Alpine Valley Ski Area has been one of the leading areas in southeastern Michigan for many years. Not too far from the Highland Recreation area, where Teeple Hill was an early alpine skiing location, Alpine Valley has a slope known as Teelple View. From the top, you should be able to see Teeple Hill about 1.5 mi. to the southwest.
On Feb. 3, 1966, The Cass City Chronicle printed the AAA Guide to Winter Sports in Michigan, listing Alpine Valley with 9 slopes, 2 chairs, 4 T-Bars, 12 tows, snowmaking, night skiing, skating, and ski jumping. By Dec. 30, 1976, 1977 Guide to Michigan’s 58 Ski Areas listed Alpine Valley as having 16 slopes, 9 chairs, and 10 ropes. That was a big expansion and big competition for Teeple Hill which was still open that year.
If you have any information about the development of alpine skiing in southeastern Michigan, please post it or send it to us via the directions on the About MILSAP page.
I skied Alpine Valley a lot as a kid. When we started skiing there Alpine only had two chairlifts and two t-bars, plus some rope tows. I remember that the “expert” run in front of the lodge was served by a rope tow up its left side. I remember when some gal got her hair caught in the rope and it lifted her right off of the ground. The two t-bars ran side by side and were later replaced by two double chairs that ran side-by-side, and eventually another slope was built with a double chair toward Highland Rd. The last slopes that Alpine Valley built before we moved to Ohio were their new expert slope that sloped to the north off of the top of the old advanced double chair, and another easier slope and chair east of the lodge was built then too. The last year that I skied Alpine, 1974 or 1975, I remember taking a bunch of high-speed runs down the expert hill nonstop.
Yeah, we grew up just down the road. Raced for WLC there. I jumped off the chair and landed in a tree once. There are songs that pop up from time to time on the radio that put me on the tow rope in front of the lodge where the bumps were; that was in the mid 70′s. I remember how significant it was to get our certification patches to be able to get up to Galcier; that was huge back then. Sported the Expert Patch around school for weeks after. Funny stuff and great memories from there.
Our high school ski club (Northville) went to Alpine Valley every Monday night. What a riot. This was in the late 60′s. The “Mogul” hill right in front of the lodge was our fun. Short but sweet. I remember one night we talked this girl who was really a beginner to “go for it” and take the rope up the “Mogul” hill and “Cowgirl Up”. She was freaking out at the top but went for it anyway…straight down….no turns….wobbly but still standing she built up speed…reaching the bottom at break neck speed she never stopped but hit the ski rack full of skis in front of the lodge at a “Full Tilt Boogie” shredding her at the knees as she flew under the cross members….skis flew….she went down like a limp rag….all of us still standing at the top of the hill watching thought for sure she was dead….OMG! We flew down immediately to her aid, finding she was alive, unhurt, only shaken up by her rendezvous with hell!! I’ll never forget that. Boy, were we bad….very, very bad…..