Middleville Ski Area

Middleville Ski Area in Middleville, Michigan, ran twice on the same hill off Irving Road, half a mile east of the village and M-37. Locals called the hill Pinnacle Hill because it was the highest ground around, and the village water reservoir sat on top. The lower slope had been a golf course in the 1930s.

The first ski area there was Eskar, often listed as Eskar Hills, the first in Barry County. Robert W. Sullivan, a Middleville insurance agent and council president, and Robert W. Kamp, a Grand Rapids oil distributor, developed it on a 40-acre tract and opened it over the New Year's weekend of 1961. The name came from esker, the geologist's word for a narrow ridge left by a glacier. Rope tows served a 1,200-foot dogleg run that dropped hard off the top, and two shorter slopes, with a redwood warming house holding a snack bar and rental shop. The slopes were lit until 10 every night, and skiers came from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Battle Creek. Fire destroyed the area in 1969, and in 1971 an ad offered the Eskar Ski Area for sale by an undercapitalized owner.

The hill sat idle until a group of 12 local businessmen, an idea that came out of a Rotary meeting, reopened it as the Middleville Ski Area partway through the 1977-78 winter. Bob Wiersum, who also owned the Middle Villa Inn on M-37, managed it. A 1978 listing gave it eight runs, five rope tows, a Pomalift, a lodge, lights and snowmaking, and a Palma T-bar went in for 1979. The warm winter of 1979-80 allowed only about 45 days of skiing, and the water for snowmaking had to be bought from the village system. The area still sold season passes for 1981-82 and advertised skiing seven days and seven nights a week, but it does not appear in newspapers after that season.