Echo Hills Ski Center
Logan, Ohio1979-1991
Order Echo Hills Ski Center tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. Lancaster timber man Hap Kitzmiller bought an old Girl Scout camp for its timber, and his family cut ski slopes where nearly every run was named for a tree, from Sycamore and Hemlock to the steep Sassafras. The rustic lodge had two round fireplaces that each seated 40 skiers. Pick a style below, then read the full Echo Hills history further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
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Echo Hills Ski Center History
Echo Hills Ski Center near Logan, Ohio, sat at 9500 Bauer Road in the Hocking Hills, about three miles off U.S. 33 near Enterprise. The ground had been Camp Echo Hills, a Girl Scout camp of about 500 wooded acres, which Lancaster timber man H.E. "Hap" Kitzmiller bought in 1975 for its timber. His family liked the place enough to build a house there and move in. After the Blizzard of 1978 they opened the old logging roads to cross-country skiers, and that June they started cutting downhill slopes into a valley whose hillsides faced north and east, away from the sun.
The grand opening was set for January 19 and 20, 1979, and the papers called it Ohio's newest ski area. There were three slopes at first: Acorn for beginners, Sycamore for intermediates and Sassafras for experts, a short, steep pitch of about 280 vertical feet. Rope tows served the easier hills, and a used T-bar bought from Clear Fork, near Mansfield, ran to the top of Sassafras. Snowmaking machines, a lodge with a fireplace and miles of cross-country trail, some of it on the Buckeye Trail, filled out the place. It was a family business. Hap's wife Ann handled publicity, their son Scott was general manager and their daughter Beth ran the cross-country program.
By 1986 SKI Magazine counted about 30 acres and half a dozen runs, with snowmaking, lights for night skiing and a new double chair to the top of the 300-foot hill. Beginners started on Hemlock with its two rope tows, moved on to Sycamore, then to The Bounty and Dogleg, and experts still had Sassafras. Nearly every run was named for a tree. The rustic lodge had two round fireplaces that each seated 40 skiers, and there were about 12 miles of cross-country trail past waterfalls and pines.
Warm winters wore it down. In January 1991 the Dayton Daily News reported that Echo Hills had closed, with Kitzmiller saying the family had grown tired of fighting the weather, and that its 700 sets of rental skis, boots and bindings were for sale. A history published by Snow Trails, near Mansfield, later summed it up as about ten years of off and on operation. The Bauer Road property is now private land.