One ski resort’s long-shot bet to survive low snowfall and devastating wildfires

For much of its 85-year existence, the Mount Waterman resort has drawn skiers and outdoor enthusiasts from around Los Angeles for its no-fuss, no-frills experience.

Unlike all other ski hills in Southern California, Mount Waterman, the closest mountain resort to Los Angeles, didn’t make snow (its motto has long been “Praying for snow since 1939”), and it has only a modest warming hut and three chair lifts. But its steep inclines and access to backcountry terrain kept loyal snow-sports fans coming back.

“It’s steep, gladed — one of the greatest places I’ve skied,” said Michael Melton, a board member of the Buckhorn Ski Lodge, a private lodge near Mount Waterman. “It doesn’t have the acreage of a Palisades Tahoe, but it has the punch.”

That rustic experience will soon get a face-lift — the ski hill is under contract to be sold to an investment group, Angeles Mountain Partners LLC, with a more aggressive business vision. The new owners, Josh Shelton, an entertainment lawyer, and Scott Towsley, a veteran of ski-area construction in Southern California, have plans for an amphitheater and glamping cabins. They also plan to add a snow-making system and offer a club-membership program that would give skiers helicopter access to Mount Waterman.

But for all of their big ideas, the ski hill has for years been hit hard with existential climate threats. From 2011 through 2017, the most severe drought years in recorded California history, Mount Waterman opened for only a few dozen days as it battled higher temperatures, less snowfall and destructive wildfires.

In recent years, wildfires have come to the edge of Mount Waterman’s acreage, threatening to wipe out the resort, and have closed down Highway 2, the main road that leads to the mountain.

If conditions are right, Shelton and Towsley’s bet on Mount Waterman, which has a potential customer base of more than 10 million people within a two-hour drive, could be worth far more than the ski resort’s list price — $2.275 million. But if environmental threats persist, it could be worth almost nothing.

Although the ski industry has been increasingly challenged by erratic environmental threats, snow sports are more popular than ever. Since the 1980s, more than 50 resorts in the United States have closed — and nearly all of the hundreds that remain have had to invest heavily in expensive snow-making systems, as low snowfall continues to threaten their business.

Climate change — “the No. 1 threat to the snow-sports industry,” according to the National Ski Areas Association — is expected to shorten the seasons and make them unpredictable at many resorts in the coming decades.

A 2021 study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that snowfalls in the Western United States were projected to decrease 20% to 30% by the 2050s. And since 2009, over 300,000 acres of the San Gabriel Mountains, which include Mount Waterman, have burned in three major fires. In 2020, a fire came to the edge of Mount Waterman’s acreage. In September, a fire breached the boundaries of Mount High, a ski area nearby, and consumed part of a chairlift.

“Every single year is a mystery,” said Mike Reitzell, president of the California Ski Industry Association. “What business goes into every year wondering, ‘I wonder how this year is going to go?’ without having any clue?”

Despite the climate risks, Shelton and Towsley have a lot to be optimistic about: The ski industry’s 2022-23 season was the busiest ever, with 65.4 million visits; this past season was the fifth-busiest on record, according to the National Ski Areas Association. The industry in the United States generates upward of $5.5 billion annually. Mount Waterman requires about $4,000 daily to operate and if 200 skiers show up, brings in gross revenues of more than $15,000, said Marc Ramirez, the listing agent for its sale.

And although there are more hills operating today than about a decade ago, owning one is still a rare opportunity. “It is less likely for new ski areas to come online completely,” said Adrienne Saia Isaac, until recently a spokesperson for the National Ski Areas Association.

Much of that, said Kelly Pawlak, the outgoing CEO of the association, is because barriers like “cost, permitting and identifying appropriate terrain” make it hard to build new ski areas.

The scarcity of ski hills is, in part, what had attracted Shelton. “I’m not sure another opportunity will ever come or exist — forever — anywhere near Los Angeles,” he said. It’s also what attracted many of the interested buyers who reached out to Ramirez, the listing agent, who said that at one point, he was receiving 50 to 70 inquiries from prospective buyers per day.

Shelton, who has never skied on the mountain, said he was “consumed by the holy spirit” of Mount Waterman. Towsley will oversee operations and capital improvements.

Shelton and Towsley’s ownership of Mount Waterman will be a break from the ski hill’s past, which has a history of family ownership. Its most recent owners, brothers Brien and Rick Metcalf, bought the mountain resort with three friends in 2006 from Lynn Newcomb Jr., who along with his brother, Ren, helped their father, Lynn Sr., establish the ski hill in 1939. Lynn Jr. personally managed it into the 1990s. The Metcalfs had skied regularly on Mount Waterman since they were in high school in the 1980s, when snow levels enabled the mountain to remain open for months on end.

“It’s a whole different vibe than a lot of other ski areas that are packed with people,” Rick Metcalf said. “People are happy and smiling and having a great time. That’s the reason I bought it.”

When the Metcalfs took over the business, it had been closed for more than six years — after business groups had taken it over from the Newcombs in the 1990s, and was at risk of losing its permit. The Metcalfs invested more than $1 million to repair aging lifts and renew the operating permit from the Angeles National Forest but changed essentially nothing else. Mount Waterman reopened in December 2008.

But amid road closures, staffing shortages and reliance on natural snow, Mount Waterman has managed to open only seven seasons since 2008, for a total of fewer than 30 days under the Metcalfs. (Nearby, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, owned by the industry giant Alterra, produce snow on 100% of their runs.)

After 18 years, the Metcalfs decided even charm and nostalgia weren’t enough for an uncooperative mountain and listed the resort for sale in April.

The sale includes the ski lifts and buildings and the right to operate 390 skiable acres under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The permit allows the new owners to build a new chairlift and establish new runs.

Shelton and Towsley intend to make some changes in hopes of bringing in additional income. In addition to a snow-making system, an amphitheater and glamping cabins, they plan to offer year-round disc golf and archery, as well as add biking trails and a snow tubing area, Towsley said. The club-membership program, called Waterman100, is designed to bring an infusion of cash that can fund many of the upgrades. Members will get private access to “powder days,” when the snow is fresh, lockers on the mountain and helicopter access when Highway 2 is closed, which is often. Waterman100 will not affect daily and season pass holders, Shelton said.

Other ski hills large and small around the country have diversified their offerings, with varying success.

Paige Perfect, a spokesperson for Timberline Mountain, a ski resort area in West Virginia, said nonski activities, such as the Brew With a View beer festival and ARToberfest art festival, were natural extensions of Timberline’s core business.

But Bob Maddox, owner of Snowy Range in Wyoming, said renting his space for activities like weddings had been more trouble than they were worth. His advice to other operators: “Don’t go bankrupt doing something stupid in the summer.”

Shelton and Towsley are relying on their business acumen and fate.

“Obviously Mount Waterman is not Mammoth in any regard,” said Shelton, referring to one of California’s storied megaresorts. “It’s a little funky and needs a little love, and we think it’s awesome for what it is.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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