Dave McCoy, founder of Mammoth Mountain, dies at 104

“Dave McCoy, a towering pioneer of the California ski industry, who with vision, hard work and a knack for the mechanical transformed a remote Sierra peak into the storied Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, has died. He was 104,” as the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

“’McCoy was part of a post-World War II cohort of pioneers who had an extraordinary sense of what they could do, which is why we have a place like Mammoth Mountain today,’ said Hal Clifford, executive editor of Orion, a nature and culture magazine. ‘It’s a unique creation that wasn’t hatched in corporate planning room, or a focus group.”’

We paid tribute to Dave in our Sierra FoodWineArt magazine in 2004 with text and a vintage photo (see bottom of article).

A video about Dave from the L.A. Times, is here:

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline