Climate change has thrown a wrench in the operations of many a ski resort, Southern California's Mount Waterman among them. The New York Times reports the modest ski hill managed to open for just a few dozen days during the droughts that hit the state from 2011 to 2017; more recently, wildfires have crept toward the base of the resort and closed down the main road to the mountain. That makes the investment group Angeles Mountain Partners' bet on Mount Waterman a massive gamble.
They're under contract to buy the resort and intend to morph it from a three-chairlift spot into something much more posh and expansive, complete with glamping cabins, an exclusive club that would grant private access on "powder days" and helicopter access when that main road is closed, a snowmaking system, and disc golf for the summer months. Considering its 60-minute driving distance from downtown LA, Mount Waterman "has a potential customer base of over 10 million people," notes the Times, which could make it "worth far more than the ski resort's list price—$2.275 million. But if environmental threats persist, it could be worth almost nothing."
Encouraging and discouraging stats abound: Last year's ski season was the fifth busiest ever, and the one prior ranked No. 1, with 65.4 million ski visits in the US. But a 2021 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study predicted snowfalls in the Western US will shrink by as much as 30% by the 2050s. The feds could potentially thwart some of their plans, too: The Los Angeles Times reported in November that the US Forest Service will have to approve the would-be owner's plans, and it may balk at the idea of members getting any kind of exclusive access, which is exactly what the prospective owners are pushing. Powder quotes this blurb: "In some cultures, fresh tracks are reserved for royalty. In LA, they're for the Waterman 100." (More ski resort stories.)
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