By Cheryl Jahn

New Lease On Life For Hart Ski Hill

Nov 14, 2017 | 12:07 PM

The Hart Ski Hill has a new lease on life. If you drive by, you’ll notice a new out-building at that base of the main run. That is a pump house to draw water for new snow-making equipment. It will help the ski hill tremendously.
“It will guarantee us 90 to 100 days [of snow]. Prior years, we’ve been open 17 to 21 days,” says Bernadette Kipping, President of the Hart Highlands Winter Club. “The idea is that it will help build the base for the ski hill.”

That facility will be making snow this season. But that’s not all. Off to the rear of the house, a smaller hill will be getting a new lift.
“It’ll be for beginner skiers,” explains Kipping. “We have some work to do regarding the actual landscaping; it has to be at a 10% grade for this particular lift.”

That lift will stay in storage to get some work done to be in place for the ski season next winter.
That lift and the hill will be dedicated to kids learning to ski, much as Pat Bell’s kids did. It’s the reason he opted to take on the fundraising for the Club.
“I just think the Hart Ski is a phenomenal facility,” says Bell. “But it was at a turning point. If there was snow-making, it had along and prosperous future and if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t. It was something I felt I could give back.”
Kipping says, once that snow-making facility is operating, ski season arrives.