Mount Shasta Ski Bowl - The Lost Resorts, Episode 24
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- čas přidán 3. 01. 2024
- Mt. Shasta ski bowl is one of the most iconic lost ski areas in the United States. Boasting incredible ski terrain serviced by 2 chairlifts, it's history is complex and it's legacy is storied. This video will take you through the complete history of the original Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl.
The Lost Resorts is a weekly video series that focuses on the history of lost ski resorts in North America. New episodes release every Thursday at 5:15am MST (unless otherwise notified). Join me as we take a look at the lost resorts of North America.
Mount Shasta Ski Bowl (California) Information:
Years of Operation: 1959 -1978
Run Count: 15
Lifts: 2 Doubles (Heron, Riblet), 1 T-Bar (Constam), Rope Tows
Music by Artlist.io, @LAKEYINSPIRED
it kills me to see how many people try to sue a struggling resort because of accidents caused by their own recklessness and negligence
Not sure what it’s like elsewhere but here on the back of the pass/ticket in a big yellow and red box that basically says “if you injure yourself here, you cannot sue us since it was your negligence that caused your injury”
@@TackleTheDogAs depressing as you might find this, that legal language you referenced, ‘waiver’ language, has no teeth.
In Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado it is illegal to award damages against a ski area for injury sustained as a result of inherent risks of skiing
Blood sucking lawyers.
Blood sucking lawyers.
I skied here the first time as a teenager in 1960. We lived in Medford and as I got old enough to drive, made the trip many times from the Rogue Valley to Shasta Ski Bowl. The weather could be challenging with wind and blowing snow producing whiteouts high on the mountain. But in the spring, there was no finer place to ski. I remember when an avalanche took out the mid-ramp. The cornices hanging on the ridge above the top of the chair were scary looking. I always figured if one let go, it would go all the way down to the lodge, and eventually it did. Among the things that killed the resort in my opinion, besides the weather and the avalanche issue was the development of Mt. Ashland on the Oregon/California border. When that opened, all the skiers from the Rogue Valley stopped driving all the way to Shasta. But I have very fond memories of some really great days at Shasta Ski Bowl. Thanks for putting this together.
I live in Medford as well. We go to Shasta a few times per season to ski. I enjoy it much more than Ashland.
Love Mt Ashland. Left an ACL there ;)
I lived in McCloud, which is just 12 miles from the ski bowl, for 30 years. Graduated from High School there in 1978 the year of the avalanche. This brings back a lot of memories, in fact I drove that snow cat shown in the picture with the two guy's working on the lift.
I wish I could've seen some of the great moments you experienced up there back then.
This is really cool
I've vacationed at Mt. Shasta since I was a kid and would hike up the access road to where the ski bowl used to be. Such a beautiful place.
Can you still get to ski bowl by car, or is the road closed?
@@brandiil8559 sometimes it's closed past bunny flat in the summer, but you can walk on the road another mile and get to where the base of the ski bowl used to be. Most times it's open all the way.
Fantastic walk down memory lane. Well done! I was a 7th grader at Sisson in Mt Shasta when the avalanche took out the towers.
I also drove the then dirt road to opening day at Mt Shasta Ski Park in ‘85.
There’s so much potential for amazing skiing in Siskiyou Co- The Eddy’s, Marbles, Trinity Alps, on and on. It would be a boon to the economically depressed region, but it doesn’t look like any development will happen any time soon.
Part of the problem is that many of the places you mention for potential ski resorts are either extremely remote, have poor road access, and/or are federally designated wilderness.
I was a lift operator at the ski park that first year when the road was unpaved... epic drive just to get there. Good times
I hiked through and up to Sargent's Ridge in 1973 with Doctor Geyman and his family and golden retriever. We walked through the lodge. The doctor told us kids about the new "Beginner lift" and we hiked over Green Butte to the cabin at Base Camp and met Doctor Geyman's wife-who made us sandiches and we drank from the spring.
Very interesting, thank you. I'll also mention that the McConnell Foundation formed by Carl and Leah continue to improve the world around us today.
I skied Shasta Ski Bowl when I was in high school, class of 1977. It was the windiest place I have been and I have windsurfed for 30 years. The chair often times was at about 45 degrees as you topped out. The base of the resort is at the bottom of “Avalanche Gulch”. I was there the weekend before the avalanche took it out. The pictures look great though. There has been a lot of pushback on developing Mt. Shasta, from the residents and mountaineers to the First Nation People.
the wind was the worst!
I skiied Shasta in the 1970s.
Thank you for the memories.
