Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Buffalo Valley Ski Area lay on the west side of Buffalo Lake, near Buffalo in Wright County. A company that ran heavy air compressors for sandblasting in summer opened it in 1966, after searching from the air for a site close to Minneapolis, and used the same machines to make snow in winter.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe old barn chalet was being remodeled as a family home, and the owners planned no development. (1977)1
Timeline
3 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Buffalo Valley Ski Area, 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 Buffalo Valley Ski Area
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1966 · 19.1 mi away · MinnesotaA rope-tow ski area in Orono, west of Minneapolis, that opened in 1966, closed after the 1976–77 season and briefly reopened in 1979.
- Opened 1936 · 30.6 mi away · MinnesotaA private, member-run ski hill south of Shady Oak Lake near Hopkins, skied from 1936 and last mentioned in 1965.
- Opened 1963 · 32.2 mi away · MinnesotaA rope-tow ski and golf park in Eden Prairie, near Minneapolis, that opened in 1963 and was last mentioned in 1979.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Buffalo Valley Ski Area lay on the west side of Buffalo Lake, near Buffalo in Wright County. A company that ran heavy air compressors for sandblasting in summer opened it in 1966, after searching from the air for a site close to Minneapolis, and used the same machines to make snow in winter. MWLSAP counts seven rope tows in that first year and a vertical of 240 feet. A big barn served as the chalet, and the ski patrol used the silo beside it.1,2
The area drew a fair, mostly local crowd looking for practice, but its runs were too short to pull skiers from farther away, and upkeep was costly. After about five seasons it went bankrupt, and in November 1972 the Minneapolis Star reported it closed for financial reasons; a sheriff's sale followed. By 1977 a family had bought the barn, the silo and 57 acres on both sides of the valley and was making the vandalized chalet into a home, and neighborhood boys had rigged a small rope tow there the winter before.1,3
TodayThe old barn chalet was being remodeled as a family home, and the owners planned no development. (1977)1
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Minneapolis Tribune · Pioneer Park, Buffalo Valley tell stories of two dreams (Minneapolis Tribune, October 1977), clipping on MWLSAP
- 2Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Buffalo Valley Ski Area
- 3The Minneapolis Star · Ski facilities new, old and changed (Ralph Thornton, The Minneapolis Star, November 9, 1972), clipping on MWLSAP
Photos
No photographs of Buffalo Valley Ski Area 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 Buffalo Valley Ski Area, in their own words.
Facts
Location
45.1766° N · 93.9183° W · Minnesota
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1966–1972
Closed after the 1972 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