Home to at least one ski jump, Mt. Grampian had 3 rope tows. One reference mentions a double chairlift and several surface lifts. One comment posted below mentions a book reference to its being constructed in 1957. If you have any information about skiing at this area, please submit it. See the “About MILSAP” page for directions.
In 1959, Sports Illustrated noted: A $15,000 1000′ Pomalift with a 100′ rise was installed. On Dec. 24, 1959, The Luddington Daily News ski report listed Mt. Grampian with 2″ new snow over a 4″ base and fair to good skiing. On Feb. 10, 1961, the same paper listed the area as having 2 to 3″ fresh powder on top of a 8 to 15″ base for good skiing.
Skilifts.org reports that in 1971, Mt. Grampian installed a 685′ Sneller double chair with a 110′ rise.
Alan O’Connor submitted the following picture of a patch he purchased on ebay and a satellite map pic of the area today.
George Black forwarded the following lift ticket, brochure and direct mail flyer by US mail so I could scan them for you. He says they are from the reopening of the area in 1987.
- An actual lift ticket from Mt. Grampian, undated (do you think it’s still good?). Thanks to George Black for the great materials to scan.
Multi-color glossy brochure for Mt. Grampian (as their sign and the inside pages say) or Grampian Mountain (as the outside of the brochure says). Thanks to George Black.
The monochrome inside of the Grampian Brochure. Thanks to George Black.
The outside of a direct mail flyer for Grampian sent in Nov. 1987, thanks to George Black. Contains a coupon for 1 hr racquetball court time (sorry, expired April 1988).
1st inside page of Grampian flyer, 1987. Details all their services and prices. Thanks to George Black. (What is Wally Ball?)
Grampian's opening day announcement for the 1987-88 season--Fri., Nov. 20, 1987. Get Ready . . . GO!
This page announces Grampian's New Year's Eve Party to welcome in 1988; formal dress, chicken, fish, or ham, $60 per couple drinks included and pizza at midnight. Music by C.J. Sounds. Thanks to George Black for the copies.
Back in the mid to late 90’s I worked with a guy who lived out that way when he was a kid. That was the first time I had ever heard of Mt Grampian. He told me he would go skiing there with his school. He also remembered how the club house was really close to the bottom of the hill. He said you would have to turn quickly to avoid running into it. I now live in Oxford. I’ve tried looking for it as I cruise past on Lakeville Rd but I can’t see anything through the trees.
My old man worked out there when he was in high school. He says it was back in 1962 or ‘63. I asked him about it the other day and this is what he told me about it:
- The owner at the time was Canadian, and a thought of their business was Windsor ski clubs
- They had at least one chair and 3 or 4 tow ropes
- There was a ski jump, but it was later sold to a resort in the UP
- It had a restaurant, ski rental, and pro-shop (where my dad worked)
I can remember riding down Lakeville Road and still seeing the chair/tow rope poles up. If I had to guess, I’d say they yanked those down in the late eighties-very early nineties. I know the parking lot is still there, though probably not visible from the road.
They had their wedding reception at Mount Christie in ’68. I think that was the year Mt. Christie closed.
Since we’re on the topic, I’m kinda doing a history project on Pine Knob ski resort. Can anybody suggest any good, legitimate sources?
Ah, Mt. Grampion. I remember it well as I worked there one summer. It was owned by a chap from Windsor, Ontario, Mr. Pilsworth. He also owned a ski shop in downtown Windsor from which he ran ski trips from Windsor to Mt. Grampion. The best feature of Mt. Grampion was a young teen who lived near the hill — Karen Prier — she often hung-out at the club house. The young teen resembled the bubbly star of a ’60s television series but I can’t recall the name of the actress or program. Karen added real sparkle to a generally lackluster place.
I remember taking Ski lessons in the late 60′s through the Detroit Free Press, I also remember a Saint Benard always laying in front of a huge fireplace…. Today I ride my Bicycle up Dranher Rd but have no Idea where the lodge was located. Great memories!
