Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Gander Mountain sat just south of Wilmot Mountain, across the state line in Illinois, west of Antioch near Spring Grove. Its lodge stood at the top of the hill.1,2
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2 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Gander 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 Gander Mountain
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1974–1980 · 4.5 mi away · IllinoisA ski area on U.S. 12 north of Fox Lake, opened as Hidden Valley in 1974 and renamed Lost Valley in 1976, that closed in 1980.
- 1967–1986 · 8.8 mi away · IllinoisA ski hill at Ingleside, two miles south of Fox Lake, that ran from 1967 to 1986 with a chairlift, rope tows and night skiing.
- Years not yet collected · 11.3 mi away · WisconsinA private ski hill with a ski jump near Burlington, in southeastern Wisconsin, skied from about 1952 and last mentioned in 1980.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Gander Mountain sat just south of Wilmot Mountain, across the state line in Illinois, west of Antioch near Spring Grove. Its lodge stood at the top of the hill. It had about 200 feet of vertical, served by six rope tows and three Poma lifts, and offered night skiing.1,2
The Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project gives its years as 1958 to 1973; Colorado Ski History's 1998 list says about 1964 to 1974.1,2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Gander Mountain
- 2Colorado Ski History · Lost Areas #26 (The Lost Ski Areas of Illinois), The Colorado Skier, July 30, 1998
Photos
No photographs of Gander 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 Gander Mountain, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.4931° N · 88.1878° W · Illinois
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1958–1973
Closed after the 1973 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