This beautiful reproduction poster has been re-mastered from a 1960's advertising poster for Kratka Ridge Ski area, in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California.
The vibrant colors and detail of this classic image have been painstakingly brought back to life to preserve a great piece of history.
The high-resolution image is printed on heavy archival photo paper, on a large-format, professional giclée process printer. The poster is shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, and is ready for framing.
The 13"x19" format is an excellent image size that looks great as a stand-alone piece of art, or as a grouped visual statement. These posters require no cutting, trimming, or custom framing, and a wide variety of 13"x19" frames are readily available at your local craft or hobby retailer, and online.
A great vintage print for your home, shop, or business!
HISTORY OF KRATKA RIDGE SKI AREA
Kratka Ridge or Snowcrest, is a skiable area on Waterman Mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California. Located 36 miles northeast of La Cañada and Pasadena along the Angeles Crest Highway, it reaches a height of 7,515 feet (2,291 m).
The area featured two chair lifts and a rope tow, has a total of 13 runs with a vertical drop of approximately 750 feet (230 m). Trail difficulty can be rated as 30% beginner, 30% intermediate, and 40% advanced.
The resort is located 4.2 miles (6.8 km) west of Angeles Crest Highway mile marker 52.6, about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) east of Mount Waterman ski area, and about 2.7 miles west of the two tunnels. It lies in the Pearblossom, California postal zip code (93553).
The area was developed in 1950 by the Joe Diener and the Angeles Winter Development Association, a group of Mount San Gorgonio ski club members. In 1954, the first chairlift at Kratka Ridge was constructed. Its single chair was believed to be one of the last of its kind in operation as of 2001 besides the single chair at Mad River Glen and Mt Eyak Ski Area in Cordova Alaska.
Kratka Ridge changed its name to Snowcrest, then back to Kratka Ridge. After the switch back to the original name, "Kratka" referred to the skiing and snowboarding terrain from the base to the summit, while "Snowcrest" referred to the snowplay/tubing area at the base.
On August 29, 1999 five teenagers crashed a Toyota Camry off Angeles Crest Highway (mile marker 68) when driving home from a Jujubeats "rave" party held at the then-named Snowcrest Resort. The families of the teens took legal actions to sue the venue owners; however, the disputes were settled outside of court. This event may have contributed to a bad image of Snowcrest, prompting the owners to change the name back to Kratka Ridge.
The ski area was open through the 2000-2001 ski season. The single chair lift was damaged by avalanche during a large storm during February 11–13, 2001, which left approximately 7 feet of snow. In December 2001, a mysterious fire destroyed the chairlift base area and the resort has been closed since the 2001-2002 season. The parent owner of the resort, Angeles Crest Resorts, collected insurance on both events but did not begin reconstruction. The ski area's closure may have been related to the fire or other economic reasons.
The permit for Kratka Ridge was revoked; the current owners had to sell it, or the resort would be torn down. Another local resort, Mountain High showed interest in buying the lift structures, probably for its new North Resort.
On March 12, 2006, the Pasadena Star reported that Lynn Newcomb and Rick Metcalf, a Southern California businessman, were looking to purchase Mt. Waterman from the existing owners. The former manager for Mount Waterman under Lynn Newcomb later reported that Lynn Newcomb and Rick Metcalf purchased the resort and planned to have it open by the 2006-2007 winter season. Reconstruction of the chairlift base area was under way in October 2006. Plans for the area were not certain, however, as many speculated it to be a play area while neighboring Mt. Waterman hosted ski lifts.
As of June 2015, the area remains unchanged and abandoned. The single-chair chairlift is still intact, yet the base of the station is non-existent. "Keep Out" signs are posted alongside the highway.