Thanks to the satellite view on MapQuest I’ve been able to locate the hill. Driving past it you can still see the parking lot. Its located on the south side of Lakeville Rd, West of Hosner and East of Grampian Dr. The entrance to the parking lot is directly south of where the East most part of Barr Rd meets Lakeville Rd.There is a small gate at the road stating that it is private property. To the West of the parking lot you can see the top of the hill over the tree tops. Also, I just scored a pretty sweet Mt. Grampian patch on eBay today.
Thanks for the sat view and the patch scan, Alan, I posted them above. I remember sewing one of those patches on an old ski blanket I had back in the 60′s.
I checked out a book from the library called “History of Northeast Oakland County”. It was printed in 1976 so it’s pretty historical too. Anyway, near the back they have a year by year listing of business activity in the area through 1975. For 1957 it has “In Addison Township, a $100,000 ski resort was being built on Lakeville Road. This facility was later called Mt. Grampian.”
I live in oxford grew up near there too, too cool. Most of what you read is accurate, when they got in financial trouble during slow summer months, they tried other stuff by adding raquet ball courts and small gym, the tennis courts. Not much revenu, bute was nice when it was all new. They tried one summer by putting a you stear cart coaster car along tracks you race for best time down, w/ photo capture ending.The last ditch effort was when they tried a summer concert there, b.y.o.b. with like 4 local bands, and 1 semi national band cant remember who it was anyone know? they charged like 10$ per car load , and there were like carnival flyers sent out advertising it. When they closed and after 20 years my buddy steve ended up with one of the lift chairs! LOL!
I have lived a mile east of Mt. Grampian since 1995 and have driven past it 2x a day since 1990. It has been closed as long as I have seen it. There used to be the old club house and some lifts or ropes you could see from Lakeville road where the entrance still is today, but they tore it all down in the early 90′s and the property was put up for sale and bought maybe about 5~8 years or so now. The new owners have done some type of work to the entrance and parking area, but have not seen anything new going on there for a couple of years.
Sanford “Sandy” aka “Butch” Blumenfeld was a high school racing phenom that got his start at Mt. Grampion. Butch went on to win the biggest race in SE Michigan for Bloomfield Hills High School: the Detroit News Interscholastic Meet at Mt. Holly. He is now “older than dirt” but still believes that Eckel made the best ski pole of all time.
okay here we go … our family had a family membership at mt grampian 1961-1963.they had one poma lift and three rope tows. two to the east of the poma and one to the west.(the runs face north) on the west edge of the property was a wooden ski jump that was separate from the area. I saw several jumping competitions and it seemed like most of the participants came from the upper pennisula…. the poma was replaced with the worlds slowest chairlift in the early 1970s the vertical was limited and they could not compete with other local areas that made improvements gary curatolo
I remember that chairlift. I don’t remembering it being THAT much slower than the old wooden-slatted Canyon Double at Mt. Holly that is now immortalized in the Lift Lounge where the old chair hangars (sans wooden slats, thank God) are the seats in the booths by the windows. Even the newer Canyon Quad, slow as it is, is faster than that, although Holly made up for it by installing the Mach One, southeast Michigan’s only high-speed detachable quad.
you are probably right by that time I was skiing mostly up north and started going out west and was exposed to faster lifts!!!!
Light years ago, maybe 1961-62, my older brother and I entered ski races there. I still have the trophies. The had a slalom and a “downhill”. I don’t remember a chairlift, but rope tows and a pomalift. I kinda remember the big St. Bernard too. That was the only time I ever skied there. Great memories on this page. Had forgotten about Mt. Christie. Also, knew Geoff Smith from CUSSA and Detroit News Interscholastic racing days, way back when.
I wasn’t much of a skier, but Mt. Grampian was nice venue if you were a beginner. You had to learn how to stop quickly, as the slope ended quickly and a few hay bales were all that stopped you from the parking lot. I recall the tow rope stopping suddenly one particularly icy night, leaving skiers holding onto the frozen rope and swaying in the wind until it suddenly started, up, jerking those still holding on up the hill. I’ve looked for the slopes while driving on Lakeville Rd., but trees have grown over them, obscuring what was a nice ski resort way back when we were young….