Have you ever skied at a small hill in the northeast? Meaning with 1000 ft or less.Stuart and Harvey true soulmates; all-in on tiny New York ski areas:
Four Seasons Ski Area in New York Closes After 63 Years
John Goodfellow was there “from day one” of the nation’s shortest chairlift-served ski areawww.stormskiing.com
Eastern Molehills and Retro Areas
- Thread starter ChrisC
- Start date
Yes he is.
No. The only areas I've skied anywhere under 1,000 vertical are the defunct Kratka Ridge and Ski Sunrise in SoCal, Lee Canyon outside Vegas (all ~700 vertical) and Canada Olympic Park ~400 in Calgary.
My North America East of the Rockies experience is here. There are still a few western areas over 1,000 that I have not skied, and I can possibly drive to some of them on the way to major destinations. I'm getting an Indy Pass this season from NASJA and that is added incentive to try them. Many of these places are at least "James Tier 2" areas by Northeast standards.
Once you get on an airplane expense goes up and so does the quality bar to clear. I've been willing to pay that air expense (most western ski journalists won't) to go to NASJA events in Quebec, Lutsen and Stratton. In the Northeast cases I spent extra time to ski "more important" Northeast areas in addition to those where the NASJA events were. I also had a day here and there when I was working on weekends before or after actuarial conventions in Boston and Hartford where work picked up the airfare.
Molehills are important as a cheap intro to the sport, especially where they are convenient enough for local kids to utilize after school. That does not mean they are worth visiting if you live beyond daytrip driving distance.
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tseeb
Well-known member
I may have to start a Western Molehills thread as I may ski a couple of them in OR and WA this Winter.
Snowland, UT is not that far out of the way between Las Vegas and SLC and is free this year and probably next, Fri-Sun only. https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2025/11/07/utah-gives-snowland-fairviews-free/ and https://snowlandutah.weebly.com/
I've skied a few under 1,000 vertical areas around Tahoe. I worked a couple of weeks in 1975 at Granlibakken which got me a discounted Palisades pass. They now have two surface lifts and 300' vertical. When I worked there, they were going under, and part of my job was to put plastic on condo roofs to prevent damage. A friend and I hiked up and skied there in 1976 when driving between N and S Tahoe.
Others, all near Donner Pass where they get a lot of snow:
Boreal, 500 vertical. They used to have a S-facing backside lift. My notes: "One night while living at Truckee/Tahoe (Fall 75-Spring 77). And 10/31/89 with my brother when it was free if in costume - I wore hospital scrubs. April 94, my son’s 1st day, on free beginner lift. I recently saved VHS tape from that day to digital.
Soda Springs, 550 vertical, 1976-77 on a free day. Roomates were with me including one, who was a pro patroller at Palisades and worked the tram disaster, hurt his ankle. Steep at top under main lift. Also stopped there on way home from UT Olympics so my son could tube.
Donner Ski Ranch, 750 vertical. Main lift is S/SE-facing. They often stay open later in Spring than others in area including Sugar Bowl. My first day there was free, limited to first 750 people, champagne grand opening when main lift was upgraded to a triple (1983). After four glasses of Chandon, I returned to skiing to sober up so I could drive home. Also skied there 5/31/2010 when I could have gone to Mammoth instead as they were only two CA ski areas open. Short, steep N-facing and longer, not as steep NW-facing chairs on backside.
Good idea! I've always wondered about the CA ones you mention above. Would be interesting to see report/pix of them.
Maybe Western Retro Hills. I'm interested!
A molehill in the east is typically not much vert (under 1000) and limited acreage. Makes most of the "small" mountains along the west coast seem large in comparison. I created a list of "old school" ski areas on another forum a while back based on places members mentioned. Arbitrarily used 500 acres as a cutoff to separate the list, which ended up mostly places in the east or west. Wasn't up for thinking about the midwest back then.
Boreal has close to 400 skiable acres. That's 3-4 times more than all the ski resorts in the southeast besides Snowshoe, which has about 250 skiable acres including a few gladed areas.
was poor phrasing on my part. It's the desire to try out new places. But there needs to be enough of interest at a new place to spend the time and $$.
is the most accurate description of the obscure places in the Alps, because they are far from small. The deterrent to some skiers might be dependence upon surface lifts.
Standards are probably related to what kind of skiing you grew up with. Snow Summit is 1,175 vertical and 250 acres of 90% intermediate pitch. When out of my region I've very unlikely to seek out anything much less than that, unless prior research and reputation says there's something uniquely interesting.
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