How many of these "old school" ski areas have you skied?

[CarverJill]

Not sure, I never skied there but in the 80's or 90's took a day trip over when we were in Lake Placid for a week and it was raining.

 

[marzNC]

I seem to be just getting to the 'where have you ....' part of this list. Much fun! I've only skied Alta from that list. Somehow I've missed Wildcat all the times I've been to Jackson/N. Conway.

I second/third/whatever adding Cannon and Powder Mountain. I used to ski Cannon and Sunapee when they were both still run by the state of NH. There could be some cold days with sketchy conditions but never a shortage of adrenaline at Cannon! And when I got to Powder Mountain however many years ago, I was with a collection of brothers from NH. We all agreed it felt like landing in Cannon circa 199?, with knee deep powder instead of ice!

The high speed lift at Wildcat is quite fun. Assuming of course that it's not too cold and windy. Being able to use a lift ticket at either Wildcat or Attitash on the same day seems like a smart move. Apparently Wildcat is celebrating 60 years with an Anniversary Weekend Jan 25-28, 2018.

I picked up a 2017-18 trail map for Cannon today at a NH rest stop. Didn't realize it's only 285 acres and 100 acres are over at Mittersill.

Sunapee is in transition. When I went a few years ago during early season, it's certainly felt old school. Hard to say how it will be after the planned expansion and enhancements.

 

[tinymoose]

None, although I'm going to Alta this year.

 

[tinymoose]

None, although I'm going to Alta this year.

 

[marzNC]

None, although I'm going to Alta this year.

Alta is a good place to start for the Boston Globe list in Post #1. Of course, I'm completely biased because that's the first place I skied out west long ago as a teen when I was in my second season on straight skis. Even though the lifts were a lot slower then (no safety bars), I had a blast. Would you be interested in a self-guided introduction of all the lifts?

 

[marzNC]

Having looked at Montage from the mid-mountain base lodge, I think it should be on the Diva list as well. Also Blue Knob, Laurel Mountain, and Shawnee Peak in PA. Can't decide about Elk. In contrast, from what I know Whitetail and Camelback are not old school. I've skied BK, Elk, Whitetail, and looked at the base of Shawnee. Very curious about Shawnee after viewing a video of drone footage. Shawnee has a great collection of videos on their website.

Shawnee Peak aerial tour

Powder turns at Shawnee in Feb 2016

 

[marzNC]

Here's a list of old school ski areas suggested by Ski Divas in this thread as of 21Nov2017. Doesn't include the list by @CarverJill that I haven't had time to research. For the places on the list, either a Diva has skied there relatively recently or I've read about it in the last 4-5 years. What they have in common is a description that includes "low key vibe, family friendly, a good place to learn for children and adults" is applicable. Usually lower cost with lift lines that aren't quite as long as the local competition on weekends, but that depends on the region.

This is not meant as a comprehensive list. But does show there are old school ski areas hanging in there in all regions. Also that there are Divas who have experience all over the U.S.

MORE THAN 500 ACRES

Alta Ski Area, UT
Brian Head, UT
Brighton Resort, UT
Powder Mountain (restricts number of day tickets), UT
Loveland, CO
Sunlight Mountain (near Aspen), CO
Powder horn (near Grand Junction), CO
Bridger Bowl (non-profit), MT
Turner Mountain, MT
Lost Trail Pass, MT
Lookout Pass, ID/MT
Pebble Creek (near Pocatello), ID
Pomerelle (500 acres), ID
Soldier Mountain (cat skiing), ID
Mt. Spokane, WA
White Pass, WA
Anthony Lakes (cat skiing), OR
Dodge Ridge, CA
Homewood Mountain Resort (views of Lake Tahoe), CA

LESS THAN 500 ACRES

Mount Abram, ME
Cannon, NH
Tenney, NH
Wildcat Mountain, NH
Cochran's Ski Area, VT
Mad River Glen (coop ownership), VT
Magic Mountain, VT
Suicide Six, VT
Berkshire East, MA
Ski Butternut, MA
Plattekill, NY
Blue Knob, PA
Laurel Mountain, PA
Shawnee, PA
Appalachian, NC
Cataloochee, NC

Pine Creek, WY
Bluewood, WA
Summit East at Snoqualmie Pass, WA
Loup Loup Ski Bowl (non-profit), WA
Mount Ashland (non-profit), OR
Mt. Waterman (weekends only), CA
Yosemite Ski&Board formerly Badger Pass, CA

 

[marzNC]

Having looked at Montage from the mid-mountain base lodge, I think it should be on the Diva list as well. Also Blue Knob, Laurel Mountain, and Shawnee Peak in PA. Can't decide about Elk. In contrast, from what I know Whitetail and Camelback are not old school. I've skied BK, Elk, Whitetail, and looked at the base of Shawnee. Very curious about Shawnee after viewing a video of drone footage. Shawnee has a great collection of videos on their website.

