Lassen Park Ski Area

Lassen Ski Area in March 1967.

Len McKenzie

In 1994, skiers enjoyed the last season of Lassen Park Ski Area. To this day, visitors who return to the the park enjoy reminiscing about the days they taught their children to ski or learned to ski themselves at the family-friendly facility.

Lassen Park Ski Area was the result of a long history of winter use in the park's Southwest Area. Beginning in 1932, competitions hosted by Mt. Lassen Ski Club (photos) generated interest in winter sports at Lassen. In the 1940s, the park and a private in-holder opened competing ski areas in the Sulphur Works area (photos). Two decades later, the 1960 Winter Olympics in nearby Squaw Valley led to a record number of skiers in the park.

By the mid-1960s, major redevelopment of the ski area was underway. The most notable improvement included a permanent winter-use building, which came to be known as Lassen Chalet. The two-story A-frame featured a tall glass wall that provided warming skiers with an expansive view of the lower ski hill.

The chalet served as the heart of the ski area throughout its relatively short life. In 1972, rangers began offering snowshoe tours from the chalet. The programs proved enormously popular and have continued to this day. Inside, the park concessioner provided food service, a gift shop, equipment rental, a ski school, and a ski shop. Visitors who sipped hot chocolate or picked up their first set of rental skis in the chalet remember it with a special fondness. However, over the years the relatively new building presented a myriad of problems that eventually made it too burdensome to maintain.

In 2005, the chalet was condemned and demolished. In its place, the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center continues to offer a year-round base camp for winter enthusiasts. In its first ten years, the single-story building, designed to weather Lassen’s long winters, has proved to be a worthy replacement. For some visitors, the new facility differs too greatly from the A-frame chalet they once frequented. Standing under the foyer’s high ceilings and gazing north out its large picture window, it can be difficult to recall the building and ski area in which so many memories were made.

Outside, people often gaze upward, trying to discern the faint outline of the old ski runs or the path of the various lifts that once propelled skiers up the surrounding slopes. Ecological restoration projects have since returned the area to its pre-development condition. The 50-plus concrete ski-lift foundations, which once supported a poma tow and a chairlift aptly named Bumpass Heaven, were removed along with various dirt access roads.

Today, the former ski area continues a legacy as a family-friendly winter destination. Every winter, the Southwest Area welcomes thousands of skiers, sledders, snowshoers, and snowplay enthusiasts. The memories of the old skill hill and the Lassen Chalet live on through the stories of returning visitors, just as Lassen's new visitors create their own memories in Lassen's ever-magical, winter wonderland.

Top to bottom: Lassen Ski Area in 1957, with chalet in 1967, with poma lift circa 1970s, with chairlift under construction in 1982, with ski lift circa 1980s, and the start of a ranger-led snowshoe walk in 2003.

Top: J.H. Eastman ©Regents of the University of California

Lassen Ski Area Timeline

Year(s)	Event
1956	Concessioner Obtains Contract For Lassen Ski Area H.K. Beresford of Mineral added a single poma tow was housed in a wooden building at the top of the slope.
1965	Park Winter Visitation Tops 44,000 This included over 17,000 downhill skiers and over 11,000 visitors to Manzanita Lake, where people could ice skate, sled, toboggan, and cross-country ski. An pilot interpretation program began from a trailer in the ski area parking lot.
1978	Mission 66 Project Improves the Southwest Entrance and Ski Area The overhaul included a new entrance station, a new comfort station, and the park’s first permanent winter-use building, the two-story, Lassen Chalet.
1972	Ranger-led Snowshoe Tours Begin The park provided participants with snowshoes free of charge for the two-mile roundtrip excursion to the Sulphur Works
1978	Lassen Ski Area Use Increases Lassen Park Ski Areas use increases after Mount Shasta Ski Bowl closes due to irreparable avalanche damage. The concessioner provided a poma lift, two rope tows, six marked runs, rental equipment, a ski school, food service, and a ski shop. Lift tickets cost $5.50 and ski rentals were $7. Beginner lessons were free.
1982	Ski Area Expands With Installation of a Triple Chairlift Operations increased to seven days a week following the installation of the Bumpass Heave chairlift. For three years, the the ski area experienced record attendance.
Late 1980s	Lassen Park Ski Area Use Declines Inadequate snowfall limits operation and a new ski area opens on Mount Shasta the winter of 1985-86. By 1990, annual downhill skier totals at Lassen dropped to less than a third of what they had been five years earlier.
1994	Ski Area Closes The concessioner announces that Lassen Ski Area will not open the following winter due to declining use.
1994-2005	Former Ski Area Restored and Chalet Demolished The park removed the chairlift foundations in 1999 and restored the former ski area to its pre-development condition in 2003. The dilapidated chalet was condemned and demolished in 2005.
2008	Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center Opens The year-round facility provides services throughout the winter and serves as the starting point for ranger-led snowshoe walks and winter education programs.

1988 Lassen Ski Area Map

1978 Lassen Ski Area Map