Anyone ever hear of these Pa. ski areas?

[Jersey Tomato]

So I'm reading a Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast interview of Camelback's GM David Makarsky & it mentions nearby Pa. ski areas. "Closest neighboring ski areas: Shawnee Mountain (:24), Jack Frost (:26), Big Boulder (:27), Skytop Lodge (:29), Saw Creek (:37), Blue Mountain (:41), Pocono Ranchlands (:43), Montage (:44), Hideout (:51), Elk Mountain (1:05), Bear Creek (1:09), Ski Big Bear (1:16)" - - (check out link below)

Now I started skiing a long time ago & thought I knew the inside baseball of skiing better than most- but I've never even heard of some of these places! How about you PaSki&Riders? Ever been to Pocono Ranchlands? or Hideout? What's the deal with these little hills? How can they survive if they don't tell the public they even exist?

https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcast-162-camelback-managing-director#media-53a2eade-7b13-4f44-acb8-ad5bb65eef50

Edited March 10 by Jersey Tomato

[saltyant]

36 minutes ago, Jersey Tomato said:

So I'm reading a Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast interview of Camelback's GM David Makarsky & it mentions nearby Pa. ski areas. "Closest neighboring ski areas: Shawnee Mountain (:24), Jack Frost (:26), Big Boulder (:27), Skytop Lodge (:29), Saw Creek (:37), Blue Mountain (:41), Pocono Ranchlands (:43), Montage (:44), Hideout (:51), Elk Mountain (1:05), Bear Creek (1:09), Ski Big Bear (1:16)" - - (check out link below)

Now I started skiing a long time ago & thought I knew the inside baseball of skiing better than most- but I've never even heard of some of these places! How about you PaSki&Riders? Ever been to Pocono Ranchlands? or Hideout? What's the deal with these little hills? How can they survive if they don't tell the public they even exist?

https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcast-162-camelback-managing-director#media-53a2eade-7b13-4f44-acb8-ad5bb65eef50

Though not mentioned, Eagle Rock in Hazleton still operates and is not open to the public - only for residents.

Edited March 10 by saltyant

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I grass skied at the Hideout and have stayed at Skytop before. I heard of Elk 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, saltyant said:

Though not mentioned, Eagle Rock in Hazleton still operates and is not open to the public - only for residents.

How is eagle rock?  I remember when @poconoceancity used to rent there 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

@Jersey Tomato where do you usually ski?  I don’t think I’ve met you yet and you’ve been posting since 2019. 

[RidgeRacer]

Some of those aren’t actual ski areas. More like little community hills that either run a lift or a towrope. I’m sad that I never skied Alpine mountain before it closed for good.

[AirheadD8]

Used to drive by Fernwood resort in the Poconos on my way to Vt in the 80’s . 
https://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=63

@EdBacon’s a wealth of knowledge for the local deceased areas. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

15 minutes ago, RidgeRacer said:

Some of those aren’t actual ski areas. More like little community hills that either run a lift or a towrope. I’m sad that I never skied Alpine mountain before it closed for good.

Same I did ski Tanglewood once in 2006

[saltyant]

46 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

How is eagle rock?  I remember when @poconoceancity used to rent there 

Idk, I haven't been there since I resigned as lift attendant. My guess is it's not so grate

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

16 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Idk, I haven't been there since I resigned as lift attendant. My guess is it's not so grate

Any good runs there?  Isn’t that where you learned to ski?

[poconoceancity]

1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

How is eagle rock?  I remember when @poconoceancity used to rent there 

It was great for 5 years when my oldest was 3-7 years old. I’m pretty sure they closed to the public about 10 years ago. With the winters of today they probably barely get open. In a good year they wouldn’t fully open all the trails until then end of January.

[saltyant]

54 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Any good runs there?  Isn’t that where you learned to ski?

Idk I was a noob at the time. I think Predator was a good run but I never did it. Last time I heard they open 1 or 2 trails maybe for a coupla weeks

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, saltyant said:

Idk I was a noob at the time. I think Predator was a good run but I never did it. Last time I heard they open 1 or 2 trails maybe for a coupla weeks

Is that when you were a liftee?  Any perks?  

[Jersey Tomato]

3 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

@Jersey Tomato where do you usually ski?  I don’t think I’ve met you yet and you’ve been posting since 2019. 

Blue was my fave til the prices went up, & did Camelback sometimes til they started charging for parking now I'm doing the Indy pass for Montage & lil Shawnee - got 2 days each this season- mostly ski the Cats & Indy areas now

[saltyant]

53 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Is that when you were a liftee?  Any perks?  

I got to ski for free and sometimes even rent skis for free. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

11 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I got to ski for free and sometimes even rent skis for free. 

Any free food? Or maybe like a big discount?  Blue used to give employees 50% off.. @Shadows hooked me @Zonked and some Others up with his discount when he was a liftee at Blue…I’ll never forgot how $16 magically turns into $8 just because you know the right hombre. 

[saltyant]

42 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Any free food? Or maybe like a big discount?  Blue used to give employees 50% off.. @Shadows hooked me @Zonked and some Others up with his discount when he was a liftee at Blue…I’ll never forgot how $16 magically turns into $8 just because you know the right hombre. 

No free food or discounts. I brought a sloppy salami sandwich in my lunch and drank some Yoo-Hoos on my break. It paid a whopping $7.25 an hour and that was before taxes. Wao

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

12 minutes ago, saltyant said:

No free food or discounts. I brought a sloppy salami sandwich in my lunch and drank some Yoo-Hoos on my break. It paid a whopping $7.25 an hour and that was before taxes. Wao

How many hours a week did you work there?  At least you didn’t spend much money on the commute.  The one liftee drives up every week from Maryland. 

[EdBacon]

Those are private ski areas. Pocono Ranchlands, The Hideout and Saw Creek both operate 1970s era double chairs on like 100ft of vertical. They're in the middle of vacation home communities. You have to own property there to use the ski area. Not even sure if these still operate currently. I haven't checked their social media in a couple years. I know Hideout and Saw Creek did some upgrades on their chairlifts a few years ago though, so those are probably still active. 

Sky Top runs a Poma on a couple of beginner runs with like 100ft of vert for hotel guests. They used to have a second poma or t-bar that served more terrain but it no longer operates. 

Eagle Rock is somehow still operating. They lost their beginner lifts and since their mountain is upside down in arrangement, they have to shuttle skiers back uphill via some weird oversized snowmobile thing as the top to bottom runs all require you to go through their advanced terrain. Given that scenario I'm surprised they're still operating at all but they apparently were open this year. 

Big Bear at Masthope was also formerly a private ski area, but larger than the aforementioned. It was designed by the same person who designed Pocono Ranchlands and Shawnee. It's public now and a good option if you want some place quiet and not crowded. It's a long drive from anything though. I believe people who own property in the adjacent vacation community still get some kind of perks there like discounted passes, or maybe you get a pass if you own there for a fee or something. Last time I was there lots of the folks had houses there and were from NYC. 

There were more private ski areas like that. Ski Cove in Hazelton next to Eagle Rock and Winona Lakes outside Stroudsburg were some examples. 

Tanglewood was never private and actually predates the vacation community around it. It opened as Paper Birch back in the 60s. 

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

21 hours ago, RidgeRacer said:

Some of those aren’t actual ski areas. More like little community hills that either run a lift or a towrope. I’m sad that I never skied Alpine mountain before it closed for good.

You didnt miss much. Went there when kids just starting out as it was on PS&R card. Their blacks were no more challenging than Burma Rd and had less vertical. 

Edited March 11 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[JFskiDan]

1 hour ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

You didnt miss much. Went there when kids just starting out as it was on PS&R card. Their blacks were no more challenging than Burma Rd and had less vertical. 

so pretty much Roundtop East?

[EdBacon]

40 minutes ago, JFskiDan said:

so pretty much Roundtop East?

Alpine was flat as all get out. Maybe 300 feet of vert and nothing was steeper than an easy blue even by PA standards. It was in the middle of (although not originally) a housing development too so you'd get to the top and there were just suburban houses to look at across a street. 

[Mixilplix]

I think(although I may be wrong)Alpine mt was the first to allow snowboards...Rode there a couple of times....

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

1 hour ago, JFskiDan said:

so pretty much Roundtop East?

No because RT has twice the vertical of Alpine and RT's Upper Gunbarrel (and arguably Upper Ramrod) are more challenging than anything at Blue. 

Like Frost if it only had the runs from Lehigh through River Run, had no trees, and had a bit less vertical

Edited March 11 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[JFskiDan]

1 hour ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

No because RT has twice the vertical of Alpine and RT's Upper Gunbarrel (and arguably Upper Ramrod) are more challenging than anything at Blue. 

Like Frost if it only had the runs from Lehigh through River Run, had no trees, and had a bit less vertical

Directly from RT website.  

And from DC Ski