Potential new owners intend to revitalize the historic Mount Waterman ski resort in the Angeles National Forest, selling wealthy clients exclusive access to coveted powder days and offering chartered helicopter rides. The idea is to carry them up the mountain.
However, there is a problem. The federal agency, which has final say on what can be done at the intimate 390-acre resort, has not approved such plans and has said it is reluctant to sanction anything that suggests exclusivity.
“We are confident that we will not allow any type of exclusive use,” said Justin Seastrand of the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees public service personnel areas in the Angeles National Forest.
This could be a major blow to the business plans of its future owner, a limited liability company known as Angeles Mountain Partners. They argue that revenue from the club, which they call the “Waterman 100” club after its membership, could help fund improvements that would benefit all visitors. The words “exclusive,” “exclusive,” and “exclusivity” appear at least 20 times in presentations to potential members.
Joshua Shelton and Scott Towsley, co-founders of Angeles Mountain Partners, wanted to transform this 80-year-old no-frills resort into a modern outdoor playground featuring glamping, a mountain coaster, and a tubing hill. I’m planning it. , fine dining and snowmaking capabilities.
Shelton said club members can claim their mountain on “powder days,” or bluebird days when conditions are at their peak right after a storm. However, he acknowledged that the owners cannot guarantee snow.
“The risks they are willing to take will help us insure the entire winter season and the entire resort,” attorney Shelton said of the potential members.
His partner, Towsley, is a winter resort industry veteran who operates Alpine coaster parks in Big Bear and Arizona.
How can we get around the fact that the winding section of Highway 2 that leads to the resort is often closed due to heavy snow? “The solution is a helicopter,” the presentation said, calling for chartered flights to get the snow. He points out an on-site helipad that can quickly transport people up the mountain.
Shelton will discuss plans to expand the resort’s helipad and turn it into a scenic spot for tourists.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The membership is advertised as offering lifetime access, but federal officials said that is not the case.
A business plan provided to the Times set the price for the first 25 members at $100,000. Under the plan, costs would rise by $50,000 for every 25 members, with members between the ages of 76 and 100 paying $250,000. This adds up to an annual fee of $5,000 per member per plan and up to $17.5 million in revenue. Shelton said dues have not been finalized and those numbers were used in modeling.
He also said Forest Service officials misunderstood his plan for the club and believed its purpose was to sell the land to these people and exclude the general public altogether. “That’s the furthest thing from what we want here,” he said.
Shelton’s team later removed the Waterman 100 description from the club’s webpage, citing an “overflow of submissions” and plans to “edit some language.”
Grand plans – but no guarantees
The ski area, touted as the closest resort skiing to the L.A. Basin’s millions of residents, began with a modest rope pull in 1939, according to the resort’s website. That same year, Highway 2, also known as the Angeles Crest Highway, broke through the San Gabriel Mountains, paving the way for the crowds. Located just off the highway, the resort expanded over time with its first lift opening in 1941 and two more over the next 40 years. However, the excavation site remains rustic and simple.
Shelton stands with his Bernese mountain dog, Bodhi, near the base of the resort just off Angeles Crest Highway.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The resort, which includes three chairlifts, a ticket office, a heated cabin with a full kitchen, and several snowmobiles and snowmobiles, was listed for $2.3 million earlier this year.
Shelton said Angeles Mountain Partners has entered into a purchase agreement with a group of friends led by owner Rick Metcalf. Metcalfe grew up in the foothills of La Cañada Flintridge and learned to ski at the resort from an early age. A news release from Angeles Mountain Partners in October announced that the group had acquired the resort. Shelton said in an interview that the sale is not yet closed.
The resort is more than 8,000 feet above sea level and located on federally owned National Forest land, and anyone wishing to operate there requires a special use permit from the Forest Service.
Seastrand said the agency had not received any permit applications as of last week, but prospective buyers have begun discussions with the agency and handed over documents and other information.
Listing agent and longtime resort employee Mark Ramirez said he is excited about the prospect of revitalizing business under a future owner. “If you go to Los Angeles, 10 out of 100 people only know of Mount Waterman,” he said. “What the hell is that?”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Providing a place for people to hit the slopes is a “good use” of land, but the benefits of powder skiing need to be balanced with the protection of plants and wildlife, as well as the safety of visitors. Seastrand said.
Shelton stressed that his group is committed to working closely with federal land managers and taking all necessary steps forward. He pointed to his legal background and said the regulations were “a guide for us to do things the right way.”
