Bluemont Ski Area
Yorkshire, New York1959-1979
Shop Bluemont Ski Area tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. South of Buffalo, it had about 800 feet of vertical and a first chairlift with an unusual side-loading design meant to keep riders warm in lake-effect snow. The grips kept slipping and the area shut down in 1962, then reopened in 1968 with a conventional chair. Its brochure carried a great blue heron in a blue shield. Pick a style below, and the full Bluemont history is further down. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
5 products
Bluemont Ski Area History
Bluemont Ski Area in Yorkshire, New York, ran in the Cattaraugus County hills just east of Springville, off Route 39, south of Buffalo. A local family started it in 1959 under the name Blue Mountain, clearing the trails with a bulldozer. The hill had about 800 feet of vertical and eight trails, the longest about 6,600 feet. Two rope tows, a T-bar and a chairlift served it, and the base lodge held a bar, a restaurant and a cafeteria, with a ski school, ski patrol, rentals and some snowmaking, which few small areas had then.
The first chairlift was an unusual side-loading design with detachable grips, meant to keep riders warm in the lake-effect snow off Lake Erie. The grips kept slipping, chairs came off the cable, and in 1962 the area shut down. No one was badly hurt. It reopened in 1968 as Bluemont, with a conventional fixed-grip chair loaded from the front. Its 1972-73 brochure carried a great blue heron standing in a blue shield against white peaks, and its bumper stickers called it The Mountain South of Buffalo.
The same family ran Bluemont through the 1979 season, then closed it, citing money, waning interest and thin, unreliable winters. A Canadian company, Kingbrook, bought the area in 1980 with plans for a private four-season resort with time-share condos and a golf course, but never raised the money and never ran the lifts for paying skiers. The lodge, ski school building and lift bull wheel were left standing in the fields.
In 2024 New York's Department of Environmental Conservation bought about 1,236 acres, including the old ski area, from Kingbrook Funding for $2.1 million and made it Blue Hill State Forest, the first new state forest in the region since 1963. The state plans to take down the old ski buildings.