Mount Tom

After the mountain's trolley line closed in 1937, a few ski trails and rope tows ran there on and off. Daniel O'Connell bought a quarry and the land beside it in 1950. Work on a ski area began at the end of August 1960, and snowmaking let it open on December 17 that year. Wikipedia and NELSAP give 1962 instead; sources differ.^1,2,3

A double chairlift started running in December 1961, and snowmaking reached top to bottom by 1962–63. A second chair and the Boulevard slope came by 1967–68. By the end, four double chairs and a J-bar served 15 trails on a 680-foot vertical, all with lights and snowmaking. At its peak the area counted 300,000 skier visits. An alpine slide opened in 1977, and a water slide and wave pool followed.^1,2

Holyoke lost nearly a quarter of its people over five decades, and the area ran at a loss and fell behind on property taxes. On May 11, 1998, co-owner Mary Rose O'Connell announced the closing, pointing in part to the El Niño winter. In 2002 the 381 acres sold for $3 million, split among the state, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Trustees of Reservations and the Boys and Girls Club. The empty base lodge burned in February 2020 and was torn down.^1,3

TodayThe former slopes are used for hiking and sledding, and a few skiers still climb them on foot. (2026)³