The constant lawsuits are so sad. Unless there was major negligence by the resort, skiing has inherent danger that any reasonable person can understand. Most just seem like they were cash grabs. I’m sure this still happens to resorts today. Curious what their liability insurance costs are. I can only imagine. Awesome video, very well done!!
What makes you think the lawsuits were cash grabs? A brief description in a newspaper piece doesn't convey all that happened in those incidents. The resort easily could have been at fault. Skiers assume some risk, yes, but not every risk. They don't assume the risk of injury from an improperly operated ski lift. Or the from the resort's failure to demarcate major hazards like a 20 foot drop into a parking lot. Many people think negligence lawsuits are all BS. That's because corporations (and the GOP) spent decades propagating the myth that negligence lawsuits are cash grabs, so that red states could then enact "tort reform" laws that make it impossible to sue corporations for injuries they inflict. I'm sure you've heard about the famous hot coffee lawsuit in which someone sued McDonald's because her coffee was too hot? Watch the documentary Hot Coffee. It's on CZcams I believe. It will open your eyes.
That was a true ski park, had a lot of fun there. We use to ski along side Everitt Rd. from Bunny Flat to Red Fir Flat
then hitchhike back up. There were plenty of cars to get a ride.
Thank you for reminding me of the '71 season with Shasta's bar consisting of planks on garbage cans. Ice cold beer!
Appreciate reading all those articles and gaining a better understanding of all the trials and tribulations that old ski bowl went through.
What an area it could've of been. The potential vertical drop was amazing!
....Having said that....I think this has to be one of the saddest 'Lost Resorts' episodes you have done to date. Its soo sad that to hear just how many assholes sued the ski area and even sadder to hear how a location that looks so promising on paper couldn't work in reality. It sounds to me like if they had started with an acsess gondola serving lower slopes and forest walking trails and a t-Bar above it, then, after a few years, built the chairlift a lot of money could have been saved on building, then maintaining the acsess road, which could have been a track during the summer and a green forest trail in the winter.
Yes, I think if they had done the main chairlift terrain pod in the timberline with a smaller T-Bar section in the high alpine, it would have worked a lot better for them. It wouldn't have been as long as the chairlift, but a T-Bar in an environment like that would've fared a lot better than the chairlift appeared to.
It's also unreal how many lawsuits the ski bowl was entangled up in. I was only able to find a resolution to one of them (the ski bowl had to pay a smaller sum than the lady initially wanted). Most of the lawsuits revolved somehow around the chairlift. Maybe it's because it was the 1950s/1960s and people just weren't as aware how chairlifts work? I don't know. I imagine a good lawyer also cost the Ski Bowl quite a bit.
It was more the result of multiple avalanches (hence the name"Avalanche Gulch") that would destroy chairlifts and endanger skiers.
The McConnell foundation says it all and with no powder on Shasta until last year no wonder they sold it off. I’m pissed they bought a bunch of machines instead of making new runs.
While I understand the sentiment it's also entirely possible that the chairlift was unsafe or dangerously operated. User error must of course be placed mainly on the user, if a resort offers a run recreational activity they should not be running an inherently dangerous operation. They should provide proper instruction to use the chairlift and maintain it properly. Chairlifts can be very safe but only if well maintained and operated with caution. It seems likely to me that in the 50s and 60s it is not just possible, but likely, that proper maintenance or training may have been neglected at times.
I felt like I was in for a treat today after watching just the intro! Thanks!
Thanks for this great video. I grew up in Yreka and learned to ski just after the Ski Bowl closed. As a kid in the 1980s and 90s, i remember writing to the developer of a planned new ski area in the old ski bowl, Carl Martin. He was the same guy who designed Squaw Valley. He took 16 yo me up to the new runs, showed me the plans, etc. So exciting at the time. The natives and mountain worshipers basically fought so hard that the new ski area was killed. Then the current Mt Shasta Ski Park was built, on private land, but it's so low elevation that the snow is often sparse and slushy. And the newest lift has a difficult access, also presumably because of the private property issue.
Yes it's unfortunate the original resort couldn't have worked out. At least the current ski park exists at all... it would be even worse if there was no skiing whatsoever after the ski bowl closed.
@@Skier72 The current ski park for lack of better words is pretty weak though, its so unreliable and barren most years, better to make the drive to tahoe or bachelor. I dont know which designer thought it would be wise to build a ski area on a south facing slope at 5500 feet but they really blew it. Its a shame what happened to the old ski bowl, I cant help but feel like in todays age with our current technology it could have been a viable operation, or at least rebuilt slightly lower below the treeline. Anyway thanks for the very interesting recap of it here, I think this is the most detailed story I ve seen on the old bowl
I skied Shasta back in the early 70s. We would ski Shasta then Mt. Ashland and then head to Batchlor. Fond memories and some 8mm movies to fill in the mental fog. It didn't have much pitch but you could get some steep runs by traversing along the western wall, on the right a you ski down, until you find a good spot to head straight down towards the chair lift. As I recall, this resort had an exposure facing the south which is not good.
THIS is an awesome video. Thank you. Lots of lawsuits. Beauty unparralled.
Man that bowl would be so sweet on some new skis! Wish I could take a time machine to that parking lot
Well, there's nothing stopping you from driving up to the Bunny Flat parking lot (6,950ft) and then hiking the remaining 2 miles up to the old ski bowl. Or take your snowmobile if you've got one. The mountain is still there in all it's timeless majesty...
It won’t keep me away I love Shasta.
Shredding a WAY OF LIFE!!!!!
Thanks for making this video
Great Work!! They're all awesome, but this one is your best yet! I find these super interesting because I manage a small ski area in WA state (Echo Valley). I really enjoyed the Pilchuck episode. Perhaps you could try to produce an episode on Yodelin? I've skied the backcountry remnants.... always wondered about that story.
Awesome video
I "attended" Chico State in the early '70s and broke my thumb taking a low, little jump. I crashed into a large boulder with my ski pole between the rock and pole. A ski patrol was right above me on the ski lift, which was very embarrassing. I just grabbed my thumb and kept skiing. There was nothing wrong that Mount Shasta did or didn't do, it was all my fault--but I really loved skiing there.
Great video. Had no idea about shasta ski bowl. Thanks!
Thank you for this random insightful video I came across at 4 am lol
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed!
Damn fine video, as are all your works! What an adventure it be if perhaps a connector gondola or tram could reopen that terrain.
Maybe not a ton of info, but would be cool to see you cover the old Milwaukee Ski Bowl here in Washington
Cool info 😎
Great video!
Love the channel! Great work
It was doomed from the beginning. My dad skied there alot and he would always say how crappy the conditions were, with a south facing completely exposed slope it was always extremely windy and with being exposed to the sun it was always a sheet of ice. The wind has been recorded at well over 100 mph not to mention it was built in a avalanche zone.
This. You can't have a completely south facing ski resort at that latitude and with no protecting mountains. Yes the terrain and bowls and sometimes even the snow probably resembled Switzerland but that is probably only 25% of the ski season.
Always wondered the story behind this area and yes its a very depressing story. Forest service should be ashamed for not being more accomidating with businesses that serve peoples recreation. After all its really the peoples land to begin with. Without people there is no forest service.
Posted this on our local Mount Shasta 'Nextdoor' community forum.
I would love to see a comparison between the Ski Bowl and Ski park footprints, lodges, access roads, and why the new one survives. Thanks!
The new areas lodge is at 5600'- 2200' lower than the old lodge. The top elevation for the new area is lower than the lodge at the old area. The Ski Park is a couple miles due south of the old area accessed from a different road. Both areas face mostly south, which is not so good for snow conditions, but the new area has trees for wind protection and visibility.
Lawsuits have something in common
True. Not sure why the chairlift seemed to cause so many people so much grief.
I worked at Mt. Shasta Board and Ski Park, and people always talked about the old Ski Bowl. I really wish they'd found the money to keep it going. It looks like wayy better terrain.
This resort sound liked such a good idea. Ruined by so many sueing assholes. So many mishaps happened. Like skiing is skiing, just go out and have fun. Luckily they were able to make another resort, so people could still ski.
Yeah I'm sure the ongoing legal fees contributed substantially towards the resort's declining balance sheet. I agree, it would be depressing if the current ski resort never got built. It's just ashame that a gem like the ski bowl couldn't have survived.
I wonder if people would still skin up it and ski it.@@Skier72
Different stokes for different folks!
Great video, you should do one on Stagecoach next!
We need more resorts. And safe lifts.
Could never happen these days with insurance ,liabilities, investors, also because it was built in an avalanche zone and while protected the ski bowl, somewhat, it is amazing that it took those years to level the area!
Subscribed!!! It would be great to see the history of Lassen Park Ski Area (U.S. National Park )
I haven't skied Shasta for over 50 years...
I would love to see this resort resurrected and connected with the current resort via a gondola. If another lift was installed to access the upper terrain above the old lift (near mud creek glacier and sargent's ridge), it would have some of the best terrain in California and could become another Mammoth mountain caliber destination
Thanks but us local people do not want to become a Bend, Mammoth, Aspen, Telluride etc.
