Ed Towill, who grew up outside of Philadelphia, writes that there used to be a rope tow hill located adjacent to Lorimer Park in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, off of the Red Lion Road area. Called Walnut Hill, Ed says that the area was operated by the Philadelphia Ski Club.
Walnut Hill
The story in brief
Walnut Hill was a small rope-tow ski area beside Lorimer Park in Northeast Philadelphia, near the Red Lion Road area. Operated by the Philadelphia Ski Club, it offered local residents a convenient place to ski without leaving the city. Its setting and modest scale made it a neighborhood hill rather than a destination resort, but it was part of the winter landscape for club members during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Former skier Tuck Morrison recalls using the hill during that period and estimates it provided only about 100 feet of vertical drop. When he returned in the early 1990s, the warming hut had disappeared, although portions of the rope tow were still visible. Those surviving traces offered a tangible reminder of Walnut Hill's brief, community-oriented role in Philadelphia skiing, even after regular operations had ended.


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