LA CA ADA FLINTRIDGE - The long-closed and historic Mount Waterman ski area in the San Gabriel Mountains has been purchased by Newport Beach real estate developer Rick Metcalf, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Metcalf, who also has purchased the neighboring Kratka Ridge ski area - both in June from former owner Greg Stubblefield - now has a pending permit application to open Mount Waterman by Thanksgiving, said Shawn Lawler, a special-use permit administrator for the Forest Service.

"I grew up my whole life in La Ca ada Flintridge, and after taking a school ski trip to Waterman in seventh grade, I ended up skiing there hundreds of times," Metcalf said Saturday. "When I found out the Forest Service was going to mow it down, I decided I just could not let that happen."

He said he plans to have three chairlifts operating there by this winter. He also has plans to renovate the resort's warming huts and restrooms and add a new kitchen and deck from which visitors can enjoy the scenery.

"There is a magic to this place and I want to make it like the place I remember from my youth - only better," Metcalf said. "As far as I'm concerned, it will never be closed again."

Lynn Newcomb - who founded Mount Waterman, has followed developments there and has known Metcalf for a number of years - said he was pleased to be working as a consultant on Metcalf's planned revival of the ski area.

"The sale has been made, and the plan is to get everything that has just been sitting there running again," he said.

According to Newcomb, Metcalf wants to hire employees who, like himself, grew up skiing at Waterman, which is off the Angeles Crest Highway - also known as Highway 2 - in the San Gabriel Mountains.

"It looks like we will be bringing back people who really know Waterman," he said.

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