Seastrand said the agency looks forward to working with the future owner. The messages may have gotten mixed up, he said, “but that’s okay.” “We want what’s best for the public that comes to use our land, and we want what’s best for our business partners.”
Hope for hidden gems that are no longer used
Newcomb’s Ranch, the former restaurant down the road from the ski area, has closed, but some say it may reopen under new ownership. Justin Seastrand of the U.S. Forest Service said “in theory” a revitalized resort “would help them.”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
A lifelong snowboarder, Shelton grew up in the Los Angeles area but had never set foot in the majestic fragrant pine-dotted mountains of the north, let alone descended the slopes of Mount Waterman. I saw this resort for sale and was immediately intrigued.
“I felt this weird vibration that I was going to be involved in some way,” Shelton said. Mr. Towsley was a neighbor in the Mojave Desert community, and he recalled that they both brought up the list when they met.
Shelton, who currently lives in Seal Beach, Orange County, said he has experience closing deals in a variety of industries. And Towsley, a skier, boasted of his resort management credentials.
Although Angeles Mountain Partners’ plans raised some eyebrows (an SF Gate headline said the historic ski area was poised to become a “haven for the wealthy”), many People point out that this ski area wasn’t exactly a public access paradigm under previous owners.
When Metcalfe and his associates picked up the resort in 2006, it had not been open for several years and was on the verge of losing its Forest Service permit altogether, according to the resort’s website.
“Our goal was to save this place,” said Craig Stewart, 62, one of the current owners. “We all learned to ski here. This is our backyard.”
But Mark Ramirez, the property’s listing agent, said it was only open to the public occasionally over the years and never became a reliable haven for Angelenos who love skiing. “I’m excited to see it come back to normal,” said Ramirez, a longtime resort employee.
Not all local skiers are enthusiastic about the resort’s plans. “It was a running joke in every group ski chat I was in,” Highland Park resident Ethan Eyre said of the idea of heli-skiing (a term used to describe skiers being taken to the top of a mountain by helicopter). .
Helicopters aren’t cheap, and heli-skiers are often taken to the bleak mountains of Alaska and British Columbia. “If you’re going to invest that much money, you’re probably going to be a passionate skier. Waterman’s terrain is not conducive to passionate skiing,” said Eyre, 46.
Ski area co-owner Craig Stewart calls the mountain where he learned to ski “our backyard.” The purpose of purchasing this property many years ago was to preserve it forever so that the shutters would never close.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
supplement mother nature
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the team’s success is the region’s frequent lack of snow and the current lack of snowmaking ability to make up for what Mother Nature isn’t providing. Two other San Gabriels resorts, Mountain High and Mount Baldy, can produce powder.
Waterman’s future owners say they intend to introduce snowmaking, which could extend the season from a few weeks to nearly six months.
However, that is another aspect of the vision that is not guaranteed. Seastrand, the Forest Service’s natural resources monitoring specialist, said there is reason to be optimistic that it could work, but it all depends on finding a water source.
“This is a relatively dry part of the forest,” he says. “There’s no big river around there.” The answer is usually a well, but “you can’t always get enough tap water by drilling a well.”
Shelton said the team is “very satisfied with the water supply available on the mountain.” Ramirez said there are three wells and a 4 million-gallon reservoir on the property. Tousley has expertise in this issue and has designed and installed snowmaking systems for ski resorts across the United States, according to company documents.
However, it won’t happen overnight.
The first step is to secure conceptual acceptance from forest authorities as part of a long-term planning document. Officials say environmental and other reviews must be completed before lines can be installed and water sources developed.
Shelton estimates it will take at least three years from its release date. Until then, the store plans to be open to the public for about 20 days from the 18th.
Dreaming of a bright new future
On a recent visit, Shelton walked around the rough grounds and began drawing pictures of what could be, with his 154-pound Bernese mountain dog, Bodhi, amiably walking by his side. He gestured to a plot of land off the path covered in pine needles and construction vehicles. He says 20 yurt-style tents will be pitched there.
At the edge of the cliff, a flat surface formed a small helipad. Their intention is to expand it so that it also doubles as an observation deck, offering expansive views of the mountains, which repeat endlessly until they disappear into the crisp blue skies of November. That would make it more valuable to people riding the lift, he reasoned.
“I think this can be tied to something like, let’s go there and have a glass of wine and sit on the edge of a scenic spot,” he said.
Shelton stands with his dog, Bodi, inside a plain, heated coop.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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