Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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The Oconomowoc ski hill went by several names: its full original name was the Olympia Princess Resort at Scotsland, and it was also known as Scotsland and the Highlands of Olympia. MWLSAP dates its opening to 1972, while the Oconomowoc Enterprise says it opened as Olympia Resort in 1974.1,2,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe hill stands idle and in disrepair amid a housing development whose plan leaves room to revive it. (2023)2
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Highlands of Olympia, 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 Highlands of Olympia
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Years not yet collected · 20.5 mi away · WisconsinA small ski hill at the Riverbend campground resort near Watertown, known from a 1987 advertisement and a trail guide dated to 1990.
- 1970–1982 · 26.1 mi away · WisconsinA ski area near Burlington with 192 feet of vertical, open from 1970 until a December 1982 ad said the hill would not open that season.
- 1960–1970 · 32.6 mi away · WisconsinA ski hill north of Lake Geneva that Ed Meltzer ran from 1960 to 1970 with 12 runs; its slopes are now part of Hawk's View Golf Club.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 5 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The Oconomowoc ski hill went by several names: its full original name was the Olympia Princess Resort at Scotsland, and it was also known as Scotsland and the Highlands of Olympia. MWLSAP dates its opening to 1972, while the Oconomowoc Enterprise says it opened as Olympia Resort in 1974. It had 196 feet of vertical, and a 1978 listing MWLSAP cites shows two rope tows and two chairlifts. Skimap.org holds trail maps from 2010 and 2011.1,2,3
Financial troubles closed the ski hill in 2013, a year after the Olde Highlander Golf Club. The property then hosted conventions, weddings and other events, and in 2019 a church used its conference center for several months. In 2022 Neumann Developments proposed 624 homes on 236 acres around the hill and looked for businesses that might bring back skiing or tubing. The approved plan, as reported in 2023, keeps the long-idle hill, by then in disrepair, and leaves room for a revival, with a brewpub or events center among the ideas for the old chalet building.2,4,5
TodayThe hill stands idle and in disrepair amid a housing development whose plan leaves room to revive it. (2023)2
Sources for this history (5)
- 1Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Olympia (Scotsland, Highlands of Olympia), Oconomowoc — Wisconsin
- 2Oconomowoc Enterprise (gmtoday.com) · Plans for former Olympia Ski resort come into focus (Chris Barlow, March 30, 2023)
- 3Skimap.org · Highlands of Olympia ski maps
- 4TMJ4 News · Proposed housing development to potentially revive Olympia ski hill in Oconomowoc (November 22, 2022)
- 5Neumann Developments (reposting the Milwaukee Business Journal) · Massive proposed housing development aims to revive Oconomowoc ski hill (Teddy Nykiel, Milwaukee Business Journal, November 22, 2022; reposted by Neumann Developments)
Photos
No photographs of Highlands of Olympia 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 Highlands of Olympia, in their own words.
Facts
Location
43.0881° N · 88.4799° W · Wisconsin
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1972–2013
Closed after the 2013 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