The ski area opened as "Bachelor Butte" in October 1958 with a rope tow and a -long platter lift rising ; a lift ticket was three (equivalent to $ today). The name of the volcano was changed to "Mount Bachelor" in 1983 after the Bend Chamber of Commerce persuaded state and federal officials to adopt the more descriptive term Well-known broadcaster and avid skier Lowell Thomas visited the young ski area in 1961, flying over from Sun Valley with agribusiness magnate