EdBacon

The next area on my list is probably going to be Split Rock. If anyone remembers skiing or riding there, and has any stories or images/resources/links to share, I'd be super grateful and I'll make sure to mention your name.

Yeah its a golf course now. I don't think anything is left to tell skiing went on there. There's an even more bizarre NJ ski hill south of there. Holly Mountain.

Ding ding ding. We've got a wiener!

I've got another place lined up. Only 70s kids will remember it though.

Interesting fact: last area opened on the east coast that wasn't a reopening of a formerly closed area was Whitetail, in 1991. Anyways, I decided to keep up this project. Here is lost area #2: Belle Mountain outsider Lambertville, NJ.

Heard of the story of that place. It is a major bummer for sure. There was another attempt at a major PA mountain out between Harrisburg and Johnstown, I think. It was called Sno Peak or Sno Park or something like that. It was open for like 3 years in the 80s or early 90s and was only half built, but would have had like 1300 feet of vertical.

Yeah I noticed they were very close together at the top. I guess you couldn't ski the whole top to bottom t-bar line, you had to cut over towards the triple then. I also don't know who ever bought the lifts. The t-bar I imagine was scrapped. The triple is probably having a second life somewhere, I'm not sure where though.

Nobody seemed to mind. It is private property, but there's a public trail along the side of the area by the lake. You can pretty easily just walk over onto the old ski slopes. I never actually got to snowboard there. I did go snowtubing there back in the 90s. Our cub scout troop used to do trips, my memories of the place are pretty hazy. We only ever went to the medium tubing park, we never got to try the big one. I do remember the ambulances though! I was actually wondering, since the t-bar didn't seem to run much in the later days, how did you access the "advanced" terrain from the triple lift if the t-bar wasn't running?

Thanks! It was the best I've seen it last weekend in years. Not sure if they cleaned it out last summer or just made a ton of snow, but I felt like there was less brush in there.

Hey all, I've recently started a project to document and tour as many local lost ski areas as I can. I've always been fascinated by, and love learning about local ski history, so its been a fun past time and I like the idea of preserving something of these areas which may not be with us much longer. If anyone has any memories to share, or info feel free to drop me a message. And corrections are welcome as well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvDb_u205GU&t=1s

Made a video. Conditions last week were pretty good in Happyland and Elevator.

Last year was about the same. It's been a poor snow year for sure. Two years ago we almost came in with triple digits. 98 inches.

Honestly, JF has been in fairly good shape this year despite the slow pace of snowmaking and the lift issues. Considering the inclement weather, they've resurfaced fairly well. Hoping for some nice hero snow this Sunday.

They're putting out a NE "value" pass for $599. Unlimited at JFBB, Wildcat, Attitash and their other PA hills. Limited access to Hunter, Okemo and Mount Snow. And 10 days at Stowe with holiday restrictions.

Elevator is open.

Haven't been able to take the time off from work. I only managed two days off, but I did get up to N VT. Jay and Smuggs for a long weekend. It was great. Will resolve to plan further ahead next time so I have more time off and can actually go somewhere.

Any weddings going on?

Great hero snow today. Grill smells in parking lot. Great day. Agreed that they are probably not gonna last much longer. With rain all week I find it hard to see them staying open through mid-March. That being said, Happyland was open today.

I once picked a guy up hitchhiking back on 242 after skiing off the back. French Canadian. Nice guy. Next time I go I think I might do that. Looks like fun.

Place is bizarre. They've had some really bad snow years since I was in high school, but every time I go back there its just so dead. I remember it being much more crowded as a kid. Say the mid/early 2000s.

edit: I want to find some numbers. The best I can show is that mountains on mega passes saw something like 8-9% of visits using those passes (not as a local season pass). But its hard to say that those numbers are a total increase since visits increase y-o-y in any case, and you have to assume none of those using the mega pass wouldn't have visited without. So there is an increase but its not a huge influx of people. Anyway here is some data: comparing Sugarbush which is on the Mountain Collective/Max/Ikon Pass system, and MRG which as you know is totally independent. Skier visits between the two pretty much track the same, and seem to be more weather dependent than anything.

I need to go find the statistics. But there isn't any evidence beyond anecdotes to show multipasses increase ridership in any significant manner. People still ride their local mountains and maybe divert vacations to resorts that are now on their pass. The point of these things is to spread risk around. The more season pass holders Vail or Alterra or whoever can suck up, the better. It means they have another revenue stream if there's a bad season somewhere else. Why buy JFBB, or any Mid-Atlantic mountains? I have no idea. We always have bad seasons. But I think from Vail's point of view that's another chunk of Epic pass holders they've acquired. They didn't so much buy the physical plant as they bought the JFBB passholders. What that means for us I don't know. I know that's an exaggeration that Vail literally does not care what happens to the mountain. Obviously they have to keep things running to keep those passholders around. But what I'm trying to express is that Vail doesn't see the mountain itself, just the passholders as a commodity which can often mean the people running the business lose touch with the different communities on each mountain. I'm not stoked on the outlook when I'm comparing their first year running things to previous years. Granted, this year the weather has been some of the worst outside the 2011/2012 season. Still, the relatively slow pace of opening terrain, and only having two terrain parks built at BB, a mountain literally nobody cares about except for the park rats is just not a good look. We don't know how much the lift issue was deferred by Peak either.

Basically Vail just cares about how many passes are sold in total. If JF never opened again, and Vail considered that an acceptable loss to funnel more people onto Epic cards then they would do it.

I can't speak to the lift issues, but as per the passes increasing visits: these big conglomerate multi passes aren't meant to boost visits at each area, they're meant to spread, and thus minimize risk. If resorts in one part of the country are having a bad snow year, its now offset by business elsewhere. Basically, the more season passes Vail sells to *all* resorts the more insulated they are from bad seasons in one part of the world or another, hence their desire to expand their portfolio. JFBB season pass holders aren't going to buy into a system where Vail invests in JFBB, they're just subsidizing their system and hedging Vail's risks elsewhere.

Didn't CBK always have bumps up on Marje's Day Out? Or whatever that run is called?