Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Brady's Hills sat off M-46 between Amble and Lakeview, about six miles east of US-131. Arthur and Genevieve Paulson built it with help from family and opened it in the winter of 1956 with rope tows, naming it for Arthur's father, Brede Paulson, who had owned the land.1,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe old lodge is a private home, the land is used for horseback riding, and the former entrance road is farmland.1
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Brady's 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 Brady's Hills
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1968–1977 · 22.1 mi away · MichiganA small county ski hill on M-37 near Newaygo in west Michigan, listed as a new ski area in 1968 and closed in 1977.
- 1960–2015 · 23.9 mi away · MichiganA rope-tow ski hill outside Rockford, near Grand Rapids, that ran from 1960 until March 2015 and opened its slopes early to snowboarders.
- 1958–2002 · 36.1 mi away · MichiganA ski hill at Farwell that opened as Mott Mountain in 1958, closed in 1995, and ran again as Silver Ridge from 1997 until 2002.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Brady's Hills sat off M-46 between Amble and Lakeview, about six miles east of US-131. Arthur and Genevieve Paulson built it with help from family and opened it in the winter of 1956 with rope tows, naming it for Arthur's father, Brede Paulson, who had owned the land. That December the Battle Creek Enquirer counted it among four new ski areas in western lower Michigan. A 1966 guide listed nine runs with electric rope tows and snowmaking; by the 1971 list it had ten slopes, a Poma lift, six rope tows and night skiing. MWLSAP gives its vertical as 135 feet.1,3
Around 1976 the area took the name Winterskol, and a former worker recalls a group of investors running it from 1977. A 1977 guide gave Winterskol a bar lift, seven rope tows and seven runs. It was offered for sale in 1981 and seems to have gone back to the Brady's Hills name around 1982. The 1982–83 season was the last. MWLSAP tells it differently, with a close in 1974 and a reopening in 1982.1,2,3
TodayThe old lodge is a private home, the land is used for horseback riding, and the former entrance road is farmland.1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project · Brady’s Hills – Lakeview
- 2Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project · Winterskol – Lakeview
- 3Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Michigan lost ski areas: Brady's Hills
Photos
No photographs of Brady's 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 Brady's Hills, in their own words.
Facts
Location
43.4166° N · 85.3396° W · Michigan
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1956–1983
Closed after the 1983 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