Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Bendix Woods was a small ski hill near New Carlisle, 10 to 12 miles west of South Bend close to State Road 2. The Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project dates it from 1969 to 1986 and gives it 120 feet of vertical; in 1978 it ran four rope tows.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe land is Bendix Woods County Park, run by St. Joseph County, whose nature center fills the old Studebaker clubhouse. (2026)3
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Bendix Woods, 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 Bendix Woods
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1972–1989 · 14.4 mi away · MichiganA ski hill on Main Street Road north of Buchanan, in southwest Michigan, run as Royal Valley from 1972 and as Ski World until 1989.
- Years not yet collected · 17.6 mi away · IndianaA small upside-down ski area west of LaPorte, by the Indiana Toll Road, with rope tows and a T-bar; it closed around 1992.
- 1962–2008 · 31.2 mi away · IndianaA family ski hill in Valparaiso, known as The Pines, that ran from the early 1960s until 2008; a revival was being talked about in 2026.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Bendix Woods was a small ski hill near New Carlisle, 10 to 12 miles west of South Bend close to State Road 2. The Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project dates it from 1969 to 1986 and gives it 120 feet of vertical; in 1978 it ran four rope tows. Skimap.org keeps trail maps of the hill from 1977 and 1979.1,2
The land had a longer story. Studebaker laid out its grounds in 1926 as a proving ground for its cars, and the Bendix Corporation later gave land there to St. Joseph County for a park, which took the company's name.3
TodayThe land is Bendix Woods County Park, run by St. Joseph County, whose nature center fills the old Studebaker clubhouse. (2026)3
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Indiana Lost Ski Areas
- 2Skimap.org · Bendix Woods
- 3Wikipedia · Bendix Woods
Photos
No photographs of Bendix Woods 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 Bendix Woods, in their own words.
Facts
Location
41.6693° N · 86.4922° W · Indiana
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1969–1986
Closed after the 1986 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