Shawnee Peak aerial tour

Powder turns at Shawnee in Feb 2016

Oops, turns out that the videos I found are not from Shawnee Mountain in PA, but Shawnee Peak in Bridgton, ME. I'll fix the list when I post it again.

Shawnee Peak has two base areas and 245 skiable acres, as is shown in the drone video. The ski area first opened on January 23, 1938 and is the oldest major ski area in Maine. I haven't been that close to the base of Shawnee Mountain near Shawnee on Delaware in eastern PA so it seemed a bit weird but possible. Shawnee Peak is only about 30 minutes from North Conway, NH.

There is a connection though. Shawnee Peak in Maine was called Pleasant Mountain before it was bought by Shawnee Mountain Corp in 1988. Was sold again in 1994.

From https://www.newenglandskihistory.com/Maine/shawneepeak.php:

"Following the 1987-88 season, the owners of Pleasant Mountain found themselves in financial trouble. That off season, they sold the ski area to Shawnee Mountain Corp. for $1.4 million. Pleasant Mountain was subsequently renamed to "Shawnee Peak," the name of the owners' Pennsylvania ski area. . . ."

" . . . Circa 1992, the parent company decided to divest its skiing holdings, resulting in banks taking control of Shawnee Peak. After a couple of season on the bubble, Shawnee Peak was purchased by Tom's of Maine executive Chet Homer in September of 1994. Though Homer considered restoring the ski area's original name, he opted to keep the Shawnee Peak identity due to the brand that had been established."

Watch this video from 2013 of an interview of a long time Shawnee Peak ski instructor by the Ski School Director. At the end is a story of a never ever 70yo woman that will surprise you. Jim Wolf started out teaching at Nashoba Valley, which is a tiny hill near Boston. That's getting added to the list too. I stopped by the base last spring and it's clear that Nashoba is a great place for young kids to learn.

 

[tinymoose]

Having looked at Montage from the mid-mountain base lodge, I think it should be on the Diva list as well. Also Blue Knob, Laurel Mountain, and Shawnee Peak in PA. Can't decide about Elk. In contrast, from what I know Whitetail and Camelback are not old school. I've skied BK, Elk, Whitetail, and looked at the base of Shawnee. Very curious about Shawnee after viewing a video of drone footage. Shawnee has a great collection of videos on their website.

I'm curious what about Montage felt old school to you vs. Elk? Of the two, I feel like Elk has more of an old school vibe than Montage. Are we just talking what the lodges are like? Lifts? Is there something about terrain that is old school in nature?

 

[marzNC]

Discovered that Shawnee Mountain in PA opened in 1975. Had two unusual features. A ski school named for Jean Claude Killey and "two double chairlifts and a snowmaking system that would do justice to a much larger layout" according to a NY Times article dated Dec. 25, 1975.



The notes in the Dec 1975 article put the report in context. Hunter, Catamount, Jiminy Peak are still active ski areas. Brodie was sold to the owners of Jiminy Peak in 1999 but it was closed as a ski area in 2002 and sold again afterwards. Some of the land now has wind turbines. Brodie was known for snowmaking and night skiing. By the 1990s, the Kelly family did not have enough resources to keep the aging infrastructure updated.

"Despite last weekend's snowstorm, almost all ski areas in the Northeast were offering only limited snowcovered terrain yesterday. Among the few exceptions were Hunter Mountain in the Catskills and Brodie in the Berkshires.... Jimmy Heuga, the former American Olympic star, has been named marketing director for Dolomite Boots, the manufacturer of ski boots....A base of from 44‐to‐176 inches is reported for Italy's Madonnna di Campligio, a resort which suffered a dearth of snow in recent winters. . . . Day‐and‐night skiing is being offered the Berkshire resorts Catamount, Jiminy Peak and Brodie. . . . All 150 employees at Mount Snow received their wages recently in “silver” dollars. The dollars were presented in heavy duty sacks. “I can't lift the bag,” complained one petite employee, so a gallant co‐worker carried it to her car for her."

 

[marzNC]

@tinymoose : your quote got a little scrambled. But I think your point is that Elk is probably old school in the context of this thread.

Perhaps the question for PA is which ski areas are NOT old school. Seven Springs, Whitetail, Camelback are clearly ski resorts with 4-season operations and slope side resort lodging. Liberty, Roundtop are part of Snowtime, while Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain are part of the Seven Springs ownership. But my impression is that those four little areas are as "old school" as Elk when it comes to the on mountain experience. Elk and Montage are independently owned, which is another possible consideration.

 

[tinymoose]

@tinymoose : your quote got a little scrambled. But I think your point is that Elk is probably old school in the context of this thread.

