Why Disney’s Insane Attempt at a Ski Resort FAILED

There are so many ironies here. The land had originally been excluded from Sequoia National Park because it was degraded by mining and other activities,and was considered unsuitable for inclusion in the park. The environmentalists killed off a ski area that would have had a railway rather than auto access, resulting in more people driving to Mammoth and Tahoe. The Independence Lake ski area would have moved a lot of development away from Lake Tahoe, but it was opposed, among others, by people in Truckee (population 2000 at that time) who were afraid it would cause growth. Instead, Northstar, Palisades Tahoe, etc. grew dramatically and Truckee expanded to a population of 17,000. Tahoe is overwhelmed with traffic on weekends, and the state of the lake is degraded.

It’s always a great day when a new Peak Rankings video comes out

North America needs 3 new major resorts per year for at least 10 years. It's ridiculous that europe has resorts all over the place with people economically enjoying the outdoors and we have two corporations monopolizing the finite number of resorts for profit. More people outdoors in winter is good. If we have ample facilities it won't be overcrowded. People don't like crowds.

These environmental groups lose sight of the fact ski resorts can help people appreciate the outdoors.

Wow, crazy that you just uploaded this. I was researching this all winter this season learning about this. I'm always surprised that CA doesn't have more ski resorts, we have so many great mountains that could potentially be large and awesome ski resorts, hope maybe in the future we'll have some more options! Thanks for the history!

I too want to protect national parks from overdevelopment but I'm generally supportive of these types of developments that allow more people to experience the outdoors and the parks themselves w/ minimal environmental impact. IMO a road or railway w/ this in purpose in mind (not commercial shipping for example) should almost always be allowed.

I’ve been waiting for this one ever since you teased it in the trail designation video! Great job with this one guys!

I’ve been to Mineral King a couple of times. It would have made an incredible ski resort — one of the best, if not the best in California. The ears was heavily mined and was considered an environmental disaster, which is why it wasn’t originally part of Sequoia National Park.

What wasn’t stated was Dave McCoy, owner/operator of Mammoth Mountain at the time, stood to likely be put out of business by Mineral King which is 2-3 hours closer to the huge L.A. market. In response, McCoy , ironically, became a huge financial contributor to the Sierra Club and its relentless lawsuits. The S.C. and McCoy were ultimately successful in their parallel goal of killing Disney’s plans to build Mineral King. So, Vail, Alterra, and a handful of other large owner/operators have successfully been able to limit the supply of new ski resort development, through their tacit if not active support of environmental lobby groups since the 1970’s. Limit supply; monopolize and increase prices. This, and skier lawsuits are a main reasons skiing is so prohibitively expensive in the U.S.

Great video! Didn't know about the plan to have it be rail access only. What a shame it didn't come to fruition, I feel like the North American ski market is really missing something like Zermatt in that way. Also the fact that it would have been massive and probably themed across the mountain really makes me feel we missed out on something special in the end. As a planner, hearing you talk about the regulations and legal challenges piling on certainly sounds familiar for me. Anyway, great video! I give it 5 'Howevers' out of 5!

Very well researched piece. I just got back from a vacation in Silver City in Mineral King. Drove up to the end of the road in the valley where Disney had proposed his development. Gorgeous. Talked with a local there who said people built cabins there in the 1960’s speculating on the Disney deal. They’re still there. By the way, Mineral King Road into the area is a 1 1/2 hour very intense drive with no guard rails to protect from shear cliff drops. I can see why it’s still a remote, secluded area.

your content is world class. so interesting and well researched.

I think it is the classic tension between access to nature vs preservation. Ironically, increased access can help with preservation as more people come to appreciate the natural wonders of our world and country as they are exposed to it.

Seeing for what the plans for Mineral King Valley actually looked like, its a shame the ski resort was never built because it looked like it would have been an amazing location. This video also hits on fundamental problem of how you should balance protecting nature vs allowing people to enjoy nature. I imagine the people in the area would have been better off if the ski resort was built, and California already has 20 National Forests that protecting one valley that initially wasn't in one does little to nothing in actually protecting nature.

My wife's aunt is the reason this didn't get built. She spearheaded the entire opposition movement, to this day they still call her the mayor of Mineral King.

This is a super great video, I'd love to see some more historic coverage of the ski industry.

Even if the Sierra Club hadn't intervened, the road going in would have probably killed it. Governor Brown (Jerry's dad) approved using state funds to improve the road, but Governor Reagan pulled the funding and Disney didn't want to foot the huge cost for that. If you've ever driven that road, you would understand. It makes Little Cottonwood look like a cakewalk. There were plans for a ski resort further south of this area, but questionable area for a resort and now in Wilderness designation. Also Trail Peak to the southeast was a planned resort, but I think they realized snowfall was unreliable there, so that never happened and now it is Wilderness. Even earlier in the 40's to 50's, San Gorgonia in South Cal was proposed as a ski area, but never happened and now it is also Wilderness designation. The days of Dave McCoy, Wayne Poulson. and Ernie Blake, etc are long gone.

I like the story/history in this ski video. Really interesting. Thanks for researching this and showing all the articles so I could pause and read them.

I lived in Lone Pine and many old timers there talked about Horseshoe Meadows Road was build by Disney as part of trying to develop the ski resort.

Great video Sam. Imagine lift ticket prices had Disney owned a resort. Single day tickets may have been $350 right now. 😬