Lost Ski Area: Tour of Blue Marsh Ski Area, formerly North Heidelberg Ski Club

[toast21602]

On 11/30/2020 at 6:14 PM, EdBacon said:

Winner winner, chicken dinner. 

Pictures from there: https://lloydlutzphotography.zenfolio.com/p407261504#h23b69a36

[EdBacon]

1 hour ago, toast21602 said:

Pictures from there: https://lloydlutzphotography.zenfolio.com/p407261504#h23b69a36

Thanks! I've seen some of these on Jeff Z's Hahn Mountain page. This place had such a community behind it. It's a surprise it didn't hold out longer. 

[EdBacon]

You can see what's left of Hahn Mountain here, as well as a lot of old photos courtesy of Jeff Z's great Hahn Mountain page. 

 

[EdBacon]

Can anyone name this lost area? It's also in NEPA.

[Shadows]

Snö

[EdBacon]

24 minutes ago, Shadows said:

Snö

It is not the late, great Snowpeak if that's what you meant. This is squarely in the Poconos.

[rgrwilco]

Tanglewood?


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[EdBacon]

13 minutes ago, rgrwilco said:

Tanglewood?


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Good eye! 

[EdBacon]

Only the old heads will know this place. I wonder if anyone here has actually skied it when it was open. Clue: the lodge is still open. 

[rgrwilco]

Only the old heads will know this place. I wonder if anyone here has actually skied it when it was open. Clue: the lodge is still open. 

Cove village?


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[EdBacon]

10 hours ago, rgrwilco said:

Cove village?


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Right geographic area, but this place was closed just a couple years after Ski Cove opened. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

22 hours ago, EdBacon said:

Only the old heads will know this place. I wonder if anyone here has actually skied it when it was open. Clue: the lodge is still open. 

Mount Airy lodge?

[EdBacon]

Only the old heads will remember Sharp Mountain. This is the area from above, right on the west side of Pottsville. The ski area has been greatly altered by coal mining since closing in 1973. 

 

[mbike-ski]

9 hours ago, EdBacon said:

Only the old heads will remember Sharp Mountain. This is the area from above, right on the west side of Pottsville. The ski area has been greatly altered by coal mining since closing in 1973. 

 

hmmm I wonder if it's the same Sharp mountain from blue mountain/jt's premier blue/jam-grass band?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 hours ago, mbike-ski said:

hmmm I wonder if it's the same Sharp mountain from blue mountain/jt's premier blue/jam-grass band?

 

Wow hippie music. 

[EdBacon]

One hour from NYC is Snow Bowl Ski Area. Opened in 1964 and closed in 1974 the area had a big three story lodge, tavern, two double chairs and snowmaking on 400 vertical feet. After the owners sold the area expansion plans were formed but warm winters and a fire that destroyed the lodge would result in the area's closure. 

Unique among lost areas is that Snow Bowl is still actively skied. Locals keep the liftlines and several trails open for gladed riding when conditions permit. If there is snow its a really fun place to bag turns. 

 

[PSUFrankenstein]

Was just thinking about this thread last night - I wonder if Blue Marsh ski area is skiable/rideable and if anyone would throw a fit if I hiked it for some turns...

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, EdBacon said:

One hour from NYC is Snow Bowl Ski Area. Opened in 1964 and closed in 1974 the area had a big three story lodge, tavern, two double chairs and snowmaking on 400 vertical feet. After the owners sold the area expansion plans were formed but warm winters and a fire that destroyed the lodge would result in the area's closure. 

Unique among lost areas is that Snow Bowl is still actively skied. Locals keep the liftlines and several trails open for gladed riding when conditions permit. If there is snow its a really fun place to bag turns. 

 

The snowboarding part at the end with music was rad!!!

[Johnny Law]

On 2/14/2021 at 10:33 AM, PSUFly said:

Was just thinking about this thread last night - I wonder if Blue Marsh ski area is skiable/rideable and if anyone would throw a fit if I hiked it for some turns...

Blue marsh I heard was pretty grown in so not much different than skiing anywhere else but I have no idea first hand as I only see it going to Christmas Village.

[PSUFrankenstein]

I took a longer way home from Blue yesterday (stopped at a store on 183 - Way Har Farms, really good ice cream, etc)...anyway, I checked out Blue Marsh from a distance and it still looked like some of the runs were clear enough if there was enough snow.  The black diamond/T-Bar line looked grown in from what I saw, but I could be wrong.

Then again, is it worth hiking all that to get runs in on something that's <250 ft of vert?  probably not...

[EdBacon]

12 hours ago, PSUFly said:

I took a longer way home from Blue yesterday (stopped at a store on 183 - Way Har Farms, really good ice cream, etc)...anyway, I checked out Blue Marsh from a distance and it still looked like some of the runs were clear enough if there was enough snow.  The black diamond/T-Bar line looked grown in from what I saw, but I could be wrong.

Then again, is it worth hiking all that to get runs in on something that's <250 ft of vert?  probably not...

Most of the hill is pretty clear except for the steep part where the t-bar went up. That was pretty much full of briars and saplings. 

[EdBacon]

South of the Mason Dixon line. Baltimore/DC actually used to host a couple of ski areas within an hours drive. These were small, but introduced skiing to a lot of folks in the 60s and 70s. 

[rgrwilco]

Woah that place looks tiny. I think if those smaller areas made it to the era of terrain parks local kids would have kept them in business.


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[EdBacon]

So a lot of these areas are really small. In the 200-400 vertical feet range. They had a hard time being viable as the sport changed in the 80s and 90s and skiers were seeking longer runs and more challenging terrain. However, there are some areas that are exceptions. The oil crises in the 70s definitely sunk a lot of small ski areas and I think this is overlooked. However, occasionally you get a place that is just mismanaged. So mismanaged, in fact that the true story is almost hard to believe. 

Enter Ski Snowpeak, in Juniata County. A mountain that could have been PA's biggest if it hadn't suffered from some of the worst owners imaginable. 

Just imagine, for a minute, a ski area in PA with almost 1400 feet of vertical drop. On a mountain whose upper north facing slopes hold snow in the shade for weeks or even months after its gone in the valley below. With steep lines and old trails cut that rival some of the classics in New England. Yeah, Tuscarora Mountain in the vicinity of Thompsontown, PA has all of that. In the 1960s some enterprising ski enthusiasts bought up the lots on the north side of the mountain to assemble the land necessary to construct a ski area. The project would have been massive for its time, not just in PA but in the NE in general, spanning 1400 vertical feet. By the early 70s trails and liftlines had been cut for Tusquenita Mountain. Some of the old logging tracks, and possibly what would have been the upper mountain trails are still discernible in the woods today, and would have made for some of the best skiing in the state had they seen action. Narrow, twisting and steeply pitched. Even after all the rain and abuse the snowpack has received the upper mountain was still covered in 12-18 inches of dense crusty but totally edgeable snowpack. The mountain top even sports a couple of slide-like fields of about 100 vertical feet. Totally filled in and pitched at around 30-40 degrees. In short, the terrain on this mountain could have been epic had the project ever found the right individuals to see it through. The Tusquenita folks ultimately did not have the money to finish the ski area, and the lift lines and trails filled in.

Until 1988 and Ski Snowpeak was born. Now you need to be introduced to John Hall Jr. Son of the trucking magnate from Camp Hill outside Harrisburg. The Halls were known to be somewhat eccentric, but Jr's claim to fame was that he served time for wire fraud and stealing $4million in bonds from his father's company. At some point he decided he wanted to own a ski area and to that end he tried raising money for a planned development in Montana to be called Ski Yellowstone. It was later accused of by the owners of Ski Roundtop on behalf of Ski Yellowstone that Hall had illegally funneled money to himself from the project. He managed to raise $2.3 million from a bank in West Virginia, but to get more he needed either collateral, or a demonstration that he could operate a ski area, or both. This interest brings us back to Tuscarora Mountain and the land assembled for Tusquenita. Now called Ski Snowpeak the area was finally being opened, but Hall only raised funds to build out half the mountain. Snowmaking, a lodge and a fixed grip quad chair were installed in time for the 1988/89 ski season, but issues with snowmaking, warm weather and incorrect components delivered for the lift held off the opening to March. 

For pretty much its entire short life Ski Snowpeak operated a bit like a dumpster fire. Since the area was never fully invested in, it was only built out halfway up the mountain. This meant the most challenging upper mountain terrain was never opened. The Halls were never interested in the area aside from its usefulness to push through the Ski Yellowstone project. They cut corners where they could, and the experience on the mountain suffered for it. By the early 90s it was apparent the Montana project was going nowhere. Ski Snowpeak, never properly capitalized and losing money now had no reason to exist as the owners were not interested in the PA resort apart from its usefulness in propping up their Western development interests. And so after only four years in operation, Snowpeak closed in 1993. A year later the lodge burned down.

There was talk of reopening the area through the 90s but none ever materialized. John Hall Jr, the rest of the Ski Yellowstone group and Ski Roundtop entered a period of litigation. The mountain remained vacant, and eventually the land was split up and sold off. Unfortunately the prospect of ever skiing here again is probably never going to happen, even on an uphill, backcountry basis, although the mountain could certainly support it. While the trails, even the upper mountain stretches are clear enough for experienced skiers, navigating permissions from the numerous landowners is another challenge. When I visited this Saturday you really feel what could have been. You can see why those earlier skiers were attracted to the place even 50 years ago. But for now it remains just an idea.

Snowfield at the top of Tuscarora Mtn. This is full of boulders but was still well filled in, although pretty icy in places. There's at least 16-18 inches of snow still at this elevation depending on wind and exposure. The mountain catches and holds snow incredibly well.

Aerial view of the mountain in the late 70s. You can still see the trails and summit liftline cut by the Tusquenita Mtn group.

Tuscarora Mtn from Thomspontown. One wonders what the economic prospects for this town would have been had the ski area been properly realized. You can still make out the trails and old switchbacks from this vantage.

Trails in the woods on the upper stretch of the mountain. This was never opened by Ski Snowpeak. The land is adjacent to the Tuscarora Wild preserve. The trails snake in and out of public/private land here. 

Just a note: I would not recommend trying to ski here. At least not alone and not without a good excuse ready for why you've appeared in somebody's back yard with all your ski gear. Getting in was incredibly difficult. It requires bushwhacking up 1400 vertical feet and hiking down the ridge several miles from the preserve. A GPS was a must. The Tuscarora wild preserve is public land but there are no marked trails right now. The trails from the Tusquenita Mtn era are mostly open, but they end on private property. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by EdBacon

[theprogram4]

Great post.  Just found the trails on google earth