During the winter of 1942 and 1943, a group of friend would combine enough "C" Ration Gas coupons to enable them to go skiing and that is when Herb and Jane learned to ski. They would occasionally run into Jim, who had skied for a number of years.

During these years, there were very few ski areas in Southern California, and only one was operating - a rope tow at Blue Ridge, Big Pines. Existing at that time, but closed due to the war, were Mt. Waterman, where the first chairlift had been built in 1936; rope tows at Green Valley, Snow Valley, Table Mountain (Ski Sunrise), and Blue Ridge. Krakta Ridge, Holiday Hill (which later combined with Blue Ridge to become Mountain High), Snow Summit, Rebel Ridge, Moonridge (now Bear Mountain) and Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts weren't even a gleam in anyone's eyes yet!

After helping Herb and his friends dig out their 1927 Victoria "A" Ford sedan, six weeks after it had been buried under snow one weekend, Jim and Herb thought it would be fun to put up their own rope tow someplace. Upon request, the U.S. Forest Service offered them several sites, and they selected a slope called Movie Slope near Snow Crest Resort at Camp Baldy. (In 1952, by petition of the residents, the name of the community was legally changed to Mt. Baldy). Jim had a used Hudson engine (his father owned a garage in Compton), and a bale of rope. Herb put in $150.00. They named their enterprise Mt. Baldy Ski Tows (no "Camp" for them, even back then) and began operations in 1944. The first year they housed their engine in a structure made of used Douglas Aircraft engine packing cases. The hill was quite steep, but the guys made $90.00! Hal Nelson, the son of the owners of the Snow Crest Resort, Jack and Ella Marie, brought cold drinks on a sled to sell at the bottom of the tow. Life was simple then.

The forest Service then suggested that if they planned to continue with this folly again next year, would they mind building a decent engine house? So, in the summer of 1945, Herb and Jane, helped by friends of theirs, Ken and Janyce Edwards, built the stone engine house, (destroyed several years ago by an avalanche). They hauled rocks from the mountainside, hauled sand and gravel up from the streamed by means of a pulley, and made the concrete by hand. Jim, meantime, had been called into the Army to serve with the famous 10th Mountaineers.

During the next seven years, the one rope tow became four, and 1948, in conjunction with Snow Crest Resort, the Hogan was built, with the able assistance of Howard Pruitt. It was located by the road, with Snow Crest using half of it to sell food and rent toboggans. Mt. Baldy Ski Tows used the other half to house the Ski Patrol. Herb and Jane ran the business end - Jim, happily, kept the engines running, often by means of scotch tape, spit, wire and a prayer! During those years, Jim and Herb were joined by Al Wisely, Head of the Ski School; Dave Briggs, Ski Patrol Leader; and a number of teenage boys who worked for free skiing - Bob Bentley, Larry Upham, Harvey Stone, Maurice Bertino, Marcel Schiro Sr. to name a few. (Bob, at 17, was one of the most fluid skiers ever seen on the mountain.) Also, Fuzz Meritt brought up his ski team from Pomona College, and later joined the team as an instructor. He, in fact, had been bringing his students up long before the rope tows were even built.

There were good years and bad years. There were years when Herb and Jim watched the snow level stay tantalizingly at 7,000'. Just above the rope tows which were at 6,500'. They began looking higher up, and eventually put a portable rope tow at the Divide (where the Notch is now). In the spring, they would guide groups of skiers up the steep canyon (#1 Lift site) and run the portable. They kept snow surveys. They KNEW that there was marvelous skiing to be had at these upper elevations. This project was mostly Jim's baby, and he did a great job.

In 1952, after one of the best winters they ever had, they were able to interest a special group of men to hike up into the area. On Thunder Mountain, in May, were there was still plenty of snow. It looked like a natural. The group, led by Morgan Adams, Jr., were mostly skiers from the Pasadena area and members of the Southern Skis Ski Club. A permit was given by the U.S. Forest Service to open up this area, and construction began in June of 1952. Although both Jim and Herb started out with the corporation, Jim did not remain, and Herb completed the construction and became president and general manager. (What this title means is that you work 14 hours per day, seven days a week!). Both men had moved their families to Mt. Baldy by then - Jim and wife, Dotty; and Herb, Jane and their sons, Dick and John. (Peter came later.) In 1953, Jim and Herb sold Mt. Baldy Tows to the corporation, where it became an adjunct to the main area.

Jim remained on the mountain and did auto repairs out of his home. He maintained his connection to the Lifts by serving on the Ski Patrol. He was also active in the fledging Mt. Baldy Fire Department. As well as one of the service organizations in the Valley. His other interest was in racing cars, and his "Pink Elephant" was well known in racing circles. His wife, Dotty, passed away, as did his second wife, Jane, who had been a fellow racing fan. In 1975 he sold his house (now the Young/Farmer home across from Mt. Baldy Lodge) and moved to Big Bear. He continued to be an avid skier and volunteer fireman and ski patrolman in his new home. He married again, only to lose her also.

MEMORIES OF JIM still remain on our mountain - his contributors to bringing big time skiing to Mt. Baldy. Other memories we remember fondly, such as the time the lifts bought a used bulldozer from someone at Big Pines. Instead of trucking it back over on a flat bed, he DROVE it from the top of Blue Ridge. Down the mountain, Across the desert to Lytle creek and up the backside to the Notch. The fireman remember the time he put a racing engine in one of the fire trucks - and it could beat ANYTHING! Jim as since passed. The news of his death, discovered in the Daily Bulletin, was a shock to all of those who knew him.

This article was original appeared in the Baldy Breeze, October Issue, Volume 95, No.8 Issue 1995
How a Ski Area Was Born, A Memoriam, James R. Chaffee 1913-1995