Southern California Ski History Home Page Welcome to the first website dedicated to the history of skiing in Southern California. This site evolved from research completed for a book on Southern California s ski history.
Many people are surprised to hear that Southern California has skiing and a ski history.
The Southland s reputation for sun, sand and orange groves still lives on in the minds of many. Southern California does have sun, sand, and dwindling orange groves, but also possesses two major mountain ranges with numerous peaks rising higher than 10,000 feet. The first written account of anyone using skis in southern California is found in the diary of Joseph B. Tyler, an early pioneer in Big Bear Valley. In 1873, Tyler and his family made their own snowshoes and had lots of falls and fun. Skiing was slow to catch on in southern California, but by the 1930s California had become Scandifornia because of the influence of the Scandinavians and the ski jumping craze that had taken over the Southland.