Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Dave McCoy, Eastern Sierra ski industry innovator

Dave McCoy’s recent passing at age 104 has many in the Mammoth Lakes area and beyond reminiscing about how his legacy and spirit shaped the recreational and cultural landscape of the Eastern Sierra.

Dave McCoy, 1915–2020. Photo courtesy of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.

Like we do here at the Mono Lake Committee, Dave paid a lot of attention to the Sierra snowpack, starting as a hydrographer for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power in the late 1930s. It was during that career that he first envisioned a ski area on the slopes of Mammoth Mountain.

Executive Director Geoff McQuilkin said, “We will miss him—he was an icon of the Eastern Sierra spirit of fun, adventure, and self-reliance.”