Mountain High history

It was also hoped that the completion of the jump would convince the International Olympic Committee to award the 1932 Winter Olympic Games to Big Pines.

He helped design the runs and when Sun Valley opened in 1936, he was the first person to ride the world’s first chairlift.

In 1941, Frank Springer and Tom Triol began operating Blue Ridge Ski Area (now Mountain High West) on the former slopes of Big Pines Park.

The single chair, completed in January 1947, was Southern California’s second chairlift, the third in California, and only the fifth chairlift in the United States.

In 1948, Josef “Sepp” Benedikter began clearing trails at a neighboring ski area called Holiday Hill (now Mountain High East). Benedikter had been lured from his native Austria to assist W. Averill Harriman develop his Sun Valley, Idaho ski resort.

By 1949, Benedikter was operating a little rope tow at Holiday Hill.

In 1950, with financial backing from John Steinmann, he built a 5,800-foot long double chairlift, almost twice the length of any other lift in Southern California at the time.

Steinmann bought out Benedikter in late 1951 and the Steinmann family would go on to own and operate the area for nearly 30 years.

Rocky Mountain High School was established in 1973 by combining sophomores and juniors from Fort Collins High School and Poudre High School.

Another chairlift had been installed by 1975, when Dick Woodworth and Bill Ciserio bought the area and renamed it Mountain High.

Rocky was completely redesigned and reconstructed in 1994-95.

In June 1997, Mountain High Ski Area was purchased by a company today known as Mountain High Holdings LLC. A dramatic transformation took place that summer which included the renovation of everything from lifts to grooming equipment to snowmaking facilities.