With a location protected from heavy winds and strong sun, the ski area enjoyed a longer season and its reputation grew beyond the local area. In 1953, Rustad relinquished part of his US Forest Service lease on acreage on the North side of the valley to University of California (UC) Berkeley’s International House. The organization’s volunteers built a lodge there. Bought by the UC Berkeley Alumni Association in 1958, the lodge became a year-round education and recreation center with additional facilities including a conference room, dining room, swimming pool and beds for 150. In 1969, a New York publisher, Hughes Miller, bought the property. Changing the name to the Four Seasons at Lake Tahoe, he built the first of what would eventually be 84 condos in the valley. The name was changed back to Granlibakken almost immediately as a more appropriate reflection of the property’s sense of place and role in the area’s history.
