Lost Ski Areas: Mt. Tom Ski Area, 1960 - 1998 : Holyoke, MA
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ต.ค. 2024
- Filmed and edited by Avery Zucco.
Filmed on iPhone13 Pro and edited in Adobe Premiere Elements.
Quick ski area stats:
Operated : 1960 - 1998
Snowmaking : yes
Slopes and trails : 18 slopes and trails
Topo : summit ~1200ft. vertical drop ~600ft.
Lifts : 4 in final configuration - 4 double chairs installed in 1967 (Hall), Roebling (1961), Borvig (1978) and Hall (1995).
Originally from Spfld and skiied every yr in the 70s and 80 almost every night. The alpine slide was nice as well. Alot of wonderful memories.
I hate seeing such dereliction out in an otherwise beautiful spot. Its sad that no matter what, these remains will outlast many generations.
I was a patron back in the day. Snow skiing in the winter and the Alpine slide in the summer. Being from CT it was convenient and fun. Good times.
Local here. The buildings were left intact. They caught fire s few years back. That's why all the nails left behind.
Growing up in northwest CT back in the 60s through the 80s Mt Tom was a very popular destination! Sad that it closed! We had so many more recreational areas it seems when I was growing up!
‘76 to maybe ‘82 or ‘83, taught for Adi Scheidl, fore’d the night crew for Dave Moore, worked the Alpine Slide summers, this place was a huge resource for the local community. Harry Craven, Jr even dug up a picture of me demo’ing grass skis when they were pitched to Dave as a summer business. What a gas! Shooting stars at night. Wild blueberries on the cliffs. The stuff young dreams are made of. Even a blizzard in an August thunderstorm! Working extra hours for Roger just below at Mountain Park when it was still operating. Gypsies. Playing air guitar to entertain customers with my crew-mates at the top. Walking the slide with a broom to clean out the toads and garter snakes. Dave handing me a broom to deal with the baby skunks caught on the slide with a nervous mom close by. Racing down with wheels pinned and beating Sully fair and square the night my girl-friend showed up just in time to see the crew-races. 3.5 days on and 3.5 days off. Spending half of what we earned at the Rusty Nail and the Aqua Vitae on days off. I could go on and on….
I learned to ski there in 1995 before heading out to Northern California.
I used to be an instructor there. Now I just hike it with my Boxer. She loves it too
I lived in Holyoke in 78-79 w/wife #1 . Mt. Tom was the 1st sky mountain I had ever seen, and 1st time I ever saw snow. I have a lot of great memories of Holyoke and ex-wife #1.
Nice shot of the W1TOM repeater. I did a lot of skiing there and worked on the pool and some other things for the construction of the summer time features. Now enjoy the repeater as an ham radio enthusiast.
I'm a regular user of that repeater too. We've probably talked before.
I remember back I think it was 79, maybe 78, when the light at the top of the repeater burned out in the winter and they came on TV trying to hire anyone who would climb the tower to change the light. I was living on Chestnut Street across from the library. My 1st wife got me to move there. Holyoke was a great place to live and I had a lot of great memories of Holyoke and Mt.Tom
Learned to ski there, My Parents were both ski patrols there...too bad it closed down, Cool Video!
Just found this video.Born in 1971, I grew up in Holyoke. Moved out in 1997.
Went to Mt Park as a kid and teen. Learned to ski at Mt Tom.
Mt Tom was a ski resort first, then they added the alpine slide, then added the water park before it closed.
The wave pool was added in front of the main lodge. At the lodge you could grab food at the cafeteria line and sit down and eat.
Or head to bar in the basement (before my time) where the .50 cigarette pull handle machine was.
Where you walked down "the wooden" steps was the Ski Shop. And you were correct on the location of the ski rental building.
There were multiple buildings for chairlifts, ski patrol, staff and medical.
