Unique Ski Sites

[LoopSki]

what are some unique sites out there. weird set ups , strange locations etc.. not your typical 2200 x 250 out in the flats, in the sticks , wrapped in trees with islands on both ends. Most unique I've seen is outside of Sao Paulo Brasil .

[Broussard]

There is a lake that has the boat lane dug out and the skiers path. I've heard it referred to as "snake lake" and I believe it's located in Oklahoma.

[jayski]

Quickset in Canton, crazy fun!! Super short, skis Amazing!

[MISkier]

Dixboro Ski Club in South Lyon, MI.

 

1650 feet. 6 buoy course. No real curve in. The north shoreline is contoured in near-unison with the buoys to provide the right pocket for turning. Skier setdown requires advanced boat handling to get them deep enough and not run the boat aground.

 

When you get up (at speeds above 32 mph), you are pulling out for the 55s while still planing out.

 

 

[Kimbymon]

@MISkier gee thanks. Call out my club.. just because you felt the need to “swim backwards” go get a few more feet in your set up. ?. At least you come up on the ski with both feet in. I drag my back foot and am still shoving it in the boot as I go left at the 55’s.

[Chef23]

John's Lake in PA is supposedly very unique I haven't skied there. Oakham in Mass and The Pond in Avon are both short and unique slalom lakes well below 2200 feet.

[BraceMaker]

@Broussard coyote waterski club owasso oklahoma. "suicide lake"

 

There was something I saw on instagram of a skier turning in for the gates at a different site and basically skiing into the trees.

[Wish]

Jacksonville. Never have I skied a lake so crystal clear with 100'+ pines along the length of the lake blocking most winds in most directions. The Resurves at Pine Lake in DeLand FL is man made, 20+ feet deep and wide enough for 2 side by side slalom courses. Skis great and also very clear water.

[Nando]

This used to be a ski site in Twig, MN (northwest of Duluth). It was an old gravel pit. Now the owner's kids have homes on it. The course was on the east section of lake, offset to the south, and you shortened (or spun) west of what looks like a fairly wide opening in the photo but always felt narrow. Entering the course from the west, you couldn't see the course until you were through the narrows and then it was time to pull out NOW! Despite the odd setup and cold water, the place skied like a dream.

 

[lpskier]

@Chef23 John’s Lake is in NJ. Short set ups. Big scores.

[dbutcher]

@BraceMaker I haven't skied it, but I have seen Suicide Lake. It's a north/south lake not far off the north end of the runway of the Tulsa, OK airport. There are two other lakes at the same site. Oklahoma has plenty of south wind. Suicide Lake has a short berm about 50' (maybe less) ahead of each turn ball that effectively keeps the water smooth at each turn ball. I expect one could get used to it and not be freaked out.

[skihound]

Pretty cool course on a public lake in Port Orchard, Washington. Called long lake haven't skied there yet gonna try to get out there next summer.

[DaveD]

Although I've never skied there, I get a kick out of the U shaped lake on I-69 near Muncie, IN. You need to do a right turn at both ends of the lake. I think it's only a 4 ball course.

[andjules]

I've never skied it (hope to someday), there is a ski club outside of Budapest, Hungary; their site is as narrow as any I've seen (and not long @ ~1650')

You can search Facebook for slalom.hu and see some videos like this one:

https://facebook.com/slalom.hu/videos/1443466692426862/

 

[skihart]

@dbutcher We need pics. That sounds insane. Even a google earth shot.

[Tom351]

@skihart

https://goo.gl/maps/nSDPfeWw8nK2

[andjules]

@Tom351 Wow! If you're late and pull all the way to the ball, you better get your S-turn down pat!

[Drago]

I can hear lawyers ringing in my head

[UWSkier]

Lets out a single tear and a sniffle.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/fxKij7DPfsG2

[Orlando76]

On the private lake I typically ski north of Orlando on the one end you enter the course on a curve as the boat accelerates. As you start to feel the whip of the curve you’re still wiping the water out of eyes and you feel you have to start pulling left. Only if you pull out too soon you’ll ski right into a dock. We clear it by maybe 10’. It takes an alert skier and an alert driver.

[dvskier]

@Orlando76 How far past the dock are the 55's?

[jjackkrash]

@skihound, send me a PM if you need a tow and want to ski the pads next spring or summer.

[jjackkrash]

 

One of my favorite places is the whole world. :)

[fu_man]

@andjules Jeez. That course in Hungary.....That is insanely narrow! How many skiers take an occasional OTF and end up 10-15 ft outside the buoy line? The kind where you are sure you are going OTF then for a moment think you might be OK, only to finally come to the realization that you are definitely going OTF. Happens to me at least once a year.

[Moved2ski]

20 some years ago I skied with some guys in Nebraska that put up a portable course on a public lake. It was an oval with an island in the center. You drove in a circle like a racetrack with the entrance gates coming out of turn four and the exit gates in turn one.

[Broussard]

 

[hockeyref74]

How abou Swerve Water Sports in Tennessee my wife calls it the puddle

[bishop8950]

Goode ski lake in Ogden has a pretty crazy set up. Pictures don’t do it justice. I should have gotten video of the boats spinning in on both ends.

