The Mount Baldy Ski Lifts, or "Baldy", is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

located on Mount San Antonio—Mount Baldy in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

. It is in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

, Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is located from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the closest city to the ski resort.

History

The vintage ski lifts were installed in 1952 by Harwood Developments. They were operated as Mt Baldy Ski Lifts Inc, and managed by Herbert Leffler from 1953 until his retirement in 1969. The resort was sold to an investment group in 1969.

Facilities

The ski resort features traditional runs, open bowls, chutes, and tree runs; and claims to be the "largest and steepest resort in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

," with 26 runs and four chair lifts spanning 3 mountains featuring a peak elevation of . Baldy spans with a vertical drop. The ski area is multi-directional, with portions of the main ski area facing south or southwest and other portions north-facing. Thunder Mountain areas serviced by Chair 3 are north-facing, resulting in longer-lasting snow conditions. The majority of the steep Chair 1 terrain down to the base area and parking lot along with the Chair 4 portion of the resort faces west and south, resulting in frequent spring conditions and corn snow. Snow on the lower portion of the mountain is typically hard with afternoon softening on north-facing slopes due to brief thaw/shade conditions. In times of abundant snowfall, prior to complete solar melting of the snowpack on south-facing slopes, there is sunny skiing on the slopes from Chair 4 down to the base area. The annual snowfall of Mt Baldy is highly variable, as is the case across the southern California mountains. In some seasons there is insufficient natural snow to operate the ski area for more than a few days (if at all). In other seasons, (particularly certain

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...

years), several feet of snow can accumulate and provide for good daily operation of the ski area and widespread off-piste skiing.

Lifts

Chairs #1 and #3 were built in 1952 by Ringer Chairlifts and featured double swiveling chairs which allowed riders just to stand up when unloading. The chairs would automatically move out of the way. The design was not without its flaws and did not take in account people's instincts to move away from the unloading area as soon as possible. Ringer Chairlifts went out of business just two years later. In 1975 Swiss company

GMD Mueller GMD may refer to: * Ben Slimane Airport, in Morocco * Gambian dalasi, the currency of Gambia by ISO 4217 code * Game (retailer), a British video game retailer * GDP-mannose 4,6-dehydratase, in enzymology * General material designation, in library ...

was contracted to upgrade the existing lifts reusing the old towers and to build chairs #2 and #4.

Gallery

File:Mount Baldy Ski Area California.JPG, Chair #4 at Mt. Baldy File:Mount Baldy Over Looking LA.JPG, Skiing overlooking Los Angeles File:Mount Baldy Mountain.JPG, Skiing at Mt. Baldy File:Mount Baldy Skiing.JPG, Skiers at Mt. Baldy File:Mount Baldy Ski Mountain.JPG, The base of Chair #2 at Mt. Baldy with Thunder Mountain in the background

References

External links

* {{California Ski areas navbox Ski areas and resorts in California Sports venues in San Bernardino County, California San Gabriel Mountains