Sugar Bowl Ski Resort recently celebrated its 75th anniversary of opening on Dec. 15, 1939. Known as the Grand Dame of California resorts, it represents a long and colorful ski history.
Editor’s Note: Read Part II.
During the 1930s, long before the winter resort build up at Lake Tahoe, the Donner Summit region boasted the most extensive concentration of rope tows, ski clubs and ski trails in the United States. The establishment of Sugar Bowl raised the level of skill and enjoyment of alpine skiing exponentially with its prime terrain and California’s first chairlift.
Ski area development began on the Summit in the 1920s when two entrepreneurial brothers, Oscar and Herstle Jones, arrived at Soda Springs in 1922. At the time, there were no hotel or visitor services along the railroad between Truckee and Colfax. In 1924. Oscar paid $5,000 for a plot of land near Donner Pass and on Dec 10, 1927, the men opened the 20-room Soda Springs Hotel.
Lacking up-hill lift technology, the Jones’ utilized horses and sleighs for winter transport and to haul skiers. A packed trail through the snow was blazed down to Donner Lake. Skiers starting their run from the summit would arrive at the base of the mountain where they would be met by a horse-drawn sleigh that towed them back to the hotel.
Oscar Jones’ son, Dennis, played a pivotal role in the Summit’s development as a commercial winter sports destination. While attending school in Switzerland, Jones learned the telemark turn (single bended knee) and the stem Christy (ski tips together and tails apart to turn and brake) from European instructors. He also learned the new Arlberg System, where skiers used two poles, not one, and linked dynamic parallel turns down the slope, the style made popular by legendary Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider. After opening a ski school at the Soda Springs Hotel, Dennis was among the first California ski instructors to teach the new technique.
Johnny Ellis was the man who probably pioneered the earliest rope tow on the Summit, installing one in 1936-37 at Lake Mary near Sugar Bowl. Jones and Ellis knew each other and both men realized that getting skiers to the top of the slope quickly and easily was the main challenge inhibiting the rapid growth of alpine skiing. In the mid to late 1930s, rope tow mania swept the nation and operations popped up everywhere in snow country. As people learned that they could grab a moving rope and be pulled quickly up the slope, instead of spending a whole day of arduous climbing for just one or two runs, downhill skiing grew in popularity.
Sugar Bowl, California’s first true alpine resort, was much larger than other nearby operations and its $39,000 chairlift enabled a skier to sit down for a leisurely ride up the mountain. The lift accessed slopes higher than 8,000 feet with challenging runs and a vertical drop of 1,500 feet. Located along the Sierra Crest, Sugar Bowl receives an average 42 feet of snowfall in winter, hence the name.
The Sugar Bowl had drawn adventurous off-piste skiers for years before its dramatic transformation into a popular resort. In July 1937, Austrian ski racer Hannes Schroll toured the area at the request of fellow countrymen Bill and Fred Klein. The Klein brothers had been teaching skiing in the area and dreamed of building a resort at Sugar Bowl, but didn’t have the money.
The Klein’s had met Hannes at the Badger Pass ski area in Yosemite National Park where he was Ski School Director. The Klein brothers knew that Schroll had developed friendships with prominent Bay Area businessmen and hoped that Hannes could get the funding to make a first-class alpine resort like they remembered from their childhood days in the Austrian Alps.
In 1938, Schroll quit his position at Badger Pass and together with a group of wealthy friends incorporated the San Francisco-based Sugar Bowl Corporation. Schroll was elected as first president of the company and they purchased the necessary 700 acres for less than $7,000 from two sisters who lived in Sacramento and leased the meadow area to sheepherders each summer. Despite the Great Depression, after a story circulated that the cartoonist, animator and movie producer Walt Disney was one of the principal investors, it gave the company credibility to sell more stock. As the resort was developed, one of the peaks was named Mount Disney.
When the resort opened to the public in 1939, Sugar Bowl turned out to be everything its founders had hoped for. It was the perfect blend of European charm and grace coupled with the young exuberance of the western United States. The resort quickly became the darling of San Francisco socialites and the Hollywood crowd. Sugar Bowl Lodge, designed by the noted architect William W. Wurster, was built with a broad porch and balcony that overlooked spectacular scenery. It was the first ski lodge on the Pacific Coast built within walking distance of the lifts. Below the lodge were a ski shop, ski rental department, lockers and rest rooms – all open to the public. The lodge could accommodate up to 20 people in private rooms, with two dormitories (one for men and one for women) that could each sleep 10.
Hannes Schroll was a natural at drawing publicity and he began thinking of ways to attract some of the best skiers in the world to his new resort. Schroll wanted something to rival Sun Valley’s famous Harriman Cup begun in 1937. In April 1940, Sugar Bowl hosted its first annual Silver Belt race, a giant slalom run that began near the top of Mount Lincoln at 8,383 feet and then plummeted 1,300 vertical feet down steep terrain through gullies, cliffs and bumps.
Before the formation of the international World Cup ski competition, Sugar Bowl’s legendary Silver Belt was considered one of the most challenging races of its era. Each year, many of the champions and top-ranked skiers of the day competed, hoping to take home the 3-foot-long, silver-studded belt with a silver buckle. The trophy was based on an award given to “Cornish Bob” Oliver who had won the first official championship ski race in 1867 at La Porte, when he took home a silver belt prize worth $75.
Stay tuned for Part II.
Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker. His award-winning books are available at local stores or at thestormking.com. Reach him at mark@thestormking.com. Check out Mark’s blog at tahoenuggets.com.
