The Big Pines region of the Angeles National Forest is steeped in winter history. More than 80 years ago snow enthusiasts made their way up Highway 2 to ski, slide and sled at a retreat known as Big Pines Park, the area recognized today as Mountain High’s West Resort. There the Hollywood elite celebrated winter sports carnivals and even erected a world-class ski jump in 1929 to attract the upcoming Olympics. The Olympics never came but thrill-seekers did including Alf Engen who set a 1931 world record by jumping an amazing 243 feet.
As the demand for winter sports grew, so did the resort and by 1975, when Dick Woodworth and Bill Ciserio took the helm, the area was an exciting collection of nuvo-modern lifts and cowboy powder stashes. Woodworth changed the name to Mountain High and began adding resort amenities like snowmaking (which consisted of little more than chipped ice shot off the back of a flat bed.) At the same time snowboarding was getting its roots and Mountain High was the first Southern California resort to allow it. Like snowmaking, the sport was in its infancy and terrain parks consisted of nothing more than the rocks and fallen trees nature scattered about.
Last year Mountain High took snowboarding back to its beginnings with its all-natural terrain park, Woodworth Gulch. Keeping true to the soul, the new park was filled top-to-bottom with 100% natural features including rainbow rails, woodcarvings, Woodworth Cabin and more. Team riders Ryan Paul, Nick Visconti, Spencer Link, Cory Cronk, Kyle Lopiccolo, and Trever Haas blew the bark off this new park in their attempt to find their natural high.
Get back in touch with the soul of snowboarding this fall in Mountain High’s new full-length movie #WOODWORTH. It pairs the area’s historic beginnings with the best riding of today in the region’s ONLY all-natural terrain park. #WOODWORTH will have you on your feet screaming “You WOOD if you could!” And you can…at Mountain High.
For more information or to schedule an interview please contact Todd Proffit, Advertising and Events Manager, at (760) 316-7839.
About Mountain High
Mountain High is Southern California’s closest winter resort located just an hour and a half from Los Angeles and Orange County. The area consists of three separate mountains (Mountain High East, West, and North), and offers a wide variety of lifts and trails, a world-class terrain park, an outstanding Winter Sports School, and the region’s largest tubing area. Night skiing & snowboarding is available 5 nights-a-week and snowmaking covers more than 80% of the slopes. Mountain High has been the first resort to open in Southern California for the past 15 years and traditionally operates from mid November to mid April. Get more at mthigh.com.
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