Perhaps the question for PA is which ski areas are NOT old school. Seven Springs, Whitetail, Camelback are clearly ski resorts with 4-season operations and slope side resort lodging. Liberty, Roundtop are part of Snowtime, while Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain are part of the Seven Springs ownership. But my impression is that those four little areas are as "old school" as Elk when it comes to the on mountain experience. Elk and Montage are independently owned, which is another possible consideration.

I'm only really familiar with the Eastern ski hills, but of those... I think only Elk and JFBB (Jack Frost/Big Boulder owned by Peak) don't have some sort of summer thing going on. Montage has their water park and zip lines plus a concert venue, Blue does zip lining and mountain biking, Bear Creek has their big fancy resort, Camelback has Camelbeach and zip lines.

 

[marzNC]

I'm only really familiar with the Eastern ski hills, but of those... I think only Elk and JFBB (Jack Frost/Big Boulder owned by Peak) don't have some sort of summer thing going on. Montage has their water park and zip lines plus a concert venue, Blue does zip lining and mountain biking, Bear Creek has their big fancy resort, Camelback has Camelbeach and zip lines.

Having summer activities that cost money don't necessarily mean a ski area has the feel of a modern ski resort. Plattekill is certainly more likely to survive as a ski area because of the efforts that have gone into becoming a mountain biking destination. Perhaps one factor is whether or not there is real estate development very close to the slopes, as in ski in/out. But even that's not the whole story. Ascuteny has a Holiday Inn Vacations resort right at the base. But clearly as a ski hill, Ascuteny is old school.

I think it's good that ski areas are finding ways to use the terrain outside ski season. Especially smaller places that want to keep lift ticket prices as reasonable as practical. With the cost of snowmaking, there is no way a small place can be a sustainable business if only making trying to bring in revenue for a few months out of the year. I remember reading about the efforts Diamond Peak in north Tahoe was going thru with a consulting company a few years ago to figure out the most effective use of the land and lodge for activities outside of ski season. Weddings and zip line were key recommendations.

Massanutten skiing was very old school 10 years ago. Still pretty low key for skiing and boarding given the limitations of the terrain available but I have no doubt that the money for the lift replacements, new snow guns, and new ski school building came from revenue from other on-resort activities such as the indoor/outdoor water park, zip line, snow tubing. I would not consider the vibe on the slopes at Massanutten as old school.

 

[marzNC]

Is Tupper still there? DH broke a set of poles there. Old thumb breakers grip one.

There are people trying to keep Tupper open, but it's been an uphill battle. The volunteer effort that started in 2009 was not sustainable.

December 2016
https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2016/12/big-tupper-in-a-holding-pattern/

But that does remind me the Titus Mountain is hanging in there. Can be a nice place for a relatively inexpensive family ski vacation, even if driving over from Ontario.

 

[just jane]

What about Monarch in CO? And Ski Cooper?

Sipapu in NM?

 

[marzNC]

What about Monarch in CO? And Ski Cooper?

Sipapu in NM?

Do you happen to know if these places have more or less than 500 skiable acres?

 

[just jane]

Off the top of my head, I'm not sure..... okay, according to onthesnow, Sipapu is 200 acres, , Ski Cooper is 400, and Monarch is 800.

 

[W8N2SKI]

I don't know how many are legitimately "old" but they seem old to me since I was actually young when I skied them.

Wildcat, , Cannon, Attitash, Mt. Cranmore, Loon, in NH; Gore Mtn., Whiteface, Greek Peak, in NY; Eldora, in CO; Alta UT, Gray Rocks (in Quebec - closed). I think I'd have to add Taos, which still feels very old school to me (in every good way possible).

 

[marzNC]

I don't know how many are legitimately "old" but they seem old to me since I was actually young when I skied them.

Wildcat, , Cannon, Attitash, Mt. Cranmore, Loon, in NH; Gore Mtn., Whiteface, Greek Peak, in NY; Eldora, in CO; Alta UT, Gray Rocks (in Quebec - closed). I think I'd have to add Taos, which still feels very old school to me (in every good way possible).

Having been to Loon, it's definitely not really "old school" any more.

As for Taos, I'll think about that during the next trip. Somehow not quite "old school" in the same way as Alta. Probably because it's a single-ownership resort that does have lodging and somewhat of a base village. With the new lift from the Children's Ski School, may feel even less old school than before.

Have to think about Whiteface and Gore. Maybe. But depends a bit on the renovations in progress.

Anyone have an opinion about Attitash? All I know is that the lift ticket is good at Wildcat on the same day.

I started a personal list of ski areas that are more than 40 years old. But that turns out to be a pretty long list. May need to go for 50 or 60 years instead. A lot of anniversary celebrations in the northeast this year, plus Alta is 80.

 

[diymom]

Mount Snow is having an anniversary with $12 tickets on Dec 12.