Why Disney’s Insane Attempt at a Ski Resort FAILED

The Walt Disney Company had ambitious plans to build out a world-class ski resort in California's Mineral King Valley, but the effort completely failed. We break down why.
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0:00 Intro
1:01 Disney's Early History with Skiing
2:16 Initial Plans - Mineral King Resort
3:20 Access Road Issues
4:10 Environmental Opposition and Lawsuits
5:19 1972 Revisions and Eventual Demise
7:50 Second Attempt - Independence Lake Resort
9:43 Mineral King Resort Analysis
11:14 Independence Lake Resort Analysis
12:28 Disney's Ski World Legacy Today
14:16 Repercussions for New Resort Development

[@waynecampbell9426]

There are so many ironies here. The land had originally been excluded from Sequoia National Park because it was degraded by mining and other activities,and was considered unsuitable for inclusion in the park. The environmentalists killed off a ski area that would have had a railway rather than auto access, resulting in more people driving to Mammoth and Tahoe. The Independence Lake ski area would have moved a lot of development away from Lake Tahoe, but it was opposed, among others, by people in Truckee (population 2000 at that time) who were afraid it would cause growth. Instead, Northstar, Palisades Tahoe, etc. grew dramatically and Truckee expanded to a population of 17,000. Tahoe is overwhelmed with traffic on weekends, and the state of the lake is degraded.

[@realaaronpeluso]

North America needs 3 new major resorts per year for at least 10 years. It's ridiculous that europe has resorts all over the place with people economically enjoying the outdoors and we have two corporations monopolizing the finite number of resorts for profit. More people outdoors in winter is good. If we have ample facilities it won't be overcrowded. People don't like crowds.

[@Wowi366]

These environmental groups lose sight of the fact ski resorts can help people appreciate the outdoors.

[@henrygonzalez3842]

They don’t care they just want these places to be barren prestine wilderness areas. But they’ll keep wearing clothes and drive cars lol

[@mtadams2009]

Have you ever lived in a rural area? You are correct we don't want our towns ruined and our locals priced out by wealthy flatlanders. For us there is very little upside to a ski resort being built. Low wages and lots of people.

[@BulletRain100]

@@mtadams2009 You must not know how mountain towns actually work. Those towns were built for resource extraction such as mining or logging. Environmental regulations make those industries harder to do so those towns having nothing going for them. These towns slowly die as most of the young people leave because there are no jobs there. Some towns can survive on tourism, but they're the exception. Unfortunately, everyone thinks they're the rule because that's all most ever see.

[@kasenbarrolaza3385]

Mineral King valley wouldn’t have worked

[@Wowi366]

@@mtadams2009 you’re wrong, I live in a rural area and have seen one of the small nearby ski areas close and now less people are getting outside because of that. If people are being less active in the outdoors they will be less interested in preserving and caring for it.

[@ruizhaosun]

It’s always a great day when a new Peak Rankings video comes out

[@SkyblockTryhardGang]

love this guy

[@Banc2008]

I too want to protect national parks from overdevelopment but I'm generally supportive of these types of developments that allow more people to experience the outdoors and the parks themselves w/ minimal environmental impact. IMO a road or railway w/ this in purpose in mind (not commercial shipping for example) should almost always be allowed.

[@stevestegman8181]

What wasn’t stated was Dave McCoy, owner/operator of Mammoth Mountain at the time, stood to likely be put out of business by Mineral King which is 2-3 hours closer to the huge L.A. market. In response, McCoy , ironically, became a huge financial contributor to the Sierra Club and its relentless lawsuits. The S.C. and McCoy were ultimately successful in their parallel goal of killing Disney’s plans to build Mineral King. So, Vail, Alterra, and a handful of other large owner/operators have successfully been able to limit the supply of new ski resort development, through their tacit if not active support of environmental lobby groups since the 1970’s. Limit supply; monopolize and increase prices. This, and skier lawsuits are a main reasons skiing is so prohibitively expensive in the U.S.

[@glissemaster]

I’ve been to Mineral King a couple of times. It would have made an incredible ski resort - one of the best, if not the best in California. The ears was heavily mined and was considered an environmental disaster, which is why it wasn’t originally part of Sequoia National Park.

[@TreyCamp]

Wow, crazy that you just uploaded this. I was researching this all winter this season learning about this. I'm always surprised that CA doesn't have more ski resorts, we have so many great mountains that could potentially be large and awesome ski resorts, hope maybe in the future we'll have some more options! Thanks for the history!

[@theoutlaw9759]

we don't need any more

[@henrygonzalez3842]

Mineral king would be nice but mammoth would go all out in its opposition lol

[@TreyCamp]

@@theoutlaw9759 why do you say that

[@theoutlaw9759]

@@TreyCamp I don't know it would just drag more tourist and jack up prices even more

[@bearclaw5115]

@@theoutlaw9759 Decrease supply=price goes up. Increase supply=price goes down.

[@grantmason9844]

Great video! Didn't know about the plan to have it be rail access only. What a shame it didn't come to fruition, I feel like the North American ski market is really missing something like Zermatt in that way. Also the fact that it would have been massive and probably themed across the mountain really makes me feel we missed out on something special in the end. As a planner, hearing you talk about the regulations and legal challenges piling on certainly sounds familiar for me. Anyway, great video! I give it 5 'Howevers' out of 5!

[@BulletRain100]

Seeing for what the plans for Mineral King Valley actually looked like, its a shame the ski resort was never built because it looked like it would have been an amazing location. This video also hits on fundamental problem of how you should balance protecting nature vs allowing people to enjoy nature. I imagine the people in the area would have been better off if the ski resort was built, and California already has 20 National Forests that protecting one valley that initially wasn't in one does little to nothing in actually protecting nature.

[@dhowe5180]

I’m pretty sure MK was always in a national forest. Now it’s in a national park as well

[@henrygonzalez3842]

It was excluded from being part of the national park back then because of its mining history lol the tree huggers are just dumb

[@BulletRain100]

@@dhowe5180 The video does a great job explaining the history. It was private land. The issue was the access road went through a National Forest. No one cared about the valley until Disney bought it, and Congress annexed it after the ski resort plan fell through.

[@footyCS]

If you have ever driven that road, you’d know it would have been next to impossible to build a real highway up there.

[@henrygonzalez3842]

@@footyCSthat’s dramatic they built the Golden Gate Bridge, anything’s possible just need man power and will power.

[@arjunski]

I’ve been waiting for this one ever since you teased it in the trail designation video! Great job with this one guys!

[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

I think it is the classic tension between access to nature vs preservation. Ironically, increased access can help with preservation as more people come to appreciate the natural wonders of our world and country as they are exposed to it.

[@erikl7714]

that's not necessarily true. it can also have the opposite effect. many people who are given access and experienced the access may crave for and demand more access.

[@ImaFirinMyLazuh]

I mean we make it mandatory for the majority of housing in the US to be built as SFH and consume that much more land and resources, but we cant have some relatively marginal amounts of land to have this unique experience? I can live in a townhouse or a duplex or a condo/apartment or whatever, but I can't ski in a SFH.

[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

@@ImaFirinMyLazuh SFHs are mandatory by market alone. Condos are desired in areas that proximity to something (beach, urban core) is more desired or simply being maintenance free (senior living).

[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

@@erikl7714 I think restricting access is the greater danger. Without having open national parks, our NPS rangers won't be able to tell people how horrible they are for the planet for just existing.

[@ImaFirinMyLazuh]

@@JasonTaylor-po5xc No, look at land zoned for residential use, 90% is a typical percentage for most urban metros that are zoned for SFH. Meanwhile we are running out of land within reasonable commuting distance of those metro areas and home prices have outpriced all other costs/wages by multiples. The market would dictate building smaller, more affordable homes that are closer to job opportunities, but that isn't what is allowed, hence a housing crisis.

[@jwernig78]

your content is world class. so interesting and well researched.

[@grizzkid795]

Even if the Sierra Club hadn't intervened, the road going in would have probably killed it. Governor Brown (Jerry's dad) approved using state funds to improve the road, but Governor Reagan pulled the funding and Disney didn't want to foot the huge cost for that. If you've ever driven that road, you would understand. It makes Little Cottonwood look like a cakewalk. There were plans for a ski resort further south of this area, but questionable area for a resort and now in Wilderness designation. Also Trail Peak to the southeast was a planned resort, but I think they realized snowfall was unreliable there, so that never happened and now it is Wilderness. Even earlier in the 40's to 50's, San Gorgonia in South Cal was proposed as a ski area, but never happened and now it is also Wilderness designation. The days of Dave McCoy, Wayne Poulson. and Ernie Blake, etc are long gone.

[@christopher6740]

This is a super great video, I'd love to see some more historic coverage of the ski industry.

[@burninghops4449]

Great video Sam. Imagine lift ticket prices had Disney owned a resort. Single day tickets may have been $350 right now. 😬

[@domcars]

Would lower prices overall for other resorts though due to more competition

[@MrZebanHai]

I like the story/history in this ski video. Really interesting. Thanks for researching this and showing all the articles so I could pause and read them.

[@bigx9963]

Disney Corporation Announces Acquisition of Vail Resorts in Apr 1, 2024

[@iamgrateful]

I lived in Lone Pine and many old timers there talked about Horseshoe Meadows Road was build by Disney as part of trying to develop the ski resort.

[@mastpg]

Mineral King looks like AJAX on steroids. I can't begin to imagine what a Disney ski hill day pass would cost...but I wouldn't put an o/u any lower than a grand. ...and...Olympic Valley...it's called Olympic Valley.

[@bubbabigmin]

My wife's aunt is the reason this didn't get built. She spearheaded the entire opposition movement, to this day they still call her the mayor of Mineral King.

[@gpaull2]

Hopefully your wife is nothing like her, otherwise I feel sorry for you.

[@miquelordinas3006]

Love this kind of videos

[@dhowe5180]

Saying that no new destination ski resort has opened since beaver creek and deer valley is a little misleading. It’s true that those were the last resorts started from scratch in North America but there has been a significant amount of expansion at existing resorts since then. Lift capacity at existing resorts has also increased by a factor of four or five since the early 1980s. The crowding that exists today is more because skiers are wanting to go on specific days at an increasingly concentrated number of resorts such as those on epic or ikon passes. Skier visits are also about 20% higher since the early 1980s. Skier visits were starting to plateau by the late 1970s and demographic trends were going the wrong way which the Disney execs were probably aware of. BTW I hiked and skied a couple of the bowls at mineral king in the mid 1980s. It was awesome terrain

[@coltonberger1807]

The cross over I wasn't expecting but love to see!

[@waltysalamander]

Disney also wanted to buy Mt. Baldy back then. So glad they didn’t.

[@nathanthompson6763]

As someone who works there. Glad they didn’t either

[@waltysalamander]

@@nathanthompson6763 That’s sick that you work there! Such a hidden gem. It’s awful during low snow years, but this year and last year we got insanely lucky! Even in the worst years there are usually at least a few decent days though.

[@henrygonzalez3842]

They almost bought mammoth but McCoy backed away last minute

[@waltysalamander]

@@henrygonzalez3842 I read about that in my Mammoth book. It’s called Mammoth the Sierra Legend. It had amazing pictures and stories.

[@Theo_Gross]

i love this style of videos 😁

[@edcotterjr1926]

Sugar Bowl was my favorite when I lived in the Bay Area. Although traffic got worse every year near Sacramento from 1994-04.

[@SportNut1]

It would be so nice if there can be another great ski resort in south cal other than just Mammoth. I checked the photos and Mineral Peak seems to have some great drops! May be they can build a snow palace with Elsa's statue to encourage the kids to get up there

[@mushieslushie]

I think Beaver Creek is probably pretty close to how the village would have been at Mineral King, with all the parking underground, etc. Disney's last public appearance was at a press conference for Mineral King, and I think just like some other projects that never happened after Disney died, I'm not sure modern Disney company would want anything to do with operating a ski resort, where death is unfortunately a fairly common occurrence.

[@henrygonzalez3842]

He was an avid skier it would have happen guaranteed if he was alive

[@bearclaw5115]

People die at Disney World all the time, doesn't stop anyone.

[@SlopeStylz]

They should try again 🤔

[@kasenbarrolaza3385]

Mineral king valley is not a good location

[@henrygonzalez3842]

I was watching this with my son and he was begging to go to the Disney ski resort lol it would be a big hit in winter imo if they ever did it imagine Mickey and goofy ripping down the mountain like wooly does at mammoth kids would love it

[@galashery7264]

Sella Ronda is the first big resort I ever skied in. I was 5 years old. I always wanted to revisit it. I would really like to join the PeakCasa, it sounds awesome. A little too early for me to ask for the vacation tho. Hope by the time I can apply there is still place left.

[@JasonTaylor-po5xc]

Disney does have Blizzard Beach - which has a mix of tropical beach meets ski resort vibe. Fun place.

