2020 - 2021 Far West Skier's Guide - FWSA40

90th Anniversary Booklet/FINAL.qxp_90th Anniversary Booklet 12/6/20 2:08 PM Page 40

FWSA sent Nancy Ingalsbee to Washington
as an advocate for Mineral King and the use of
public lands. Sending an advocate to Washington
is still a first for a volunteer ski association. Jane
Wyckoff brought assorted stationery to meetings to
be used for members' letters to Congressmen and
media. Jerry Garrett (Single Ski Club of LA) developed the " Save our Skiing " fund raising campaign. Chuck Morse founded the Skisport Legal
Defense Fund. A Mineral King Ski Club was
founded. FWSA flexed its muscles, but one of its
Senators - Alan Cranston- backed out of negotiated
support for skiing in Mineral King and voted instead for park inclusion, splitting the California
vote. The other Senator was Sam Hayakawa.

Public Lands Advisory Board Chairman,
Royall Keith Brown (1936-2018). photo provided by
the Upper San Gabriel Metropolitan Water District

Public Lands Advisory Panel, chaired by him, used
a set of five metrics to make this determination.
FWSA then got agreement with the USFS that the
sites that met the key metrics would be documented
for consideration for winter sports and excluded
from Wilderness. Some sites were deemed unsuitable for winter sports.

Peppermint Mountain

The public fight over the use of public lands for
Mineral King skiing really started in Balboa Ski
Club in 1974. Balboa was the home club of Dick
Goetzman and he had the club well informed as
to the status of Mineral King. Nancy Ingalsbee
(pictured) took the lead in the fight and decided that
she would send the world's longest telegram to
the US Forest Service. Their litigation with the
Sierra Club, was to convince them of Far West's
determination. The initial signings for the
telegram started and continued through many
meetings with other clubs and through two major
ski shows. Balboa members collected sufficient
money to send Nancy to Washington to deliver the
telegram. It was nearly a foot in diameter. The
success of that mission led to Nancy being
dispatched to Washington as a representative for
Far West and the USSA (the amicus briefing official
holder). Nancy stayed on in Washington as the
members'representative to watch over other ski
related causes after the loss in 1978 when Mineral
King went into the Sequoia National Park. She
remains the only Washington rep sent by the
Association, serving into the 1980s. Nancy is the
2017 FWSA Snowsport Builder.

The task of remaining informed and involved
in area development for skiing was carried out by
the Public Affairs committee and task teams of
skiers chaired by an FWSA official and working
with local persons on site. This included dialog with
operators and prospective developers and a commitment where possible to conduct on-site inspections of the area or facility being expanded and for
which a DEIS may be required. In addition, the Association provided input to the two RARE exercises
by the USFS.
During the era of RARE (Roadless Area Review
and Evaluation) and RARE 2, Royall Brown tracked
all the areas identified in RARE and identified 27
candidate areas having potential as a ski site. The

A new area development concept evaluated by
FWSA was a proposed site in the Sierra Nevada.
The Peppermint Area in the Sequoia Forest is feasible for future development as a major destination
downhill skiing area according to initial studies completed through a Forest Service special use permit
issued in August 1980 to Art Buckley of Porterville.
The area lies about 40 miles east of Porterville via
California 190 and the Western Divide Highway.
This highway borders the area on its north and east

sides while the Slate Mountain Crest at 9,302 feet
bounds the area on its west side.
The preliminary study showed that Peppermint has desirable qualities including the variety of
slopes, needed for all ranges of skiing ability. It has
sufficient snow for operations from December
through March and adequate land for parking and
other development facilities at the base. Nearby
areas are also available for other winter sports including cross country skiing and snowmobiles. The
uses and facilities could be incorporated in the total
development.
An Association team was assembled and
charged with evaluating the possibilities and then to
exercise a support campaign should the evaluation
be positive. The team was charged with reporting
on the steps taken by the Forest Service and the permittee and along Far West procedures to make on
site observations. The project kicked off in 1981
lasted over eight years. The project team operated
at a time of organizational turbulence under USSASports and from 1984 the involvement of likeminded volunteers from a new ski organization -
the US Recreational Ski Association (USRSA, then
chiefly populated by Far West members).
The team reviewed The Peppermint Mountain Resort Feasibility Study document prepared by
Alpine Development of Boulder, CO and the Conceptual Plan and Preliminary Economic Analysis
1980. Far West was informed of a special use permit to an Art Buckley by the USFS for an area 40
miles east of Porterville - which came to be known

Far West Ski Association Officers Sports Division) gather wearing their Peppermint T-Shirts at the
50th Annual Convention at the Fresno Hilton Hotel on April 24, 1982. FRONT ROW L-R: John James Board of Governors, John Rosenfeld - VP Public Affairs, Nancy Ingalsbee - USSA/Sports Director of
Government Relations, Unknown, Unknown. BACK ROW L-R: Janie " Frankie " Hansen - Chief Financial
Officer, Unknown, Jane Wyckoff - President, Woody Hogan - Central Council Public Affairs Chair,
Bobbie Moreno - USSA/Sports Program Consultant, Unknown. photo provided by Jane Wyckoff

40 FWSA 90th Anniversary Booklet / 1930 - 2020

2020 - 2021 Far West Skier's Guide

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2020 - 2021 Far West Skier's Guide