EdBacon
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Everything posted by EdBacon
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$412k at auction. When they bought the place it was still essentially a functioning ski area. But they had no realistic plans for the place and its just sitting vacant. -
They've been closed since 2015 I believe. Almost no chance they come back. The place was sold to new owners who said they don't want to offer skiing, but wanted to turn the place into a Harley Davidson themed biker hangout, complete with scenic chairlift rides. I don't think those plans went anywhere. Although even if/when they sell I don't see anyone else trying to reopen the area for skiing.
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420 No but I counted like 250-300'. The bottom of the lift was on the other side of the golf course which adds like 100ft of vert.
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Here is my tour of Pocono Manor ski area, which closed sometime in the 1980s. Sadly, the grand Pocono Manor hotel burned down in 2019. This was one of the last remaining grand hotels in the Poconos, and was built between 1902 and 1949. Skiing started here maybe as early as the 30s and 40s with cross country skiing, and alpine lift serviced skiing commenced in the mid 60s. There is still a j-bar standing on the site, which is a very unique example of ski infrastructure if you're into that sort of thing. It was manufactured by a company called Larchmont in 1964, and is one of a few j-bars produced by the company before they got out of the business. Interestingly, these had the drive mounted to the top, rather than bottom terminals. I believe this is the only remaining example of this type of lift remaining, although there may be some remains of one at a hill in MA. Anyway, you can check out the video below. This was one of the larger private areas with about 250 feet of vert and a surprisingly steep sustained pitch. There were about 4-5 trails and slopes, including the two main open slopes which also had snowmaking coverage. Does anyone else remember skiing here?
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Great info! Thanks! I'd heard of both of those areas but didn't know anything about them.
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Larchmont j-bar, which I believe might be the only such example left in the country. I have to double check that one though. Believe this area stopped operation in the 80s.
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I bet its pretty in the spring with all the flowers. Its basically a big meadow now.
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So this one has more non-ski history, even though it hosted a small ski area for about 30 years. Tamiment Resort started back in the 20s as a retreat for the Rand School of Social Science in NY. They needed to raise money after the state of NY accused them of "subversive activity" during the first Red Scare in 1919, and the subsequent court battles damaged them financially. The Rand School had ties to the early labor and socialist political movements. Ironically they ended up founding one of the most commercially successful vacation resorts in the Poconos, and one that had a strong reputation for attracting famous live performance acts. Almost the entirety of the resort was demolished around 2005, save for the ski lift (which caught on fire in 2012) and the clubhouse for the golf course which doubled as the lodge in the winter. Take a look:
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Does that put COVID19 as the leading cause of death now? I remember a couple days ago it was still just behind heart disease.
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I wonder if they'll ever even report those numbers. I guess the govt wants to keep the number under 100k.
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It hasn't gotten that bad in PA, even in Philly. The thing that worries me most is we never really seem to have tested that much to begin with. They shutdown the CDC testing site at the stadiums because the emergency funding for that already ran out. I can't imagine the poorer areas of the city, especially in Kensington with the huge homeless and addicted population come out of this without a lot of issues, but we might never really know about it because its not like people in those communities are even going to come forward to get tested in the first place.
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In Philly I'd say half of everyone I see out has a mask on now. And thats in and around Penn's campus, and some of these are healthcare workers. I imagine the numbers drop off quick as you get into the rougher neighborhoods.
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Market it for beginners and maybe it could work. I think the problem with a lot of these places was that, while they could make their day-to-day expenses, they couldn't take on the periodic capital investments you need to keep a ski area going. Every 10-20 years you need to overhaul lifts, snowmaking, etc. and that just kills these areas which are only breaking even.
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Here is the full video on Holly Mountain. This was a bizarre place. The base of the hill is practically in a tidal swamp and just barely above sea level. It's really interesting finding out what lengths people went to ski local back in the day. It's sort of a shame we lost these places. Sometimes its nice just to have a place to make turns on in your back yard, even if its not much.
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Shame to hear about the lift. I wonder if they could raise the money for repairs? @rgrwilco When I visited I likewise didn't find much. I hunted for the bottom terminal of the lift for about an hour but couldn't find anything. There are quite a lot of snowmaking hydrants in the woods though.
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Camelback has that roller coaster thing now where you sit in the cart. I think they have more than one now too. They really ought to just turn the mountain into a theme park at this point.
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I get the feeling these numbers are gonna end up being revised higher later. A lot of folks are getting it and not able to get tested/being told to stay home. That, and if somebody dies without testing, they're not wasting a test kit on the dead body. So we won't get the full picture until months probably. Grim stuff. But hopefully we'll be through the worst soon.
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Didn't they turn that into a trail for skiing? They did and it looks tamer than I thought it'd be.
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Bummed I missed my spinal realignment on the Snapple Snap-Up Whipper Snapper Ride lol
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https://aux.avclub.com/new-jersey-s-action-park-offered-fun-and-injury-for-the-1798247003 This looks like it was a good time, but no its not that either. It's in South Jersey. Very south Jersey. It's basically on the southern edge of the pine barrens and it was a functioning alpine ski area.
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It is in South Jersey.
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You have the right idea, but wrong state. It's in a very unusual location.