@@ShastaTodd fair enough but the potential for it is still there though. Personally I would rather see "non-lift" resorts grow. Perhaps Shasta could be a place that offers high level skiing experiences and a welcoming adventure community but without the fluff and fanfare of those aforementioned places...
It does, Shasta has a great backcountry scene!@@kirkwoodbharris5110
No chance
This ski area could have really thrived in the current ski industry. So sad it didn’t survive
Yeah i don't know if it would do well today either. You are 200 miles from a large population (Sacramento?) The local population is pretty rural and not a high resort demographic. The other side of Shasta barely stares in the black as it is.
Please do one of these on Mt Lassen as it was an AMAZING place to ski before the mudslide took out the lift in the 96 storms(i believe it was 96).
it is called "Lassen Peak"
@@ShastaTodd pretty sure its either and not that big of a deal. Thanks nerd!
I'll definitely look into it for a future episode!
@@Skier72 that would be awesome! Good job on this one too.
@@ShastaToddmy family lived in Redding in the late '60's. Our house had a view of Mount Shasta from the backyard and Mount Lassen from the front. We skied both resorts. Mom ALWAYS referred to Lassen as Mount Lassen.
I skied on Shasta day t bar went down and before and after avalanche tore up chair free beer was given to all from wrecked lodge try that in this day
Sweet video 👍
I’ve looked this place up before and found there to be limited information available, very few pictures, and no actual film footage. I’m sure there has to be some films or more pictures in someone’s collection?
Agreed, I'm sure film footage exists somewhere, but I could not find any.
Thanks for putting in the work to get this together, cool story and you did a good job telling it
Enjoyed this however would of been nice to have detailed the final dispositions of all the law suits you cite. Thanks
I would have liked to, but I only know how the second one I cited turned out (the ski bowl had to pay a reduced sum to the woman who sued them). Other than that one, I don't know the resolutions to any of the lawsuits.
i rode here. they cant groom even runs to save their lives and the terrain parks feel slapped together versus actually measured. pretty area though
Are you talking about the current ski park or old ski bowl?
@@Skier72 current ski park. My bad. Got it mixed up!
Thx for making this. Beautifull place. Now i wonder how do these small european villages get away with installing vast ski infrastructure and apparently thrive compared to the relative small scale of installations on mount Shasta here? Subsidies? Closer to populated areas? I guess this area is less populated and thus can sustain less. Mount Shasta is miles out.
Most of the ski infrastructure in Europe is owned by the local municipalities. I think the only one in U.S. in Mount Ashland OR.
There is nowhere in Europe that is even comparably remote as Shasta is. France is roughly the combined size of Oregon and California and has nearly 70M people. Not only is Shasta miles out, it's farther away from the Bay Area than Lake Tahoe is, so why would they go there when they could go to Heavenly or Palisades, and for residents of SoCal it's even worse, like 8-10 hours away from Shasta by car and having to basically drive past Mammoth to get there. So, what's the next potential city to draw from? Portland would have to literally drive right past Mt. Hood. Reno is 15 minutes from Tahoe. Really the only market for Shasta is the minor cities in its immediate vicinity, like Redding and Eureka, and those aren't huge markets to draw from. It's kind of in the worst possible location from a market and competition perspective.
O yes, the vastness of the American continent is hard to grasp as a European. Follow on question is what drives or hinders Ski Areas in the US from developing? Land acquisition? Permits? Environmental concerns? Ticket prices are through the roof, there sure is demand is there?@@mack.attack
@@tvanwestrenen I think that Americans tend to have a different attitude toward land development when it comes to ski areas and ski infrastructure. For an example, look up the Little Cottonwood Canyon Gondola controversy. I think in Europe that gondola would have been built years ago but it is facing lawsuit after lawsuit and very vehement opposition on the grounds of what it will do to the wild character of canyon (and I honestly agree with the opposition). If you look at the ski areas in Utah on Google Earth, we have Brighton, Solitude, Alta, Snowbird, Park City Mountain Resort, and Deer Valley all basically adjacent to each other. In Europe they probably would have interconnected decades ago, but again there is very vehement opposition to this from other users of these wilderness areas like hikers and backcountry skiers who think that the ski resorts have already gone too far in development. The other issues are that the ski areas here are generally completely private operations with no government involvement, usually on land leased from the Forest Service, although some resorts like Snowbird mostly own the land they operate on. This means there's not the public/government involvement you tend to see in Europe.
@@tvanwestrenen uhhh I wrote a whole big response to you but now my response disappeared so I don't know if comments are being deleted or what if so that's disappointing to see from this videos creator
They need to build another ski resort up there
will never happen
The wind is terrible and with no trees for depth perception it was a bad place to ski
Get you a set of touring skis and it’s all open to you.
