Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Gunset Ski Bowl stood on a ridge beside Route 20, about a mile west of Richfield Springs. NELSAP dates its start to before 1963, probably around 1960, and names Lewis Whipple as manager in the early 1960s.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayLocals use the old slope for tubing and snowmobiling, and its lift towers, trails and lodge still stand. (2003)1
Timeline
7 events · swipe
Photos
Memories
Skied Gunset Ski Bowl, 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 Gunset Ski Bowl
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1938–1982 · 7 mi away · New YorkAn early rope-tow and T-bar ski area on the ridge above Wedderspoon Hollow, west of Cooperstown, that ran from 1938 until the 1981–82 winter.
- 1972–1998 · 11.7 mi away · New YorkA 750-foot ski area with two double chairs above the Thruway south of Little Falls, run from 1972 until the late 1990s.
- 1962–1998 · 36.6 mi away · New YorkA ski area on Route 10 in Jefferson, just outside Stamford, New York, opened in 1962 and later called Deer Run, which closed in the late 1990s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Gunset Ski Bowl stood on a ridge beside Route 20, about a mile west of Richfield Springs. NELSAP dates its start to before 1963, probably around 1960, and names Lewis Whipple as manager in the early 1960s. A 1963 listing gave it a 1,500-foot Poma lift, a 900-foot rope tow, four intermediate trails, a novice trail and a beginner slope; most trails ran out into one wide open slope facing north to northeast. A T-bar replaced the Poma in the 1970s, and the area ran mainly on weekends and holidays.1,2
Its vertical grew in print over the years. NELSAP puts the real figure at 280 feet and Skikabbalah at 285, while guidebooks from 1966 to 1982 listed between 300 and 350. The last listing NELSAP found is from 1982, and the area closed in the early 1980s.1,2,3
In 2003 the lift towers, trails and lodge were still standing, and locals use the hill for tubing and snowmobiling. The slope served the Richfield Springs Winter Carnival in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and a 2014 account quoted by Skikabbalah says it opens two days a year for that weekend.1,2
TodayLocals use the old slope for tubing and snowmobiling, and its lift towers, trails and lodge still stand. (2003)1
Timeline
- c. 1960Gunset likely opens around this year, by NELSAP's estimate1
- 1963Listed with a 1,500-foot Poma lift and a 900-foot rope tow1
- c. 1970A T-bar replaces the Poma lift during the decade1
- 1973Trail map of Gunset dated this year4
- 1982Last guidebook listing NELSAP found: two bars, one tow, weekends only1
- 2003Lift towers, trails and lodge still visible from Route 201
- 2014A source says the hill opens two days a year for winter carnival2
Sources for this history (4)
- 1New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Gunset
- 2Skikabbalah · Gunset Ski Bowl
- 3Skikabbalah · Gunset Ski Bowl, guidebook references
- 4Skimap.org · Gunset Ski Bowl
Photos
No photographs of Gunset Ski Bowl 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 Gunset Ski Bowl, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.8618° N · 75.0183° W · New York
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
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 5all 5, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain