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<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Terrifying Cornice Bowl<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n In 1986 I stood atop the 11, 053 foot Cornice Bowl<\/strong> at Mammoth Mountain, skis strapped to my feet and my heart in my throat.\u00a0 As I peered down the 2.100 foot drop I was simultaneously petrified and thrilled.\u00a0 I was in my mid-30’s and I knew that if I was ever going to conquer “The Cornice” the time was now. \u00a0So, slowly, VERY slowly<\/strong>, I made my way down.\u00a0 When I reached the bottom I bent over in relief and was cheered by people who had watched my descent.\u00a0 Right then I knew it was a moment I’d never forget. \u00a0To this day it is one of my proudest<\/strong> achievements<\/strong>. Every year when we visit Mammoth in the summer I gaze up to the Cornice Bowl and marvel that I once skied it. \u00a0\u00a0 And I thank Dave McCoy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are few people in business who devote their entire life to the enjoyment of others, but Dave McCoy, founder of Mammoth Mountain<\/strong>, is just such a person.\u00a0 McCoy almost single-handedly turned Mammoth, an extinct volcano in the eastern Sierra Nevada, into one of the premier ski mountains in the world.\u00a0 To me, he epitomizes all that is great about the American Dream<\/strong>.\u00a0 He was born in 1915<\/strong> to a somewhat dysfunctional family.\u00a0 His parents divorced when he was 13.\u00a0 His mother moved him to Washington<\/strong> but for the next several years he continuously hitch-hiked between there and Independence, California (near Bishop)<\/strong> where he had fallen in love with the scenery and quiet solitude while on vacation a few years previous.\u00a0 He eventually was hired as a hydrographer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power<\/b>.\u00a0 His job was to ski the backcountry, measuring snowpack to predict the following year\u2019s water supply. He covered most of Owens Valley\u00a0<\/strong>sometimes skiing as much as 50 miles per day.\u00a0 His salary was $4 a day, but the truth is, he would have done it for free.\u00a0 He just loved to ski.<\/p>\n Dave McCoy in the ’30’s.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n In 1935<\/strong>, he and some buddies built the first rope tow out of an old truck frame and engine to haul skiers uphill in Gray Meadows<\/strong> near Independence. They built it for themselves for weekend play but word spread, and others came to see what all the ruckus was about skiing. McCoy charged 50 cents a day<\/strong> to ride it and some days made as much as $6! \u00a0 It was 1937<\/strong> when McCoy started the project that would become the largest ski resort in Central California.<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0Even while he was building the resort from the ground up, McCoy was always skiing. He was headed toward the 1940 Olympics in Japan<\/strong> but because of World War II, no Olympic Games were held that year.\u00a0 (Later, he would go on to coach 14 Olympic skiers<\/strong>, never charging them for his time and personally paying their entry fees for race events.)<\/p>\n After World War II record high snowfall<\/strong> in the Eastern Sierras served to attract more and more people from Southern California to ski in the Mammoth area.\u00a0 The Forest Service took notice, asking for bids to develop Mammoth into a ski area<\/strong>. McCoy made his pitch. To his – and our – good fortune, it was the ONLY<\/strong> pitch the Forest Service received.\u00a0 He took a piece of paper and drew three lines, which were for chairlifts. That was the business plan.\u00a0 He always said that the only reason he got the bid was because no one else wanted it.<\/p>\n The first chair lift opened on Thanksgiving Day, 1955<\/strong>.\u00a0 Without a college education or formal training in business or engineering, McCoy spent the next 60 years<\/strong> growing Mammoth. For millions of skiers, it was the<\/em> place to ski. For thousands of employees, it was the place to work. McCoy was doing the impossible and people wanted to be part of it. He was encouraging, supportive and most of all, his mission was for people to have fun.\u00a0 The bottom line was an after thought. \u00a0He once told the Los Angeles Times<\/strong>, that skiing had been so good to him at Mammoth, he couldn’t help but to return it to the skiers and see that they had a better place to ski.\u00a0 I can personally attest to his philosophy.\u00a0 One day almost 30 years ago my husband and I were walking in the Main Lodge after a day on the slopes and we passed Dave on a stairwell.\u00a0 He stopped us and said, “Well, did you have fun today?”<\/strong>\u00a0 We assured him that we did.\u00a0 At the time, I just thought he was some friendly guy but my husband recognized him right off and stood there, stunned, in awe of the man he had idolized for so long.<\/p>\n Dave, planning his masterpiece<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Building a ski resort was just a piece of his contributions to Mammoth.\u00a0 He personally spearheaded the effort to incorporate Mammoth Lakes<\/strong> and attract businesses to the area.\u00a0 He was responsible for building a hospital<\/strong> in town.\u00a0 And in 1989 he and a few friends founded The Mammoth Lakes Foundation to be the catalyst in bringing higher education and the arts to the Eastern Sierra. Today, anyone is who has lived in Mono County for at least two years can receive tuition free of charge at the\u00a0Cerro Coso Community College<\/strong> that the Foundation built.\u00a0 The town is what is it today – all because of Dave McCoy.<\/p>\n But in 2005, at the age of 90, he had had enough.\u00a0 The bureaucracy was too much<\/strong>.\u00a0 He commented that he enjoyed running the business as long as he could do the planning and the building and permits were easy to get. But it got to where there were too many regulations<\/strong> and politicians telling him how to do things.\u00a0 It was just too much for this entrepreneurial genius.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dave McCoy at 100<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n There is a wonderful bronze statue<\/strong> of Dave in the center of the Village complex in Mammoth.\u00a0 Each year I watch people walk by it, not even stopping to read the plaque that graces the base of it.\u00a0 Little do these people know that but for Dave McCoy, they wouldn’t have the hill they ski, the trails they bike or the restaurants they enjoy in the evenings.\u00a0 It probably bothers me more than it would bother Dave if he witnessed it.\u00a0 On the occasion of his 100th birthday in 2015 he commented, “Life is just what you make of what falls in your lap. “Be happy, make the day happy. It’s all in your attitude, the way you open your eyes in the morning. You got to jump up and go do something.”\u00a0<\/strong> He’ll be 103<\/strong> next month and, God willing, this example of the American Spirit will still be doing something.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson In 1986 I stood atop the 11, 053 foot Cornice Bowl at Mammoth Mountain, skis strapped to my feet and my heart in my throat.\u00a0 As I peered down the 2.100 foot drop I was simultaneously … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Classic-Dave-221x300.jpg\")
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