A rural Pennsylvania ski hill, shuttered for nearly a decade, is looking to operate again

ULYSSES, Pa. — The ski lifts hung, frozen in time, above the frost-covered slopes. The lodge was empty, its fireplace cold, and cobwebs clouded the windows that look out onto Denton Hill.

Early November might be too soon for snowfall, even in rural Potter County, 255 miles northwest of Philadelphia, but many winters have passed since anyone has paid to ski at Denton Hill State Park. The 700-acre park, just off scenic Route 6 between Galeton and Coudersport, was one of the rare state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources properties that offered legitimate downhill skiing before the operation was shuttered in 2014. Today, it’s a ghost town, or, rather, a ghost ski resort. The park’s gates remain open, but its five cabins, a hot commodity at any state park, are closed and only the occasional hardy soul willing to hike up the mountain can ski or snowboard down.

“Every year, if you drive by after a big snow, you’ll catch a couple of fresh ski tracks in the mountain,” said Curt Weinhold, 76, a former ski instructor at Denton Hill. “It’s not like it used to be, though, and that’s a shame.”

Locals have longed to see Denton Hill full of skiers again, for nostalgia’s sake and, more importantly, the influx of tourism dollars it could bring during the off season in one of Pennsylvania’s most rural areas. DCNR has never fully given up on the idea either and is actively seeking new concessionaires to fulfill its “master plan” for a four seasons “adventure center.”

“With about $13 million in investments, including $10 million in capital improvements to support the existing infrastructure, we think we have the recipe for success going forward,” Wesley Robinson, a DCNR spokesman, told The Inquirer in a statement.

Last month, DCNR guided potential concessionaires on a tour of Denton Hill, but there’s no hard timeline of when a rebranded facility could open.

Ski resorts all over the world have transitioned into year-round destinations, realizing that steep slopes, in the summer, can draw thousands of mountain bikers and hikers. The Denton plan would include a summer ropes course, popular at ski resorts in the off-season. Events and festivals could also fill up the summer calendar.

“It would be such a bonus to the county and the region for it to reopen, particularly for all four seasons,” said Paul Heimel, a Potter County commissioner.

The Pennsylvania Lumber Museum, right across the road, hosts its own event — the Bark Peelers’ Festival — every July, when Denton Hill traditionally saw fewer tourists. A handful of cars were parked in the lot on an early November morning and Joshua Roth, the site administrator, said winter is the museum’s slowest time.

“I saw reports that they saw 12,000 to 15,000 visitors in the season,” Roth said. “We had over 3,000 visitors in October and November here. The impact [of Denton reopening] would be enormous.”

Denton Hill State Park opened in 1951 and, over the next two decades, the park’s ski slopes, lifts, and lodge were added and run by the state. It was dubbed an “experiment” at the time, the first state-owned ski area. Rustic and out-of-the-way, Denton saw smaller crowds than the state’s big, private ski resorts in the Poconos and Laurel Highlands. In its heyday, Denton had four lifts and 22 official trails and one of them — Avalanche — was rumored to have the steepest pitch in the East. The hill had ski lessons, its own ski patrol and, eventually, night skiing.

In the winter of 1977, Denton Hill’s busiest year, approximately 26,000 people skied there. Still, according to a 1979 report in the Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Denton Hill was operating at a loss and being turned over to private concessionaires. The newspaper dubbed Denton Hill a “failed” experiment at the time, despite the numbers. Private concessionaires continued operating Denton Hill until 2014, when it closed for good.

Operators of Ski Denton, the private concessionaire, said two terrible winters and extreme cold weather that doubled utility costs prompted the decision to not open for the 2014-15 season. Three other state parks in the state offer downhill skiing, but none on a scale like Denton.

That decision to close, locals said, had immediate impacts. Potter County, known as “God’s country,” has just 16,453 residents and the economy there relies heavily on tourism, much of it during the spring and summer, for camping, stargazing, leaf peeping, and hunting.

“We bought this place knowing Denton was right down the road,” said Brian Ruane, co-owner of the Nine Mile Inn in Ulysses.

Ruane said people generally rent his small, rustic cabins through hunting season in late November, but tourism is sparse in the winter.

“You’ll see, driving down Route 6, that a lot of restaurants and whatnot closed up,” he said. “But if Denton was open, we’d be jam-packed, booked every weekend.”

Heimel believes stargazing has become Potter County’s claim to fame and Denton has a role to play in that. The region, distant from cities, highways, and shopping centers, is one of the “darkest” on the East Coast and Cherry Springs State Park, in Coudersport, is the hub. The campground is generally booked out every season, with professional and amateur stargazers alike, staring up at the Milky Way.

Denton Hill, Heimel believes, could relieve some of the pressure on Cherry Springs with unique activities, like ski lift rides in the dark or viewing from atop the mountain.

“There is a vast potential, if the lifts can be resurrected, for night sky viewing there,” he said. “It’s the perfect location. I would like to see all the adventure center activity, but the stargazing potential is enormous.”

» READ MORE: A resplendent night sky

Echoing concerns from decades ago, Heimel said the state, and DCNR, need to “sweeten the deal” for a private business to run Denton Hill. He said Potter County doesn’t have the resources to run a ski hill.

“The state has to decide how much skin it wants in the game,” he said. “I’m fairly optimistic.”