Ladder Hill

Bart McLean shares more information along with historical photos:

My name is Bart McLean and I grew up in E. Templeton Mass. I remember Ladder Hill very well. I learned how to ski there starting in 1959 and skied there until 1966. It cost $1.00 for a lift ticket and $10.00 for a season pass. I remember mowing lawns and shoveling snow to get money to pay for a season pass. I remember walking up to the top of Partridgehill Rd., the street I lived on in E. Templeton, and looking N.E. each night to see if the lights were on. Then going home and bugging my parent to hurry up because it was open and I didn't want to miss any skiing. On the weekends we just showed up at noon and waited for opening.

The owner/operator was George Smith and his wife Lou ran the snack shack at the bottom of the hill. I remember if George had 10 people show up to ski, he would open, rain, snow or shine. There was a wood stove to keep you warm and a pump operated Coleman lantern for light. Lou had coffee, hot chocolate, and candy for sale.

The tow was run by an old electric motor with a tractor 4 speed transmission. George and Gene, the tow operator, would never run the tow in any gear but first, any other gear and it would run toO fast. I remember all of us kids would beg George to run the tow in second gear, but he never did.

I remember the local cobbler made extra money sewing leather pads on our leather gloves when they wore out. It was cheaper than purchasing new gloves.

My dad, Ray McLEan, started skiing at the age of 35, and because he was the oldest person on the hill, George made him head of his ski patrol. Mostly he kept us kids in line. My dad had no first aid training. If someone got hurt he would send for George and George would run up the hill dragging a toboggan. If they were badly hurt George would take them to the bottom and call for help. The hill was only 800 feet long so George didn't have to run very far.

Above - a skier near the top - great packed powder conditions. Courtesy of Bart McLean.

My dad was a boatswains mate in the Navy during WWII. In the late fall George would call my dad and he would help hang the rope on the pulleys. He would put a long splice in the rope. George use to hire some guy to sew the rope together, before my dad, and the sewn splice would always break. My dad's splice would never break. This made George very happy. My dad never charged him to do that, and George had to pay the other guy $100.00 each time the sewn splice broke.

Ladder Hill was an open slope. It also had one trail that ran on the opposite side of the rope tow. It had no lights, but we skied there in the dark anyway.

When it snowed, the only way the hill got packed was manually. George would run all of us kids up the hill and we would line up across the hill and side step down to the bottom. That was it, not fancy equipment like today. The slope would get skied off until the next snow storm and we would have to pack it all over again.

I still ski today. I live in Central Florida now and only get out 7 days a year to ski. Not like the 120 days I use to get at Ladder Hill. I have fond memories of Ladder Hill and loved every minute I spent there. Too bad Route 2 goes over it now.

Donald Scerra also remembers this area: I used to ski Ladder Hill, I remember looking out of the window on my parents porch to see if it was open for night skiing. This is where I learned to ski as many locals did. It cost a dollar to ski there and I believe before it closed it cost 2 dollars. A season ticket was I believe $10 ( all us kids had one ). One of the lasting memories is the rope tow and how it eat gloves and your poles if you weren't paying attention. My sister who now lives in Florida were talking and chuckling about it in November. What was even funnier was the expression on the faces of friends who skied and never saw or experienced a rope tow. Either the brother or uncle of friend of mine used to run and operate Ladder Hill. His name was Smith ( Go figure ).

Martha (Starkey) Flagg: I have wonderful memories of skiing at Ladder Hill in the 60s. We lived across what was then Route 2 (and is now 2A) on Ladder Hill Terrace. Yes, a season's pass was $10.00 and it included weeknights and weekends. We used to just sling our skis over our shoulders and walk over on starry cold evenings. The rope tow was famous for knocking you flat on your butt time after time until you learned the technique of letting it gradually slide through your gloves (as it destroyed them.) I think this was because it was hooked directly up to an old tractor motor with no way of slowing down the speed. There was also a very crude little hut to warm up in, with a barrel fire and occasionally hot chocolate. We thought we were in ski heaven.

Thanks to Bart McLean who sent in these excellent photos of the ski area, showing skiers on the slopes, the rope tow, and equipment.


Slope.	Race course.	Slope and tow.	Top of ski area.


Heading down the slope.	Youth with a lot of ski tickets.	Long skis!	Rope tow operators.