The Region has seen some of its heaviest snowfall in years this winter.
But Region residents will have to hit the road and drive to Michigan or southern Indiana — or fly somewhere like Colorado or Utah — if they want to go skiing.
Northern Indiana was dotted for decades with ski hills where Hoosiers hit the slopes. But the Pines Peak Family Ski Area in Valparaiso, Ski Valley in LaPorte and Bendix Woods in New Carlisle all shuttered, due in part to long-term declines in snowfall.
More than 480 skiing hills have closed across the Midwest since the 1960s, including 10 in Indiana, according to the Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project. Only Paoli Peaks in Paoli and Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, both in southern Indiana, remain open in the Hoosier State today.
While much of Indiana is notoriously flat, skiing has a long history in northern Indiana, due in part to the hilly Indiana Dunes and the undulating topography of the Valparaiso Moraine. The Odgen Dunes Ski Jump, for instance, was billed as the highest ski jump in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, Porter County Historian Serena Ard said. The 192-foot ski jump on the tallest dune around hosted competitive meets and the Norwegian Olympic Team before ultimately folding in 1935, she said.
The 10-acre Pines Peak Ski Area at 674 Meridian Road in Valparaiso was the most recent to close in 2008.
"This is the longest Valparaiso has gone without skiing," Ard said. "Pines Peak briefly closed at points for one reason or another, but was never closed for this long. The hill is still there, but skiing may never return at this point."
Pines Peak opened in December 1962, advertising its arrival in the Vidette-Messenger newspaper. The family-oriented lodge featured nine different skiing trails, including a 151-foot hill and bunny slopes for those still learning to ski.
Catering mainly to locals, the hometown ski hill had a lodge, chairlift and surface lifts.
"It was a very successful, popular ski area for quite some time," Ard said.
The Johnson family long owned Pines Peak, ultimately selling it to a group of Illinois investors.
"I remember going there with a church youth group and going downhill skiing for the first time," Ard said. "It has a lodge where we tayed in a woodsy setup like a log cabin. They had a bigger hill, but I did the bunny slopes, where I struggled with the French-fries-to-pizza thing to slow down. I kept not slowing down."
Then-owner Cris Mashall closed Pines Peak in 2008. He told The Times of Northwest Indiana at the time that only one year out of the previous five had enough snow for a successful season. He said that 20 snow machines were not able to ensure enough consistent snow to keep it profitable.
"This was the last ski hill operating in the northern part of Indiana," Porter County Public Library System Genealogy Team Lead Chris Hough said.
The popularity of skiing resorts in Colorado, Utah and Vermont also may have hurt business, Hough said. But multiple factors were at play, he said.
"Popularity of Michigan resorts contributed to the Pines' demise," Hough said. "Dare I suggest climate change? The cost of equipment, entry fees would have been prohibitive for some residents."
Indiana has lost an average of 5.3 inches of snowfall across the state over the past half-century, due largely to declines in snowfall near the beginning and end of winter, according to a study by Climate Central. The National Centers for Environmental Information estimates the average temperature in the Hoosier State has risen by 2.8 degrees since 1970.
Competition also played a factor in the demise of ski hills in northern Indiana, Ard said. The main 151-foot hill, for instance, did not offer much of a challenge or thrill for seasoned skiers.
"I think all the other major ski areas in Indiana were short-lived," she said. "When it opened in the 1960s, people didn't travel as far by car or have as much vacation time. Now if they're interested in skiing, they're willing to travel farther to Michigan."
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