Sports

The Ghosts of Winters Past

Web site chronicles the history of the region's lost ski areas.

Earlier this season, I compiled an of the state's snow sports areas - Ski Sundown, Mohawk Mountain, Mount Southington and Woodbury. Four seems like a lot for a small state, but at one point in history, Connecticut had small ski hills scattered all over the place.

One of the more fascinating Web sites for the snowsports enthusiast is the New England Lost Ski Areas Project (NELSAP), a chronicle of an era that has come and gone.

To date, NELSAP has listed 60 lost areas in the state and many are from the area.

Here are some of the ghost areas in north central Connecticut.

• Henry Park, Vernon: It was booming in the 1970s with a warming hut, a ski school and even Ski Patrol service. It  is visible after a fresh snowfall and can be traced just below Fox Hill Tower on the back side of the park. The best view of it is from Lower Butcher Road in Ellington. It closed in the 1980s but the old rope tow stanchion can still be made out if you look carefully. I have always wanted to poach it, but it just looks too overgrown.

A sledding hill with lights is featured on the main side of Fox Hill at Henry Park.

• Horse Barn Hill, University of Connecticut: Yes, UConn had a ski area as late as the 1970s. NELSAP tells the story of skiers driving on an access road between a polo arena and a sheep barn and down a small hill where the the road opened up into a large parking area. Skiers went down the hill from the top and took one of two rope tows back up. There were two slopes - one beginner and one more difficult - each serviced by its own rope tow. There were also three trails through the woods to the bottom of the main slope.

There was no snowmaking, but there were lights for night skiing, NELSAP says. The cost for any member of the general public was $1 per session. UConn students showed their ID and skied for free. A season pass was just 5. Rentals were available for about $3.

• Krechko's Tow, Tolland: NELSAP says it was big in the 1960s and had one of the more interesting base areas - a wooded area that made stopping with the old wooden skis interesting. It was serviced by a homemade rope tow.

• Mount Nebo, Manchester: The town operated it in the 1960s and it had a pair of rope tows - one servicing a steep hill with 600 vertical feet. Interstate-384 now passes through the area.

• Mount Hope, Mansfield Center: It had two rope tows, about 350 feet of vertical and operated at night. It was 4 miles north of Willimantic off Route 89.

• Northview Ski Slope, Manchester: It was operated by the town from 1969-1974, NELSAP says. It was cut when Route 6, now I-384, was cut through Mount Nebo.

• Rattlesnake Mountain, Somers: The ski area had a lift and three rope tows and a vertical drop of about 300 feet, NELSAP says. One problem was a southern-facing slope that had trouble holding the snow.

• Somers Ski Area, Somers: NELSAP tells us Arthur Olmstead operated it until 1954, but he never rebuilt it after two hurricanes flooded out the rope tow trail and washed away the Model-T engine used for the rope tow.


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