Gone But Not Forgotten: Mt. Tom Ski Area | Connecting Point | Feb. 1, 2017

We begin our series Gone But Not Forgotten with a trip down the slopes of the Mt Tom Ski Area. This local land mark operated for nearly 35 years in Holyoke, introducing thousands of people to the sport of alpine skiing, before it closed for good in 1998. Producer Dave Fraser sit down with former President and General Manager Dave Moore plus several others who had an association with the iconic Ski Area.

[@j.j.s.jr.5136]

David Moore!!!!! One of my biggest fans ;-) Great guy. Always there to take and make my season pass lol. - Steve Donoghue’s Grandson (Holyoke Police Retired)

[@scottpittsinger1654]

was one of these from chicopee,,, luved it!

[@humanbeing2420]

We always passed signs for Mt Tom when we drove up to Vermont as a kid in the 80's.

[@richardpare3538]

It is such a shame that so many of these great local ski areas are no longer with us and contributing so much value to the lives of the local kids and families.

[@tiredandsleepy69]

I want them to reopen 😊

[@jenhaley]

I was in the ski club in high school. Good memories snowboarding there.

[@happy1831]

Best times on Mt Tom, and Mountain Park was the best, too. ❤️☘️❤️

[@northernlight4evah]

I was on the chair lift one time and saw a woman hit a tree. The next time I went up on the chair lift, she was still there, but the rescue people were on the way. My third trip up the rescue folks were bringing her down.

[@scott24898]

Definitely a fond memory of my childhood in New England.

[@vibefrequencyable]

Just got tears in my eyes... Moved from new england (southwick) in 91. So i had no idea mt. Tom closed. Man ...i went night skiing 1x a week then skied sat or sunday... Almost every week for 10 years. Today was a sad discovery ...seeing this video..

[@j.j.s.jr.5136]

You and I both…. I was raised here while my grandparents and dad worked a million hours a week for the city lol

[@reddawn1487]

Loved mt tom

[@writerconsidered]

I never heard of it. I'm in eastern ma. I learned to sky at blue hills. The best year to learn, after the blizzard of 78. We were so busy heading north into NH ME and VT I don't think we ever thought of heading west into the Berkshires.

[@karenstrycharz1499]

My girlfriend Betsy used to work here back in the early 90’s, I think it was! We loved coming up to Mt Tom & riding the Alpine Slide! Brought our sons up here skiing & so good to have skiing so close by! Loved seeing the lights on the side of the mtn at night! It was so much fun going up there!!! Working at Holyoke Holiday Inn there were tons of ski groups that came in each weekend in the winter! Great memories of Mt Tom, Mountain Park & Riverside Park! It was so sad when Mt Tom & Mountain Park closed!

[@rickfloyd1711]

Could see the lights every night from my UMASS dorm room window. All someone had to say was "let's go". And we did. Often.

[@klopek007]

Mt Tom was home. I learned there with an after school program: five Wednesdays from January to March, 5th-8th grade, 1992-1996. I think it was like $180 total for all five lift tickets, lessons, and the bus ride, and maybe like $250 total if you needed rentals. I remember Dave Moore appearing on local news telling everyone to come up, and I would beg my parents to go even though the conditions weren't great. One thing I gotta correct him on: Billy Kidd & Jean Saubert were in the 1964 Olympics, not 1960.

[@billdoughman5297]

I learned to ski at Mt Tom. Was a student at Springfield College in the 70's and I took skiing as PE class each of the four years I went to college. Mt Tom gave us discount passes to come another night so I skied twice a week every winter I was in the area. Great local area and great instructors.

[@benschaeffer8102]

I used to hold emergency ⛷️ team practices at Mt. Tom (if we needed extra team training in between USCSA races) if we didn't have time to get up to Berkshire East (which was actually our team's "home 🗻") because Mt. Tom was located about half the distance away from our campus comparatively speaking. I liked Mt. Tom, it was small and somewhat flat, BUT, it was convenient and they stayed open late with night skiing. Overall, our team utilized Mt. Tom from 1993-1998. It closed after the 1997-1998 Winter season, which was coincidentally the last season I coached my team before I graduated from college. We all felt the loss, because Mt. Tom had basically helped and been there for us as a resource. It's sad that no one has come up with a reopening plan for it, and that it's been largely destroyed by vandalism. 😪

[@mattsharpe2861]

I miss Mt. Tom so much!!! 😢

[@gammaanteria]

When I was in 7th grade in the mid-80s, I broke my two lower right leg bones at the same time while skiing at Mt. Tom...ouch! (It was my own fault, though...) Cool to see this tribute (I watched the one for Riverside Park as well), those were the days...also, I didn’t know Mt. Tom was still operating up until the late ‘90s!

[@davidsalucco56]

Such a shame and loss

[@Burps___]

Nice segment, thank you. Might you consider a segment profiling the Grucci fireworks family business? Would love to know more about them. Thanks.

[@drfabulous77]

Learned to ski there......1975 ...$5.50 including rental AND 5pm-10pm lift ticket!!!

[@gertvanderhorst2890]

$5,50 wasn't cheap in the

[@writerconsidered]

That was the same price for a box seat at Fenway in the early 70s.