Scaly Mountain

This is the first place I ever went skiing. It wasn't much but enough for a beginner. They also had very cute cottages to stay in.

I snowboarded Scaly Mountain in 7th grade(1994) on a school field trip. We drove up from Atlanta for the day. It rained the entire time we were there and I think most kids skied for about half an hour and then sat in the tiny lodge by the fire. I then drove past Scaly a few times a year from 2000-2005 on my way from Atlanta to Appalachian State. Ahh memories.

I recently walked the slopes, and the lifts are gone. All that's left are Chairlift station and tower foundations. They now have a handel tow for the tubing slope and the've left the bottom shack of the ropetow and the ropetow's motor house and the chairlift lift shack. Also, the lift was built by Poma in 1980 when the ski area opened and was torn down last summer. They still have four chairs on the slope on the right side of the ski area from the chairlift. Also, they are cutting down the pine trees and the vertical didn't look like 225 ft., insted it was more like 100ft. or so. The chairlift had four towers and only the foundations remain.

Memories are wonderful and so was Scaly. Scaly was a mom and pop operation run by Gene Head and his wife Susan. She ran the kitchen, lodge and postoffice, and Gene ran the lift and the snowmaking. The white pines mentioned, were planted under the main lift for some reason, and helped clean your skis. Three daughters grew up there.
It operated from about 1980 to 1999 if memory serves. It became property in a divorce. It started because Gene's daughter, Julie wanted to learn to ski; and she did. She went to college at UNC and joined the ski team; no one gave her much of a chance. Three championship years later she was pretty good. She became a level III PSIA instructor and taught at Crested Butte for several years.
Many good times were spent there, and thousands learned to ski there. It was not the steepest or deepest place, but with a good instructor you could learn it all. I patrolled there until it closed. In our memories it will live as long as we do, because it was what a ski area was supposed to be. I suspect all the folks from WI,NH, and ME feel the same way about their small hills before the big three took over.

Amen

Memories are wonderful and so was Scaly. Scaly was a mom and pop operation run by Gene Head and his wife Susan. She ran the kitchen, lodge and postoffice, and Gene ran the lift and the snowmaking. The white pines mentioned, were planted under the main lift for some reason, and helped clean your skis. Three daughters grew up there.
It operated from about 1980 to 1999 if memory serves. It became property in a divorce. It started because Gene's daughter, Julie wanted to learn to ski; and she did. She went to college at UNC and joined the ski team; no one gave her much of a chance. Three championship years later she was pretty good. She became a level III PSIA instructor and taught at Crested Butte for several years.
Many good times were spent there, and thousands learned to ski there. It was not the steepest or deepest place, but with a good instructor you could learn it all. I patrolled there until it closed. In our memories it will live as long as we do, because it was what a ski area was supposed to be. I suspect all the folks from WI,NH, and ME feel the same way about their small hills before the big three took over.

Amen