Named for early surveyor and National Geographic editor WJ McGee, the steep, mostly treeless scarp that rises above Hwy. 395 between McGee and Convict creeks is the site of the earliest lift-serviced downhill skiing in the region. In the late 1930s, a group of enterprising young Southern Californians, including Dave McCoy, installed a homemade rope tow here, attracting hundreds of skiers, and even a handful of Hollywood stars, every weekend. Drought and World War II put an end to it, and by the mid-'40s, McCoy had moved his operation to Mammoth Mountain. An historical marker and some remnants of machinery remain.