Ski Valley USA

Ski Valley USA shared the same side of the hill as Diamond Hill. Thanks to Mark McCaughey, we now have another confirmation of this area as being separate to Diamond Hill. Originally I had thought they were one area, but this was the clincher. Anyway, the guide books for both these areas are all messed up. Sometimes I think that the guides confused the areas, and constantly went back and forth. Here's a short history.

According the the Colorado Skier, Ski Valley was open from the mid 1960's and into the mid 1980's. It had a T-bar and several rope tows, grew to add a double chairlift on the far left as you look up the mountain, and a slightly shorter vertical drop then Diamond Hill. A developer tried to develop a condo complex there but never quite finished. There is a picture below of this condo development. This area closed in 1986. (probably earlier).

Ski Valley was indeed separate from Diamond Hill. I had a season pass there nearly every season in my youth. As Mark said Fred Egan, his wife and sons ran the hill. There were 4 sons, The oldest being Tom then Mike, Dave and Dennis. The last time I saw Dennis was two years ago at Cranmore Mountain in NH. He ran an adult race program there.

The original area consisted of the "small hill" in the center of the photo above the lodge (serviced by a rope tow on the left side) and the wide "big hill" to the left of center. This slope was separated down the middle by snow making pipes. There was a rope tow on both sides of this hill. All the trails originally went only as far down as the lodge and parking lot. The lower area was not added until they purchased the double chair later on. Their first expansion was a T-Bar that serviced the trail to the far right in the picture. The picture looking up at the water tank is the top of the T-Bar trail. When they first installed the T-Bar they fouled up just under the steeper area where the water tank is. There was a dip and then a sharp upward pitch that they had not planned for. When you got to the upward pitch you had to sit on the wooden slat of the T-Bar and the two people would come off the ground by about three feet. They eventually put in an additional lift tower to correct the problem. The double chair was their final lift and went in after they cleared the lower hill below the parking lot. They had to do a lot of grading through the left side of the parking lot to continue the trails to the left down to the Pawtucket Reservoir below. The chair went from the bottom of the lower section to the top of the left side hill.

I know a good bit about the area because I used to hang out there with Mike and David and many of my friends each afternoon after school. It was a great place to learn to ski and socialize. My first season pass was $35 if I remember correctly and day tickets were $1.50. The time frame was mid 60's.

Joshua Segal also remembers this area: I went to Ski Valley in 1977. It had already come on hard times by then. The surface lifts were running. The chairlift footings were there, but the chairlift was gone. You could still ski the trails to the bottom (if you were willing to walk back up.) It seemed to me, that if the right entrepreneur had come along, a combination of Diamond Hill plus Ski Valley could have made for a respectably sized ski area.

Here are the listing for this area....remember the guide books seemed to be confused.

1969
(Eastern Ski Map)
T-bar lift, 3 tows, 4 slopes, 4 trails, snowmaking, packer.

Early 1970's
(Ad from Dave Hilton)
Here's the ad from an unknown ski guide, graciously scanned in by Dave Hilton. Interesting setup. Thanks to Mark, we now know of where the lifts went. 2 T-bars served the slope on the upper left and the middle slope. A rope tow served the slope on the far right. Eventually (73/74), a double chair went from the SW corner of this map to the top of the slope on the lower left. There was a narrow trail on the far left. Pictures of these trails are at the bottom of this map. The base lodge in the middle of the parking lot is long gone, replaced by a decent condo complex that never got finished, allowing for 2 or 3 units to be abandoned.

1973
(Ski Guide to the Northeast)
Base elevation: 140 feet. Vertical drop: 315 feet. Exposure: Northeast
Features: Area operates daily, snowmaking equipment, night skiing, ski shop, snack bar, rentals, warming huts, 5 lifts (1 double, 1 T-bar, 3 rope tows) with 6,000 per hour capacity, 5 trails, parking for 500 cars.
Ski school: American Technique, 10 instructors, 1 certified.
Rates: Weekdays: $4.00 adult, $3.00 junior. Weekend and holiday: $5.00 adult, $4.00 junior. Season: $75.00 adult, $60.00 junior.

1979
(Eastern Ski Map)
Chairlift, T-bar, 3 tows, 4 slopes, 4 trails, novice through expert, 315 foot vertical drop.

1980
(Eastern Ski Map)
Chairlift, T-bar, 3 tows, 4 slopes, 4 trails, novice through expert, 315 foot drop, snowmaking

From The Colorado Skier:
SKI VALLEY (Grant Mills), [closed], Located 1 mile north of Grant Mills, on Hiway 121. Operated from about 1965 to 1986. Vertical Drop: 275 ft Top: 475 Base: 200 Lifts: 1 double chair, 1 Poma, 5 rope tows Night skiing

Mark McCaughey---
SKI VALLEY WAS OWNED AND OPERATED BY FRED EGAN AND HIS SONS DAVID, DENNIS AND ?. I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH DENNIS WHO FREQUENTLY WON THE ANNUAL RHODE ISLAND DOWNHILL RACE HELD AT VARIOUS NEW HAMPSHIRE SKI AREAS IN THE NORTH CONWAY AREA. SKI VALLEY HAD GOOD SNOW MAKING AND A T-BAR AND VARIOUS ROPE TOWS. IT'S MAIN ATTRIBUTE WAS THAT IT WAS OPEN WHILE DIAMOND HILL WAS CLOSED FOR VARIOUS REASONS( MOSTLY INCOMPETENT OPERATORS). SKI VALLEY IS NOW A CONDO COMPLEX WHICH WAS NEVER COMPLETELY FINISHED(DEVELOPERS WENT BUST IN THE EIGHTIES. THE SKI TERRAIN IS BARELY RECOGNIZABLE TO EVEN SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO LIVED THEIR EVER WINTER IN THE LATE SIXTIES AND EARLY SEVENTIES.

And, thanks to the Colorado Skier, who received this image from the photographer, Tom, we have a picture of this condo development! Small world.