Treasure Lake Ski Area (Lost area)
April 30, 2010
http://treasurelakeskilodge.net/Has anyone ever heard of Treasure Lake Ski Area. Apparently this was a small ski area that was built as part of a resort community around Treasure Lake near Dubois, PA. A friend of mine recently purchased a home here and noted that there used to be a small ski hill here. Not sure how big. I believe they have snow tubing, but I am not sure if they have a lift for the tubers.
There are no "ski area" markings on the 1977 USGS topo map, but that does not necessarily mean no ski area at the time. I think you will find similar lack of markings for Indian Lake, PA, Scenic View in Trent, PA and Alpine Lake in WV and others. a ski slope was a "thing to have" as an attraction for resort communities starting in the late 60s/ early 70s.
There are two long cleared slopes to the E-SE of the ski lodge with an elevation change of about 180-200 ft. the Treasure Lake website says that the tubing/sledding hill is across the street from the ski lodge, and there is an open area with a 40-60' drop over its length.
Treasure Lake was a real estate development that began sometime in the '80s. I don't think the ski area lasted very long. I remember my brother purchased a lot there and told me that I was welcome to ski there but the rope tow and small vertical was not worth the drive or overnight stay for me. I would guess that the tubing hill was the ski hill. If I recall correctly the snowmaking consisted of an SMI fan and on board air compressor snow maker mounted on a groomer.
Ahh. Well, they claimed to be an older resort.
"In 1968 the property was sold to Great Northern Development Company, Lake Rene became Treasure Lake and in 1969 the Declaration of Restrictions was developed. The sale of lots began. Over the years there have been several other developers and in February 1996 the Treasure Lake Owners Association assumed ownership of all the Amenities at Treasure Lake. "
(from
http://www.treasurelakepoa.com/about.php )
Next step is to get someone to go explore the site and look for any signs of lifts. We can never have too many pictures of a lone tire rim on a pole or a floodlight bolted to a tree.
On 1993 historical image on Google Earth, there appears to be lift shacks on the skiers right slope and what is now believed to be the tubing hill. Question--would this have been a tubing hill in 1993?--a little before its time IMHO, but still possible Perhaps just a sledding hill like at Blackwater. I can't figuire out a lift configuration though as it seems like there would need to be three lifts to service the whole area. The houses between the slopes were there in the 1993 photo. No mention of any lifts on skistats, lifts.org, etc.
GGNAGY do the slopes show on the 77 topo??
You are probably right GG. I remember that there was a big marketing push at that time (mid to late '80s) and they were touting the skiing as an attraction. I was solicited and assumed it was a new development.
many private places don't show on places like ski stats or lifts.org. Rope tows were usually homebrew affairs, and I don't think there was even a major manufacturer that sold them until pony tows showed up.
Last night I read through the online newsletters. Not alot about the ski area outside of the lodge. they do mention "restarting" the tubing 2 of the years, but I don't know if that means restarting after last season, or restarting after sitting idle for some number of years. One bit of history mentioned was that until the property owners association took over, there were timeshares and rentals and at the time was called a "resort" but was referred to as such no longer. I have emailed the POA to see if they could provide any more information, but based on previous experiences, I am doubtful.
