Laurel Mountain Ski club History

It All Began in 1939.

Laurel Mountain Ski Club traces our history back to the founding of Laurel Mountain Ski Resort in the 1939. The original club was based out of the Laurel House Lodge, and appears to have had a hand in operating the mountain - certainly they were a force for community organizing and the promotion of skiing (sorry, boarders - your sport hadn’t been invented yet!).

As the years went on the resort was given to the State of Pennsylvania to be operated as a State Park year-round, and a ski resort in the Winters. The Club eventually morphed into the Laurel Mountain Ski Patrol, an organization that is still going strong today.

The next iteration of the club that we know of came in the 1980s with a focus on youth ski racing and access to winter sports on the mountain. This is the club that many of us remember, and the conduit through which many in our community first fell in love with skiing and snowboarding.

As the mountain struggled to find an operator in the late 2000s the resort ceased operation and along with it went the Laurel Mountain Ski Club.

In 2023, with Laurel Mountain having been back open for several years, and now under the operation of Vail Resorts (who purchased Hidden Valley and Seven Springs in 2021, and along with them assumed the lease to operate Laurel Mountain) there was significant interested in resurrecting The Laurel Mountain Ski Club once again.

A group of passionate community members came together for listening sessions, and to understand the community vision, and in Spring 2024 The Laurel Mountain Ski Club was re-incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We are here to advocate for the community, the mountain, and outdoor recreation at Laurel Mountain.

We hope to honor the past, while ensuring the future of this place and community.

From the Archives

Here you will find some selected items form the rich history of Laurel Mountain Ski Club

1947 Trail Map, Showing The "New" Laurel House. This lodge sat at the bottom of Tamecat/The Top of Broadway

Hand-written notes, recording snow depth in the 1930s and 1940s