 

[Drago]

From the good ‘ol days: Indy pro tour was about 1,500’, one side spin was inside the boat, the other side was a whip. Detroit was on a big lake, but in order to get close to the beach, had to duck under a tree sticking out over the water just before the gate pullout. Shreveport had giant lily pads floating by. St Louis had a vertical sea wall the length of the course. Camden was on the river with current, and needles and nasty trash on the shoreline.

[Edbrazil]

The old Marine World site in Redwood City, CA was only about 1050' long. Pro jump tournament there starting in 1974. Had to do whip-style jumping. Later on, they even did 4-buoy slalom.

[bkreis]

GMSC is just west of Miami international and 12 miles from SOBE! @ob1 waterski atlanta is also a city site near ATL.

[liquid d]

Anyone remember the US Open in Chicago at the Pier?...I should have taken photos. They parked a huge ship at the end to block it off from Lake Michigan.

[chrislandy]

20+ years ago my dad used to drive at Hawley Lake, near London UK. They had a full size course and jump, yet the entire lake is less than 550m (about 1800ft). As soon as the skier was through the course you'd be turning, with the boat less than 20ft from the shore , they had clipped the platform on the shore a few times!

 

In competition once, they had to turn the boat before the jumper had landed

[VONMAN]

@MISkier I spent 13 years in the Dixboro Club. Your right about how short it is. I remember going to other site's and at the skiers meeting being told that we would be skiing a short setup. Ha! Nothing like Dixboro. Now in Florida and skiing year round.

[The_MS]

Some of the Minnesota skiers may remember one of my all time great ski sites. Lake Anderson up in Alexandria. Dog leg lake with cattails around the whole lake. Perfect natural ski lake with crystal water.

[MISkier]

Waterski Paradise near Charlotte, MI (a.k.a Lake Maureen or G&L Training Center). It is inactive now, as the ownership changed hands long ago and the new owners did not continue leasing the lake.

 

The straight portion of the lake is about 1700 feet. At the North end, the boat would curve off into that dogleg and skiers would start there and curve in. At the South end, the boat would set the skier down right after the exit gates. Then, the skier would start going away from the course and loop back in a few feet off the South shore. When I skied it in the early 1990s, there were no 55s.

 

Note the island near the South end. The jump landing area was just before that island (jumpers went from North to South) and the jumper would need to turn back to the boat quickly. I don’t remember the jumper distances back then, but I would think that Freddy Krueger might be getting close to actually landing on the island.

 

 

 

 

The site held some pro tournaments featured on ESPN Hot Summer Nights.

 

 

[slvrbulit]

sure wish Hot summer night was still on.

[MISkier]

@slvrbulit, look at the crowds on shore in that video.

 

My apologies for the lack of sound, but that was how it digitized from VHS.

[lpskier]

@andjules One of my ski partners coaches occasionally at that site. He was ther mid-September and gives it high marks.

[klindy]

@bishop8950

 

 

 

And yes your feet get wet if you're on the pier when the boat takes off!

 

These videos were taken in 2012 and they have sense lengthened that end of the lake a bit which helped. 8-ball course. Note how the boat makes the turn into the course from the far end. Timing for the gate is pretty critical!

 

It's the only lake I've skied where I laughed the entire first and second pass.

[jjackkrash]

So cool watching guys like Kjellander and B la P duke it out.

[Wish]

What's the numbers they posted in the vid above the drawing of the rope??

[BraceMaker]

@Wish inverse of 'off' 43 feet or 13m or 32 feet off

 

[Wish]

Hmmm...Amazing ESPN was smart enough to label the rope used and not what's coiled up in the bottom of the boat.

[BobF]

Coolest view of any course I've skied so far. Niagara Falls, USA.

 

[skihound]

@jjackkrash Thanks will do, my cousin lives just up the road.

[jipster43]

The Waialua River on Kauai is a pretty amazing place to ski - call ahead if you want to ski buoys. The free skiing is phenominal if you decide to go that route. It would be a very cool place for a tournament.

 

[jipster43]

Green Lake just west of Seattle’s University District was a tournament site in the 70’s and 80’s. There are hundreds of people enjoying the park on any given day of the year, but in the summer it really jumps. There hasn’t been a motorized boat on it for decades, but I would love it if they brought the tournaments back. It would be tremendous exposure for the sport.

 

[bishop8950]

@MISkier we got to ski there a bunch in the late 90s. Such a cool lake. I just stopped by there a few weeks ago and was sad to see it unused.

 

@klindy Goode lake is much crazier now. Instead of the boat going left at the end of the first video, it goes right into this tiny hole where you and the skier drop. When they showed me this is where the boat and skier go I said “no way”. And yes they do. On the far end you drive pretty close to shore before you can turn and it’s a bit nerve racking. But, a very cool site and a fun place to ski. Plus it’s 5 min from the Goode factory which is handy

[jimmyjamesbrown]

@jipster43 I'm looking forward to skiing the Waialua in March!

 

PS....this thread is great, love it. Wish I had more chance to ski some of these.