Kandahar Ski Area

One down, many more to go!

Kandahar ski area from the west looking east in Google Earth

(elevation exaggerated x2.5)

Lattitude: 42°44'55.90"N

Longitude: 83°43'41.79"W

I couldn’t think of a better day to explore an old ski hill. Temperature was in the upper 20s with barely a cloud in the sky and a fresh blanket of snow on the ground from a storm earlier in the week. I loaded up the wife and daughter into Rex and went exploring!

The old ski area was very easy to find. The fresh fallen snow made it feel like we were much further away from Metro Detroit than we actually were. The new “Foley Ridge” subdivision in place of what was once Kanahar ski area was actually a blessing in disguise. The new development allowed us to drive right up to the ski hill and walk through all of the old trails. If anyone stopped to questioned us, I was simply going to respond that I was a prospective land buyer since there are many vacant lots still available. Despite seeing another family out walking about, we were left alone.

Once inside the subdivision, we were able to drive right up to the old ski runs. I was actually able to walk up to the summit of the hill and take a few pictures. I recognize this as a rare occurrence and something I shouldn't expect at all of these old hills, especially the ones so close to home.

This photo is looking up at what would likely be called some sort of "bowl" run. I mean, if it was MY ski area, I would have named it 'something' bowl. On the left of the bowl, it looked like the narrow and less steep pitch was used for either a T-bar or rope tow.

A view from the top of "Bayley's Bowl" looking down at where the previous picture was taken from.

There was a long gentle ridge along the top of the hill the appeared to allow skiers access to the three main west facing faces. I couldn't imagine the ridge being much fun on a snowboard. Hopefully the hill closed before boarding ever became popular.

This view shows what looks like an easier alternative to "Bayley's Bowl". It seems that many of the local residents still use the open slopes for sledding runs.

After exploring, I found my way back down to the wife and (sleeping) daughter sitting comfortably inside Rex.

Another lost ski hill frozen in time...

-A

SE Michigan Short List

My first, and easiest geographic region I plan to explore and document is that of my own backyard: South East Michigan (Metro Detroit). There are three main ski areas that I remember hearing about:

1. Kandahar Ski Area – This ski hill is just a few miles east off U.S Highway 23 from the Center Road exit. Whenever we would take family trips to Mackinac my father would point off to the east at the white covered slopes. As a child, I always thought the name was “Candelabra” but I knew it didn’t sound correct. My father’s pronunciation always had one or two less syllables.

2. Mt. Grampian Ski Area – A couple miles east of downtown Oxford off Lakeville (Burdick) Road. I originally found this hill looking at old maps, but I didn’t actually see it with my own eyes until I moved out to Dryden (LapeerCounty) in 1994.

3. Silver Bell (???) / Mt. Christie – I don’t know the original name of this ski area, but I’ve seen it a million times driving up highway 24 on our way from Livonia up to Caseville. Just before State Highway 24 merges from a 4 lane divided highway into a 2 lane country road, the old ski hill could be seen about one mile off to the west. Sometime in the 1990s, a subdivision development was built where the ski area once was.

Honorable mention goes to Riverview Highlands, but I’ve decided to omit it from my initial list. You see, Riverview Highlands was built on an old landfill and opened up in the late 1980s. The three previously mentioned ski areas were in operation long before Riverview Highlands and were built on naturally occurring terrain. A quick Google Earth search for Riverview Highlands shows an old landfill that is undergoing some sort of reclamation. Rumor is that the ski hill was built without the proper permits and the owners were forced to shutdown. This is second hand information and I cannot verify any of it.

My mission (an introduction)

One could easily say that I had some strange hobbies as a child. One of these hobbies was my obsession with maps. It was likely that I could read a road map long before I ever finished my first story book. Most of these maps came from my father’s old collections which were stowed away in some forgotten junk drawer. As I would day dream and wonder what all these far off places like “Marquette” and "Traverse City” were like, I noticed many little symbols of little men skiing. The northern half of Lower Michigan seemed to be littered with these ski areas.

Unfortunately, when I picked up up the sport of skiing at the age of ten, I learned that these maps I explored so extensively were from the 1970s and even 1960s. Many of these ski areas had silenced their lifts and closed the doors. This didn’t stop me from wondering what it would have been like to spend a day on these now defunct slopes.

As I grew older, my desire and need to ski bigger hills grew more and more. Alpine Valley was no longer satisfying my needs. I pursued bigger and more challenging hills. First it was the slopes of northern Michigan. Then it was Colorado followed by Wyoming and Montana. I then would ski places in Washington, California, Utah and British Columbia. In September of 2008 I rode the world’s longest cable car from Chamonix France to the Summit of Aguille du Midi just a few thousand feet short of Mt. Blanc, the highest point in all the Alps. This was truly the top of the world and there was nowhere else to go.

After I had “met all my heroes”, I decided it was time to regress into my childhood and come face to face with these old ski hill that I once imagined were mountains as high as the moon.

My mission is to locate and explore all of these old ski hills that once dotted the Michigan landscape. I welcome anyone’s suggestions for hills or resorts that they remember as well.

So please, feel free to join my family and I in exploring Michigan’s lost ski hills of yesterday.