SAM Magazine--Wrightwood, Calif., July 6, 2004--Mountain High Resort is purchasing neighboring Ski Sunrise for about $375,000. The sale of the 97-acre area, located about one mile from Mountain High's existing East and West areas, is set for mid-July.

Mountain High GM Karl Kapuscinski told SAM that, in the short term, Sunrise will be used as a teaching and snow play (tubing and sledding) area. Mountain High's existing teaching terrain is often maxed out on weekends, he said, and with no snow-play areas anywhere nearby, tubing and sledding may well draw tens of thousands of greater-L.A. visitors. Both these uses will require little in the way of snowmaking, and those needs can be met with a combination of the area's existing minimalist system and portable units--thanks in part to an elevation of 7.500 feet.

In the long run, Sunrise could become a more complete third piece of the Mountain High puzzle, offering skiing and riding on a larger scale. But that will require major snowmaking expansion as well as lift upgrades, Kapuscinski said. The 850-vertical-foot area currently includes 24 marked runs, one chair lift, two cable lifts, a paved parking lot for 480 cars, restaurant facility, lodge, rental and retail shops. \

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