Lost ski areaMassachusettsNortheast
Boston Hills
Ran 1948–1993. A ski area on Boston Hill beside Route 114 in North Andover, an early snowmaker, that ran from the 1948–49 winter to 1992–93.
Overview
Look around
Loading the ground…
Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
Counting who skied it…
Skiing on Boston Hill began in January 1949, when Johnny Anketel and Ray Pressey put up a rope tow and called the place Boston Peak. In 1957 Robert Livermore and David Arnold restarted it as Boston Hill, and that December it began making its own snow, early for the sport.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayA senior living community stands at the old base, and North Andover manages most of the overgrown slopes for hiking and mountain biking.1,3
Timeline
8 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Boston 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 Boston Hills
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 7.3 mi away · MassachusettsA members' rope-tow hill on Wheatland's Hill in Topsfield, run by the Topsfield Ski Club from the 1950s until the late 1970s.
- Years not yet collected · 7.5 mi away · MassachusettsA tiny rope-tow hill run by the Forest Acres apartment complex in the Bradford section of Haverhill until the mid-1970s.
- Years not yet collected · 17.2 mi away · MassachusettsA ski slope and jump without a lift on Punkatasset Hill in Concord, used in the 1920s and 1930s, on what is now town conservation land.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Skiing on Boston Hill began in January 1949, when Johnny Anketel and Ray Pressey put up a rope tow and called the place Boston Peak. In 1957 Robert Livermore and David Arnold restarted it as Boston Hill, and that December it began making its own snow, early for the sport. A J-bar took over from rope tows for 1959–60, and a double chairlift replaced the J-bar for 1972–73. Bob Dunn, the manager from about 1962 and later the owner, ran it for decades; NELSAP credits him as founder. The area claimed 320 feet of vertical, while a 1973 guide gave 240.1,2
Dunn added an alpine slide for summer in 1977, and an artificial surface laid in 1982 let people ski the slope year-round. Warm winters, the labor cost of snowmaking and rising insurance wore the business down, and by the late 1980s it no longer ran every winter. It came back for a short 1992–93 season, from Christmas week into February, possibly under a lease. The chairlift was taken down in 1998 and the base buildings in 2008.1,2,3
TodayA senior living community stands at the old base, and North Andover manages most of the overgrown slopes for hiking and mountain biking.1,3
Timeline
- 1948First season as Boston Peak; its rope tow runs from January 19491
- 1957Restarted as Boston Hill; snowmaking begins that December1,2
- 1959A J-bar replaces the rope tows on the main slope1
- 1972A double chairlift replaces the J-bar1
- 1977Alpine slide opens for summer visitors1,3
- 1982An artificial ski surface allows skiing year-round1,3
- 1993Last season, 1992–93, ends after mid-February1
- 1998The double chairlift is removed1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1New England Ski History · Boston Hills Ski Area History
- 2New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Boston Hills Ski Area
- 3The Boston Globe · Lost ski areas: Boston Hills, North Andover (January 24, 2015)
Photos
No photographs of Boston 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 Boston Hills, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.6461° N · 71.0934° W · Massachusetts
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1948–1993
Closed after the 1993 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 4all 4, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain