Not just prone. In the mid 70s, avalanches destroyed the old ski area. The new area is on a different part of the mountain, has different ownership, and for all intents and purposes is a different ski resort
Hence the name for the next drainage west. . .Avalanche Gulch. This spot (the old Skibowl) holds the single-cycle snowfall record of 189 inches, a.k.a. an okay year for a good few east coast locales. And southern Idaho.
I was the lift mechanic for the Green Butte chair after it received a new top terminal built by Riblet. It was a package deal: Panther Creek was all Riblet and went in at the same time as the new top on Green Butte.
Used to take the train up there from Berkeley for a couple of years, 59-62, stayed in town. Wonderful skiing. I remember an amazing photograph looking up the lift line, in extreme winds. The first chair was blown clear out to 90 degrees to the right hand side. The next one up the line was the same, except to the left side! Must have been posted in the lodge, have not seen it on the net, yet. Did ski down Avalanche Gulch once, and spent the night at Horse Camp. 17 year olds can do anything and survive, even the food posing we got that night.
The old Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl looks absolutely unbelievable…
The views look incredible, a 7,200 foot chairlift from the lodge straight to the top of the ski area, and nearly a mile and a half of powder filled, high alpine skiing. That seems like a dream. The lift ride must’ve been cold though with the altitude, lack of trees and a fixed grip double longer than Bonanza at 49 Degrees North!
I wonder if modern avalanche mitigation technology could make a ski area here possible again. Unfortunately, despite how dreamy this old ski resort seemed, it is in a VERY rural region and probably couldn’t get investors and people willing to create a whole new ski resort out in that region, similar to Wallowa Lake in Oregon having a whole lodge and gondola, but never ended up turning into a ski resort, just a summer destination.
It is only 3.5 hours from Sacramento, which is a reasonable drive and provides an option for people looking to avoid the congestion around Tahoe. Medford is also less than two hours away, which is not too big but still has over 200k people in its metro area and no better alternative ski option, so I think the region could definitely support a single decently sized resort.
Those are fair points actually. If a ski resort were to exist that was similar to or better than the original Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl, it would certainly be better than the current Mt. Shasta Ski area and Mt. Ashland, or any other obsecure tiny ski area in Northern California.
I wonder how much of the Sacramento crowd it might attract though. I do know that the less known ski resorts in the Tahoe region are getting plenty of new customers as the mainstream resorts are terribly crowded, but I don’t think the lesser known ones in that area like Donner Ski Ranch, Sky Tavern, or others have gotten so stiflingly crowded that Sacramento area skiers would be willing to frequent a resort way up north on Mt. Shasta. I could be wrong though, it’s been a while since I’ve been to that region to ski. But there would probably be vacationers or weekend travelers from Sacramento for sure. And there are some other Northern California cities like Yuba City/Marysville, Redding, Chico, Red Bluff, and others that this theoretical resort could attract skiers and boarders from.
There are plenty of people that come up from Marin County and the Bay Area to Mt. Shasta Ski Park now. It’s one of those kind of places, if it snows they come!
The problem with a lot of the smaller Tahoe resorts is their size. The non-Sugar Bowl resorts over Donner Pass have verts less than 600 ft. The remaining non-Ikon/Epic resorts are Homewood, Sugar Bowl, and Sierra-at-Tahoe. The latter two both receive solid crowds on their own, and Homewood is fun but still a bit smaller than all of the other resorts (if it ever gets fully built-out, it will solidly stand on its own). In Nevada, Mt. Rose gets crowded due to its proximity to Reno, while Diamond Peak is smaller like Homewood. A built-out Mt Shasta would be a worthy alternative.
Mt Shasta Ski Park owns an other 640 acres to the northeast of the top of Coyote. The old owners looked into putting a lift up there. I have skied it. It’s south face, but is much higher than the top of Coyote. Coyote is the top of the insisting ski area.
Lift Blog 
Why were the doubles removed in 1978 but nothing replaced them
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The mountain must’ve shut down for 7 years before new lifts on new alignments were built in 1985.
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Correct and the old lifts were on a different part of the mountain prone to avalanches.
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Yep. Here’s a cool website I found with a few old pictures and the history of the old Mt. Shasta ski bowl: https://activenorcal.com/the-turbulent-history-of-mt-shastas-old-ski-bowl/
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Not just prone. In the mid 70s, avalanches destroyed the old ski area. The new area is on a different part of the mountain, has different ownership, and for all intents and purposes is a different ski resort
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Hence the name for the next drainage west. . .Avalanche Gulch. This spot (the old Skibowl) holds the single-cycle snowfall record of 189 inches, a.k.a. an okay year for a good few east coast locales. And southern Idaho.
