Mount Baldy Ski Area
Mount Baldy is a modest ski resort overlooking the Okanagan Valley in southern British Columbia just north of the Washington state border. Its road access is via McKinney Road from Oliver and from BC Highway 3 north of Bridesville and BC Highway 33 west of Rock Creek, in the Boundary Country. Air access from Penticton Regional Airport; the summit is in the Okanagan Highland, an intermediary plateau-like area between the Monashee Mountains to the east and the Okanagan Valley below to the west. In 1968, its first season, Baldy operated as a ski cat area with McKinney T-Bar. A year the resort acquired a T-bar that traveled up the face of Mount Baldy; the T-bar base at 5650 ft above sea level is the highest base altitude of any ski resort in Canada. That T-bar was replaced with the old Blue Chair from Mount Washington on Vancouver Island; this lift is now called the Eagle Chair. Another lift, Sugarlump was opened in the 2007-2008 ski season. Sugarlump is a fixed-grip quad chair lift. Total uphill capacity is 750 persons per hour.
Mount Baldy Ski Area consists of 35 downhill skiing trails. Since 2009-10 season the McKinney T-bar has been out of service. In 2012 a trail was cut leading from Sugarlump to the McKinney area to access the terrain park. There is no night skiing at Mount Baldy Ski Area. Nordic trails are open December through March; the hill is unique. There is a ski school, day-lodge and lounge, ski equipment and snow shoe rentals available in the Snow Sports Centre; the ski hill did not open for the 2013-14 season due to financial difficulties. In July 2014, the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted conduct of sale in a foreclosure action to a secured creditor of Mount Baldy. In the foreclosure, G-Force Real Estate Inc. of Vancouver, B. C. has been appointed as Marketing Agent to sell most of the assets of Mount Baldy Ski Corporation and related companies. Mount Baldy did operate during the 2014-15 season, opening middle of January 2015 with just the Sugarlump lift operating along with the magic carpet. Food and liquor service was offered in the lodge.
Baldy Capital Corp out of Calgary has been trying to complete a deal to purchase the holdings but failed. This has ended up in the Supreme Court, where we found out in an affidavit that another group led by Joey O'Brien, former owner of Ski Martock in the Maritimes, has been looking at purchasing the holdings. There has been talk of a group organizing a CO-OP to purchase the hill, but at this time this is little more than Facebook speculation, the people behind this idea have never come forward, thus making it look like a dream idea. Although the resort did not open for the 2015-16 season, the ski resort was open for the 2016-2017 season, again for the 2017-2018 season. List of ski areas and resorts in Canada Ski Baldy website
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east; this range lies in, is surrounded by, the Angeles National Forest, with the San Andreas Fault as the northern border of the range. The highest peak in the range is Mount San Antonio referred to as Mt. Baldy. Mount Wilson is another famous peak, famed for the Mount Wilson Observatory and the antenna farm that houses many of the transmitters for local media; the observatory may be visited by the public. On October 10, 2014, President Obama designated the area the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. To date, The Trust for Public Land has protected more than 3,800 acres of land in the San Gabriel Mountains, its foothills and the Angeles National Forest. Much of the range features rolling peaks.
The range lacks craggy features, but contains a large number of canyons and is very rugged and difficult to traverse. The San Gabriel Mountains are in effect a large fault block, uplifted and dissected by numerous rivers and washes; the highest elevation, Mount San Antonio at 10,064 feet, rises towards the eastern extremity of the range which extends from the Cajon Pass on the east, where the San Gabriel Mountain Range meets the San Bernardino Mountain Range, westward to meet the Santa Susanna range at Newhall Pass. North of San Fernando, the San Gabriel Mountains crest abruptly up to 4,000 feet. Pacoima and Big Tujunga Canyons cut through the range just east of San Fernando, carrying runoff into the San Fernando Valley. Little Tujunga Canyon Road bridges the range in this area, connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Clara River valley in the north. Towering over Big Tujunga Canyon north of Big Tujunga Reservoir is Mount Gleason, which at 6,502 feet, is the highest in this region of the San Gabriels.
South of the gorge are the southern "foothills" of the mountains, which rise abruptly 4,000 feet above the Los Angeles Basin and give rise to the Arroyo Seco, a tributary of the Los Angeles River. Southeast of Big Tujunga Canyon, the southern front range of the San Gabriels grows in elevation, culminating in notable peaks such as Mount Wilson at 5,710 feet. On the north the range is abruptly dissected by the canyon of the West Fork San Gabriel River. Further north the range slopes up into the towering main crest of the San Gabriels, a sweeping arc-shaped massif 30 miles in length that includes most of the highest peaks in the range: Waterman Mountain, at 8,038 feet. On the north slopes of the San Gabriel crest, the northern ranks of mountains drop down incrementally to the floor of the Mojave Desert in a much more gradual manner than the sheer southern flank; the Angeles Crest Highway, one of the main routes across the San Gabriels, runs through this area from west to east. Little Rock, Big Rock and Sheep Creeks drain off the northern part of the mountains, forming large alluvial fans as they descend into the Mojave.
To the east, the San Andreas Fault cuts across the range, forming a series of long and narrow depressions, including Swarthout Valley and Lone Pine Canyon. South of Mount San Antonio, San Antonio Creek drains the mountains, cutting the deep San Antonio Canyon. East of San Antonio Canyon, the range loses elevation, the highest peaks in this section of the mountain range are in the south, rising above the Inland Empire cities of Claremont and Rancho Cucamonga. However, there are still several notable peaks in this region, including Telegraph Peak, at 8,985 feet, Cucamonga Peak, at 8,859 feet, Ontario Peak, rising 8,693 feet. Lytle Creek, flowing southeast, drains most of the extreme eastern San Gabriels; the range terminates at Cajon Pass, through which runs Interstate 15, beyond which rise the higher San Bernardino Mountains. The Range is bound on the north by the Antelope Valley and the Mojave Desert and to the south by the communities of greater Los Angeles area. In the western portion of the San Gabriel Mountain Range, the Sierra Pelona Ridge stretches from Soledad Canyon, formed by the Santa Clara River.
The Sierra Pelona Ridge includes Liebre Mountain, Sawmill Mountain, Grass Mountain, Redrock Peak, Burnt Peak, most of, part of the Angeles National Forest, but features several rural communities. Melting snow and rain runoff on the south side of the San Gabriels' highest mountains give rise to its largest river, the San Gabriel River. Just to the west of Mount Hawkins, a north-south divide separates water running down the two main forks of the river and their tributaries; the West Fork, beginning at Red Box Saddle, runs 14 miles eastward, the East Fork, starting north of Mount San Antonio, flows 18 miles south and west through a steep and precipitous gorge. The two meet at San Gabriel Reservoir, turn south, boring through the southern portion of the San Gabriels, emptying out of the mountains near Azusa into the urban San Gabriel Valley, to the Pacific Ocean near Seal Beach. San Gabriel Mountains peaks within the Angeles National Forest include: Mount San Antonio, 10,064 ft Pine Mountain, 9,648 ft Dawson Peak, 9,575 ft
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort
Sugar Bowl is a ski and snowboard area in northern Placer County near Norden, California along the Donner Pass of the Sierra Nevada 46 mi west of Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80, that opened on December 15, 1939. Sugar Bowl is a medium-sized ski area in the Lake Tahoe region, is well known for its long history, significant advanced terrain, high annual snowfall and being one of the closest ski areas to the San Francisco Bay Area. Sugar Bowl's terrain is 45 % Intermediate and 38 % Advanced. Sugar Bowl was founded by Hannes Schroll and a group of individual investors and is one of the few remaining owned resorts in the Lake Tahoe area. Sugar Bowl was the first ski area in California to install a chairlift and the first on the west coast to install a gondola lift; the mountain peaks of Mt. Judah and Mt. Lincoln, that became the ski slopes of the Sugar Bowl ski resort, were a part of the American pioneers route, back in the 1800s. A part of the California wagon trail called Roller Pass ran between Mt. Lincoln.
It was one of the wagon trails through Donner Pass, used by settlers and prospectors, on the Emigrant Trail, coming from the eastern United States across the Sierra Nevada. Today the same pass can be reached by way of the Pacific Crest Trail or a new trail created by Sugar Bowl ski resort, in 1994, called the Mt. Judah Loop trail; the Central Pacific Railroad first began train services to Donner Pass in 1868 after the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States. A new tunnel constructed two-miles through solid granite, dubbed The Big Hole tunnel, was constructed through Mt. Judah in 1925, offering trains better protection from snow storms on the summit; these heavy snow storms and blizzards during the winters made train service difficult over the years through the pass, which for a period of time was known as the Overland Route. Historian Charles F. McGlashan believed the area's economy would benefit by hosting a winter carnival, in 1894 he built the first hand-crafted Ice Palace to draw in tourists from the passenger trains.
