Sheltered Valley Ski Area
Three Lakes, Wisconsin1954-1978 or later
Order Sheltered Valley Ski Area tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. The hill in the Nicolet National Forest worked hand in hand with Carl Marty's Northernaire resort, whose weekend packages bundled beginner lessons on the front lawn with free skis, boots and poles. In 1974 a lift ticket cost $4.75. Pick a style below, then read the full Sheltered Valley history 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.
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Sheltered Valley Ski Area History
Sheltered Valley Ski Area near Three Lakes, Wisconsin, sat in the Nicolet National Forest about eight miles east of town in Oneida County. A United Press roundup of Wisconsin skiing in December 1954 named it one of three new ski areas that season. From the start it was tied to the Northernaire, the year-round resort Carl Marty built on Deer Lake in the late 1940s. A 1958 ski guide sent Sheltered Valley's reservations through the Northernaire, and in 1974 SKI magazine described the Northernaire, run by the Marty family, as the operation's real base.
The hill itself was modest. Its own brochure gave a 200-foot drop on the intermediate and expert runs and 45 to 90 feet on the novice slopes, with trails and open slopes up to 2,000 feet long. Lifts were three rope tows of 400 to 500 feet, a short Porta-Tow and an 850-foot Pomalift the brochure called the Alpine Lift. The runs carried names such as the Chanticleer Slalom Bowl, the Northernaire Open Slope, the Expert Down Hill Trail and the Ridge Trail, with a snowshoe area on top and Lake Julia beyond the ridge.
Sheltered Valley sold itself as the easy side of the north woods. SKI's 1974 write-up counted eight groomed slopes, a Poma and three ropes, and a $4.75 lift ticket, and noted that bus groups of beginners came often. Northernaire weekend packages bundled beginner lessons on the resort's front lawn with free skis, boots and poles.
The area was still listed in a 1978 guide to Midwest skiing, with two rope tows and a Poma lift. No closing date has turned up. Carl Marty died in 1979, and the Northernaire changed hands several times in the years after. The hill is now abandoned, and Sheltered Valley Road still runs through the Three Lakes countryside.