Engen, The Salt Lake Tribune's "Utah athlete of the 20th Century" for his lifetime of developing Alta and the state's ski industry, drew widespread attention to Mountain High resort, 90 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles, in 1931 when he jumped 243 feet off what was then billed as the world's biggest ski jump.

The jump had been built as part of Los Angeles's successful bid to stage the 1932 Winter Olympics at Mountain High and other sites in the Big Pines region of Angeles National Forest.

"Engen caught the attention of the world and Big Pines was awarded the Winter Games," said the Mountain High resort Web site. But limited snow that winter prompted the International Olympic Committee to move the Games to Lake Placid.

The resort has experienced peaks and valleys ever since.

Development of a commercial ski area, then known as Blue Ridge, began in 1941. The name was changed to Mountain High when the resort was purchased in 1975 by Dick Woodworth. Five years later, a new owner merged Mountain High with an adjacent operation, Holiday Hill, and by the mid-1980s Mountain High was one of southern California's most heavily used ski areas with 350,000 visitors annually.

But Mountain High faltered after that and, the resort's Web site said, "fell into a financial slump from which most thought it would never recover." But another new owner started making improvements in 1997, expanding snowmaking systems, grooming efforts and ticket sales, and in 2005 the resort was sold to Valor Equity Partners of Chicago.

Valor Equity then sold Mountain High to CNL Income Properties of Orlando, Fla.

Counting Mountain High, CNL has purchased eight ski resorts around the country since May of 2006. The total purchase price of those resorts was $320.5 million, including the $35 million paid to Boyne USA for Brighton.

"We really are excited about the ski sector," said CNL spokesman Flanker Legler at the time of the Brighton sale. "We see this [wave] of baby boomers coming into retirement. They're skiing longer and . . . we see [them] going to a day ski place where they can spend 4 to 6 hours with their grandchildren."

Mountain High attracted 485,000 skiers and 'boarders last winter to its three areas, which offer 290 acres of skiable terrain and a maximum vertical drop of 1,600 feet. It has 59 trails (41 percent intermediate, 37 percent advanced) and 16 lifts, including two high-speed quads. Snowmaking covers 95 percent of the runs.

In recent years, CNL has spent more than $1 billion buying golf courses, marinas, campgrounds, mobile home and recreational vehicle parks, health clubs, parking lots, bowling centers and manufacturer's outlet centers.

The day before its purchase of Brighton was announced, CNL bought seven theme and water parks from Six Flags Inc. for $312 million.