Mountain High - History

History

Coinciding with the population growth of Southern California in the 1920s, 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 of that time 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 (74 m).

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 sold by its original owners, it was renamed Mountain High.

The Mountain High East Resort, originally known as Holiday Hill, opened in 1948. In the 1960s, the cost of a lift ticket was $1.50. 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. Table Mountain has been used previously as a U.S. Geologic Survey site and a Smithsonian Museum site.