Mt Tom offered a Chairlift Day Pass, Night Pass, All Day pass and a Season pass. Ski jumps were not allowed and if the ski patrol caught you "jumping" they would "Warn you" or "Pull your pass". They were strict. If you got caught, they took your chairlift pass from you and no more rids. If you had a season pass you could get it back a week later. I remember a season pass was $150 in the 80's. Day or Night pass was $40(???) If you turned around on the chairlift you see the CT River and homes in South Hadley lite up at night.
Hard to remember but there were multiple Ski lifts, also a J-Bar and a T-Bar.
Snow guns ran all season long to add additional snow to the slopes. Which were also fun to "jump the pipe line" carrying water to the snow guns.
The steepest "diamond" trail on the mountain was my favorite - the Waterfall.
Final fun fact. Mt Tom is a ancient Dormant Volcano.
Cheers! Thanks for bringing back some great old memories!
The basement was bathroom/ shower area and tile area was kitchen. Bar and restaurant was to far left after you first walked onto the main lodge area. I have been in these structures in 80's and 90's. Sad to see all in dis repeat. The maintenance building still exists but that is it or maybe destroyed now from the video you just showed. Have not hiked this in a long time.
Mt Tom was a fun day/night trip. Living in CT it was easy to get to. I remember going night skiing every time it snowed and being exhausted after getting in as many runs as we could before the lifts stopped for the night!!
Holyoke Massachusetts is located in western Mass NOT central Massy said in your video @1:26 central Massachusetts
I was going to comment the same thing.👍
Sorry. I'm not from around there so the distinctions aren't familiar to me!
@@averyzucco220
They had an Alpine Slide that ate many elbows and knees.
Western mass is everything west of Worcester. It has two parts, Pioneer Valley and The Berkshires
@@averyzucco220 you hit on a touchy subject, that’s all. It often seems that the eastern part of our state believes that Massachusetts ends at Worcester. I grew up in just across the river from Mt Tom and skied there a ton. Thanks for the video.
Great video! Mt Tom was the first slope I skied on.
Holyoke is Western Mass btw.
You should of seen it when it was operating. I remember as a kid doing the alpine sled . Was never a skier but had been up there a couple times in winter and saw it. And of coure there was mountain park not far away. The memories.
I’m pretty sure it was called Riverside Park. I won a coloring contest at Big Boy and I got 4 tickets to enter and bracelets I believe for the rides. My family went there a lot and that’s where I learned to ski in the 80’s. I also got lost in the woods as a kid there on some field trip with girl scouts or something. They actually had a search party gathering to come find us. Memories…..
@@mariemysticalforest617 Riverside Park was in Agawam, MA it's still there !! It's called Six Flags now.
Worked there in late eighties running lifts at night. Season pass holder in nineties for skiing. Learned to ski there after school in the 70s. Miss it.
I learned to ski at Mt Tom in 1995 - 1997. I didn't realize that 1997 was its last year, but in 1998 I moved from Holyoke to CT and started skiing at Mt Southington.
By the 1990s as far as I can remember the water parks and the amusement park were closed! I mountain biked there occassionally and I recall there being an old abandoned and overgrown amusement park or at least a couple rides. I also don't remember Mt Tom being all that large of a ski area and only remember 2 or maybe 3 lifts and a very basic lodge. More memorable to me was the ski shop on Rt 5 close to there. I boight my first and second pair of skis there, and much of my early ski gear, as well as 2 mountain bikes.
I've lived and skied in VT since 2005, but still remember my first three years of skiing at Mt Tom. I was a transplant from the midwest and was in my 20s when I started skiing there
welcome back! it has been a long time
Sure has been.
I loved to ski there Friday nights. It was such a cool place to ski in the early seventies. Great views nice people. Another great place was hogback Mountain in southern Vermont it’s closed now also. You could ski close the home. Without the busyness and lots of people like Mount Snow.
Maple Valley was the first place in New England I ever skied, after coming to CT for school.
@@ashvanes484 Yes, I skied at Maple Valley once. I forgot about it. Not many people, Nice and quiet.
Aww yeah! That's where I learned how to ski back in 1982... What a shame she gone now.
2:00 the pumphouse for the wave pool is gone too!?! That was all concrete! Hiked there a while back and it was still there.
