Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Bamber Hills, also called the Rochester Ski Hill, rose off Bamber Valley Road Southwest in Rochester. MWLSAP dates it to 1947, citing a Post-Bulletin notice that November: the Rochester Ski Club had opened a ski tow at Trenholm Hill, three-quarters of a mile west of the Mayo Institute of Experimental Medicine, on a slope its members had used the winter before.2,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe hill still stands off Bamber Valley Road Southwest, closed to skiers. (2005)1
Timeline
3 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Bamber Hills, 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 Bamber Hills
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 2003 · 37.2 mi away · MinnesotaA ski area on the Mississippi River bluffs near Frontenac, south of Red Wing, that opened in the mid-1960s and closed in 2003.
- 1970–1975 · 37.3 mi away · WisconsinA ski area between Cochrane and Alma in west central Wisconsin, also called Hiawatha Valley, that ran from 1970 to 1975.
- Opened 1960 · 57.5 mi away · IowaA city-owned ski area on U.S. 52 north of Decorah, with 250 feet of vertical, that opened in 1960 and faded out in the 2000s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Bamber Hills, also called the Rochester Ski Hill, rose off Bamber Valley Road Southwest in Rochester. MWLSAP dates it to 1947, citing a Post-Bulletin notice that November: the Rochester Ski Club had opened a ski tow at Trenholm Hill, three-quarters of a mile west of the Mayo Institute of Experimental Medicine, on a slope its members had used the winter before. MWLSAP lists one Poma lift and 149 feet of vertical.2,3
In its last years the City of Rochester ran the hill on land leased from the Mayo Foundation. Neighbors objected to the noise snowmaking would make at night, so the city relied on natural snow, and in 1980–81 the hill could not open at all. Snow tubing and, one year, a speed-skating rink were added to bring in visitors. In the fall of 1985 the city announced the end of the hill's nine-year run; the season before, it had opened only 19 days, taking in $3,500 against $21,000 in costs.1
TodayThe hill still stands off Bamber Valley Road Southwest, closed to skiers. (2005)1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Rochester Post-Bulletin · It was the little ski hill that couldn't (Tom Weber, Rochester Post-Bulletin, March 2, 2005; scan on MWLSAP)
- 2Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project (MWLSAP) · Bamber Hills (also called Rochester Ski Hill)
- 3Rochester Post-Bulletin · Ski Tow Opened At Trenholm Hill (Rochester Post-Bulletin, November 28, 1947; scan on MWLSAP)
Photos
No photographs of Bamber Hills 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 Bamber Hills, in their own words.
Facts
Location
43.9839° N · 92.5062° W · Minnesota
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1947–1985
Closed after the 1985 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain