This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Mount Tom Ski Area | |
---|---|
Location | Holyoke, Massachusetts, US |
Nearest major city | Springfield |
Coordinates | 42°15′4.57″N72°38′17.14″W / 42.2512694°N 72.6380944°W |
Vertical | 680 ft |
Trails | 15 3 beginner 10 intermediate 2 advanced/expert |
Lift system | 4 Double Chairlifts, 2 T-bars, 1 J-Bar, 1 Rope Tow |
Snowmaking | Yes |
Mount Tom Ski Area was a ski resort in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in the Mount Tom Range in the western part of Massachusetts about 10 miles north of Springfield. It opened in 1962 and closed in 1998. The slopes of the former ski area are located off U.S. Route 5 in the Smith's Ferry neighborhood of Holyoke, adjacent to the former Mountain Park, now a music venue.
Both Mountain Park and Mt. Tom were once owned by the O'Connell Construction Company. It was rumored that Mt. Tom was created so that the company could keep seasonal workers working during the winter and keep them available for the summer construction season.[ citation needed ]
The Mt. Tom Ski School was staffed by Austrians primarily imported directly from Innsbruck to teach skiing in the US. One of its prominent Ski School Directors was Adi Scheidle who along with his brother Heinz Scheidle employed quite a few of the local skiers as Instructors. During the early years of Mt. Tom, Adi spent a lot of time selling local schools and other groups on organized lessons at Mt. Tom. He was very successful and generated a lot of ski lesson business for Mt. Tom as well as increasing the local skier base.
Adi was so successful at sales that he was promoted to Director of Skiing. Heinz Scheidle was promoted to ski school director and Ed Ryan, one of the American Instructors, was promoted to Asst. Ski School Director.
Smith College, Mount Holyoke and the University of Massachusetts all at one time also allowed their students to complete ski school programs as electives. At one time the school also had a special agreement training students of the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. [1] [2]
Mt. Tom was a leader in snow making in the United States. It made snow almost from its start with hand crafted snow machines. The snow machines were put together with several pieces of galvanized pipe and were little more that one piece of pipe connected to an air source with another pipe connected directly onto the side of the air pipe that fed water into the air stream. In 1969 for example, its entire 28 acres employed snowmaking, and the budget for this ran at $90,000, equivalent to about $650,000 in 2019. The ski area pursued this strategy to draw patrons from even northern New England in years of below-average snowfall. [3]
In addition, the ski area constructed pipes set permanently on the side of many of the trails that fed water and air up the slopes so that the maximum amount of snow making could take place.
Beginning in the 1967-68 season, Mt. Tom began offering night skiing. [4]
Mt. Tom had extensive lighting allowing night skiing, and was described as having 100% lit trails before its closure. [5] The slopes were extremely well lit, and could be seen from many miles away to the east of the mountain. Large wooden telephone poles were installed on the sides of the slopes with baseball stadium type lighting creating an almost daylight type of lighting with few shadows.
By the early 1990s, night skiing brought in roughly 40% of the ski area's revenue. [4]
The local high school had a race league at Mt. Tom and raced several times a season against each other. Holyoke High, Holyoke Catholic, and South Hadley High School were regular participants in the league. In addition to the local high schools, the Williston Northampton School used the mountain for its Division II, and later Division I, ski team races, as well as its recreational ski program.
In the 1980s, Mt. Tom opened a water park that operated during the summer months, which included a wave pool and a water slide. [4] [6] It struggled to compete with Six Flags New England in Agawam after they opened a water park of their own in the late 1980s. [4]
Since its closure many of the former resort's buildings have been destroyed by fire. In late 2016, a brush fire burned on the former ski slopes, burning mostly loose brush. No buildings caught fire in that event. However from 2016 on, several smaller shacks were burned to the ground. In March 2018, the former ski rental shop was completely destroyed by a fire, and on February 23, 2020, the main lodge was almost entirely destroyed by another fire. Local fire officials suspected arson from the blaze. Shortly after the fire, crews demolished the building, reducing it to nothing but a foundation hole. It was then filled in with the torn-down debris of the building. All that remains of the former main lodge is its footprint. [7]
While snowmaking equipment and chairlifts have been removed, small numbers of skiers in recent years have continued to ascend the area's slopes on foot. [7] [8]
In 2017, a proposal from a local-area resident was brought to the city planning board's attention to re-open the ski area.[ citation needed ] As of 2024, no proposals have been successful.
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes and a ski lift system. In North America, it is more common for ski areas to exist well away from towns, so ski resorts usually are destination resorts, often purpose-built and self-contained, where skiing is the main activity.
Mount Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts at 3,489 feet. Located in northwest region of the state, it is part of the Taconic Mountains, a geologically distinct range from the nearby Berkshires and Green Mountains. Expansive views and a small area of sub-alpine forest characterize its upper reaches. A seasonal automobile road crosses the summit area near three structures from the 1930s, which together constitute a small National Historic District. Various hiking paths including the Appalachian Trail traverse the area, which is part of the larger Mount Greylock State Reservation.
Mount San Antonio, commonly referred to as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy, is a 10,064 ft (3,068 m) summit in the San Gabriel Mountains on the border of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties of California. Lying within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest, it is the highest point within the mountain range, the County of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliability of their snow cover and to extend their ski seasons from late autumn to early spring. Indoor ski slopes use snowmaking. They can generally do so year-round as they have climate-controlled environments.
Mount Tom, 1,202 feet (366 m), is a steep, rugged traprock mountain peak on the west bank of the Connecticut River 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of downtown Holyoke, Massachusetts. The mountain is the southernmost and highest peak of the Mount Tom Range and the highest traprock peak of the 100-mile (160 km) long Metacomet Ridge. A popular outdoor recreation resource, the mountain is known for its continuous line of cliffs and talus slopes visible from the south and west, its dramatic 1,100-foot (340 m) rise over the surrounding Connecticut River Valley, and its rare plant communities and microclimate ecosystems.
Okemo Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in the town of Ludlow, Vermont, United States. The resort experienced 600,000 skier visits in 2009. Parents Magazine rated it the Top US Family Snow Resort, and Visitor's Choice on the Snow rated it as Number 1 Beginner Terrain in Vermont.
Sugarbush Resort is a ski resort located in the Mad River valley in Warren, Vermont, owned by Alterra Mountain Company. It is one of the largest ski resorts in New England. The resort encompasses more than 4000 acres (16 km²), including 484 trail acres (2.34 km²) skiable, 53 miles (85 km) of trails, and 16 ski lifts. Sugarbush has 111 ski trails, 18 additional marked wooded areas, and substantial off-piste skiing and riding The summit elevation is 4,083 ft (1,244 m), and it has a vertical drop of 2,600 feet (790 m), the second largest in Vermont after Killington, and the third largest in New England after Killington and Sugarloaf.
Mount Snow is a mountain and ski resort in southern Vermont located in the Green Mountains. It is Vermont's southernmost big mountain, and therefore, closest to many Northeast metropolitan areas.
Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a state park in the eastern United States, within Canaan Valley in Tucker County, West Virginia. Located in the highest valley east of the Mississippi River, the park contains the second-largest inland wetland area in the United States. The valley featured the first commercial ski development in West Virginia.
Hunter Mountain is a ski resort located in Greene County, New York about three hours northwest of New York City in the town of Hunter, New York. It features a 1,600-foot (488 m) vertical drop.
The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail is a 114-mile-long (183 km) hiking trail that traverses the Metacomet Ridge of the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts and the central uplands of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Although less than 70 miles (110 km) from Boston and other large population centers, the trail is considered remarkably rural and scenic and includes many areas of unique ecologic, historic, and geologic interest. Notable features include waterfalls, dramatic cliff faces, exposed mountain summits, woodlands, swamps, lakes, river floodplain, farmland, significant historic sites, and the summits of Mount Monadnock, Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail is maintained largely through the efforts of the Western Massachusetts Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). Much of the trail is a portion of the New England National Scenic Trail.
Magic Mountain is a ski resort located on Glebe Mountain in Londonderry, Vermont. It features a 1,500-foot vertical drop. The summit is at 2,850 feet and the base at 1,350 feet.
Mount Waterman is a ski area on Waterman Mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, California. The area is located on California State Route 2, the Angeles Crest Highway, and reaches a height of 8,030 ft (2,450 m) with an overall vertical drop of 1,030 ft (310 m). Mount Waterman is leased under a special use permit from the United States Forest Service. Skiable terrain is distributed as: 20% beginner, 20% intermediate, and 60% advanced.
Ascutney Mountain Resort was a downhill ski area on the western side of Mount Ascutney in Brownsville, Vermont that operated from 1946 until 2010. It was purchased by local communities and the Trust for Public Land in 2015, with plans to reopen a smaller version of a ski area, and keep the rest of the mountain preserved.
The Mount Tom Range is a traprock mountain range located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is a subrange of the Appalachians and part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to nearly the Vermont border. A popular outdoor recreation resource, the range is known for its continuous west facing cliffs and its rugged, scenic character. It is also notable for its unique microclimate ecosystems and rare plant communities, as well as significant historic sites, such as the ruins of the 18th century Eyrie House located on Mount Nonotuck.
The Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain is a private, member-owned club that provides alpine skiing on Haystack Mountain in Wilmington, Vermont to its members.
Little Tom Mountain is a 73-acre (300,000 m2) nature preserve in Holyoke, Massachusetts and is managed by the Trustees of Reservations. The land was purchased in 2002 by a joint effort of the Trustees of Reservations, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club from the holders of the former Mt. Tom Ski area. The Trustees and the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club have a cooperative management approach of the area and run an environmental education program together.
Mount Sunapee Resort is a ski area and resort located in Mount Sunapee State Park in Newbury, New Hampshire, United States.
Holiday Valley Resort, known more commonly as just Holiday Valley, is a family-oriented vacation spot and ski resort in Ellicottville, New York. Established in 1957 by Nelson Pauly, John Fisher and Bill Northrup, the facility opened with four runs and one T-bar lift. Currently the resort contains 60 slopes and 13 lifts. Since its opening Holiday Valley has experienced steady growth and has become the main tourist attraction in Cattaraugus County. In 1995 the Inn at Holiday Valley opened, turning the slope into a self-contained ski resort.
The Holyoke Street Railway (HSR) was an interurban streetcar and bus system operating in Holyoke, Massachusetts as well as surrounding communities with connections in Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, Granby, Northampton, Pelham, South Hadley, Sunderland, Westfield, and West Springfield. Throughout its history the railway system shaped the cultural institutions of Mount Tom, being operator of the mountain's famous summit houses, one of which hosted President McKinley, the Mount Tom Railroad, and the trolley park at the opposite end of this funicular line, Mountain Park.
External media | |
---|---|
Images | |
Mt. Tom Ski Area brochure, showing skiing and summer activities for the 1982-83 Season | |
Video | |
Interview with Adi Scheidle, Director, Mount Tom Ski School, on Prime Time by George Dorunda (1991), 1:35 - 14:47 | |
Interview with Skiers at Mount Tom, (1990) 27:33 - 30:11 |