Lost ski areaCaliforniaSierra Nevada
Deer Park
Ran 1957–1986. A small ski area at the foot of Alpine Meadows Road off Highway 89, opened as Powder Bowl in 1957 and run as Deer Park from 1980 to 1986.
Overview
Look around
Loading the ground…
Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
Counting who skied it…
Jerry Waters opened Powder Bowl in 1957 beside Highway 89, at the bottom of what is now Alpine Meadows Road. Two rope tows and a 2,600-foot Poma served about 900 vertical feet on 218 acres, and a small warming lodge had a broad deck where people watched the skiing.1
Read the whole historyTodayThe site is overflow parking for Alpine Meadows, and the old buildings house Palisades Tahoe departments, an old trail map still on the wall. (2022)1,2
Timeline
6 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Deer Park, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Deer Park
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1964 · 21.1 mi away · NevadaA one-lift ski area on the Mount Rose Highway near Galena, between the Christmas Tree restaurant and Rosemount Lodge, that opened in the 1960s and closed around 1981.
- 1941–1963 · 26.9 mi away · CaliforniaA ski area on Highway 50 just above Twin Bridges, at today's Camp Sacramento, that opened as the Strawberry Ski Hut in 1941 and closed in 1963.
- Closed 1988 · 27.4 mi away · CaliforniaA ski area beside U.S. 50 at Echo Summit, California, first called Nebelhorn, that ran from the 1940s until 1988.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Jerry Waters opened Powder Bowl in 1957 beside Highway 89, at the bottom of what is now Alpine Meadows Road. Two rope tows and a 2,600-foot Poma served about 900 vertical feet on 218 acres, and a small warming lodge had a broad deck where people watched the skiing. Dick Tash arrived in 1972 to run the ski school and later managed the area.1
In 1980 Gerhard Stoll, a San Francisco attorney, bought it, renamed it Deer Park Ski Area after the nearby Deer Park Lodge, now River Ranch, and installed its first chairlift, the Alpha triple. The chair cost more than he could earn back, larger resorts drew skiers away, and Deer Park filed for bankruptcy in 1984. In 1986 the chair was sold to a ski area in New Mexico, which ended the area's run of nearly 30 years.1
TodayThe site is overflow parking for Alpine Meadows, and the old buildings house Palisades Tahoe departments, an old trail map still on the wall. (2022)1,2
Timeline
- 1957Jerry Waters opens Powder Bowl with rope tows and a Poma1
- 1972Dick Tash arrives as ski school director1
- 1980Gerhard Stoll buys it, renames it Deer Park, adds a triple chair1
- 1982Deer Park trail map published2
- 1984Deer Park files for bankruptcy1
- 1986Alpha chair sold to a New Mexico ski area; skiing ends1
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Moonshine Ink · Gone and Almost Forgotten: The Other Alpine Meadows Ski Area (Melissa Siig, December 8, 2022)
- 2Skimap.org · Deer Park
Photos
No photographs of Deer Park we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Deer Park, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.1872° N · 120.2001° W · California · Sierra Nevada
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1957–1986
Closed after the 1986 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain