Thanks for the memories. learned to ski there in the late '60s and early "70s. the hart vs head vs K2 debates. the older kids were always doing bad stuff in the warm up shed that our mothers warned us about. night skiing. glad I grew up then. still at it with an EPIC pass, but not as good as Belle Bump. still have rope tow clasp.
It was such a fun, well made, little ski area. Full snow making, ski lifts, fully lit. 20 - 25 minutes to Princeton. You could have fun after school/work. I had heard it closed because there were too many warm winters; the equipment wasn't in bad shape. Too bad it didn't survive and was scrapped. A mountain bike club made a course on it after it was closed but they left quite a mess and didn't really clean up after themselves. Most of the scars seem to finally be gone. Great memories. Thanks for making the video.
Thank you, I skied there as a little kid in the 90s. I feel like we went there every weekend in the winter! Sad to think those days are long gone... Skiing is an expensive sport and little hills like this made it more accessible.
I grew up going to Arrowhead in Marlboro. Moved out here in 94. Had every intention of bringing my son there but he wasn’t born till Dec. 96. We did get that big snowfall in Jan. 96!
My dad and I would drive to Camelback or Mountain Creek every weekend to ski, but we'd come here on Thursday nights after he was done with work to get some night laps in. Fun times.
Even when we would ski Vermont and the Catskills I would still hit it for night skiing when in town. The main trail was steep enough to get a few good turns in. I have a lot of fond memories of this little ski area.
This was the ski area of my youth. I went on to a career in skiing for a while. I’ll give the props to a Belle Mountain for that. Fantastic memories of destroying gloves on the rope tow!
My dad used to be the manager of Howell living history farm, my family lived in the White House at the bottom of bell mountain from 2000-2012! It was a great place to spend my childhood!
That is so cool! One of the first places I took my nephews when we moved out here. Watched a show where the actor from Ugly Betty Eric Möbius said his dad managed Allaire Village & they lived there.
Thanks for the video. I learned to ski there beginning in 1975 and went frequently into the mid-80s. Virtually all of your information is correct as I remember it. Two points of clarification: 1) per my memory, there was a wooden fence and a wall of hay bales at the bottom of the two smaller slopes so there wasn’t really a risk of skiing into the street. In fact, my very first lesson was on the walkway up to the beginner slopes; 2) there wasn’t a second operational rope tow on the “expert” slope, just the main rope tow. That rope tow was a struggle for a little kid. It would tire your arms out and rip a pair of gloves to shreds within a few hours. I went on to be a lifelong skier all over the Northeast and out West and owe it all to Belle Bump. Thanks again for posting.
The ski area was close to Valley Road and there was a fence at the bottom lined with haybales to prevent skiers from skiing into the road. I seen many of crashes into those over my years of skiing at Belle Mt.
I moved a year and a half ago, but spent the last 20 years in that area. I moved there, shortly after Belle Mountain closed, but many years before I actually tried skiing. I used the area for conditioning of endurance racing horses. It was very cool to ride by and see what was left of the lifts, before they were removed. I wish I would have been able to experience it as a skier.
I always wondered what that little white shack was by that pond!! We speculated many times... now I know! So interesting. I assume anything old is farm related.
We'd get in trouble for pretending to be downhill racers - get into a tuck and go straight down without turning until reaching the bottom. Almost got kicked out... :^)
Thanks for the memories. learned to ski there in the late '60s and early "70s. the hart vs head vs K2 debates. the older kids were always doing bad stuff in the warm up shed that our mothers warned us about. night skiing. glad I grew up then. still at it with an EPIC pass, but not as good as Belle Bump. still have rope tow clasp.
My brother used to mow bell mountain
It was such a fun, well made, little ski area. Full snow making, ski lifts, fully lit. 20 - 25 minutes to Princeton. You could have fun after school/work. I had heard it closed because there were too many warm winters; the equipment wasn't in bad shape. Too bad it didn't survive and was scrapped.
A mountain bike club made a course on it after it was closed but they left quite a mess and didn't really clean up after themselves. Most of the scars seem to finally be gone.
Great memories. Thanks for making the video.
Thank you, I skied there as a little kid in the 90s. I feel like we went there every weekend in the winter! Sad to think those days are long gone... Skiing is an expensive sport and little hills like this made it more accessible.
Had a big hay bale wall before the street, nobody went into the street.
I grew up going to Arrowhead in Marlboro. Moved out here in 94. Had every intention of bringing my son there but he wasn’t born till Dec. 96. We did get that big snowfall in Jan. 96!
My dad and I would drive to Camelback or Mountain Creek every weekend to ski, but we'd come here on Thursday nights after he was done with work to get some night laps in. Fun times.
Even when we would ski Vermont and the Catskills I would still hit it for night skiing when in town. The main trail was steep enough to get a few good turns in. I have a lot of fond memories of this little ski area.
This was the ski area of my youth. I went on to a career in skiing for a while. I’ll give the props to a Belle Mountain for that. Fantastic memories of destroying gloves on the rope tow!
My dad used to be the manager of Howell living history farm, my family lived in the White House at the bottom of bell mountain from 2000-2012! It was a great place to spend my childhood!
That is so cool! One of the first places I took my nephews when we moved out here. Watched a show where the actor from Ugly Betty Eric Möbius said his dad managed Allaire Village & they lived there.
Thanks for the video. I learned to ski there beginning in 1975 and went frequently into the mid-80s. Virtually all of your information is correct as I remember it. Two points of clarification: 1) per my memory, there was a wooden fence and a wall of hay bales at the bottom of the two smaller slopes so there wasn’t really a risk of skiing into the street. In fact, my very first lesson was on the walkway up to the beginner slopes; 2) there wasn’t a second operational rope tow on the “expert” slope, just the main rope tow. That rope tow was a struggle for a little kid. It would tire your arms out and rip a pair of gloves to shreds within a few hours.
I went on to be a lifelong skier all over the Northeast and out West and owe it all to Belle Bump. Thanks again for posting.
Thanks for the comments!
Well done. I lived in the area, but never rwent.
I used to live in that house at the bottom of the bump!
I learned to ski here in 1971 and skied there until it closed in the late 90's.
Blast from the past. I worked there in 94-95.
The ski area was close to Valley Road and there was a fence at the bottom lined with haybales to prevent skiers from skiing into the road. I seen many of crashes into those over my years of skiing at Belle Mt.
I attended Rider College in the early 70's and skied at Belle. Thanks for this !
Thanks for the comment!
I moved a year and a half ago, but spent the last 20 years in that area. I moved there, shortly after Belle Mountain closed, but many years before I actually tried skiing. I used the area for conditioning of endurance racing horses. It was very cool to ride by and see what was left of the lifts, before they were removed. I wish I would have been able to experience it as a skier.
That was a fun and convenient hill for us.
I always wondered what that little white shack was by that pond!! We speculated many times... now I know! So interesting. I assume anything old is farm related.
I used to hike to ride here in the early 2010s, it's so much more overgrown now.
At some point the county stopped mowing most of the slopes. I imagine eventually it will all grow in.
190 vertical drop.
I rode there in the early 70's. Even at 12 years old I could beat the chairlift back down by like 50 chairs. Not very big!
We'd get in trouble for pretending to be downhill racers - get into a tuck and go straight down without turning until reaching the bottom. Almost got kicked out... :^)
Sad how our state is not the state it was,plus the government pushed and is still pushing out our farms .