I have skied a lot of areas in my time and most of them were in New England where there are the giant, corporately run areas and the smaller privately held areas. The smaller areas always held my interest because they had a sense of tradition and a feel of skiing in another time. Recently, in our neck of the woods, down here in the Banana Belt, Laurel Mountain came to life again this year. It went from being one of the lost ski areas to a vibrant, resurgence of a classic ski area reminiscent of those areas in New England. In fact, there is a tie to Mt. Cranmore in the Mt. Washington Valley of New Hampshire. Apparently, when the Mellon family first had the idea to develop a ski area in 1939 for the members of the prestigious Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier, they hired Hannes Schneider to lay out the trails. Hannes Schneider was the ski school director at Mt. Cranmore who was brought to the US from Austria by the industrialist Harry Gibson, a friend of Richard King Mellon. Schneider is widely acclaimed as the father of ski instruction in this country. 
When you first pull past the stone entrance hut on the mountain road, you feel as if you are driving back in time. The parking lot is never full and as you make your way to the top of the mountain lodge which has been recently refurbished, you can relax in an Adirondack chair by a roaring fire and put your boots on. 
You can then take your brown bag lunch inside or take advantage of some good comfort food in the new bar area in the base of the lodge. The picture windows look out on the whole Ligonier Valley which is not only scenic during the day, but a sight at night if you choose to night ski. The refurbished snowmaking by HKD and the new Pistenbully groomer make the Wildcat slope a delight to ski and it is known to have the steepest vertical in the state. 
I remember skiing Laurel when it was run by the state and had some amazing powder days there with Frank Pipak, a friend who took the PSIA exam the same year that I did. Although, I spent the winter prior to that exam in Sugarloaf, Maine, I often credit my runs down Lower Wildcat with preparing me for the steeper terrain that was utilized in the exam. My friend Hiller Hardie always says, ” if you want to get your legs ready for the western trips, lapping Wildcat at Laurel will put you in good form.” Your legs get a work out on lower Wildcat with the steep vertical pitch. 
When Seven Springs Mountain Resort decided to bring Laurel back to life this season, along with the DCNR of the State of Pennsylvania, it was time to promote it. I have told a lot of friends about my good times at Laurel and how they must try it. Like my two snowboarding friends, Tina and Mark Sauers who were totally enthralled with the area and the family feel to the place. 
We have some challenges down here in the banana belt with the weather being on the edge of rain and snow. But credit Laurel with good snowmaking and grooming to make it possible for enthusiasts like me to get the most days out of rather dismal early winter conditions. I have a lot of good memories of skiing at Laurel back in the day including fun times with my son Jack and our visits to Fort Ligonier and the Pie Shop in Laughlintown at the bottom of the mountain. 
Two years ago, Hiller, John McWilliams, Jeff Balicki and John O’Toole and yours truly used our snowshoes to hike into the closed area and after unloading our packs, took two runs down Lower Wildcat. Four hours plus of hiking for two runs was “having to have it” and it showed our devotion to an area which we all loved. It is so nice now to have Carl Skylling’s new Sky Trac chairlift instead of bootpacking to claim our vertical. 
So if you are a local, get over to Laurel. You won’t regret it and if you are visiting, check it out. Lower Wildcat will surprise you even if you are a veteran of steep skiing from points beyond. I am so happy it is back. Hannes is probably up there smiling at all of us. Thanks for reading.
chroniclesofmccloskey 
[…] The Return of a Classic Ski Area […]
Click on the title for full view of post. Thanks Wags for posting.
Great report Pat. Miriam and I taught there in the early to mid 80’s. We taught all three of our children to ski there. It was a close knit group and everyone looked out for each other. Lots of fun and lots of great memories. We are enjoying the mountain again.
Great Pat. Great to see Laurel come back. Such a cool mountain. I so agree about the classics (Burke, McCauley, Whitewater, …..) . It is rather ironic that you write this about my geographic hometown area, although 7 Springs really is, at a time that I have my own “that’s the way it should be” moments on a mountain here in NW Montana. Blacktail Mountain is a true “Ma and Pa” type ski area. You know they actually are excited we moved our race team there. They told me that our press clippings “are” their marketing department. The warm feeling we get when we train there is huge. Can’t help but share that back. A friend told me that these Ma and Pa’s might be the future of ski racing and I think he might be right. They might be the future of fun, affordable skiing period. Go Laurel !
Glad you liked this John. Very good commentary by you about the future state of skiing. Nice to see that you are doing well out there in Whitefish. Hope to connect with you out there someday. Thanks for reading.
Yes John, the Ma and Pa ski areas can again become the backbone of ski racing. I stared my ski teaching and ski patrolling at Frost Ridge, a Ma and Pa ski area in Western New York. Jack Mattern and his wife ran the area. A future Olympian got his start here at age 3. Ross and Nancy Kitt also started their ski instruction and ski patrolling here and of course they introduced their son AJ Kitt to skiing. A very active ski club, the Friskies, was hosted by Frost Ridge. Frost Ridge had only a ski club racing program, so when AJ became interested in racing the Kitts moved to Swain Ski Area which had a Junior Racing Program. AJ thrived in the racing program there. As you may recall he was a member of the US Ski Team during three Winter Olympic Games. Swain is another Ma and Pa ski area which was run by Dave and Bina Robinson. I recall buying my first pair of buckle ski boots from their ski shop. Henke was the brand.
Sorry that I never got to ski there, it was before my time. I hope they keep it going, sounds great!
So I’m sitting at my desk eating lunch, as I do almost every day that I’m actually in town, and just for fun I punch up the Laurel Mountain website andâ¦â¦ What to my wondering eyes should appear, but a vision of Pat McCloskey in their photographs!
Dude, you are everywhere!
Best,
P
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