Lost ski areaCaliforniaSierra Nevada
Wolverton Ski Bowl
Ran 1941–1994. A ski area in Wolverton Meadow in Sequoia National Park whose lifts ran every winter from 1941–42 until they were taken out in 1994.
Overview
Look around
Loading the ground…
Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
Counting who skied it…
Wolverton lies at the end of Wolverton Road, about two miles north of the General Sherman Tree. Its meadow was once close to 100 acres of forest, cleared for a power company dam.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe end of Wolverton Road, at 7,250 feet, is one of the park's designated snowplay areas for sledding and tubing. (2026)2
Timeline
4 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Wolverton Ski Bowl, 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 Wolverton Ski Bowl
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1964–2007 · 146 mi away · CaliforniaA family ski area on Highway 4 in Calaveras County, the highway's first commercial ski area, run by the Miller family from 1964 and closed in 2007.
- 1951–2001 · 162 mi away · CaliforniaA small ski area on the Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriel Mountains, known for its single chair, that ran from the early 1950s until an avalanche in 2001.
- 1971–1995 · 162.2 mi away · CaliforniaA ski area off Highway 88 near the Mormon Emigrant Trail that opened as Silver Basin in 1971 and ran on and off under four names until 1995.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Wolverton lies at the end of Wolverton Road, about two miles north of the General Sherman Tree. Its meadow was once close to 100 acres of forest, cleared for a power company dam. Digging stopped in 1913 when no bedrock was found, and Southern California Edison gave the meadow and dam site to the National Park Service between 1916 and 1921.1,2
Skiing at Wolverton Meadow began in the winter of 1941–42. The lifts were upgraded several times, last in the mid-1980s, and ran every winter until they were removed before the summer of 1994. The park's historic image collection holds photographs of skiers at Wolverton from 1958.1,3
TodayThe end of Wolverton Road, at 7,250 feet, is one of the park's designated snowplay areas for sledding and tubing. (2026)2
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Peter Stekel (Camp Wolverton Staff) · Camp Wolverton Before The Boy Scouts
- 2National Park Service · Snowplay
- 3Calisphere (University of California) / Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks · Skiing, Skiers at Wolverton (1958, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks historic image)
Photos
No photographs of Wolverton Ski Bowl 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 Wolverton Ski Bowl, in their own words.
Facts
Location
36.5959° N · 118.7347° W · California · Sierra Nevada
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1941–1994
Closed after the 1994 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
No figures from its operating years are collected yet.
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain