New England Lost Ski Areas Project • Hacker News Board

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#11

Post by brightsize » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 12:54 AM UTC

nateburke wrote: post #9

This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river valley areas such as Mt Tom memorialized here is very meaningful to me.

Maple Valley still has infrastructure in place though I'm sure it's rotting away. I drive by there often when I'm back in 05301-land and it's haunting to behold. I think it's been for sale[1] for ... decades ... hard to imagine small hills like this ever being economically viable again. Even when I was a kid my peers chose to break their arms and legs at the more distant (and likewise defunct) Hogback Mountain.

[1] https://youtu.be/eb9iZY_wCwc

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#12

Post by douche » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 1:03 AM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #10

theklub wrote: post #7

Crazy, I never would have guess some of these I live very near. thanks for this.

There used to be a huge number of these rope tow and a hill or maybe a chairlift and a small mountain areas in New England. But the business really became go big or go home given factors like snowmaking and modern chairlifts. There are a few survivors but not many.

Even some of the bigger mountains are struggling. Saddleback, in Rangeley, ME has shut down, and Sugarloaf, also in northwest ME, is not doing that great.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#13

Post by sevensor » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 1:35 AM UTC

nateburke wrote: post #9

This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river valley areas such as Mt Tom memorialized here is very meaningful to me.

I grew up in CT and we would go to Mt Tom if we were feeling ambitious. I've since moved away, and I literally just learned that Mt Tom was closed. Sad news!

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#14

Post by ghaff » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 1:45 AM UTC

douche wrote: post #12

ghaff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be a huge number of these rope tow and a hill or maybe a chairlift and a small mountain areas in New England. But the business really became go big or go home given factors like snowmaking and modern chairlifts. There are a few survivors but not many.

Even some of the bigger mountains are struggling. Saddleback, in Rangeley, ME has shut down, and Sugarloaf, also in northwest ME, is not doing that great.

I do very little downhill skiing these days and don't subscribe to any of the magazines. I confess to being out of the loop on demographic and other trends.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#15

Post by TYPE_FASTER » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 1:53 AM UTC

nateburke wrote: post #9

This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river valley areas such as Mt Tom memorialized here is very meaningful to me.

Me too. Our school did Friday afternoons at Ascutney. King Ridge and Suicide Six (free J-bar!) were other local areas I remember that now only exist on Nelsap.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#16

Post by ilamont » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 2:20 AM UTC

I remember skiing Prospect Hill as a teenager. In the wintertime prior to 1990 it was possible to leave work at Polaroid or one of the other big office complexes along Rte 128 in Waltham and be booting up at the base of Prospect Hill 15 minutes later. Just a few slopes and a WW II-era T-bar, but still ...

http://www.nelsap.org/ma/prospecthill.html

ETA: A quote from a former employee during its last year of operation:

I was part of the ski school management team in Prospect Mountain's last year of operations, 1990. They had been out of business for two or three years before this season. A man named "Bill Krikorian" had been trying to reopen Mt. Watatic in Ashby, MA. The town fathers saw through him and would not allow him the permits. He leased Prospect Hill from the MDC, but three problems arose: 1. They would not give him a liquor license for the premises 2. There was virtually no natural snow that winter 3. His "cannon-style" snow gun literally blew up on the hill in mid-December.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#17

Post by ethagnawl » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 2:32 AM UTC

I just now realized I owe nelsap.org a debt of gratitude. I _stumbled upon_ this site back in 2004/5 and, for some reason, was inspired to ride my bike down Neutaconkanut Hill in Providence. The "trail" was pretty much non-existent and that trip wasn't particularly fun, but it did give me a taste of what mountain biking _could_ be like. Afterwards, I decided to explore other biking trails in the area (Lincoln Woods, Burlingame, Weetamoo Woods, etc.) and I've been mountain biking regularly ever since.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#18

Post by ghaff » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 2:32 AM UTC

TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #15

nateburke wrote: post #9

This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river valley areas such as Mt Tom memorialized here is very meaningful to me.

Me too. Our school did Friday afternoons at Ascutney. King Ridge and Suicide Six (free J-bar!) were other local areas I remember that now only exist on Nelsap.

Suicide Six is apparently still there: http://www.woodstockinn.com/ski-area

MIT used to have a house in basically the backyard of Suicide Six that Laurence Rockefeller (who also owned the ski area) donated. Living groups and others would rent out the place. We usually skied at Killington but we'd put in short days at Suicide Six as well.

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#19

Post by jessaustin » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 4:01 AM UTC

planteen wrote: post #8

chadgeidel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does he/she have a website or a forum? I think I know folks who would be interested in this. Unless they don't want the publicity. I'm not that popular though. :-)

Here are some in Colorado. Most ski resorts (open and closed) in Colorado are on public land. http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/lostresorts.html

Thanks for that. I snowboarded at Cuchara a couple of times. I had a great time, but even then my general impression was that they were keeping the lifts going just long enough to sell off the rest of the adjoining condos and cabins...

Re: New England Lost Ski Areas Project

#20

Post by pyromine » Wed, Apr 26, 2017, 5:19 AM UTC

douche wrote: post #12

ghaff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be a huge number of these rope tow and a hill or maybe a chairlift and a small mountain areas in New England. But the business really became go big or go home given factors like snowmaking and modern chairlifts. There are a few survivors but not many.

Even some of the bigger mountains are struggling. Saddleback, in Rangeley, ME has shut down, and Sugarloaf, also in northwest ME, is not doing that great.

To call Saddleback a bigger mountain is somewhat of a misnomer... they're never been very popular, despite being a hell of a mountain. Blame the location.

And while I'm not too certain on the prospects of Sugarloaf, I can't see it struggling too badly. They have held high profile events consistently, and they're owned by Boyne who have a consistent track record of running resorts. They're a strong operator in the industry.