Soon after, the railroad began running "Snowball Specials" to Truckee from the Oakland Pier. The area became more accessible to tourists in 1913 when the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States opened over the Donner Pass; this road was upgraded in 1926 to U. S. Route 40, although snow plowing operations by the state of California didn't start until 1932, making travel to the area by car difficult in the winter. In 1924 Charlie Chaplin filmed scenes upon Mt. Lincoln for his silent movie classic The Gold Rush. Six hundred men were brought in by train from Sacramento to serve as extras for the comedy scene; the land that Sugar Bowl ski resort is built on was purchased in 1923 by Stephen and Jennie Pilcher. They paid $10.00 for 700 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad, who by had taken over for the Central Pacific Railroad by lease and acquired its operations by 1885. During the early 1930s, before Sugar Bowl installed the first chair lift, skiers who wanted to ski the Donner Pass mountain peaks, like Mt. Lincoln, would have to climb up to the peaks on foot in order to get the chance to ski.
By the mid thirties there were several rope tows dotting the hill sides of the Donner Pass area. In 1936, Austrian ski instructors Bill and Fred Klein opened the Klein ski school, serving the Sierra Club out of the Clair Tappaan Lodge in the area and local skiers from Sacramento and San Francisco; the Klein brothers and a few other instructors they had taught, were teaching 100 to 150 students a weekend, taking the more advanced students up to the crest of Mt. Lincoln on foot; this was attributed to the fact that new skiers were just venturing into the mountains more and with an improved Highway made travel easier. The term "leisure" was beginning to take hold in America during this time, after the passage of the Wagner Act and other labor laws of the 1930s. There was an interest in skiing that can be attributed to the 1932 Winter Olympics the first to be held in the US, held in Lake Placid, New York; the following year in 1937, the 700 acres were put up for sale by the daughters of the Pilchers, around Mt. Lincoln and Hemlock Peak.
Bill Klein contacted Hannes Schroll, a famous Austrian skiing champion and ski instructor he knew, working at Yosemite at the time, about the sale of the land. Schroll, a colorful character who would always be found yodeling when he would ski, visited the area; when he and Klein saw the steep boulder field sloping down towards Donner Lake, they could not believe that it would all be covered in snow by winter. By March 1938 Schroll had made a deal with the Pilcher sisters for the purchase of the land for $6,740, but when Schroll tried to retrieve funds from his home in Austria, the war had just broken out and his funds had been taken. Schroll had to borrow the funding to buy the property from Hamilton McGaughey, a local realtor, ice-skating champion George Stiles. Schroll had sent a wire via Western Union, to Walt Disney at the time while seeking funding to purchase the property, but Disney was out of town and did not receive the wire in time. Schroll became president of the Sugar Bowl Corporation in 1938 with the help and support of Wellington Henderson, Sherman Chickering, Donald Gregory.
Shortly after Schroll began seeking other investors to help build a Slope side Tyrolean style village and ski resort, he had dreamed of, modeled after those in his home town in Kitzbühel Austria. Because they thought the fine, crystalline snow looked like sugar and Klein decided on the name "Sugar Bowl" for the resort; the Southern Pacific Railroad agreed to build a facility adjacent to the
Heavenly Mountain Resort
Heavenly Mountain Resort is a ski resort located on the California–Nevada border in South Lake Tahoe. It opened for business on December 15, 1955 and has 97 runs and 30 lifts that are spread between California and Nevada and four base facilities; the resort has 4,800 acres within its permit area, with 33% developed for skiing, boasting the highest elevation of the Lake Tahoe area resorts with a peak elevation of 10,067 ft, a peak lift-service elevation of 10,040 ft. Since 2002, Heavenly has been owned by Vail Resorts, which operates Northstar California and Kirkwood Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe and seven other ski resorts in Colorado, British Columbia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah, Minnesota and Wisconsin. With an average of 360 in of snow annually, one of America's largest snowmaking systems, their ski season runs from mid November to mid April. Heavenly is notable as the resort where Congressman Sonny Bono died after hitting a tree on January 5, 1998; the lifts built by Doppelmayr are the Big Easy, Canyon Express, Comet Express, Dipper Express, Gondola, Gunbarrel Express, Mott Canyon, Powderbowl Express, Sky Express, Stagecoach Express, Tamarack Express.
