Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Skyline stood on Skyline Road, about six miles south of Grayling, between Roscommon and Grayling, with its lodge at the top of the hill. A December 1945 list of Michigan winter parks named Skyline park near Roscommon among those open for skiing, and in January 1946 it had a rope tow, a shelter, a commissary and runs for novices and intermediates.1,2,3,4,5
Read the whole historyTimeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Skyline Ski Area, 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 Skyline Ski Area
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 1971 · 26.7 mi away · MichiganA winter sports park three miles west of West Branch in northeast Michigan, skied by 1942 and closed in 1971.
- 1956–1998 · 27.1 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.
- 1948–1997 · 33.1 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 5 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Skyline stood on Skyline Road, about six miles south of Grayling, between Roscommon and Grayling, with its lodge at the top of the hill. A December 1945 list of Michigan winter parks named Skyline park near Roscommon among those open for skiing, and in January 1946 it had a rope tow, a shelter, a commissary and runs for novices and intermediates. A reader on MILSAP says Ralph Morse started it in the 1940s as the Skyline Ski Club and that Ernie Nye later managed and owned it; new owners renamed it Skyline Ski and Country Club.1,2,3,4,5
Around 1959 it had seven slopes, six rope tows and night skiing, and by 1968 AAA counted ten slopes, a chairlift and eight tows. Later listings gave four surface tows, a triple chairlift and 210 feet of vertical; MWLSAP says 215. In December 2006 the Bay City Times reported that Skyline was closed to winter sports and had sold its groomer and other equipment to Hanson Hills. It had offered 14 runs on natural snow. A 2008 travel post said it was closed and for sale.1,3,5
Timeline
- 1945Listed among Michigan parks open for skiing that winter2,3
- 1946A rope tow, shelter and commissary serve novice and intermediate runs4
- 1968AAA lists ten slopes, a chairlift and eight tows5
- 2006Closed to winter sports; groomer and equipment sold to Hanson Hills1,3
- 2008A travel post reports Skyline closed and for sale5
Sources for this history (5)
- 1The Bay City Times · Front-page item on Skyline's closing (The Bay City Times, December 18, 2006, p. A1; scan on MWLSAP)
- 2The Bay City Times · 18 Snow Parks to Operate: Michigan Resuming Role as Major Winter Recreation Area in Nation (The Bay City Times, December 3, 1945; scan on MWLSAP)
- 3Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project (MWLSAP) · Skyline Ski Area (also Sky Line)
- 4The Flint Journal · Catto Is Instructor In Skiing School (The Flint Journal, January 17, 1946; scan on MWLSAP)
- 5Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project (MILSAP) · Skyline Ski and Country Club – Grayling
Photos
No photographs of Skyline Ski Area 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 Skyline Ski Area, in their own words.
Facts
Location
44.5722° N · 84.6909° W · Michigan
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 2006 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 2006 season. 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