This!
I've skied it twice in the past week. Skinning up the road from the parking lot at Bunny Flat is a very gradual climb through old growth forest. Quiet, save for the occasional roar of snowmobiles. The old ski bowl makes a fine day tour. The T-Bar line is still evident off the shoulder of Green Butte. This line makes a fine low-risk descent back to the road.
@@rcordray510I really would like to make it up there one day. Thanks for the recent report. Inspiring! The crowds here around Tahoe are too much.
@@rcordray510do you have the share that good terrain with the snowmobilers? (The old ski bowl)
Yes, but on weekdays, we only saw a few of them. The riders all seemed courteous and gave us two-plankers a wide berth.
The Mountain Won. Hopefully someday y'all will understand why 🧙🤯💓🤔
Need to do one on the resort on Mt Lassen...
There is no "Mt. Lassen". It is called: Lassen Peak
@@ShastaTodd Lassen Peak was originally named Mount Lassen but was officially changed to Lassen Peak in 1922 by the United States Board on Geographic Names. Most locals call it Mount Lassen though. The only people that call it Lassen Peak are tourists, transplants, or dorks.
@@ShastaTodd as Trampland said, I dont know any of us locals that call it Lassen Peak, thats strictly for tourists
@ShastaTodd my family lived in Redding in the late '60's. Our house had a view of Mount Shasta from the backyard and Mount Lassen from the front. We skied both resorts. Mom, ALWAYS referred to Lassen as Mount Lassen.
Note legendary but they did double the resort property in the last 2 years. So they know something about the weather changes. Shasta is generally wet ack but cheap and worth it. Hard on beginners. Go to mt batchelor
12:05 Was over 2,000ft drop
Do your next video on a resort that closed down really recently, or candy mountain in Ontario.
Next video is Fortress, Alberta
It’s sad people sue such an amazing place
Was this edited on Apple iMovie? The titles look like it. Good stuff though.
😂yes sadly
It's not the software that matters. It's the quality of the content.
I made a bunch of films with iMovie. It does the job. Only the titles give it away.
Imagine a 6 dollar lift ticket...
Too bad they didn’t have the season pass concept. Maybe that could have helped ?
10:48 LMFAO
That place is haunted man
Youd think theyd have the lawsuits handled after so much experience
4:27 Nitpicking here, but I'm not sure I understand your math. Cutting a valuation of $140,000 in half would result in a valuation of $70,000, no?
Good question. Perhaps I should have elaborated further in the video (believe me, a lot got cut out of the final edit). My apologies for the confusion.
In 1960, the ski bowl had an assessed valuation of $140,000. That year, the county cut the assessed valuation to $77,000 (which I glossed over). Then in 1961, due to the financial troubles the resort faced, the valuation was cut again to $37,000.
Got it - Thanks very much for the response. I was merely curious. Excellent video on a really interesting subject. Seems like quite a few bad decisions in the early stages doomed the resort in that location (including choosing that location). That first ski lodge looked so cool and futuristic for its time - too bad it burnt down...
Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like most of these lawsuits could be described as "people got injured because they didn't know how to ski so they sued the mountain". I'm no fan of lawyers, but c'mon people - you're choosing to slide down a snow covered mountain at 25 mph...take some responsibility for yourselves.
Yeah. It's also strange the amount of misloads on the chairlift that ended up in lawsuits. Also not sure why the GM and lift manufacturer were included in lots of the lawsuits.
As has been said before, America does not have a justice system. It has a legal system. Lawyers always win.
That area too far away from a major city & sounds like it was cursed from the start
Only in America: Anyone can sue anyone for anything at any time. Sad. Plaintiff attorney lobbyists control lawmaking, ensuring their lucrative business.
And people from Europe wonder why American ski resorts have so many rules. We love to sue each other apparently.
Note to self...Do not try to open a business in sue happy California!!
Too bad it wasn't expanded earlier because even with its flaws it would probably still be around...
It’s unfortunate that at least one of the Pacific NW’s massive volcanos doesn’t have an epic ski area. Think 6k-7k vert, massive snow base, year-round skiing, good and plentiful lodging at the base, first-class environment design. Perhaps Boring Co tunnels for the top lifts, if a lot of wilderness folks object to seeing a gondola mar the view. So, so many person-days of enjoyment being blocked by a very vocal few. The US has 340M people and tons of spending money now. This is not 1970. The demand for at least one world-class resort would be phenomenal.
The ski boel was just below "AVALANCHE GULCH".