This beautiful poster has been re-mastered from an early 1950s Snow Valley advertising brochure. Snow Valley is still operating today, perched high in the San Bernardino Mountains, east of Los Angeles, Ca.
 
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 sizing, and a wide variety of these 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 THE SNOW VALLEY SKI AREA
 
Snow Valley ski resort, located just east of Running Springs, in the San Bernardino Mountains, is celebrating its 80th anniversary in the 2017-18 season.
 
The history of the Snow Valley resort dates back to the late 1800s, when Southern Californian’s began flocking to the San Bernardino Mountains, and using the pine covered slopes as a four-season recreation area. The site of the present-day Snow Valley resort was a popular camping area known as Fish Camp from the late 1800s to the 1930s.
 
Fish Camp began as a primitive camp site at the headwaters of Deep Creek, that was used by fisherman testing their luck in the local streams. As the site became more popular, cabins and resort facilities were built to accommodate the outdoor enthusiasts.
 
In 1932, the San Bernardino National Forest Service announced plans to improve the public camping facilities at Fish Camp, near the present-day site of the Snow Valley parking area.
The facilities at Fish Camp took a giant leap forward in December of 1937, when the forest service issued a permit to the Lake Arrowhead Corporation to construct a 1,300-ft. ski lift. The lift consisted of a continuous motorized cable that ran around pulleys at the top and bottom of the slope. Skiers were pulled up the 350’ rise, standing on their skis, and holding tow ropes attached to the cable.
 
The ski lift became a huge draw, in addition to a ski jump that had already been constructed there.
The modern-day story of Snow Valley began in 1937, when Norwegian ski jumping champion Sverre Engen and his wife Lois purchased the food concession cabin at Fish Camp. Engen had previous experience developing skiing facilities in Utah, and he began remodeling the concession cabin to become a full-service ski facility. The Engen’s didn’t think Fish Camp was an appropriate name for a ski resort, so they worked with the forest service to get the name of the facility changed to “Snow Valley.”
 
In 1939, a group of Hollywood celebrities and tycoons were constructing a glamorous new hotel at Arrowhead Springs to replace the hotel that had burned down the prior year. The group decided that adding a ski resort to their facilities would create a spectacular year-round resort.
 
In November of 1941, Arrowhead Springs announced the sale of Snow Valley to John Elvrum, a Norwegian ski champion who had been managing the ski resort for the company.
 
John Elvrum and his wife Genevieve moved into the Ski Shack, and began improving the facilities at Snow Valley. The improvements were put on hold when World War II and Uncle Sam intervened, and Elvrum’s skiing skills were put into military service.
 
After the war, Elvrum knew that the rope tows would keep the customers coming to Snow Valley, but in order to compete with the other Southern California ski areas, he needed a chair lift. Snow Valley got its first chairlift in 1949, when Chair #1, a mile-long lift, with 144 chairs was completed.
 
In September of 1949, the lodge at Snow Valley burned down, and plans were made to build a larger facility. A new $150,000, 3-story chalet-style lodge was completed in 1953, and is still in use today.
 
John Elvrum operated Snow Valley until 1971, when he sold out his interest to the parent company, Snow Valley, Inc. Elvrum was a pioneer in the Southern California skiing industry, providing new and innovative ski facilities for more than 30 years.