often manifested by delusions of great wealth, power, or fame. plans, but he couldn't have foreseen this.'' Snow Summit was fortunate to have survived at all: The first decade, which Kun calls the ``desperate years,'' was a struggle. Tyndall was running a ski school A ski school is an establishment that trains skiers. The modern version of the ski school was invented by the Austrian ski pioneer Hannes Schneider in the early 1920s when he formalized instruction methods and established these methods as teaching principles for all ski instructors at San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County-run Lynn Lift - a tiny facility that had the mountain's only chair lift at the time - in 1950 when he decided to establish his own resort. He scoured scour 1 v. scoured, scour·ing, scours v.tr. 1. a. To clean, polish, or wash by scrubbing vigorously: scour a dirty oven. b. the mountains before settling upon a big hill about a mile east of Lynn Lift, sold investors on the idea and set about building Snow Summit. The first skiers, elevated by rope tows, skied down the mountain in December 1952 and a mile-long chair lift began operation the following month. However, there were immediate problems that set the tone for some difficult years. The lift was disassembled the following summer after a chair plummeted to the ground and killed a passenger. Another chair lift, this one more modern and efficient, wouldn't be installed until the 1954-55 season. Snow Summit also was plagued by crippling crip·ple n. 1. A person or animal that is partially disabled or unable to use a limb or limbs: cannot race a horse that is a cripple. 2. A damaged or defective object or device. tr.v. snow drought throughout the decade and beyond, which made skiing sporadic sporadic /spo·rad·ic/ (spo-rad´ic) occurring singly; widely scattered; not epidemic or endemic. spo·rad·ic or spo·rad·i·cal adj. 1. Occurring at irregular intervals. 2. and left Tyndall and Co. perpetually strapped financially. He even considered moving his operation to a mountain near Mammoth mammoth, name for several large prehistoric elephants of the extinct genus Mammuthus, which ranged over Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene epoch. during that period but decided against it. Those were tough times for those who had invested their hope - and sometimes money - into the resort. ``We managed to stay afloat - barely,'' said Doug Pfeiffer, director of the ski school between 1953 and 1963 and noted skiing writer. ``There seldom was enough money to cover payroll. We stuck it out only because of our faith in the future of skiing. ``... It was a struggle, a real struggle.'' The tide began to turn in Summit's favor in the early '60s. Tyndall procured a loan in 1961 to buy a device that would ensure the resort's success from then on: a snow-making system, using the water in nearby Big Bear Lake. The device wasn't as efficient as a modern unit but provided coverage of part of the mountain on a daily basis, which in turn provided a steady stream of revenue. The system was ready to go in 1964, a pivotal year in the resort's history. ``We weren't the biggest resort in the '50s,'' Kun said. ``Mount Baldy Mount Baldy or Baldy Mountain may refer to:
``Once we put in snowmaking, though, it was all over. No one else made near as much snow. That did the trick.'' Sadly, Tyndall wouldn't enjoy the fruits of his labor. He was killed in late 1964 when a snow-grooming tractor he was driving caught a tree root and flipped over. His death sent the tight-knit community into mourning. The driving force of Snow Summit was gone, but his efforts had already set in motion a successful enterprise. The snow-making capability kept the money coming in each winter and the biggest-ever season of natural snow - 1972-73 - provided capital to enhance the resort to an unprecedented degree. The popularity of the sport took off in the '60s and '70s, growing a reported 10-15 percent annually on a national basis at its peak, and Snow Summit positioned itself to accommodate the influx of skiers and solidify so·lid·i·fy v. so·lid·i·fied, so·lid·i·fy·ing, so·lid·i·fies v.tr. 1. To make solid, compact, or hard. 2. To make strong or united. v.intr. its place among the most successful local resorts. Ultimately, Snow Summit would have 11 chair lifts and 31 trails, improve its snow-making ability to cover the entire mountain, become the first resort in the West to introduce night skiing Night skiing is the sport of skiing or snowboarding after sundown, offered at many ski resorts and mountains. There are usually electric lights along the piste which allow for better visibility. and only last year bought Bear Mountain (formerly Goldmine), which gives it firm control of skiing in the Big Bear area. It also has witnessed a fresh boon to the business: snowboarding snowboarding: see under