Many recalled less fondly the wear and tear the resort’s rope tow machines took on their winter gear. “We could go and ski for a dollar,” DeMeo said. In addition to being local, many who skied at Hidden Valley remembered it as being an affordable alternative to other resorts in the region. “I skied there with friends in my early teen years,” DeMeo said. Paul DeMeo of Gardner remembered skiiing on nights and weekends at the resort. Night sking was offered on Wednesdays and Fridays from 7 to 10 p.m. The resort was open Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. “It was John Rix’s farm and he wanted to put in a rope tow, and open the mountain as a family destination,” Gammell said.Īccording to a brochure, the slopes included the Sno-Bunny for novice skiers, the Big Daddy, Cut Off, and Dicks-Rix for advance novices, and the Bob Cat for intermediates.ĭuring the 1972-73 season, an adult season pass cost $30 for the rope lifts and $45 if you wanted to go all out and splurge for the T-bar lift. Larry Gammell, who grew up in Ashburnham, remembered helping the original owners dig holes for the telephone poles that would secure the ski lifts up and down the slopes. It was place where kids could get dropped off and picked up at the end of the day.” “They were designed for people who (travel) for half an hour or less, and they provided gathering spot for the community and a place for recreation. “It seems like almost every town had (a ski area), and some towns had more than one,” Davis said. It was kind of a death-knell.”ĭavis, who identifies a “ski area” as a mountain or hill that had any kind of a lift for skiers, said Hidden Valley was among 150 ski areas that used to operate in the state.
#Hidden valley ski area photos plus
“That was a hard time, plus there was a recession going on. “There was hardly any snow during those back-to-back years,” he said. Hidden Valley closed operations following the drought years of 19, according to Davis. Hidden Valley was what’s known as an “upside-down” mountain, where the lodge and parking lot were at the top of the slopes, and skiers were rope-towed or T-barred from the bottom up. A half-hour class lesson cost $2, while a one-hour private lesson was $5.įoresman said he still meets people who learned to ski during his lessons at Hidden Valley. Paul Foresman, a former Fitchburg firefighter who now resides in Gardner, said that in addition to overseeing the ski lift operations, he was also in charge of running the Ski School at Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley was owned and operated by the Foresman family for most of its existence. There was plenty of parking outside the lodge, which included a fireplace, snack bar and a ski school. The resort, which operated in the 1960s and 1970s before being turned into a housing development, had two trails on four slopes, with four rope tows and a T-bar lift. Generations of skiers recall fondly hitting trails at the long-defunct Hidden Valley Ski Area at the end of Crosby Road. But what that trail, along with a few others along the east face of Mount Hunger, lacked in excitement was more than made up for by fun and convenience. And each bathroom had its own walk in shower which was also nice after getting back hiking in 80☏.ASHBURNHAM - It wasn’t much of a ski trail, maybe 1,000 feet down a gradual vertical drop of about 150 feet. But it was a great experience and stay overall the entertainment system was amazing made it a great experience watching movies when we came off the mountain.
#Hidden valley ski area photos windows
Greg did offer to come check out the A/C unit but also said it’s hard for the A/C unit to keep up if the outside temp is a big difference from inside so we did decline the offer and just kept the Windows open.
The last night we got lucky and the temp dropped to 57° with rain and with he windows open were able to cool down enough to sleep through the night. This honestly made the first 3 nights very hard to sleep waking up sweating. But we stayed during the first week of June the Temp outside was 75-80☏ unfortunately the A/C unit just couldn’t cool the Property down past 75☏ even when set on cool at 66☏. If we had stayed during the skiing season I know we would have zero issues. The Property was absolutely gorgeous better than the pictures could show, Property was clean and super easy to check in rooms were beautiful and everything was easy to use.
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