This was a small ski area that was in known operation during the late 1940's thru the mid 1990's. This was not the still open Waterville Valley ski area. This was located at the Waterville Inn. They had a long 1500 foot tow and a lighted skating rink. It was open from Dec. 26 to April 1. The ski school director, in 1949, was Ralph Bean, who subsequently had a trail named after him.
This area became Snow's Mountain Ski Area that operated in Waterville Valley in the 1950's-mid 1990's.
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Snow's Mountain had a double chairlift, a 500 foot drop, and 5 intermediate trails. It was natural snow only. According to Alan Packard, the area provided night skiing for folks staying at Waterville who couldn't ski enough during the day. A good steak restaurant existed in the base lodge. Here's the trail map in 1990. Notice, although small, it was solid intermediate mountain. It closed in the mid 1990's due to its size and lack of interest. |
This mountain is one of the 4 lost ski areas that I have actually skied. I skied it in January of 1994 while on a weekend in Waterville. This was after a ton of snow! None of the trails were groomed and the powder was thick. The Elbow Bender trail was the coolest, narrow and winding. Also, due to the narrowness of the trails, the area skied much larger than its vertical would suggest.
Here's some more info from Matt Schwoegler:
The double chair is still very much in operation and is used as a mountain biking lift during the summer. Parts of the old rope tow can still be found in the woods along with the towers. The line is becoming overgrown though. Your reason for Snow's closing based on snowmaking is pretty accurate. WV management felt that it wasn't economically feasible to run the area. However, the mountain biking operation has brought new life into what was almost left to rust. WV still maintains the lift and the runs. They are mowed every fall. I think there may be plans to develop some of the smaller runs on the north side of the area into housing. But this is not confirmed. However, the hill as a mountain biking area should remain for years to come.
And from Bob Hatcher: The Waterville Valley ski area, just before the Tom Corcoran era of ownership ended in the late 1990's, tried to market Snow's Mountain as the world's first snowboard-only mountain. The entire mountain was developed into a park with tabletops and other snowboard-friendly amenities. Unfortunately snowboarders preferred the larger Waterville ski area across the valley, the plan failed, and Snow's became a summer-only mountain.
BRichelson: The best thing about Snow's Mt. was the T-Bar lift. It would literally lift any kid under say 80lbs into the air and you could almost ride up like a chair lift the entire trip. Each T-bar was two telescoping pipes spring loaded hanging from the cable. The springs were very strong, sized more for an adult. We would race down the slopes as fast as we could just to get in as many rides as possible.
| Here's a view of Snow's from the Resort Sports Network Waterville page. You can see the wider slopes and narrow trails. |
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Here's an overhead shot of Snow's Mountain from Terraserver. You can actually see the old T-bar lift line through the woods in the center! Notice how there are several wide slopes and a few narrow trails. |
