Unique Ski Sites

[MISkier]

@bishop8950, here is a another one you will remember. Buddy's Pond inside the Bass River Recreation Area. About 1750-1800 feet long. 6 ball course straight in.

 

The unique thing about this site was that it was inside a State Recreation Area and the DNR and local ski club had a good working relationship and agreement for more than 15 years until 2012. Things have changed in Michigan and that site is now dead as well.

 

In the past, the State tournament was held here and I believe there were "towers" built in the water or water's edge (like elevated treestands) for judging.

 

The slalom course portion site was mainly about 6-8 feet deep and skied awesome, other than a short setup. Had really good wind protection, too. Water was so murky you couldn't see your hand in front of your face more than a foot below the surface. It was wide enough that a separate jump course was possible off to the North-Northeast side and did not intermingle with the slalom course.

 

There was a movie called "Touchback" that filmed a nighttime scene at the club on our dock. I watched it once and could actually see one of the boat guides in the background of one of the shots.

 

The other unique thing about this site was that I would drive about 100 miles one way a few times a week to ski there. I towed my boat part of the time, too. But, I wanted to ski on some "private" water and it was perfect for that - and cheap, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kimbymon]

@bishop8950 my girlfriends and I were snow skiing in the Ogden area this past March. We thought “why not stop by the goode factory showroom and buy some stuff on our way to the airport”. Yeah the showroom is open by appointment only . We called the number on the door and were told that yes, only open by appointment and the person who could let us in, isn’t in yet and then she has a meeting. It was at that point Bonnie said “I’m going to dumpster dive for blemished skis”..

[Wish]

@Gloersen the very first and last tournament I had there, my wife told me a had bigger incentives not to fall other then buoy count. That place was nuts.

[aupatking]

Ours is a unique one. I know of one professional photographer who tried to beach my Prostar on one end, an Italian who said it skis great, and a Brit who brought his weather with him. All skiers liked the place. Y’all come down and ski with us. It’s sunny and warm here

 

[MISkier]

@Wish and @Gloersen, those logs floating in the water of Lake Wauburg have an interesting shape.

[kc]

@Gloersen I skied a collegiate tournament at Lake Waurberg back in the early 70s. Pretty impressive that the UF team had live mascots on site! Here in the Midwest we only get turtles sunning themselves on the ski jump.

 

@jipster43 I’ve also had the pleasure of skiing the Wailua River on Kauai. An amazing experience.

[jipster43]

Skiing just outside of Bangkok is always unique.

 

[jipster43]

 

[cruznski]

Well had to jump in here, I think it is snowing at this site right now. In the Adirondacks, and @adkh20skier @lpskier and a few others know of this site. The course was pulled two weekends ago I think. Beautiful location and if no boat traffic it skis great!

 

[klindy]

@MISkier I remember the Bass River lake well. Skied quite a few tournaments there!

 

The old Tivoli lake was fun too (90’s era). The contours of the shoreline allowed the ramp to be really close to shore and still have ample room to pass, etc. Jidges tower and spectators were high on the tiered hill in the gravel pit. Lowry Brown almost sunk a Ski Supreme there after a rope wrapped around the boat judge and he hit full reverse!

 

The slalom site in Albion was interesting too. On the deep end you were right up against the bank a few yards from the road that ran along the river. On the shallow end you literally had to ski to the buoy or the water was about a foot deep. The bottom was seemingly bottomless silt but it was awful to pull up short or the buoy. One weekend @gmut pulled out a viscosity cup to test the water so he could make fun adjustments. He had me fooled and I understood why we call him Dr Fin ever since!

[MISkier]

@klindy, I'm not familiar with the Albion site. But, are you referring to this Tivoli (there were like 3 of them, I think)? I think this one was the site of the 1978 Nationals.

 

 

And, it also had this particular event:

 

 

[kc]

@klindy Wow what memories I have of the Albion river site! The Michigan stop for the Midwest Slalom challenge. Didn’t want to swallow the water, or touch the bottom, because you didn’t know what, or who, might be down there! Those were the days! Good times! ?

[DaveD]

I used to play baseball next to the Kelsey-Hayes factory in Albion. It was so nasty you could see the air move on a calm day. I can only imaging the level of toxicity in that river. Hopefully you reproduced before you skied there.

[Wayne]

@MISkier what is the history of that lake? It’s called “Silver Fox Lake” now and I noticed a bunch of roads around it have names that fit the 70s and 80s pros. It’s certainly a unique site. I think it has wind protection from all sides.

 

I’ve never seen a house on that lake go up for sale, so who ever is on it stays on it.

