Wayne Township Historical Society

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

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THE BLUE RIDGE SKI CENTER SUMMIT STATION PA

Article from the Lebanon Daily News, November 18^th, 1957

Central Pennsylvania’s first ski area, complete with electric lifts and graded slopes, will be open for the first time this Saturday providing freezing temperatures prevail. The Blue Ridge Ski Center, located about six miles north of Route 22 (present day Interstate78), along Route 83, covers 40 acres and includes slopes for beginners and experts. The actual location was on the North side of Summer Hill Road, just ¼ mile west of present-day Route 183.

The main feature of the ski center, however, is the artificial snow-making equipment which is the latest of its kind. Seven large sprayers will cover the area with snow, and it is expected that good skiing conditions will exist for 100 days.

  Through the efforts of five Lebanon County ski enthusiasts, along with two others from Schuylkill County and Dauphin counties, construction was started on the ski center about one year ago.

A large impounding dam, which holds a half million gallons of water, was constructed and the hillside which runs more than 1000 feet, was cleared of small trees and underbrush to provide a clear path for the skiers.

Ski tows, one running 500 feet and the other about 750 feet, were built along with a small warming shed. The largest slope at Blue Ridge runs from 200 feet wide at the top to 400 feet wide at the bottom and is 1000 feet in length. The other slope is about 500 feet in length.  The vertical drop is about 300 feet.

Blue Ridge was originally started by Bob Spots, a local man who learned to ski in the Army. He worked for several years building a small ski slope with a lift but had no success attracting skiers. Mostly this was because there wasn’t enough snow.

He was about ready to give up on his idea when he met Sid Levitz and Howard Stengel, both of Lebanon. Levitz also learned to ski in the Army. They spoke to several other local skiers and Bob Lesher, Tom Gates, and Dave Pleet joined the group. Irv Suden, of Harrisburg became the seventh member of the organization.

Stengel, who is an engineer for a local heating firm, did most of the design of the equipment in use and supervised the construction of the area. Spotts has done a large portion of the work, but all the members of the group have “pitched in “when they could. With cooperative effort they have been able to keep the cost of construction down to about half what it normally would have been.

One unique feature of the ski area is that lights will make it possible for night activity. Illumination totaling 800,000 candlepower, produced by a generating plant on the grounds, will make it possible to ski after dark.

Long-range plans call for the building of a modern lodge with a large ski shop along with one or two longer slopes. At the present time the warming shed contains equipment to rent and a large room to warm up in after a ride down the slope.

Most of the information in this article is from newspaper ads in the Lebanon Daily news, Pottsville Republication, and the Call. The land where the slope was located was leased from Charles Emrich, who owned a farm in Lutz valley. We were able to get some real time information from Kenneth Heinbach, whose farm adjoined the ski area on the south side of Summer Hill Road. Ken provided parking space and was paid 50cents per car to park there. Ken recalls some Saturday’s and Sunday’s as being busy and cold.

Ken’s input was that there was no lighting for nighttime skiing. The electric lift consisted of a rope tow, powered by an Allis Chalmers tractor that was on loan from a local farmer by the name of Elmer Reed.  The rope tow, water pump, and air compressor for snow making were maintained by residents, Bill Luckenbill and Ed Blankenhorn. The water pump was not powerful enough to supply water to the top of the slope, so they made snow and shoveled on a sled that was pulled to the top of the slope by the rope tow and then shoveled by hand to cover the slope. Ken told a story about Bill Luckenbill, when he decided to ride back down the slope on the scoop shovel and crashed at the bottom, acquiring the name Wild Bill.  The warming shed was basically a little shack where you could purchase drinks and snacks.

It's interesting as to how they marketed the ski area when they opened on November 1957, and as to what it was. It was difficult to maintain snow cover.  After a brief two- year run, the Ski Center closed February 1959 due to organizational difficulties.

Today the land has, again, returned to nature.