When my wife and I came to California the Mammoth Mountain ski resort had been in operation for three years or so. A guy named Dave McCoy started with one rope tow powered by wrapping the rope around the jacked-uo rear wheel of an automobile. At the time we arrived I believe a stationary engine had replaced the car, and I know McCoy was trying to get together enough money to add a T-bar tow. All in all it was a shoestring operation.
The Mammoth Mountain ski business was recently sold for around $365 million. So in the intervening 55 years McCoy has cleared $365 milliion over and above a comfortable living and the expenses of running the ski resort.
You sure he didn’t just make an astute property purchase a long long time ago? I could imagine the location of any ski lift would also be a prime location for a hotel. Which would justify selling it for a socking great value, even if the turnover was peanuts.
McCoy has personally operated the ski business all the time. And I don’t see that it makes that much difference how he did it. He still cleared an awful lot more in that time than I did. Of course, he cleared a lot more in that time than most people, but it still gave me pause.
That reminds me of a comedy routine I heard once. He said that the East Coast and West Coast are very different. On the East Coast you can tour old buildings and hear about the founding fathers and the way life was back in the Colonial days. On the West Coast you can take a tour and the tour guide will say “and the early settlers who braved this rough land…Oh, look! Here they come now.”
Oh, I don’t dwell. I’m satisfied with my accomplishments, modest as they are. In fact, considering that I fell into a beer bottle for 15 or 20 years along the way, I’ve done well. But, I met McCoy casually when I went to Mammoth with my sister the first year we were here. Just a guy trying to get a rope tow to work reliably. He not only did that but built up and operated a ski area that turned out to be what you would have to term as quite successful. And it still gives me to think - suppose that damned beer bottle hadn’t been there.
I know the feeling, David. Sometimes I just look at a huge success story and wonder what would have happend had I had some focus early on - a vision, maybe.Well, better late than never as they say. No real regrets. Would be nice - more comfortable - to have a substantial nest egg, but we don’t and retirement will still be a great adventure.
David Simmons Congratulations on your 24 years of sobriety. That’s quite an accomplishment. That sounds like you did something right.
I sometimes do that, play the comparison game, I always come out the loser. I’m trying to learn to take score less and enjoy the game more. I’m always happier that way.
Because, you know, the journey is the destination.
I’ve occasionally wondered what would have been the outcome had I secured a financial advisor early on. But then I remember that when it was early on for me, if I had gone to a financial house looking for an advisor, with my income then they would have snickered.
My father had an army buddy who wanted him to buy some land, fairly cheaply, back in the early 50’s. The guy even offered to lend my father the money to buy it, but dad declined…what did he need with some land out in Nevada.
Oh, did I forget to mention that land was the river front land in what is now Laughlin, NV and worth 100’s of million dollars today?
I seem to recall a Sports Illustrated article that told about how the founder of the Mammoth Mountain resort did research and found that a mountain at the end of a valley consistently had the greatest average snowfall. He bought land and started a ski run.
Sounds to me like making a avery astute business decision. It took real guts, though.
Yes, Mammoth Mounting sits in a pass through the Sierra Nevada and has pretty much an open window to the winds from the Pacific Ocean that contain a lot of moisture with no high peaks in the way.
McCoy pretty much pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Starting with what he could afford, rope tow and old car for power to drive it, and adding a little at a time as he could get the money together. I assume that once he passed a certain threshold in his resort operation, business loans became more available, but I don’t know that.