Small, Local Ski Hills Need Saving

Even though hundreds of small, local ski areas have disappeared, those that remain serve an important function.

Head to your local ski hill on a Friday evening and you might think you've arrived at Times Square.

The place will be rattling with folks of all ages skiing, snowboarding, snowtubing and possibly even ice skating, Nordic skiing and snowshoeing.

These places are the best for learning to ski, taking up racing, getting the hang handling the halfpipe and small terrain park elements. They provide a superb venue for families to play together, or for peers to socialize and get some exercise at the same time.

I always tell people that, even though I've skied across North America and in several European destinations, I started at a tiny ski area 45 minutes from my northern New Jersey home.

That serendipitous occasion (some high school friends asked me to come along for a day-I'll never know why, since I didn't ski and they did) has given me a venue for traveling the world and meeting all kinds of people.

I'm forever grateful.

But, when I started skiing, nearly 500 ski areas were in operation in the United States. Today there are only 200-plus.

And most of those that gave disappeared were small ones just like the place I first learned. The ones that snowsports needs to bring in a new generation of snowsliders.

So upsetting is this decrease in facilities that whole organizations and websites have devoted themselves to documenting lost ski areas.

Don't believe me? Check out some of these websites:

The recent news that Connecticut's tiny Powder Ridge Ski Area appears to have been saved from destruction by developers comes as good news. That's that many more community members who will be able to ski, ride, tube and just plain have fun close to home.

Related Story: Small Ski Area Saved