Ski Areas of the Past

When I was very young, I would beg my parents to take me skiing on the weekends to a magical place in the Helderberg Mountains outside of Albany NY. It was called Ski Land at East Berne, NY. It wasn't fancy or equipped with the latest quad lift, lodge or even snow making. It was in fact, a cow pasture with rope tows powered by old trucks and a j-bar. The lodge was just an old barn to get hot chocolate and eat your sack lunch. When you're 10 years old, this was a place that ski dreams were made. It was heaven. It was a place to ski with your friends and enjoy the day. But, as with many small ski areas of this era it's now long gone and overgrown with trees and weeds. If you looked at it today you really couldn't imagine a ski area being there.The ravages of time, big changes in the ski industry or poor management have caused the demise of many small ski areas like East Berne. I'm sure most us can name a few that we skied and are no longer in existence.
Several years ago, our ski patrol invited Jeremy Davis to speak at our annual Ski Patrol Banquet. Jeremy graduated from a small Vermont college and now works as a meteorologist in South Glens Falls, NY providing weather information to large tanker ships all over the globe. But, Jeremy did not come to our banquet to talk about the weather but to tell us about a web project he started in college to collect information about all those ski areas that have been abandoned, closed and are just not around anymore. It's called NELSAP or the The New England Lost Ski Area Project. He has collected information from all over the Northeast, U.S. and the world and put together a fascinating web site. What started out as a personal quest and an interest in ski history has developed into a 2nd career and a direction even Jeremy Davis never envisioned. He has now become the repository of information on "Lost' ski areas. His expertise on this subject has placed him on the board of the New England Ski Museum. He now has some volunteer help to keep this website current and up todate.
Check out his website and look up some of those places you skied so long ago. It will bring back fond memories

Time marches on. The 2008-2009 ski season is knocking on the door. Get youself and your skis in shape soon.

The Ski Traveler