“Tracks of Passion” is a story about one man’s passion, his business, the love of his life, his 6 kids, ski teams, fate, opportunity, friends, and his leadership, communication and management skills. Any description I give here will not do this story justice, so you need to get and read this book!
The author, Robin Morning was a ski team member and a Mammoth Mountain “insider” so her insights are from experience and valid. “Tracks of Passion” chronicles the life of Dave McCoy, founder of Mammoth Mountain from his childhood, to moving to the Owens Valley the first day after high school, to meeting his wife, to running rope tows and other businesses in the Eastern Sierra, to becoming a hydrographer for LA dept. of water and power, to getting the lease from the forest service to develop Mammoth Mountain as a resort, through incredible snow storms and their aftermath, to having to develop new techniques in building chairlifts and removing snow due to Mammoth Mountain’s incredible ability to attract snowfall, to his coaching Mammoth Mountains ski team, Junior National Team, Western States Championship Teams, and lots of Olympic skiers.
It is amazing how he hand selected the people to run each division of his growing empire, and they all worked at a Herculean pace because everyone was caught up in Dave McCoy’s passion and dream of building Mammoth Mountain into the resort it is today.
I have always loved the clean air and views in the Eastern Sierra and skiing at Mammoth Mountain, so I created my geographically non-specific business, www.InstantYellowPageProfits.com, and relocated 3 years ago near Mammoth Mountain. I have skiied over 200 days in the last 3 years, and enjoy the thrills of the terrain and spectacular views of the Minarets, Mt. Banner and Mt. Ritter, and all the surrounding landscape. It inspires me.
This biographical story about Dave McCoy is presented in “photo essay” format. What that means is you get lots of pictures and memoribilia scanned into the book so its’ 350+ pages are an easy read. There are lots of print advertising examples that are “pretty good”, so you can study the ads in there to see what they were doing for promotions. I read about 200 pages the first day I picked it up because the stories were so compelling, and I finished it in 3 days total. It is amazing what 1 man can accomplish if he stays focused, resourseful andf faithful to his family and passion his entire life.
It even chronicles the new leader of Mammoth Mountain, Rusty Gregory, and the story of his ”hands-on” contributions to Dave’s dream that most people have not heard. It is Rusty that now “carries Dave’s torch” and should be recognized for his efforts. That reminds me. I have to go enjoy some spring conditions at, you guessed it, Mammoth Mountain.
Tags: advertising, Dave McCoy, Eastern Sierra, Mammoth Mountain, print advertising, Robin Morning, Rusty Gregory, Tracks of Passion