Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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The Penobscot Valley Ski Club first developed skiing on Bald Mountain in the late 1930s. Lift service began when the club moved a rope tow there from King's Mountain, in 1950 by New England Ski History's account and 1951 by NELSAP's, and a warming hut went up at the foot of the tow two years later.1,2,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe slopes are overgrown, but the old trails are still visible to hikers and backcountry skiers still use the mountain. (2023)3
Timeline
6 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Bald Mountain, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Bald Mountain
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 16.3 mi away · MaineA T-bar ski area in Winterport, about 13 miles south of Bangor off Route 1A, built in the 1960s and gone by the mid-1970s.
- Opened 1966 · 92 mi away · MaineA ski area on Coburn Mountain south of Jackman, with a double chairlift and a T-bar, that ran from 1966 into the early 1970s.
- Years not yet collected · 95.9 mi away · MaineA small community ski area with one T-bar on Route 2 in Island Falls that ran from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The Penobscot Valley Ski Club first developed skiing on Bald Mountain in the late 1930s. Lift service began when the club moved a rope tow there from King's Mountain, in 1950 by New England Ski History's account and 1951 by NELSAP's, and a warming hut went up at the foot of the tow two years later.1,2,3
For the 1967 season a $337,000 Farmers Home Administration loan paid for a Hall T-bar and a double chairlift, and a snowmaking system followed for 1970–71. At its peak the mountain had a dozen trails, from the easy Sidewinder to Bumper Scraper and the Old Race Trail, along with night skiing.1,2,3
Money troubles ended it in the 1970s, and sources differ on the last season: 1972–73 for New England Ski History, 1974 for the Bangor Daily News and 1976 for NELSAP. Arthur K. Watson bought the foreclosed property in the spring of 1974 and gave the chairlift, T-bar, snowmaking and lights to the Camden Snow Bowl, which put the lifts up on its lower mountain in 1975. The lodge is gone and the slopes have grown in, but hikers can still pick out the old trails, and backcountry skiers use part of the mountain.1,2,3
TodayThe slopes are overgrown, but the old trails are still visible to hikers and backcountry skiers still use the mountain. (2023)3
Timeline
- 1950Club moves a rope tow to Bald Mountain (1951, per NELSAP)1,2
- 1967Federal loan funds a Hall T-bar and a double chairlift1
- 1970Snowmaking installed for the 1970–71 season1
- 1973Likely last season, per NESH; the BDN says 1974, NELSAP 19761,2,3
- 1974Arthur K. Watson buys the property and donates the lifts to Camden1,3
- 1975The lifts go up on the Camden Snow Bowl's lower mountain1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1New England Ski History · Bald Mountain History
- 2New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Bald Mountain (Dedham) Ski Area
- 3Bangor Daily News · The Bangor area was once home to more than 10 ski areas
Photos
No photographs of Bald Mountain we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Bald Mountain, in their own words.
Facts
Location
44.6594° N · 68.6133° W · Maine
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 1973 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 1973 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 3all 3, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain