Determined to avoid wipeout

Mt. Baldy Resort fights to stay open amid fierce competition

- BY JACK DOLAN

CHRISTINA HOUSE Los Angeles Times ZAC CHAMBERS teaches his daughter Whitney, 6, to snowboard on Mt. Baldy.

For the handful of skiers gliding across a sun-drenched ridge high in the San Gabriel Mountains, the wide expanse of the Inland Empire stretched to the Pacific Ocean nearly two vertical miles below.

Across sparkling water, the rugged spine of Catalina Island graced the horizon.

The view rivaled anything at the posh, world-renowned ski resorts of Lake Tahoe, but this was humble Mt. Baldy — the familiar local mountain that, for a few precious weeks each year, becomes a downhill skiing destination that holds its own with anything in the American West.

Last week — after the 10,000-foot summit that looms above Los Angeles emerged from storm clouds blanketed in white — was one for the ages.

But in a rapidly warming world, and in an industry dominated by two huge and growing conglomerates that are crushing the competition, every run feels fleeting.

These days, managing a small ski business is like trying to keep a mom-and-pop general store afloat after Walmart comes to town.

By noon Feb. 25 on Mt. Baldy—a little more than an hour's drive from downtown L.A. — it was getting pretty hot, and the snow was melting fast.

For a skier racing between towering Jeffrey pines and plummeting through soft, slushy piles of forgiving snow, the hardest part dodging exposed rocks and random tree limbs that appeared underfoot with alarming frequency.

The hardest part for the business is the fact that one of the conglomerates, Alterra Mountain Co., essentially surrounds Mt. Baldy.

It owns Big Bear Mountain Resort and Snow Summit in nearby San Bernardino County, and Mammoth Mountain, the closest big resort in California's High Sierra.

Although a season pass at Mt. Baldy is a relative bargain at about $300, it's good only when there's snow.