Blair Mountain
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania
Irvin Naylor is a legend in the Mid-Atlantic ski industry: he is Founder and President of Snow Time, Inc., owner of Liberty Mountain, Ski Roundtop, and Whitetail. He contacted DCSki in early 2008 to provide his memories of Blair Mountain. Irvin writes:
“Blair Mountain was founded about 1961 by five York, Pennsylvania partners - Bart Goldensburg, who had a ski shop; Bennett Williams, a real estate dealer/developer; Herb Borger, how owned/operated a steel supply business; and two others now escaping memory. It was located a few miles northwest of Ski Roundtop on about 300 vertical feet.
Inadequate capital apparently prevented them from acquiring the top 50 or so vertical feet and the orchard adjoining all of which was about 50 acres and acquired by Yorker industrialist, Don Graham and York attorney, Wentworth Vedder, who then offered the property for sale to the Blair Mountain group for cost and a little profit.
The ski area was served by a rope tow and was bifurcated at the bottom by a public road. Most rental users simply walked across the road on their rental skis! It was an embryonic ski area which had much to learn. I remember taking my young son there and at the end of the day having a bale of straw dropped on the tips of my skis because I apparently did not move back far enough/quickly enough from the rope tow to satisfy the attendant who was then shutting down. I remember that and the loss of son’s shoes at the end of a boot rental day as being two of the reasons I started Ski Roundtop - a far bigger mountain with improved technologies and enlightened management.
I suspect history justified the effort as Roundtop opened on December 10, 1964 and I think it was the spring of 1966 that Blair announced their closure.
The ski area is today hardly discernable after 40 years of growth and at last notice the lodge had been converted to offices.
Blair Mountain and its founders were in fact some of the earliest in the ski industry.”
Woody Bousquet was able to purchase a ski patch for Blair Mountain from eBay:
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A ski patch from Blair Mountain. Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.
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A DCSki reader provides this link to a web page describing a Rory Gallagher concert held at Blair Mountain in 1972. He includes a link to a Google Maps page with more information on Blair Mountain (click on the blue skier icon).
In October, 2008, Woody Bousquet drove by the Blair Mountain Ski Area site and took the following three photos. “The base lodge now houses a photography studio,” Woody writes. “The photographer has a framed sketch on her wall that shows the lodge when the ski area was in operation. I wish I’d had the time to check out the ski slope property across the road. Now that the owners have found this website, maybe they will take some photos of the property to document the remains of Blair Mountain Ski Area further.”
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The mountain viewed from Blair Mountain Road to the east. Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.
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The base of the mountain with some cleared areas. Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.
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The base lodge, which now houses a photography studio. Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.
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A sketch of the original ski lodge. Image provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Skis from Blair Mountain. Photos provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Skis from Blair Mountain. Photos provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Skis from Blair Mountain. Photos provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Skis from Blair Mountain. Photos provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Skis from Blair Mountain. Photos provided by Fran Weimer Adkins.
Image provided by ProSkiier465. Photo by M. Scott Smith.
In April, 2019, ProSkiier465 provided the following photos of Blair Mountain.
Rope tow line. Photo provided by ProSkiier465
Some images of Blair Mountain from the road. Photo provided by ProSkiier465
Trail on the right of the lodge with a driveway cutting through it. Photo provided by ProSkiier465
Reader Comments
blair mountain was near dillsburg,pa off rt15 and south on pa rt74 towards wellsville,pa ..this was the original home off the first ski roundtop(its original location then they moved to current location...
Anybody from the Dillsburg/York/Mechanicsburg/greater-Harrisburg area who remembers Blair Mountain will likely also remember that for awhile during the early-to-mid 1970s "The Lodge" at Blair Mountain ski area used to host performances by local and regional rock bands. Local Harrisburg favorites "The Legends" (former band lead by Dan Hartman, who later joined The Edgar Winter Group, and who wrote their 2nd-biggest hit "iRock & Roll Woman/i") used to play there regularly. As a young teenager I saw an amazing performance there by legendary Irish blues rock guitarist Rory Gallagher in September of 1972.
I wrote up a bit about the performance, and I've linked to the Google Map location of Blair Mountain in a blog entry which you can read at the following link:
(Apologies--you'll have to copy/paste the link below into your browser. This comments section won't allow a direct link)
http://sparkbox.blogspot.com/2008/07/rory-gallagher-stunned-me-when-i-was-13.html
We have lived in Dillsburg for many years. About 1 1/2 years ago we desired to move from a development to a wooded, secluded location which we found at 105 Blair Mountain Road. We currently own 14 acres. While walking through the property for the first time we noticed cement pilars and even some green rope still attached and asked about it. The owner stated the property was a ski resort before Ski Roundtop opened for business. So we actually live on the property that was the old Blair Mountain resort. There are several cement pilars the whole way up the mountain. We have been trying to find some prints of the resort but have been unsuccessful so far. It was nice to see the patch above with the Blair Mountain ski logo. Rochelle & Bryan McCreary
Bart Goldenberg, as Irv writes, owned InnerSki of Gaitherburg and McLean, VA. Bart also was the first importer of Garmont hard shell ski boots in the 60s. Bart turned over the shops to Frank in the 80s. InnerSki closed in McLean in about 1997 and the Gaitherburg store closed in about 2002. Brian Deely was the manager of the McLean store until he left in 1995 to start ProFit Ski and Skate in Leesburg, VA - the first ski shop in Loudoun County, VA. Brian pointed me to Blair Mountain remains when we skied together at Roundtop. Unfortunately, ProFit announced they too will close after this ski season. So, Bart's legacy in DC will now sadly end.
I was the manager for Bart's Inner ski from 1979 through 1981 in G'burg. Bart and Elaine had a partner Scott, whose last name I don't recall who was also from York, PA. Bart ran RECO, an importer of ski boots and he may have been the orginal importer of Garmont to the US. Bart and Elaine were stand up people.
Growing up in nearby Bowmansdale, I learned to ski at Blair. In addition to the ropetow,on which I burned through many sets of mittens, I believe there was also a T-bar. As I recall after sking at Blair for a year or two, I defected to Roundtop, wher I eventually became an instructor. I have all of my old Roundtop season passes, but alas no Blair memorabilia.
I learned to ski on Blair Mountain. My older brother was a lift attendant and after work one day he gave me a couple cans of beer and than took me to the top Blair Mtn., told to meet him at the bottom. To this day I still tell this story. I also shot many a deer on Blair Mtn. Today, there are houses everywhere.
The truth is Blair mtn tried to expand its skiing but the owners of Roundtop bought the top of the mtn. preventing Blair from expansion which caused its dismay. There was a big dispute between Blain & Roundtop at the time.
I've moved from the area many years ago but still love Dillsburg.
Just decided to search "Blair Mountain" I am astonsihed. The story is mostly accurate.
It was a wonderful time of our lives. We now live in Florida. We miss those days and think about them often. We can be contacted at
bartong15@yahoo.com.
Bart/Elaine
anyone want to sell a Blair Mtn ski pin? 717-233-5731
I purchased this building in 1996 and have operated a Photography studio in it since then. We put an addition on in 1998 and moved in at that time. We have had several people stop in to say they skied here, watched their parents ski here, attended concerts buy the Legands here, etc. The former owner gave us a sketch of the building when it was a ski lodge. We also found an old pair of skis that were left by the original owner I presume. We have decided to downsize and have the property up for sale at this time. If you would like to see more photos of the building just google 100 Blair Mountain Rd., Dillsburg, PA and the MLS listings should show up. If I can figure out how I will post pics of the skis and sketch.
Gary and Fran Weimer Adkins
