Lost Ski Areas: Belle Mountain, 1960-1998 : Lambertville, NJ

Ойын-сауық

Filmed and edited by Avery Zucco.
Photos from NJ.com and Historic Aerials.
Quick ski area facts:
Operated 1960 - 1998
Snowmaking : yes
Slopes and trails : ~3-4
Aspect : summit ~300ft, vertical drop ~180ft
Lifts : 4 including two rope tows and a handle tow plus one double chair (*Hall, 1969 or 1971 depending on source)
The double is also cited as being installed in 1971
I also snowboarded at this mountain which you can watch here: • Belle Mountain, NJ - 3...
I have an Instagram: / drmellowski. .

Пікірлер: 24

  • @arts.4014
    @arts.4014Ай бұрын

    It was such a fun, well made, little ski area. Full snow making, ski lifts, fully lit. 20 - 25 minutes to Princeton. You could have fun after school/work. I had heard it closed because there were too many warm winters; the equipment wasn't in bad shape. Too bad it didn't survive and was scrapped. A mountain bike club made a course on it after it was closed but they left quite a mess and didn't really clean up after themselves. Most of the scars seem to finally be gone. Great memories. Thanks for making the video.

  • @saracolando1397
    @saracolando13979 ай бұрын

    Thank you, I skied there as a little kid in the 90s. I feel like we went there every weekend in the winter! Sad to think those days are long gone... Skiing is an expensive sport and little hills like this made it more accessible.

  • @jogborn9666
    @jogborn96663 жыл бұрын

    This was the ski area of my youth. I went on to a career in skiing for a while. I’ll give the props to a Belle Mountain for that. Fantastic memories of destroying gloves on the rope tow!

  • @jp7621
    @jp76216 ай бұрын

    My dad and I would drive to Camelback or Mountain Creek every weekend to ski, but we'd come here on Thursday nights after he was done with work to get some night laps in. Fun times.

  • @garrettshoughton9886
    @garrettshoughton98862 жыл бұрын

    My dad used to be the manager of Howell living history farm, my family lived in the White House at the bottom of bell mountain from 2000-2012! It was a great place to spend my childhood!

  • @user-ko8qb4rg1m
    @user-ko8qb4rg1m6 ай бұрын

    I learned to ski here in 1971 and skied there until it closed in the late 90's.

  • @dannyeastep3159
    @dannyeastep3159 Жыл бұрын

    Well done. I lived in the area, but never rwent.

  • @discobean54
    @discobean543 ай бұрын

    I always wondered what that little white shack was by that pond!! We speculated many times... now I know! So interesting. I assume anything old is farm related.

  • @garrettshoughton9886
    @garrettshoughton98862 жыл бұрын

    I used to live in that house at the bottom of the bump!

  • @Sam-rt1pu
    @Sam-rt1pu3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the video. I learned to ski there beginning in 1975 and went frequently into the mid-80s. Virtually all of your information is correct as I remember it. Two points of clarification: 1) per my memory, there was a wooden fence and a wall of hay bales at the bottom of the two smaller slopes so there wasn’t really a risk of skiing into the street. In fact, my very first lesson was on the walkway up to the beginner slopes; 2) there wasn’t a second operational rope tow on the “expert” slope, just the main rope tow. That rope tow was a struggle for a little kid. It would tire your arms out and rip a pair of gloves to shreds within a few hours. I went on to be a lifelong skier all over the Northeast and out West and owe it all to Belle Bump. Thanks again for posting.

  • @averyzucco220

    @averyzucco220

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the comments!

  • @user-ko8qb4rg1m
    @user-ko8qb4rg1m6 ай бұрын

    The ski area was close to Valley Road and there was a fence at the bottom lined with haybales to prevent skiers from skiing into the road. I seen many of crashes into those over my years of skiing at Belle Mt.

  • @garrettshoughton9886
    @garrettshoughton98862 жыл бұрын

    My brother used to mow bell mountain

  • @brookekohlhofer3068
    @brookekohlhofer30684 жыл бұрын

    I moved a year and a half ago, but spent the last 20 years in that area. I moved there, shortly after Belle Mountain closed, but many years before I actually tried skiing. I used the area for conditioning of endurance racing horses. It was very cool to ride by and see what was left of the lifts, before they were removed. I wish I would have been able to experience it as a skier.

  • @custom55
    @custom553 жыл бұрын

    I attended Rider College in the early 70's and skied at Belle. Thanks for this !

  • @averyzucco220

    @averyzucco220

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the comment!

  • @bonefishboards
    @bonefishboards3 жыл бұрын

    That was a fun and convenient hill for us.

  • @williamlane9647
    @williamlane96472 жыл бұрын

    Blast from the past. I worked there in 94-95.

  • @jpoRS
    @jpoRS4 жыл бұрын

    I used to hike to ride here in the early 2010s, it's so much more overgrown now.

  • @averyzucco220

    @averyzucco220

    4 жыл бұрын

    At some point the county stopped mowing most of the slopes. I imagine eventually it will all grow in.

  • @viadharmawheel
    @viadharmawheel Жыл бұрын

    Had a big hay bale wall before the street, nobody went into the street.

  • @viadharmawheel
    @viadharmawheel Жыл бұрын

    190 vertical drop.

  • @russelwashburn
    @russelwashburn3 жыл бұрын

    I rode there in the early 70's. Even at 12 years old I could beat the chairlift back down by like 50 chairs. Not very big!

  • @arts.4014

    @arts.4014

    Ай бұрын

    We'd get in trouble for pretending to be downhill racers - get into a tuck and go straight down without turning until reaching the bottom. Almost got kicked out... :^)

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