The author brings in the colorful background of the 19th century in this never-before-told account of the evolution of skiing in the Far West during the Snow-shoe Era, when even horses wore snow-shoes. Many miners, drawn by gold died while attempting to climb the forbidding slopes of the Lost Sierra -- a high rugged plateau that lies directly in the path of California's winter storms. Necessity was the mother of invention, and snow-shoes appeared in 1853 shortly after one of the worst winters in history. As pioneer families continued to come, snow shoes became the only way to socialize, for doctors to make visits, and for mail carriers to bring news of the world. Those mail carriers became some of the first true heroes, with the most famous being Snow-shoe Thompson. The second half of the books gives an inside look at the influence trains, cars and other modes of transportation had on snow-shoe travel, the formation of racing clubs; the demise, the revival in the early 20th century and finally the people responsible for building a multi-million dollar ski industry in the Sierra Nevada.