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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Mohonk's downhill slope, the Bonticou Ski Area, was the first commercial alpine ski area in Ulster County. It opened in 1964 on Mountain Rest Road in New Paltz, below the entrance to the Mohonk Mountain House, on the hotel's land; two outside operators ran it over the years.1,2,3
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Photos
Memories
Skied Mohonk Ski Center, 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 Mohonk Ski Center
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1964–1978 · 5.6 mi away · New YorkSki Minne, a small intermediate ski center at Lake Minnewaska in the Shawangunks, opened by hotelier Ken Phillips in the mid-1960s and closed in the late 1970s.
- 1960–1978 · 14.7 mi away · New YorkA hotel and ski area above Ellenville, the country's only Chinese American-owned ski resort, that ran on and off from about 1960 until 1978.
- Years not yet collected · 14.7 mi away · New YorkA small family ski and tubing hill on Hill Road in Kingston, with summer waterslides, mini golf and go-karts, that drew Hudson Valley beginners from the 1980s on.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 3 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Mohonk's downhill slope, the Bonticou Ski Area, was the first commercial alpine ski area in Ulster County. It opened in 1964 on Mountain Rest Road in New Paltz, below the entrance to the Mohonk Mountain House, on the hotel's land; two outside operators ran it over the years. Its 11 acres had 475 feet of vertical, three rope tows, a T-bar and snowmaking, but the slope faced southeast and had trouble holding snow.1,2,3
Mohonk literature from 1971 still lists the ski area, and it shut down in the early 1970s. Sources differ on whether a chairlift ever ran; a former patroller writes that the last operators added one, which lasted only a season or two before the end.1,2
Sources for this history (3)
- 1Hudson Valley One · The brief reign of downhill skiing in the Shawangunks (Frances Marion Platt, January 2, 2020)
- 2NYSkiBlog · The History of Mohonk and Minnewaska (Peter Minde)
- 3Skimap.org · Mohonk Ski Center
Photos
No photographs of Mohonk Ski Center 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 Mohonk Ski Center, in their own words.
Facts
Location
41.7806° N · 74.1239° W · New York · Shawangunk Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
from 1964 · 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 3all 3, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain