Wonderview Ski Area occupied a steep ridge across the Susquehanna River from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. It appears to have begun developing in the 1960s and operated into the late 1970s or near the early 1980s. The modest local hill featured trails descending to a distinctive A-frame lodge, with rope tows in its early years and, according to later recollections, a chairlift and limited snowmaking. Snowmaking could not always overcome poor conditions, but the area offered a convenient place for local residents and Bloomsburg college students to ski.
Wonderview was as much a community gathering place as a ski hill. Former students remember living upstairs in the lodge, parties in its large downstairs room, and skis and bobsleds stored in a caged area. Others recall helping make snow overnight, working the lifts as children, and the striking “SKI” painted on the lodge where it could be seen from the interstate. The former ski slopes have largely grown in, while the development around them became housing. The A-frame lodge remains, though accounts describe it as remodeled into apartments and increasingly run down; readers also recall abandoned lift remnants and trails used for hiking and mountain biking.
Ken S. writes that this ski area operated until near the early 1980’s.
Bob Garison contacted DCSki in August, 2009 and said he was going to try and hunt down some additional information on Wonderview. Bob writes:
“Per the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau, there is nothing left of Wonderview. The lifts have all been removed and the Clubhouse is very run down and being used as apartments.”
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Wonderview Ski Area in Bloomsburg PA was one of the brainchilds of Clyde Yohey who built, owned and operated the Stone Castle Motel on U.S. Route 11 just a few miles south of Bloomsburg. (The Stone Castle has been torn down and is currently (2023) the home of Susquehanna RV Sales). He also built homes in his small housing development in Riverside PA called Hillside Estates just across the river from Danville Pa. In the comment just above mine the person who wrote it mentioned Clyde landing his airplane at Wonderview Ski Area which required some crazy maneuvering and moving of cars. He also had a very short landing strip at the Stone Castle Motel which made locals call him a little crazy because of the way his plane appeared to suddenly fall out of the sky after crossing over Route 11, clearing some electrical wires, and dropping very quickly onto the runway. I often wonder how many panic attacks, maybe even heart attacks, he caused for motorists on Rte 11 thinking his plane was going to crash into them. Crazy? maybe? but bursting with energy and quite an entrepeneur. I can't remember if it was 1966 or 1967 that he started developing Wonderview Ski Area. but I was there at the beginning up to 1968 when I graduated from Bloomsburg College and moved to CT. Up to 1968 there was only one very easy ski slope about 100 yards long which started just below the "A" Frame ski lodge/rental shop which Clyde also built and is still there today. That original slope would have been where, on the map accessible below, what would be part of Scenic Ave and part of Riverview Ave. Any other trails and the chairlift mentioned in one of the above comments came after I left the area. I even helped Clyde cut down trees to make roads and the first ski slope. He contracted out some of the work, but he also ran his own heavy equipment to clear the area of trees and grade the hillside for roads and ski trails.
In the comment above the author also mentioned helping me, Carl, making snow. In those early days of snowmaking, Clyde even made his own snow guns. That original slope had two rope tows, one which Clyde made himself driven by the tires/wheels of a farm tractor, raised off the ground with some crazy configuration of the rope looped around both wheels in grooves he cut into the tractor tires that he must have read about somewhere. Not sure if the rope tow on the other side of the slope was a homemade contraption or not, but it was run by an 8 1/4 horsepower Lauson gasoline engine that could not handle more than 4 people at a time. We only ran the tractor if there were a lot of people skiing. If I was skiing and too many people got on the Lauson tow and the engine stalled, I would have to walk back up the hill and restart the engine.
Wonderview lasted until sometime in the late 1970's, but became more and more a housing development of Mr Yohey with more than 100 homes. Following are some links from Google Maps to show you where the ski area was and the housing development it has become. If I get back to my hometown area, I will go to Wonderview to see if there is anything ski related other than the original "A" Frame ski lodge and rental shop that has been remodeled into multiple appartments. If you look closely in links to maps below, I think you can see where there are smaller trees just above the "A" Frame which must have been where the chairlift ran up the steep ridge.
Before my experience at Wonderview I had only skied one time at 1 of 3 U.S. Military owned resorts in the heart or the German Alps confiscated by the U.S. government after WW II. I was stationed in Eastern France 1961-1963 and the one I spent Christmas of 1962 was in the town of Garmisch Germany. After Wonderview I moved to CT where I worked in two different ski shops part time while teaching school. I also became a member of the National Ski Patrol, patrolling 4 evenings a week at Ski Sundown in New Hartford, CT and one day on weekends at Pinnacle Ski Area in Randolph VT. After a few years of teaching I landed a job as District Sales Manager of AMF Head Ski Company, moved to the Pittsburgh PA area, which was the middle of my sales territory where I still live and ski at the age of 81. HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU!
Carl Erb -- erbiewan@gmail.com
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