The lifts built by Yan are Boulder, First Ride, Patsy's, The Ridge. SLI built Olympic, World Cup; the oldest lift is World Cup, having been built in 1969. Mott Canyon closes at 3:00 during the day thus its trails are closed too. High-speed detachable quads serve the resort; the longest lift is the Gondola by a significant amount. Two six-packs are serve skiers, the Tamarack and Powderbowl Express chairs. Most of the lifts close at 4:00 PM with the exception of Mott Canyon lift which closes at 3:00, the Yan and SLI double lifts have a similar appearance in chairs to lines, to terminals, to bullwheels but only the bull wheels are different. Media related to Heavenly Mountain Resort at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Night skiing
Night skiing is the sport of skiing or snowboarding after sundown, offered at many ski resorts and mountains. There are electric lights – including LED lamps – along the piste which allow for better visibility, it begins after a resort's skiing-day ends, ends between 8:00 and 10:30 p.m. Night skiing offers a few last runs for busy skiers who don't have time to ski during daylight hours. Trails at night are not as busy as during the day, but there are fewer runs available; the trails tend to be icier than during the day, due to melting and refreezing. While the invention of night skiing is credited to Webb Moffet in 1945 who used to own Snoqualmie Summit Ski Area near Seattle, night skiing originated with Clare Bousquet at Bousquet Ski Area in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1936 thanks to a local partnership with General Electric. Media related to Night skiing at Wikimedia Commons
Bear Valley (resort)
Bear Valley is a ski area located on highway 4 between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite—about three hours southeast of Sacramento, California. It is around one hour from California; the alpine ski area and a portion of the real estate in the village of Bear Valley was owned by an investment partnership led by a Canadian company, Dundee Realty, from 2005 to 2014. In 2014, Skyline International acquired Bear Valley. Nine lifts provide access to 75+ runs covering 1,680 acres skiable. Prior to the 2010-2011 ski season, an additional 400 acres of non-lift serviced terrain was opened to the public expanding the resort to 1680 skiable acres, making it the 8th largest in skiable acres in the state of California; the resort is known for its commitment to snow making and snow science expertise, as a result of snow management, was one of 6 resorts in California that remained open into mid-spring during the worst drought in California history. Bear Valley is known for its rich racing history and one of two resorts in California that operates a NASTAR course nearly every weekend of the winter season.
In 2015 the ski areas Season Pass became valid at both the cross country ski area. Known as "The Forever Pass" the pass gives access to unlimited downhill and cross country ski trails during the winter season; the Bear Valley Cross Country and Snowshoe Trail System consists of 35 trails covering 3,000 acres of terrain. Bear Valley Cross Country is operated by Paul and Diane Petersen. Paul Petersen is co-author of The Essential Cross Country Skier: A Step By Step Guide and a pioneer in the Nordic skiing industry in California; the Bear Valley back country offers endless options to access the back country via alpine touring and back country skis or snow shoes. Mountain Adventure Seminars, based in Bear Valley, offers instruction in telemark skiing, avalanche safety skills, mountaineering guide services, extended overnight tours of the surrounding back country. MAS, in conjunction with Bear Valley Mountain Resort offers snow cat assisted tours of both back country and side country ski areas outside the patrolled areas of the alpine resort.
The base village includes a hotel, cabins, 2 restaurants, 2 full bars, a pizza parlor. The Lodge at the base facility is known for its majestic granite fireplace and post and beam construction of the atrium style hotel; the hotel's Cathedral Lounge is a desired location for special events. The village includes a US Post Office, general store and snowmobile rental center. There is an Alpine County Sheriff's office and fire station, as well as a County library and K-6 public school. On summer weekends and holidays, there is bus service to Lake Alpine, a popular nearby recreation area and lodge. In winter months, there is a shuttle to the ski area in daily operation. A lift from town has been planned for years, as is terrain expansion. In early 2013, the partnership that owns the ski area operation and a portion of the real estate in town decided to sell their holdings which now include entitlements for over 300 condominium homes. In September 2013, a deal to sell the ski area operation fell through.
In December 2013 a group of Bear Valley property owners announced an initiative to explore community ownership options for both the ski area operation and the village. In February 2014, the Bear Valley Mountain Cooperative was formed with the objective of acquiring and managing those assets on behalf of the community. In 2014 the resort was acquired by Skyline International and owns and operates the resort. Bear Valley Mountain Resort Website 3dSkiMap of Bear Valley Mountain Resort
15% beginner 
31% intermediate 
54% advanced
