Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Carousel Mountain stood in the dunes by Lake Michigan on Holland's south side, in Allegan County. It opened in 1963, when Sports Illustrated described it as a new $1 million development: a chairlift, a T-bar and a J-bar served 10 runs, with night skiing, snowmaking over all 40 acres, a 150-seat dining room, a 200-seat cafeteria and parking for 3,000 cars.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe site is now the Scenic Shores subdivision, where a building foundation and parts of the chairlift's top station could still be found in the 2010s.1,2
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Photos
Memories
Skied Carousel Mountain, 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 Carousel Mountain
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1961 · 38.2 mi away · MichiganA small rope-tow hill on Irving Road just east of Middleville, run as Eskar Hills from 1961 until a 1969 fire and as Middleville Ski Area from 1978.
- 1960–2015 · 43.2 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.
- 1968–1977 · 53.5 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.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Carousel Mountain stood in the dunes by Lake Michigan on Holland's south side, in Allegan County. It opened in 1963, when Sports Illustrated described it as a new $1 million development: a chairlift, a T-bar and a J-bar served 10 runs, with night skiing, snowmaking over all 40 acres, a 150-seat dining room, a 200-seat cafeteria and parking for 3,000 cars. A reader names Norm Archer as its developer. MWLSAP gives its vertical as 311 feet.1,2
It was still running in 1970, when a guide for the coming winter listed nine slopes, the three lifts, several rope tows and snowmaking. Readers blame warm, thin winters in the early 1970s, and sand blowing off the dunes onto the snow, for its end. The closing date is unsettled: MWLSAP cites a 1974 newspaper and also a reader who gives March 1977. The chairlift went to Mt. Holiday in Traverse City in 1985, and the land became the Scenic Shores subdivision.1,2
TodayThe site is now the Scenic Shores subdivision, where a building foundation and parts of the chairlift's top station could still be found in the 2010s.1,2
Timeline
- 1963Opens as a new $1 million area with three lifts and 10 runs1,2
- 1970Still operating; the 1971 guide lists nine slopes and snowmaking2
- 1974MWLSAP cites a November 1974 newspaper for its closing1
- 1977A reader's account dates the closing to March 19771
- 1985Its chairlift goes to Mt. Holiday in Traverse City2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Michigan lost ski areas: Carousel Mountain
- 2Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project · Carousel Mountain – Holland
Photos
No photographs of Carousel Mountain 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 Carousel Mountain, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.7600° N · 86.1994° W · Michigan
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
from 1963 · the year it closed is not yet collected
Closed for good; the year it closed is not yet collected. 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