Sun Valley had W. Averell Harriman, Mammoth Mountain had Dave McCoy. Both were legendary figures with the vision and means to make a ski resort where none had existed.
Of course, it always helps to start with snow.
Seizing an opportunity when they saw it, Montecito residents Ted Simmons and Garrett Speirs wasted no time last Thursday when they awoke to the sight of snow-capped mountains. Packing up Simmons’ four-wheel-drive with ski gear, the pair set out to pursue their dream.
Driving up Gibraltar Road with Speirs’ video camera filming, a series of off-the-cuff one-liners turned into a running commentary that escalated to an ambitious story line that even an environmentalist might find funny. The plot they hatched? Ski Santa Barbara, the West’s newest ski resort, “20 minutes from the swaying palm trees and harbor of downtown Santa Barbara.”
While taking turns skiing fresh powder near La Cumbre Peak — the exact location has been kept confidential to protect early investors — Simmons and Speirs cracked wise about the location for parking, chair lifts, lodges and slopeside home lots. They even identified a Black Diamond run involving barbed-wire.
By the end of the outing, they thought they had enough for a prospectus. By the time they got home, they decided to make a video instead. The result of their 15-minute endeavor is some classically grainy footage that has all the makings of a cult hit. And with nearly 900 views so far on YouTube, it may well become one. Hopefully, before the next snow.
In the video, Speirs seems to be the smoother skier while a mogul appears to get the better of Simmons. He declined to dispute the observation, but he manfully blamed faulty equipment. “I brought old skis,” he explained. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
Both Simmons and Speirs said the most perilous part of their adventure wasn’t the ungroomed slopes but the drive up and down the mountain. Fellow motorists were all over the icy road, something Ski Santa Barbara will have to address in the environmental impact report — assuming there is one.
In the meantime, the two men can tell their children, and someday their grandchildren, that they’re two of the few to have ever skied La Cumbre Peak. Fortunately, they’ve got the video to prove it.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
