The Small Hills
14 posts
9 users
4k+ views
GGNagy
January 28, 2008
Member since 01/5/2006 🔗
507 posts
oldensign's sig reads:
 Quote:
Ski the Small Hills!!!


When I think of "small hills" I think of places like Boyce Park and Willowbrook Ski Area. Are there others in the Mid Atlantic that people would classify as small hills? Are there any flying under the dcski radar, or did the rest end op on the lost ski areas page?
scootertig
January 28, 2008
Member since 02/19/2006 🔗
365 posts
Bryce is small...


aaron
skier219
January 28, 2008
Member since 01/8/2005 🔗
1,318 posts
The hill at the Homestead has to be considered small...
oldensign - DCSki Columnist
January 28, 2008
Member since 02/27/2007 🔗
506 posts
Locally Mystic Mtn in Western PA, Ski Sawmill & Ski Denton up in Northern PA. Probally most resorts in NC expect maybe Beech and Sugar. Up in NY and the rest of New England there are more small hills - local tows and the like. In the Midwest especially in MI, WI and MN there are many small hills.

Just think how much you would ski if there was a local park with a rope tow near by?
GGNagy
January 29, 2008
Member since 01/5/2006 🔗
507 posts
Sapphire Valley, NC certainly fits the bill with 2 slopes.

It was a thread on snow journal that made me think about this. They were talking about supporting the small mom and pop slopes in NE that are not yet NELSAPed. I was trying to think about any small hills in this area that are still around.

One that is not tracked on DC Ski would be the hill at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, WV
kwillg6
January 29, 2008
Member since 01/18/2005 🔗
2,074 posts
There was a ski area in NW PA, just over the hill from Edinboro State College, (now Edinboro University) back in the early 70s called Mt. Pleasant. It had a couple of runs, surface lift, warming shack, and only a couple of hundred feet vertical. Wasn't much, but then again, it was enough for poor college kids looking for some fun. it was definetly a small hill. Anybody know if it's still there?
oldensign - DCSki Columnist
January 29, 2008
Member since 02/27/2007 🔗
506 posts
Oglebay park's web site shows folks riding a chair lift. I thought there were just surface lifts there. Anybody know?
GGNagy
January 29, 2008
Member since 01/5/2006 🔗
507 posts
 Originally Posted By: oldensign
Oglebay park's web site shows folks riding a chair lift. I thought there were just surface lifts there. Anybody know?


Yes to triple chair. I believe the surface lift is "lost" to skiers left
MarkMascolino
January 29, 2008
Member since 01/18/2007 🔗
32 posts
Growing up in 10 minutes from Oglebay Park, I can attest that the chair lift has been there at least since the 80s. I have no idea if it actually ran because I didn't start skiing until I moved away.
oldensign - DCSki Columnist
January 29, 2008
Member since 02/27/2007 🔗
506 posts
Here is some info on the edinboro ski area

http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=XFA026-020
pagamony - DCSki Supporter 
January 29, 2008
Member since 02/23/2005 🔗
933 posts
 Originally Posted By: oldensign
Probally most resorts in NC expect maybe Beech and Sugar.


nope. In NC, only saphire valley might fit the bill as I understand it, especially now that 1 of their 2 slopes is a tubing run. All the others may have small acreage but are not really 'small hills' - they are real commercial concerns. We have some lost areas that might have qualified such as Hound Ears or High Meadows. The reason is simple - it takes a lot of money down here to make all that snow and maintain it, so you have to run it like a big mountain with advertising, events, diversions, real estate (in most cases). The 'smallest' hill might be Appalachian which has 3 chair lifts, a platter, a carpet, a boatload of snowmaking, and an ice skating rink. (I do like App, btw). It's a lot easier to have a small hill up north where some snow can be relied upon.

Where's Travis ? He might have the only real small hill in the southeast.

How I would love to have a real small hill nearby - just one rope tow would do it \:\)
gizmosnow
January 29, 2008
Member since 10/6/2005 🔗
269 posts
RE: The Edinboro Ski area, it's actually the first place I ever skied. Had to be roughly twenty years ago. Was brought there by some neighbor/friends. My best recollection is they had a t-bar and a rope tow. I remember wife, my kids (small at the time) and I took a beginner lesson and then proceeded to mostly fall off the t-bar on the way up and get hung-up in mud on the way down. I sought of remember it being fun (or at least amusing) but I suppose it must not have been that much fun as we didn't ski again until about 6 years ago (when we bought a condo at HV, on the cheap, primarily for the golf, took a beginner lesson and have been hooked ever since).

My wife and I often joke about our Edinboro ski experience(thou we could not remember the name of the slope) and tell people overly-embellished stories about our first ski adventure. Often wondered if it was still there.
RobertW
January 29, 2008
Member since 10/14/2004 🔗
199 posts
 Originally Posted By: oldensign
Here is some info on the edinboro ski area

http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=XFA026-020


Thanks for the info on that. I never heard about this one. Most people I knew from Edinboro/Allegheny/Slippery Rock went over to Buckaloons/Peak'n Mountain which was in Youngsville (about 50 miles from Edinboro) which closed in the early 80's. Different time frames I guess.
kwillg6
January 30, 2008
Member since 01/18/2005 🔗
2,074 posts
Wow, brings back some fond memories. It's amazing that it's still around. Oh, I forgot to mention that while in college, in the early 70s my "winter beer" of necessity, (not choice) was "Old Pub" from the Erie Brewing Company. A case of 16oz returnables was $3.50.

Ski and Tell

Speak truth to powder.

Join the conversation by logging in.

Don't have an account? Create one here.

0.15 seconds