[klindy]

@kc one of the three sites! All three fairly unique sites. The Slalom Challenge was a 3 day tournament series held over Labor Day weekend on three sites - Cindonway Shores, Albion and Pelican Lake. Lots of driving (road!) but always full tournaments with a long waiting list.

 

Typically the first site was Cindonway in North Webster, IN. The lake is 1610’ long end to end and there’s a 6 buoy slalom course and jump course.

 

Awesome memories skiing there over the years. Lots of PBS, “firsts” and other memorable days.

 

Second stop was the river in Albion, MI which was described above. Great place to watch and for high scores. Always felt like you needed a tetanus shot!

 

Last stop was Pelican Lake north of Toledo, OH. Another great slalom lake. When it was built they opened up the east end in the woods which is pretty cool to drop among the 80-100’ oak trees. Another short site where you go straight in to the course.

 

 

[klindy]

@MISkier no I was thinking of the second Tivoli.

[MISkier]

@Wayne, I don't know the full history of that Tivoli 1978 Nationals site.

 

@klindy, here are a couple other Tivolis. Are either of these the one you were thinking of? I think the top one was also an early Dixboro site before they moved to the shorter one now.

 

This at the corner of 12 mile and Dixboro:

 

 

This one is on Kensington Rd, just South of I-96:

 

 

 

[Kimbymon]

@MISkier the top one is the lake we were most recently at . We have been on the smaller lake for 9 years now. I believe Dixboro is Tivoli #3. But don’t quote me on that.

[MichaelGoodman]

@Chef23 Mark you must have skied at the place in Uxbridge I think it was called Fishers Folley I tried to google earth it I think it is marked as Lee pond now. Real short with a old

railroad trestle right at the end.

[Chef23]

@MichaelGoodman I didn’t ski there but I watched a tournament there when I was young. @MikeT May have skied there.

 

@MichaelGoodman's site is cool and unique an old mill pond I think with a still active dam that creates power for him.

[MichaelGoodman]

@Chef23 First place I ever skied a course 32 years ago this fall. Randy Youngsma (RIP)

use to have a part time ski school there. Real short site only about 1600 feet if I measured

the right pond on google earth. I bet @Edbrazil has worked on the course there they had regionals or nationals there at one point. The former owner sold it and I do not think they

ski there anymore.

[klindy]

@MISkier it's definitely the one at 12 Mile and Dixboro.

[klindy]

Here's a map image of the three lakes I mentioned in the post about that were part of the IN-MI Slalom Challenge each Labor Day weekend back in the 90's.

 

Cindonway Shores

 

 

Albion

 

 

Pelican Lake

 

 

[klindy]

Another lake that was pretty unique was Camelot Lakes in Northern Indiana. This lake is about 3-4 miles north of Cindonway in the post above.

 

Camelot Lakes

 

A few things made this place unique. The jump course (you can still see the white surface ramp on the west shore in the satellite view) and slalom course were separate and you used a different set of islands on the north side of the lake. In the end of summer tournaments the trip around the islands was like a Disney ride! Jumping you'd actually lose sight of the boat going around one of the turns.

 

While the islands were interesting, if you pan north slightly in the satellite view you'll see a narrow channel going north/south with a couple slightly more open areas on each end. In the late 80's and early 90's we used to trick in that channel! Falling going out of the wake was pretty much on shore on both sides! In the days well before video trick calling, at least the judges got an up-close & personal view of all the skiing!

 

To make it even more fun, on the east side of the main lake all those houses are probably 75' above the water surface. Clark Smith had a wicked waterski with a kicker at the bottom that you'd swear you were going to land on 4 ball in the slalom course!

 

Cindonway and Camelot teamed up for several Midwest Regional tournaments over the years. Both great sites to ski and fantastic people!

 

[Keith_Menard]

@MichaelGoodman @Chef23 I live one town over from Uxbridge and have been looking for that mystery pond that used to have a course for years with no luck. I see it on google maps now.

[Nando]

Here's one from the past that probably the only Baller who will know about is @thager . This was known by skiers as first "Lake X" and later as "Lake Saucier". You'l notice that Google has another name attached to it, which was NOT the name, but is slightly less offensive than the real name, which was changed to "Burns Lake" about just a few years ago. Most of the land around it was owned by Dave Saucier, also owner of Saucier Skis and later, for a short time, Kahuna Skis. It hosted a lot of tournaments back in the day and skied great. What got skiers was that the starting dock was at the far northeast of the lake and you'd hop off and hit the extremely mucky bottom at about three feet but sink in up to your neck. Occasionally a newbie would dive in and come up covered in muck, which was endlessly entertaining. Dave eventually changed it to a floating raft at the west end. I recall once having to swim to the starting dock because I was late and setting a (very poor) PB and ending my short career in the novice division.

