What you have here is an actual mid-century ski chalet that was originally the private residence of one of the developers of Mammoth Mountain. Can you guess who? That's right! Mr. Davison, who worked along side legendary founder of Mammoth Mountain Dave McCoy. Way back in the day, there were ski lifts running right up our street and people used to ski the hill our lodge now sits at the bottom of. You can still see the original cement foundation for one of these early-era Mammoth ski lifts on the western slope of our property. Mr. Davison would later develop the street itself and make the present day Davison St Guest House his private lodge, no doubt choosing our location for it's unobstructed view of Crystal Crag. A view we still enjoy.
In the 70's, this large A-Frame was converted into a very low key hostel, affectionately named The Asgard Chalet an homage to Canada's world renowned mountaineering peak, Asgard Mountain, which in turn derives it's name from the Norse mythological dwelling place of the gods. Legend divided Asgard into 12 or more etherial realms, including Valhalla, the home of Odin. Though The Asgard Chalet of Mammoth lakes in the 70's was much rather enjoyed by the ski-bumb and summertime high-sierra dirt-bag enthusiasts of the era... who like Odin, did enjoy sporting beards, woolen sweaters, tie-dyes and external frame backpacks! This continued through the 80's with "hot-doggers and ski-bunnies" fashion's then favoring fluorescent pink ski onesies' and equally flamboyant eyewear. We'd also be remiss if we didn't fondly mention that nary was there a snowy lift line in the 80's without somebody's mullet'd Uncle skiing in stone-washed blue jeans, tallboy of Budweiser in the same hand as his pole. Place of gods indeed!
Eventually, The Asgard Chalet came under our present Hillenbrand family ownership and whence became the Davison St Guest House, which admittedly, is an equally silly name because it's technically located on "Davison Road." We had come to discover this alpine gem seeking refuge one rainy night when our family tent failed at nearby Twin Lakes campground. There in the early 90's (otherwise known as the greatest period in snowboarding) we, as a family, embarked upon fixing up what was really an alpine gem in the rough. We built new bunkbeds, added two large Redwood decks to the property, remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms... And then we decorated our place with live-edge burl tables, carved bears and no shortage of vintage thrift store art. I myself ended up becoming a professional woodworking artist no doubt due in part to the skills I developed working on the place as a teenager. Here at The Davison St Guest House we proudly continue the legacy of welcoming guests to the high Sierras. Decades of the best family memories and countless epic back country adventures have been forged from our simple kitchen table and you can feel that when you stay here. It's a super special place we share with you.