[@andrewdiamond2697]

Disney arguably should have bought an existing resort(s) and massively developed upgraded base villages and on-slope restaurants/amenities. If Disney played it right, it could have been similar to Vail or Alterra.

[@Tom_Fooler]

as a video/series idea, what if you looked at abandoned ski resorts across the US and then ranked them, similar to what you did with the Disney resorts in this one?

[@danielviehland]

I'd love to see a series on this!

[@PeakRankings]

Check out @Skier72 who already has some videos specializing in this!

[@counterfit5]

Black Crows does videos at abandoned resorts too. Seems like only one per season though

[@henrygonzalez3842]

There is one and only one reason why it didn’t happen and it’s amazing it wasn’t brought up: Walt Disney himself died. If he had been alive I guarantee mineral king would have happen, zero doubt about it.

[@privatename123]

We have far too little easy access to great locations, with easy access largely blocked by a highly motivated, tiny proportion of the nation’s population. A far better balance would dramatically increase the overall enjoyment of these awesome areas. Imagine a road or modern rail line from Wonder Lake to the Peters Glacier at the foot of the Wickersham Wall. Instead of a few people per decade making that trip, thousands would be able to enjoy that view, one of the most awesome in the world. Tragically underseen. That’s a shame. Selfish for a few folks to block easy access to everyone else. Until a more equitable balance is achieved, we can at least look forward to increasingly capable VR to take our eyes there.

[@SenyaLikesToSki]

YOO Bear Valley B roll, plz give Bear a resort review!

[@PeakRankings]

It will come!

[@gpaull2]

The Sierra club…the same group that resorted to terrorist tactics to prevent people from using and “damaging” a section of desert that was previously a bomb test range. 🙄

[@counterfit5]

My last pair of straight skis in the mid 90s were some Mickey Mouse decorated K2s

[@zacharygippe7873]

I think that..while the phrase "there's no such thing as a bad ski hill" is a great attitude to have, I, like yourself who does a great job of breaking down, know that not all ski resorts and hills are created equal. So while your question of more ski resorts would help in many circumstances? People know and or learn of new places to go and when they get their lists down and such, know where they want to be with priority. I mean unless you get to constantly travel cross country (s) and go where ever you want to go. (;

[@popkorng]

Looks like Alpine Meadows, fun times.

[@CR-xx3ur]

alpine meadows but with potentially double the vertical

[@BlckJack123]

Wow. I had no idea that developing a ski resort could be so difficult.

[@adamweb]

I had no idea Disney ever had anything to do with skiing! I know it's judgmental but when I think of Disney destinations today I think of overweight tourists on motorized carts lol... I'd like to see a poll of how many Disney World visitors have ever even been skiing! 😂

[@mtadams2009]

So, your telling me they don't own Vail?

[@brianoconnor3407]

It is still called Squaw Valley. Alpine Meadows is next door. Two separate resorts owned by Palisades/Alterra Corp et al. Generally speaking this analysis is incomplete. It does not equate Disney plans (Btw I was very aware of the North of Tahoe potential at the time) with Alterra, Vail, nor especially the Intrawest development influence stemming from Whistler Blackcomb, which essentially was the early template for controlling the entire environment at ski resorts including Squaw, Mammoth and other resorts and towns they have infected. The Intrawest connection is worth a separate analysis. They were involved in several major expansions with multi story condo/hotels, such as Copper Mountain, Squaw and Mammoth. Otherwise, I have no opinion.

[@davidmiller3852]

Give me more ikon designations noooowwwwwwww

[@AW33COM]

"Walt Disney Corporation is the FIRST thing that comes to mind when you ski in our ski resorts". They are almost all cutie cutter money grabs.

[@opinion56]

a proper resort in the sequoia forest is a great idea. Too bad it didnt happen. No idea why there arent more resorts all over the Sierra nevada

[@counterfit5]

AAAAHHHH HOO HOO HOOeeeeyyy

[@lutomson3496]

Sugarbowl resort is still up and running great the Disney named runs still there I ski there every winter don't believe this you tube propaganda

[@footyCS]

I love snowboarding more than just about anything. However I am glad Mineral King never got developed.

[@texan_2ocho965]

Knowing Disney today, had they owned ski resorts, they probably would have had ski resorts with snow any color other than white.

[@boardingurban]

Definitely the brown slush at the end of the season 😂

[@blarbkanopcious4243]

This video is extremely and unduly harsh against environmentalists.

[@gpaull2]

Not unduly but wholly earned IMO.