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Destination Nevada County

Premium visitors magazine for Nevada County produced by the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce

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December 15, 1939<br />

A Resort is Born<br />

The Disney lift was constructed and completed in time<br />

for the resort's planned December 15 opening. It marked<br />

the first chairlift to be installed in California. Designed by<br />

Henry Howard, the left was 3,200 feet long, had a 1,000-foot<br />

vertical rise, and consisted of 13 steel towers and terminals<br />

that could be raised as needed to compensate for the snow<br />

depth. The cost was $0.25 for a ride up or $2.00 if you wanted<br />

to ski down.<br />

Photo credit: www.sugarbowl.com/history<br />

In the late 1930s, Walt Disney met<br />

Austrian skiing champion Hanness<br />

Schroll. Walt became acquainted with<br />

Schroll while vacationing at Badger<br />

Pass, where Schroll was the head of the<br />

Yosemite Ski School. The two became<br />

good friends. In 1938, Schroll and<br />

business partners purchased land with<br />

the intention of building a ski resort in<br />

the east Sierras, near Donner's Summit<br />

and the small town of Truckee. The<br />

land encompassed an area around two<br />

mountains—Hemlock Peak and Mount<br />

Lincoln.<br />

www.waltdisney.org/blog/new-heights-mount-disney-and-sugar-bowl<br />

January 4, 1940<br />

Sugar Bowl’s First Powder<br />

Day<br />

On January 4, a blizzard struck Sugar Bowl and the skiing at Sugar<br />

Bowl officially began, with train load after train load of skiers coming<br />

in unexpected numbers. Toward the end of the season, in April, Schroll<br />

held the inaugural Silver Belt race, which was won by Gretchen Fraser<br />

and Freidl Pfeifer. Prior to the international World Cup ski competition,<br />

the Silver Belt race was one of the most challenging of that era and often<br />

attracted the top European and American skiers.<br />

Photo credit: www.sugarbowl.com/history<br />

Photo credit: Tau Zero, WordPress.com<br />

DESTINATION <strong>Nevada</strong> <strong>County</strong> 173

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