Southern Californian Ski Resort for Sale for Less Than $2.5 Million

Have you dreamed of owning your own ski resort? Well, look no further, Mount Waterman Ski Resort in Southern California is on the market for $2.275 million. Mount Waterman Ski Resort is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of the Los Angeles National Forest 30 miles above La Canada Flintridge and 32 miles north up the Angeles Crest Highway.

The ski resort reaches a height of 8,030 feet and offers a 150 skiabel acres across a vertical drop of 1,030 feet. It comes with a brand new transferable 20-year permit to operate, three chairlifts, and other resort infrastructure, such as a ticket booth, toilets, and several mountain huts. For the price of $2.275 million, the lucky buyer will also purchase the three resort snowcats and five snowmobiles.

Mount Waterman receives more snow than other Southern Californian ski areas with on average 180 inches of snowfall. Furthermore, the snow is well preserved thanks to its steep northern exposure and substantial shading from trees. However, the snowfall is very erratic and the resort currently has no snowmaking. There is however a 5-million-gallon water reservoir near the top of Waterman Mountain which was intended to feed snowmaking infrastructure in the future.

• Related: Mt Waterman Ski Area, CA, Can’t Open Because This Year’s Epic Snowfall Has Destroyed the Only Road to Get There

In 1995 the family-run resort was put on the market for the first time for $1 million by the original owners, the Newcomb family who had been running the resort since 1939, when Lynn Newcomb Sr. and his sons Ren and Lynn Jr. opened the first rope tow on Mount Waterman. In January 1941 the Newcomb family opened the first chairlift to the public. Lynn Newcomb Sr. ran the resort with a single chair lift and three rope tows until his death at which time Lynn Newcomb Jr. took over. In 1968 he added Chair Two, a fixed grip double, and replaced the original single chair in 1972 with a fixed grip double chair, while Chair Three was added in 1981.

In the early 90s the family business was sold to two businessmen who sold it back to the Newcomb family after failing to get operations off the ground. Lynn Newcomb Jr. sold it again to a group of businessmen in the late 90s who ran it with mixed success. The resort did not operate from 2001 – 2006 mostly due to failure to meet the U.S. Forest Service Operating requirements. In 2006, the current owners, Rick Metcalf and his brother Brien Metcalf bought the resort and invested around $1 million into new infrastructure and reopened the resort in February 2008. After several difficult years, the Metcalf brothers have now decided to put the resort on the market again.