Winhall Snow Bowl

Here's another interesting one. Winhall Snow Bowl has eluded proof of existence until just recently. I had read an article once about this lost area at the Lyndon State College library. Unfortunately, this was pre-NELSAP, and I have since lost the article. From what I remember, somebody built a j-bar at this 500ft drop ski area. I believe the area operated for a few years in the 1950's. However, if I remember correctly, the base lodge was only partially built. The area was definitely closed by 1957, as the topo map below was made in that year, and showed it to be abandoned.

From the article, the son of the former owner tried to reopen it in the early 1970's, but likely never did. The J-bar was still standing at that time. No lift inspections were ever done at this area from 1969-onward, suggesting that it never quite did reopen.

Here's the topo map of this area from 1957, found by Jeremy Clark. It shows just one slope, and one lift (a j-bar). This was located just 2miles from Snow Valley, and 3-4miles from Bromley.

While looking at an old Bromley add, I was surprised to find this distant photo of Winhall Snow Bowl! You can see the lift line and one slope, and an undeveloped Stratton Mountain in the background. Perhaps this area was open at the time this picture was taken (1950's).

Here's the Terraserver picture of the area today. Not much to see, but the open slope and lift line are still visible, even after 45 years!

Brian O'Malley believes he saw a sign for this area in the early 1970's. Does anybody else remember this area? I'm very curious to find out more about it.

I checked out the old Winhall Snow Bowl down the road from Snow Valley yesterday April 17, 2003. We parked at the Bromley View Inn and walked across the street to the path. It is quite a long walk! It comes to an open field with trees in the middle. We found what was likely the liftline and also the trail. Did not find any remnants from the J-Bar, but I am sure something is left. There was some metal stuff around the woods and a fallen shack halfway up the entrance path. We walked up along the trail and liftline which have turned into rivers from the melting snow. They were narrow but still pretty clear. Not much has grown in because of erosion on the hill. The base lodge is gone completely. All that remains is a huge oil tank in the middle of the field. It was possibly a diesel powered lift.

This is a shack halfway up the entrance.

This is the base area. The entrance road is to the left and the trails are to the right. There is more open space on the other side of that large oil tank.

I spoke to some of the local folks who said that the base lodge was burned and removed about 2 years ago. They also thought that the lift did run for skiing for one season when it tried to reopen in the 70's.