A view of the old Iron Mountain ski resort as it appears today. 

An entire ski resort, long abandoned and with a troubled history and located around 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe, is for sale. 

The old Iron Mountain resort, complete with broken-down ski lifts and burn scars from the Caldor Fire, has hit the market for $5.8 million. The roughly 65-acre plot comes with preapproved permits to build condos and is zoned for a new ski resort and camping, the sellers say. 

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“I think the best opportunity is for a mom-and-pop type ski resort, surrounded by condos,” listing agent Matt Sarro told SFGATE.

The site, near the meeting of Highway 88 and the Mormon Emigrant Trail in El Dorado County, has a checkered past as a winter destination, to say the least. 

First opened as “Silver Basin” in 1971 by a man named John Allen, the resort was somewhat unique in that visitors could immediately ski down the “upside down” mountain from the lodge and parking lot, without getting on a lift until they reached the bottom. 

A candid newspaper advertisement in November 1972 spoke to Allen’s vision, as well as his struggles to get skiers to his new resort.

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The Sacramento Bee edition on Nov. 19, 1972. 

“I have a problem, and I need your help,” Allen wrote. “My problem is that........

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