8 Resorts in Western PA, Laurel Mtn gets new Lift!
December 19, 2012
Happen to come across this this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette highlighting the 8 Western PA ski resorts getting ready for the 1968 season. It is amazing what it must have been like back in the day:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19681121&id=WdhaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aWwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3992,3629311
Wow. That's pretty cool. Thanks. Definitely a different era for skiing back then...TWA flying in the founder of Taos for a meet and greet; monthly ski club meetings; lend/lease of Austrians and Swiss; ski school directors moving around and it's news; all the places now on the Lost Ski Areas list... It was a different time. Much more of a lifestyle.
..but the reports of early snow and openings is just downright cruel. Sigh...
Only about half of those sites are MALSAPped.
I, for one, would be interested in the "Inside Blue Knob" video.
... forget the lifts! you could get two dang tires for $33 and a car battery for under $13 !!
Pirates had a winning record!
I still drank my beer from a brown quart bottle.
I was -18 years old.
Pirates had a winning record!
LM open with a new chairlift.
7 Springs using innovative new snowmaking technology.
A Post Gazette worth reading.
common thread between the 4?
Wow, that was one I missed. If you use the Google news archives and enter Laurel Mountain Slopes (Laurel's original name) you will find a wealth of articles about the early days of Laurel. The author of the article that Edgar linked is Lenny Bughman, Laurel's very first manager. The chair lift placement was endorsed by none other then Otto Schniebs, known as the father of American skiing.
Otto was a Hannes Schneider trained ski instructor who arrived in the US before Hannes and promoted the sport in the very early days of lift served skiing (even earlier) in this country. Otto coined the phrase "Skiing is not a sport, it is a way of life." More importantly for us Mid-A skiers, Otto laid out the original trails at Blue Knob. I would love to see the film mention in the link. Use Blue Knob in the Google News Archive search and you will find a photo of Otto at the opening ceremonies for BK.
Use Seven Springs Farms in the Google News search to read articles about the very early days of 7S.
