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Skiing on Long island? This actually happened.
Long Islanders used to flock each winter to the Bald Hill Ski Bowl in Farmingville, which according to the Farmingville Historical Society, opened in 1965 and was 344 feet tall.
For comparison purposes, that’s 8.5 percent of Hunter Mountain’s 4,040-foot summit.
But that didn’t stop the local kids from having a blast.
Some became lifelong skiers.
“I learned to ski there, circa 1972,” reader Craig Biscone told us. “Then New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont and all over the west … I was hooked!”
“The ski club at my high school night-skied there,” added Jim Gregg. “Lot of fun.”
Pete Mones recalled walking through the woods from his childhood home “with my lace-up ski boots. I skill ski today!”
The Bald Hill slope was located over 74 acres on the northwest part of North Ocean Avenue, reads the historical society’s website. That area now plays host to the Brookhaven Amphitheater.
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In fact, the ski bowl chalet that housed the bathrooms and changing areas is still used today as a VIP room for amphitheater concerts.
The bowl, as it was called, operated until 1980.
“This area had Long Island’s only overhead cable lift, a T-bar, as well as two rope tows on a vertical drop of 200,” the historical society website reads. “The parking lot for the area was on the top, and there was minimal snowmaking …
“While the exact reason for closing is not known, changing weather patterns and a lack of snow certainly played a role. The winter of 1980 was one of the least snowy.”
Photos are widely circulated, undated and the sources are unknown.
