Lost ski areaWest VirginiaAllegheny MountainsMid-Atlantic
Chestnut Ridge
Ran 1951–1973. A club-built rope-tow slope at today's Chestnut Ridge Park east of Morgantown, run from the early 1950s until 1973 or, by some accounts, 1980.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Chestnut Ridge was the work of Morgantown residents who formed the Mountaineer Winter Sports Club in the early 1950s. By 1953 they were building a slope about 12 miles east of the city near Coopers Rock State Forest, on land that is now Chestnut Ridge Park.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe old slope and warming hut are part of Chestnut Ridge Park, where sledders use the hill after good snow.2,4
Timeline
4 events · swipe
Photos
Memories
Skied Chestnut Ridge, 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 Chestnut Ridge
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 21.5 mi away · West VirginiaThe downhill slope of Alpine Lake, a resort community near Terra Alta in Preston County, skied from the 1970s into the 1990s with a rope tow and T-bars.
- Closed 1973 · 35.4 mi away · PennsylvaniaA small ski area inside the Bear Rocks housing development on Chestnut Ridge, east of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, that ran from the late 1960s into the early 1970s.
- Years not yet collected · 73.1 mi away · PennsylvaniaA small rope-tow slope at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's College Lodge, run by the university's Co-op from the 1970s or earlier.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Chestnut Ridge was the work of Morgantown residents who formed the Mountaineer Winter Sports Club in the early 1950s. By 1953 they were building a slope about 12 miles east of the city near Coopers Rock State Forest, on land that is now Chestnut Ridge Park. A Model A Ford engine bought for $25 drove the rope tow; the 1,200-foot rope, at $500, was the biggest expense. The tow at first ran only halfway up the slope and was later extended to the top.1,2
The east-southeast-facing slope, about 500 feet long with 170 feet of vertical, averaged a 25-day season. Tickets cost $1 for adults and 50 cents for students, and up to 200 skiers came on Sundays. Club members cut two north-facing slopes to hold snow longer, though only one was used, and readers remember night skiing under big light bulbs. Some sources credit Chestnut Ridge with West Virginia's first rope tow, a claim the state's snow sports museum notes is disputed.1,2
Its dates differ by source: a Morgantown history book and the museum's article give 1951 to 1973, a 1993 newsletter gave about 1966 to 1980, and the museum's timeline lists 1953 to 1980.1,2,3
TodayThe old slope and warming hut are part of Chestnut Ridge Park, where sledders use the hill after good snow.2,4
Sources for this history (4)
- 1DCSki · Chestnut Ridge, Morgantown, West Virginia
- 2Snow Sports Museum of West Virginia · Snow Sports at Chestnut Ridge Ski Area, Morgantown, WV
- 3Snow Sports Museum of West Virginia · Timeline of West Virginia Snow Sports Areas
- 4Highland Outdoors · Lost Turns: A Brief History of West Virginia's Defunct Ski Areas (Matt Kearns, January 22, 2021)
Photos
No photographs of Chestnut Ridge 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 Chestnut Ridge, in their own words.
Facts
Location
39.6805° N · 79.7845° W · West Virginia · Allegheny Mountains
OpenStreetMap still maps 1 lift here; OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1951–1973
Closed after the 1973 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