http://www.inc.com/magazine/20081201/how-i-did-it-dave-mccoy-mammoth-mountain.html

Wow!

Very impressive. I hope that one day I can look back on a long life such as his and have fufillment like that. Truly amazing!! Thanks for posting!

Heh. Anyone remember 'The Mountain' - the TV series?

Great man.. built a great resort!!!... Ill be there in a week and 3 days, cant wait. could not have picked a better mountain for a resort

JEALOUS. Never been, but really loved nearby Kirkwood, which locals told me is a mini-Mammoth.

Dave McCoy has a great life story. I really liked that he started the business out of love, not greed.
Here's some info I've been tabulating for a while, probably deserves its own thread on DCSki. Many great stories to be found in this, I'm sure.


American ski area founders and approximate start-up date (additions and corrections wanted):
Dick Hubbard started MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE SNOW BOWL, VT 1934
Perry Merill and others started Stowe, VT in 1934
Bob Bourdon, Bob and Betty Royce, Suicide Six, VT 1934
Averell Harriman,1891-1986 , founded Sun Valley, ID in 1936 (and Belleayre, NY?)
The Meads (?) founded Pico, VT in 1937
Dupree family, Seven Springs, PA 1930s (?)
Dick Hubbard, Middlebury VT 1937
Alf Engen, George Watson, Joe Quinney, Alta, 1938
Dow Gibson started Mt. Cranmore, NH 1938
Sugar Bowl, California opened by John Wiley, Hannes Schroll, Walt Disney in 1939
Winter Park, CO 1939
Fred Pabst - Big Bromley, VT 1941
Sig McGuire started the Mt. Baker ski area in 1946.
Squaw Pass, now Echo Park, in CO. was started by the Creighton family
Larry Jump and Sandy Schauffler with Max and Edna Dercum started Arapahoe Basin, CO 1946
Roland Palmedo headed a group that started Mad River Glen, VT in 1947
Friedl Pfeifer and Walter Paepcke, 1897-1960, cofounded Aspen, CO in 1947
1941-Big Bromley opens under Fred Pabst in Vermont
Everett Kirchner - Boyne Mountain, MI 1948
Alex Cushing, 1913-2006, founded Squaw Valley, CA in 1949
Chuck Stone Buck Hill MN 1954
Walter Schoenknecht, ..-1987, founded Mt. Snow, VT in 1954
Dick Bass, 1930-, founded Snowbird, UT in 1971
Ernie Blake, founded Taos Ski Valley (with wife Rhoda Blake), NM in 1955
Dave McCoy, 1915-, founded Mammoth Mtn, CA in 1955
Robert M. Barrett - Solitude, UT 1956
A group led by Harold Haynes and Perry Merrill started Jay Peak, VT in 1956
"local businessmen" founded Okemo in 1956
Smuggler's Notch, VT 1956
Group of investors including Gordon Smith started Burke Mtn, VT 1956
Walter Schoenknecht also goes with Mohawk Mtn. in CT
Brooks Dodge, George Macomber, Malcolm McLane and William Beal started Wildcat, NH 1958
Sugarbush 1958
Preston Smith, founded Killington, VT in 1958
Jim Temple, Steamboat, CO 1959
Orville and Israel Slutsky, founded (or built?) Hunter Mtn, NY in 1960
Pete Siebert, 1924-2002, founded Vail, CO in 1960
Hans Thorner - Magic 1960
Dave Judson started Otis Ridge, MA
Herbert 'Tink' Smith and Frank Snyder led the group that founded Stratton, VT in 1961
Tom Alexander opened Cataloochee, NC in 1961
? founded Crested Butte in 1961
Bill Rounds of Rounds Lumber founded Breckenridge in 1961
J.C. Blickensderfer - Loveland, CO
Irv Naylor founded Ski Roundtop, PA in 1964
Charlie Rist, Charnita/Ski Liberty 1965
Paul McCollister, 1915-1999 and Bruce Morley founded Jackson Hole, WY in 1967
Ralph Crowley, 1970? Wachusett Mtn, MA
Dick Bass and Ted Johnson opened Snowbird, UT in 1971
Chuck Lewis founded Copper Mountain in 1971
Jack Kurlander, founded Great Gorge NJ 1962 then Hidden Valley NJ 1975
Max Dercum founded Keystone (with wife Edna), CO in 1973
Jack Kurlander, founded Hidden Valley NJ 1975
Edgar Stern - Deer Valley 1981
Tim Blixseth founded the Yellowstone Club
Robert Redford, Sundance, UT
Tommy Corcoran, Waterville Valley, NH
Chet Huntley and Everett Kirchner , Big Sky, MT
Doc Brigham founded at least 1 resort in NC (Beech?) and then Snowshoe, WV
Hugh Killebrew-Heavenly Valley, CA/NV
Vern & Bobbie Sprock-Sierra Ski Ranch/Sierra-at-Tahoe, CA
Alvin Cobabe-Powder Mountain, UT
Willis Stoick - Alpine Valley, MI, and Devils Head, Wis.
James and Patricia Ganter--SugarLoaf, MI
Sam Hall - Tenney, NH
Charles Beebe - Temple, NH
Aaron Brill founded Silverton, CO in 2002
Lee Poole & Joe Vujovich founded Moonlight Basin in 2003 (ski operations started)

You know, the really inspirational thing is how he started with nothing and just did it for love. Makes me think of the folks who post here about throwing up a rope tow on their property- is it Travis down in Tazewell? We need his reports again this winter! And the guy out in Monterey. After reading this, it seems like good inspiration for both of them- you don't need 10 million, a good attitude and fun times will get you rolling just fine! And heck, Highland County Virginia is as good a place as any to avoid unduly permitting requirements (Tazewell may be even better!).

That gives me hope me and a friend can actually make a single ski run on his granddads farm giving us several hundred feet vert. It's things like that that show with true love and passion towards something, you can always make it work.

Here's a link to the runs at Mammoth.
http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/Atlas/AtlasIndex/AtlasIndex.html
Click on any red text and it will take you to that area. Mouse over path information to get the length & pitch. Over shot placement to see where the patrol places their avalanche control bombs.

I don't recall where I got this link. It may have been DCSki.

I get there a couple times a year sandwiched around business trips. Mammoth is quite a mountain.

Enjoy.