Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Ogemaw Hills lay about three miles west of West Branch, north of M-55 near the former settlement of Ogemaw Springs. Michigan's Forgotten Ski Areas describes it in 1942 with two downhill courses close to 1,000 feet long, a ski tow, trails and beginner slopes, and Skimap.org holds a trail map dated 1942.1,2,3,4
Read the whole historyTodaySki Park Road, which still crosses I-75 north of West Branch, keeps the park's memory in its name.1
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Ogemaw Hills, 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 Ogemaw Hills
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1956–1998 · 24.4 mi away · MichiganA rope-tow ski area on the southwest edge of Mio, above the Au Sable River valley, that Charles Budesky opened in 1956 and that last ran in January 1998.
- Closed 2006 · 26.7 mi away · MichiganA family ski hill on Skyline Road six miles south of Grayling that ran from the mid-1940s until it closed before the 2006–07 winter.
- 1948–1997 · 43.1 mi away · MichiganA ski area seven miles northeast of Lewiston in northeast Michigan that ran from 1948 until it shut down in 1997.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Ogemaw Hills lay about three miles west of West Branch, north of M-55 near the former settlement of Ogemaw Springs. Michigan's Forgotten Ski Areas describes it in 1942 with two downhill courses close to 1,000 feet long, a ski tow, trails and beginner slopes, and Skimap.org holds a trail map dated 1942. MWLSAP instead gives the 1947–48 winter as its start. MILSAP shows a photo of skiers at the park from about 1948, and readers recall rope tows there in the early 1950s.1,2,3,4
Around 1959 a Consumers Power brochure listed five slopes and five tows from 900 to 1,000 feet long, with a shelter house, snack bar and ski shop. AAA lists gave six slopes, a T-bar and two rope tows in 1968, and six slopes, a T-bar and six rope tows in the 1971 edition. MWLSAP gives 1971 as the year it closed.1,3
TodaySki Park Road, which still crosses I-75 north of West Branch, keeps the park's memory in its name.1
Timeline
- 1942Two downhill courses, a ski tow and beginner slopes in use2,4
- 1947MWLSAP dates its opening to the 1947–48 winter3
- c. 1959Brochure lists five slopes, five tows and a snack bar1
- 1968AAA lists six slopes, a T-bar and two rope tows1
- 1971Last year of operation, per MWLSAP, with a T-bar and six rope tows1,3
Sources for this history (4)
- 1Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project (MILSAP) · Ogemaw Hills Ski Park – West Branch
- 2Michigan's Forgotten Ski Areas · Ogemaw Hills Winter Sports Park
- 3Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project (MWLSAP) · Ogemaw Hills
- 4Skimap.org · Ogemaw Hills
Photos
No photographs of Ogemaw Hills 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 Ogemaw Hills, in their own words.
Facts
Location
44.3077° N · 84.2974° W · Michigan
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 1971 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 1971 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain