Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Joseph F. Kosik Sr. founded Mount Grampian in 1957 on Lakeville Road near Oxford, about 40 miles north of Detroit.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayA 2014 reader note on MILSAP says the land is used by Faith Farms, a charity that grows produce for local families. (2014)2
Timeline
8 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Mount Grampian, 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 Mount Grampian
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Opened 1947 · 21.5 mi away · MichiganA ski hill above Teeple Lake in Highland State Recreation Area, opened by the Pontiac Ski Club in the 1947–48 winter and still listed in the 1980s.
- 1949–1995 · 26.5 mi away · MichiganA small ski hill on Foley Road in Fenton that opened as Summit in the late 1940s and ran as the Kandahar Ski Club from 1965 until 1995.
- Opened 1980 · 45.5 mi away · MichiganA ski hill the City of Riverview built and ran on its landfill near Detroit, open from December 1980 until the 1990s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 5 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Joseph F. Kosik Sr. founded Mount Grampian in 1957 on Lakeville Road near Oxford, about 40 miles north of Detroit. Work on a $100,000 ski resort there was under way that year. In 1959 it added a 1,000-foot Pomalift with a 100-foot rise, and by that December it was turning up in newspaper ski reports.1,2
In its best years the hill had the Poma, eight rope tows, a ski jump and lights for night skiing. A youth jump was built in 1961 and enlarged in 1963 with a 45-foot inrun tower; it came down around 1970. In 1971 a 685-foot Sneller double chairlift went in, taking the Poma's place. Former employees say the Pillsworth family of Windsor, Ontario, later owned the area, and in the 1970s school groups and a high school race team skied there.1,2,4,5
Its end is poorly documented. One skier last skied there in 1980, yet MILSAP shows a mail flyer from 1987, and photos from 1991 show an abandoned lodge and a closed hill with the chairlift still standing. Visit Detroit says it closed in the late 1980s.2,3
TodayA 2014 reader note on MILSAP says the land is used by Faith Farms, a charity that grows produce for local families. (2014)2
Timeline
- 1957Joseph F. Kosik Sr. founds Mount Grampian1,2
- 1959A 1,000-foot Pomalift is installed2
- 1961A youth ski jump is built4
- 1963The jump is enlarged with a 45-foot inrun tower4
- c. 1970The ski jump is taken down4
- 1971A 685-foot Sneller double chairlift is installed2
- 1987A direct-mail flyer promotes the hill2
- 1991Photos show the lodge abandoned and the hill closed2
Sources for this history (5)
- 1Michigan Snowsports Industries Association · Michigan Ski Hall of Fame: Joseph F. Kosik Sr. (2012)
- 2Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project · Mount Grampian — Oxford, MI
- 3Visit Detroit · Trailblaze Detroit: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Detroit's Ski Hills
- 4Ski Jumping Hill Archive · Oxford
- 5Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project · Mt. Grampian Jump — Oxford
Photos
No photographs of Mount Grampian 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 Mount Grampian, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.8246° N · 83.2159° W · Michigan
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
from 1957 · 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 1all 1, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain