Kenny Hess, who served in many roles at Virginia’s Massanutten Resort before retiring in 2024, wrote in with details about a lost ski area in North Carolina.
Kenny shared a link to an article from an early 1991 issue of Snow Country magazine talking about a “Ghost Ski Area” by inventor, artist, and developer Bob Ash.
Kenny writes:
“The article calls it ‘Vista’ but I remember Bob Ash calling it Diamond Ridge or something like that. There is a high end golf club on the property now that [goes by] Diamond Creek. I walked the trails with Bob Ash back sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s. Many of the trails were cut and very well manicured. Bob Ash held a number of snowmaking patents, one of which was for the snow gun to come up through the snow like a periscope. He was very much involved in the North Carolina ski scene. If this area was developed it could have been the best skiing south of New York.”
I found an aerial image on google earth from the mid 90s. looks like it would have been pretty great.