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Are you sure the Green Butte chair (looks to be listed as Yellow) was a Riblet? It looks like a Heron double to me.
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there was a riblet there at some point though https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nNiu0_3SoihF82oehZjWeAiiatIEX4x_NKVF4IsJm3x9PcytptOSLZ6pfFnCtSQx8uwfd0ilsPiDgIc_kLvkO-OHtTOW6mD6oSEwDDexCe4paXOOXmFQPJhVEw3B_ojZQcsPtZA
also on http://www.apexweb.com/portfolio-category/shasta/
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The smaller chairlift (panther creek) that serviced the old mid-mountain was a Riblet.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nNiu0_3SoihF82oehZjWeAiiatIEX4x_NKVF4IsJm3x9PcytptOSLZ6pfFnCtSQx8uwfd0ilsPiDgIc_kLvkO-OHtTOW6mD6oSEwDDexCe4paXOOXmFQPJhVEw3B_ojZQcsPtZA
Definitely, Green Butte (the long chairlift that serviced the summit) was Heron. (seen in far left of the photo is a Heron bottom tension terminal).
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I was the lift mechanic for the Green Butte chair after it received a new top terminal built by Riblet. It was a package deal: Panther Creek was all Riblet and went in at the same time as the new top on Green Butte.
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What year was Panther Creek put in?
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Was winter of 73-74. I think Panther Cteek didn’t actually open until Jan 74
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Used to take the train up there from Berkeley for a couple of years, 59-62, stayed in town. Wonderful skiing. I remember an amazing photograph looking up the lift line, in extreme winds. The first chair was blown clear out to 90 degrees to the right hand side. The next one up the line was the same, except to the left side! Must have been posted in the lodge, have not seen it on the net, yet. Did ski down Avalanche Gulch once, and spent the night at Horse Camp. 17 year olds can do anything and survive, even the food posing we got that night.
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The old Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl looks absolutely unbelievable…
The views look incredible, a 7,200 foot chairlift from the lodge straight to the top of the ski area, and nearly a mile and a half of powder filled, high alpine skiing. That seems like a dream. The lift ride must’ve been cold though with the altitude, lack of trees and a fixed grip double longer than Bonanza at 49 Degrees North!
I wonder if modern avalanche mitigation technology could make a ski area here possible again. Unfortunately, despite how dreamy this old ski resort seemed, it is in a VERY rural region and probably couldn’t get investors and people willing to create a whole new ski resort out in that region, similar to Wallowa Lake in Oregon having a whole lodge and gondola, but never ended up turning into a ski resort, just a summer destination.
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It is only 3.5 hours from Sacramento, which is a reasonable drive and provides an option for people looking to avoid the congestion around Tahoe. Medford is also less than two hours away, which is not too big but still has over 200k people in its metro area and no better alternative ski option, so I think the region could definitely support a single decently sized resort.
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Those are fair points actually. If a ski resort were to exist that was similar to or better than the original Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl, it would certainly be better than the current Mt. Shasta Ski area and Mt. Ashland, or any other obsecure tiny ski area in Northern California.
I wonder how much of the Sacramento crowd it might attract though. I do know that the less known ski resorts in the Tahoe region are getting plenty of new customers as the mainstream resorts are terribly crowded, but I don’t think the lesser known ones in that area like Donner Ski Ranch, Sky Tavern, or others have gotten so stiflingly crowded that Sacramento area skiers would be willing to frequent a resort way up north on Mt. Shasta. I could be wrong though, it’s been a while since I’ve been to that region to ski. But there would probably be vacationers or weekend travelers from Sacramento for sure. And there are some other Northern California cities like Yuba City/Marysville, Redding, Chico, Red Bluff, and others that this theoretical resort could attract skiers and boarders from.
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There are plenty of people that come up from Marin County and the Bay Area to Mt. Shasta Ski Park now. It’s one of those kind of places, if it snows they come!
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The problem with a lot of the smaller Tahoe resorts is their size. The non-Sugar Bowl resorts over Donner Pass have verts less than 600 ft. The remaining non-Ikon/Epic resorts are Homewood, Sugar Bowl, and Sierra-at-Tahoe. The latter two both receive solid crowds on their own, and Homewood is fun but still a bit smaller than all of the other resorts (if it ever gets fully built-out, it will solidly stand on its own). In Nevada, Mt. Rose gets crowded due to its proximity to Reno, while Diamond Peak is smaller like Homewood. A built-out Mt Shasta would be a worthy alternative.
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Mt Shasta Ski Park owns an other 640 acres to the northeast of the top of Coyote. The old owners looked into putting a lift up there. I have skied it. It’s south face, but is much higher than the top of Coyote. Coyote is the top of the insisting ski area.
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