 

[wart]

@klindy more Camelot fun facts.

 

Going north to south, slalom skiers went around both turn islands, a scenic journey. The 55’s were only a few feet past the second island, so if you liked to pull out early... you would follow the shoreline about 15 feet from the water’s edge (no long line). Then there was a point sticking out about 20 feet past the gates; at 15off it seemed like you were going to hit land before turning in.

 

Camelot is a former gravel pit, the water level varies up to five feet in a during the season. When the islands were too shallow, we had an 8-ball course running to opposite corners from the 6-ball. Therefore, cables crossed. Underwater, there were come-a-longs at the anchors... tighten and loosen to float and submerge as needed.

 

And for winter fun, the cliff opposite Smith’s house was at least 100 feet high. Maybe, during a significant snow storm, someone skied that double black diamond.

[klindy]

Good stuff @wart! I had forgotten some of those things! Man we had a good time there!

 

The jump starting dock was basically directly inline with the center of the ramp and just outside the 600' ball. So when you were getting ready to jump the skier before you would go by the dock to turn at/near the 600' ball.

 

At one tournament we convinced a guy local to us in Southwestern MI to join us. He was an occasional jumper and more than just a little unpredictable. Since he was a relative unknown he was near the beginning of the running order and left the dock ready to break any record. I can't recall which jump it was but from the dock you could tell he was EXTREMELY late. Fearing the worst, it was one of those moments you didn't want to watch but couldn't look away. Without exaggerating he ended up in some kind of slalom looking turn with his skis well outside his upper body. He went up the ramp on his right side and started rolling in the air.

 

Since the ramp was directly down course from the dock, you'd lose sight of the skier as they came down to land. Imagine how shocked everyone was on the dock when he actually skied away from the jump!

 

There's lots of cool stories at Camelot but that one is something I can picture pretty well.

 

[auskier]

This thread had me wondering if anyone is continuing to add and update the google earth file of pinned ski sites?

[adkh2oskier]

@cruznski Does ski great, other than an occasional visit from uninvited uniformed officers in a boat! last 2 mornings has lots of ice in the shallows along the causeway.

[Mateo_Vargas]

Thanks Ryan Selsor for putting together these videos of his drone footage from the Berkeley Water Ski Club’s Delta Fall Open tournament at the end of September. Definitely a unique ski site as you’ll see from the overhead shots.

 

[LoopSki]

The Delta is definitely unique just make sure you're up-to-date on all your immunizations!!

[Ajskier]

@klindy and @wart, I skied a few college tournaments at Camelot. It was a very interesting site with the way it was set up, you didn't want to fall on the 2,4,6 side of the slalom course, it was a long swim and long walk back around the lake. Also, I remember a few cold mornings sprinting down to the start dock because I over slept and I was up on the dock.

[LakeOneSkier]

@LoopSki , no need for immunizations... all the pesticide runoff will take of everything. :s

[WoodySkier]

@DaveD I’ve skied that lake in Muncie, it’s actually a 6 ball course, one way you make a straight shot into the course, the other direction you turn into it. I was a little freaked out the first pass driving it, but it Ski’s really nice, and the guys on the lake are real cool guys.

[ALPJr]

Awesome job - Berkeley Waterski Club, Aquatic Park and the Delta !

[disland]

 

Subic Bay Philipines circa 1988, Is was split deployment there with a US navy P-3 squadron. They had ski boats, skis and a driver. You show up and they pull you for like $5. We used to ski between ready alerts, ready 1 and the ready 2 had like a 3hr gap. This was the first time I saw skies with holes in the fin. We were like "what are those for?"

[disland]

One other note, Grande Island in Subic Bay only a 15 min boat ride from the Naval Base, has some fantastic surf. Its the first time I had seen real wrap. Typhoon swell would come in and completely wrap around the island so you were surfing waves from a swell hitting on the opposite side of the island

[mfjaegersr]

Link to video driving the ‘Powerline’ course at 32mph. Requires turning into shore and then towards an underwater ledge on the port side (as you're coming in)....Skier has a moment and a half to pull out left, effectively coasting at the boat. I hate that end....and I don’t use that word often....

 

https://tinyurl.com/powerlinecourse

 

Red lines approximate the location of the actual power lines in the video...

 

 

[mfjaegersr]

@horton Can you fix the broken link above, with this, please? (Assuming this one works for you?)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LFoTNmXL8oS9b6oYNYL4i8XmhtpTjMFU/view?usp=drivesdk

[thager]

Nice!