3:13 yes, you are correct that was the lodge. If I remember right, those stairs went down to the bathrooms? and the Cafeteria was where the red tile was???
7:55 yep, unload off the Bus, and into that building for your rentals...then up the stairs at 7:45 to go up to the lifts...that road sucked in ski boots..lol
8:55 nope, that was the shop for the trucks and grooming equipment, and maintenance crews
13:45 you are correct...the upper T-bar went a ways up into the woods away from the unload area before it turned around.
Thanx for the memory flood fella!
EDIT: Almost forgot...I think there's a memorial for a WW2 Plane crash up on the backside of it too?
I got a credit from UMass for taking a weekly lesson here in the mid 90's. Fun little place, nothing steep but some nice blue terrain and night lighting on pretty much everything.
I'd take that class.
I skied here with my dad when I was in middle school
18:57 I skied here many times at first in my young years in the later 60’s, later in middle/high school and even later than that in my late teens early twenties. Never got back there in my second resurrection of skiing.
I have not skied in a long while now, and don’t expect to go back to it.
Mt Tom is still fresh in my mind though, I remember skiing on rocks and ice often.
I also remember that one of the kids in my ski (?) class perished after hitting a tree after he fell and landed off the trail. This was long before helmets were a thing.
The T-bar also comes to mind as well a rope tow.
Sad to see it in this condition.
I never learned to ski...but I did go to the water park at Mt. Tom with my parents in the 1980's. There were water slides and a pool,I remember it well. It was a fun time. Lived in Mass. for 52 years. Only been to Holyoke twice. On 2nd trip I saw as an adult that "Its a hell hole today!"sorry for those that have to live there....i mean that. really ...sorry
Surprised it hung on past the late 70’s and 80’s with its high energy costs that killed the small ski areas dependent on artificial snow making and MT Tom had a terrible sun exposure directly east.
Went skiing for my first an only time for my 13th birthday back in 1978. Holyoke just isn't the same place as I remembered as a kid. As such with most towns...
Learned to ski there 1981 ish. Sad its gone
Seems to be a common thing, the man dies and the wife, sells off what he built for the money. I've watched it for clubs, apartments, malls, real estate hotels, restaurants and now Mt. Tom.
I remember taking my kids there to the waterpark in the 1980's. I didn't know that it was closed.
We used to go 4 wheeling up & down the slopes long ago.
I used to be able to see the slopes from my home neighboring Chicopee.
Yes!! And watch the fireworks also
Just remember that the H in "Amherst" is silent.
I used to go there as a kid with my father, we brought my metal detector and would find watches, rings, coins, keys, and rings left there from when the skiers would fall down.
We are Western Mass. Don't confuse us with them Central Mass Worcester folks that talk funny. LOL 3:30...Resident Evil creepy. BTW...that's the same mtn range that runs through Russel and Tekoa Mtn. On the Southern rocky ledges, be on the lookout for them rattlely snakes. I've seen them.
Woburn attempted to start a ski area next to Horn Pond
Ascutney is semi lost. They’ve done a good job turning it into a ski hill.
Ascutney is great. A fun Mt. operated by kind volunteers. Looking forward to skinning up there this season.
I am from another country, and there are this abandoned ski resort. It's so sad... It was created in the 60s and was great till the mid 90s. It's been dismantled due to stupid "eco" activists who never give a fk for others' lives and jobs, a minority of people who don't even like the mountain or any kind of sport. Now there's all abandoned buildings and ugly debris all around because it's too expensive to celan it all. But I guess that a random frog species that wasn't endangered in the first place is more important.
Now the area has got hand made trails and you can't step out from them, or even bring your dog. This is how you "enjoy" nature, thanks to the ecoidiots.
It's really sad.
Is this near Mountain Park?
mt tom is not in central mass , its in western mass
You should collab with skier 72.
1998
Western Massachusetts.
The winters started warming up. They couldn't make snow any more.
What a waste
Wow I've been there. Didn't know that it has closed.
snow. sICLE,, thats N.E.