Rappahannock Ski Area / Skyline / Big Devil

The lodge at Rappahannock Ski Area, Virginia. Photo courtesy of John Timmons, CHSSnowmakers.com.

Located near Washington, Virginia, Rappahannock offered a vertical around 650 feet. Rappahannock closed down after the 1973-1974 season, unable to turn a profit. Rappahannock was originally called Skyline, and before that, Big Devil.

DCSki contacted John Timmons, one of the last employees on the payroll at Rappahannock. A 35-year veteran snowmaker, Timmons currently works for CHS Snowmakers, a Colorado-based company that makes snowmaking equipment. After working at Rappahannock, Timmons went on to work at areas such as Virginia’s Massanutten Resort, California’s Snow Summit Ski Area, Ohio’s Brandywine Ski Area, and many more. Timmons provided a great deal of information about Rappahannock.

According to Timmons, Rappahannock started as a private ski club by and for U.S. Senators and Congressmen and State Department employees, possibly during the 1950s, although the exact opening date is unknown. Steven Showalter, current General Manager of Virginia’s Massanutten Resort, notes that the area was first called Skyline Ski Area, and later renamed Big Devil before ultimately becoming Rappahannock.

Rappahannock had a vertical drop of 645-685 feet, with five lifts: a Pullman-Berry double chair on the lower half, east side; a Borvig double chair from the base to the summit on the west side; a Hall T-Bar; a Stadeli handle grip surface lift; and a rope tow. The area had 1 wide slope/bowl on the east side of the P-B lift; 1 winding trail on the west side of the P-B lift; 3-4 lower slopes/trails served by the surface lifts; 1 long, open slope running alongside the Borvig chair, and 1 long, winding, gladed trail through the woods east of the Borvig chair. This last trail was new in 1973.

Timmons was hired as the Snowmaking Supervisor and Pipeline Construction Manager in September, 1973, at the beginning of the resort’s final season. Rappahannock had four water pumps - two on the river to pump up to the snowmaking pond, and two at the pond pumphouse. A bank of Sullair diesel compressors provided a total of 6,000 CFM to drive the guns.

Watching snowmaking at Rappahannock. Photo courtesy of John Timmons, CHSSnowmakers.com.

Timmons believed that the original owners of the ski area were Tim and Diane Mueller, who currently own Okemo Mountain; however, in March, 2006, DCSki received confirmation that Tim and Diane had not owned a ski area prior to Okemo and had no involvement with Rappahannock.

Multiple people have indicated that Rappahannock was sold to Camelback in the early 70’s. Camelback continues to operate an area in the Poconos.

The 1973-1974 season was a rough one for Mid-Atlantic ski resorts, and Camelback announced that Rappahanock was going bankrupt around March 1, 1974.

A photo of Rappahannock Ski Area taken from an orchard across the valley. This photo was taken in January, 1974, with about 60% of the terrain open on the center and right side of the resort. This was the final season for Rappahannock. Photo courtesy of John Timmons, CHSSnowmakers.com.

During that final season, Timmons reports that there were a series of freeze-thaw cycles with rain that forced Rappahannock to completely cover the mountain 7 times with manmade snow, going from bare ground each time to 90% coverage.

“That season was the year of the infamous Arab oil boycott, which stopped most Americans from driving for recreation - not being able to buy gas every day,” Timmons adds. “Fuel was a nightmarish situation for Rappahannock also.”

Harry Ferrance was the Mountain Manager at the time Rappahannock announced bankruptcy. Timmons notes that he and Harry were the last two employees at Rappahannock. During the spring of 1974, they performed a complete inventory, right down to the last nut and bolt.

In Camelback: The Downs and Ups of a Banana Belt Ski Area, a historical book written by Jill Wechsler and published in 1989, it is suggested that Camelback and another investor tried to reopen the area with an alpine slide but met strong resistance from locals and then decided to sell all the land.