skiing. snowboarding Sport of sliding downhill over snow on a snowboard, a wide ski ridden in a surfing position. Derived from surfing and influenced also by skateboarding as well as skiing, snowboarding began to burgeon , which accounts for more than half of the resort's customers and drives the business. TransWorld Snowboarding Transworld Snowboarding is a magazine about snowboarding and snowboarding culture. It has been published since 1987 and is the most widely subscribed snowboard magazine in the world (1,380,000 annually[1] magazine named Snow Summit its No. 1 snowboarding park in the world for this year, but officials are moving their snowboarding facilities to Bear Mountain. ``Dick (Kun) said, `It's a fad, it won't last,' '' said a laughing Ken Wood, who has been in charge of the resort's electrical systems from the beginning. Pfeiffer wasn't surprised when snowboarding took off. ``I rode the wave with them,'' he said. ``In 1987-88, I got my snowboarding teaching certification. I felt then that within five years it would be 50 percent of our business. It turned out to be that and more. ``I saw it as counter-culture. And young people are always into counter-culture. It fell right into the image of the young athlete in Southern California.'' Still, Snow Summit and other resorts nationwide have had to contend with what Kun said was ``no longer the growth industry it was in the '60s and '70s.'' The number of those buying lift tickets as a percentage of the population has declined in recent years. Snow Summit has faced many challenges, though - the drought, the death of its founder and, most recently, growing competition from successful resorts such as Mountain High in Wrightwood - and it has survived. Pfeiffer, for one, couldn't be much happier about the way Snow Summit turned out. ``I've traveled the world and have seen many ski areas,'' he said. ``This is one of the best-run anywhere, as good as any for a small area. ``The lift management, making of snow and the grooming have all been cutting edge. And Snow Summit has led the way in a number of innovations that have been adopted nationally: limited ticket sales, reserve ticket sales, for example. ``The management's philosophy has always been to provide a pleasant experience and I think it has.'' For a half century. BY THE DECADES 1950s Tommi Tyndall, a Czech-born sportsman and visionary businessman, procures enough money from investors and permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forrest Service to open Snow Summit in December of 1952. Tyndall and Co. struggle for much of the decade for lack of sufficient snowfall. 1960s Tyndall recognizes that snowmaking - used on a small scale at tiny Rebel Ridge in Big Bear - is the key to success and purchases equipment. By 1964, Snow Summit is making its own snow and is on its way to becoming a thriving resort. Sadly, Tyndall would not enjoy the success: He was killed when a tractor he was driving on the mountain overturned. Night skiing is introduced in 1966. 1970s Snow Summit limits ticket sales as part of its skier-friendly policies, which is rare even today. The resort enjoys its best season ever in 1972-73 in terms of natural snow fall, which allows to upgrade its facilities to unprecedented degree. 1980s The rapid growth of both the resort and the sport slows down in the early '80s. Snow Summit also begins to face intense competition from other local resorts, particularly Mountain High in Wrightwood. Mountain bikers are lifted to the top of the mountain for the first time in 1988. 1990s Generation X comes to the slopes not on skis but on snowboards, which ultimately will comprise more than 50 percent of the resort's business. Snow Summit leads the industry by constructing terrain parks A terrain park is an outdoor area that contains terrain that allows snowboarders and skiers to do tricks. Jibs Jibs are any type of fixture which can be ground, buttered, or tricked off of. and halfpipes as the sport continued to grow. 2000s Snow Summit, which already owns Sierra Summit (formerly China Peak) near Yosemite, buying neighbor Bear Mountain in 2002. The resorts, connected by a shuttle, have a combined 20 lifts and three surface tows. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box Photo: (1) Chair I lifts skiers to the top of the slopes as a long line of people wait their turn in the mid-1950s, which were tough years for Snow Summit because of drought. (2) Snow Summit founder Tommi Tyndall, third from right, demonstrates a snow-making machine to investors in 1964. Snow-making has maintained the resort's viability over the years. (3) Tommi Tyndall, right, founded Snow Summit in 1952. Upon his untimely death in 1964, his wife, Jo Tyndall, took over the operation. (4) no caption (book: Snow Summit) Box: BY THE DECADES (see text) |
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