Walt Disney loved skiing. In the 30s, he helped finance California’s Sugar Bowl ski resort, leading one of its peaks to be named Mount Disney.

In the 60s, he made plans for a Disney ski resort in Mineral King Valley, also in California. He envisioned a resort that would welcome up to 2m visitors a year.

However, the location only had one seasonal access road. To build year-round access to the ski resort, Disney needed a range of approvals that weren't easy to get.

The Mineral King project was held up for years by legal disputes over its environmental impact. They were battles Disney ended up winning.

Disney cut the ski resort’s planned size and changed its primary access route to a more eco-friendly train. But high costs led the project to be scrapped.

Had it been built, the Mineral King resort would have been the biggest in California: 1,800 hectares in size, with a 3,700-feet total vertical drop.

In 1974, Disney looked at California's Independence Lake as an alternative location. But amid legal stumbling blocks, that project also foundered.

This resort would have been a less ambitious project - smaller in size at 1,400 hectares, and with a focus on beginners and intermediate skiers.

While Disney never did build a ski resort, the slope classification system designed by the company 1968 was adopted across the US and Canada.

Disney’s failed attempts signalled the end of an era for the construction of large ski resorts in California.  Only one has been built since then. 

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