In early 2004, John Chandler posted some information about Rappahannock on the DCSki Message Forum:

“I was involved in looking into revitalizing [the] Rappahannock Ski Area in 1984. Alas, like most defunct ski areas there is so much old baggage left behind.. 75 acres of land were advertised for sale that included this site. There was a lodge in tired shape, an old lift building, but no chairlift; cannibalized remains of rudimentary snowmaking ‘equipment’ and not much else. The area was operated by [Pennsylvania’s] Camelback for about two seasons in the eary 70’s. It was operated by another entity for a few seasons prior, but I don’t think it was open prior to 1965ish.Two monsoon snow years, a gas shortage, and a recession induced Camelback to cut their losses in 1974ish. They took anything and everything with them except for the ketchup in the lodge and sold the site. Yes, the mountain had a vertical drop of about 500’, but the chair went only about 2/3 up the mountain. Even as of 1984 the ‘slopes’ were quite overgrown. The unload bullwheel terminal (Borvig) was still standing. I remember driving up a dirt road from the lodge to [the] bullwell terminal to take pictures. I don’t think there were too many slopes to begin with even when the mountain was open.”

A current property owner near the site of Rappahannock sent a note to DCSki with a link to a collection of photos from Rappahannock from a local photographer. The photographer, Dave Batchelder, shows some of his work from 1972-1974 on this web page. Scroll down to the section titled Skyline Ski Area (Rappahannock’s previous name).

During the Fall of 2005, Al Lebo sent DCSki a note with his recollections of the Skyline ski area:

In the early 60’s there was a considerable amount of snow in the East - more than we’ve ever had since. I remember the winter of ‘62-‘63 vividly because I had just purchased an Austin Healy 3000 sports car, and at that time was a musician in the US Marine Band and White House Orchestra. JFK was President.

One day there was a substantial snow cover on the ground, and I decided to go skiing. My roommate was from Iowa and had never skied. I’d heard about a new ski area, west of Washington, DC on US Rt. 50. Having had my ski boots, poles and skis stolen, I somehow found out that I could rent equipment at this new area. Gathering some clothes together, off we went in the Healy. My directions were to pass an intersection, with a “you’ll see it on the right” type of direction. Indeed, it was on the north side of Rt. 50.

The skis that I rented had the “new” metal edges that we know today, and release bindings manufactured by Miller. The ski area had one rope tow powered by a smelly engine mounted on the back of an old truck. The “area lodge” was an old farm storage facility with picnic tables. The ski rental location was off in one of the corners, and the only people eating were the ones that had brought a lunch! There was no mountain, just a very gentle hill, about like the lower part, front side, of Ski Liberty today. There was no snowmaking. I recall it being a very fun day. By the time we got back to the apartment, I’d decided to buy some new ski equipment, which was later purchased from Washington Ski Center, then located in downtown DC. (Last year, Adam, the owner then and now, still recalled selling me those Head skis). The roommate never skied again!

The name of that area you’re calling “Seven Devils” in ‘62-63 was called “Skyline.” In 1971 I had returned to the DC Area, and learned that Skyline had been renamed to “something” Devil. However, It was not “Seven Devils.” The word Devil was singular, and I’m favoring the term Red Devil, Twin Devil or Two Devil, but for sure it was “something” Devil. In 1973, on a snowy weekend I returned there to ski. There was a single chair lift which I can still picture and maybe a rope tow off to the right. There was snow on the ground but no one was skiing. The area was abandoned. I returned home. A year or so later I heard that the area had closed. I recall smiling about it because of its southern exposure. It was located on the north side of Rt 50 probably between the areas of Upperville and Paris or Paris Heights today.

However, subsequent readers point out that Rappahanock was not located near Route 50, so it is possible Al was confusing some of the details above with another lost ski area.

A patch from Skyline Ski Area. Image provided by Woody Bousquet.

Woody Bousquet found and purchased an old Skyline Ski Area brochure on eBay. He provides the following scans:

The front and back of a Skyline Ski Area brochure, from the 1965-1966 season. Image provided by Woody Bousquet.

The inside of the brochure. Image provided by Woody Bousquet.

An insert from the brochure, listing prices. Image provided by Woody Bousquet.

A ski patch from Big Devil. Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.

In mid-2026, DCSki Reader Jason provided the following scans from Rappahannock brochures and historic photos.