WMR sent a comment that he used to ski at Royal Valley which later became Ski World in Buchanan in the late 70′s and early 80′s. He sent a link to a Chicago Tribune snow report listing the Ski World area and its address. The address puts it on the only hill near town, just west of the river, uphill from the trailer park. The lodge was apparently at the top. The satellite view doesn’t show anything like the remains of slopes.
On Dec. 30, 1976, The Cass City Chronicle printed the AAA Michigan 1977 Guide to Michigan’s 58 Ski Areas which listed Royal Valley with 2 bars (T-bar or J-bar), 2 ropes and 12 runs. That’s 1 slope up and 5 ropes down from their report on Jan. 9, 1965.
If you have any information about skiing at Ski World or Royal Valley, please leave a comment or send us a message via the instructions on the About MILSAP page.
I worked there as a ski instructor when I was in High School.
It was owned by Albert Rottman (sp?) who immigrated from Germany.
Very small, mostly rope tows, one chair in the the back of the area.
Traffic was mostly school groups from the South Bend area.
Fondest memory was building a kicker on the slope right behind the Lodge – you literally were in the air from the kicker to the bottom of the slope – you had to make sure you didn’t fly to far and land on the flat.
Worked for Al during the summer also – clearing trails by hand.
Peter Bigford
I was an instructor and on the ski patrol. Then in the mid ’70′s i was in charge of the ski school. Instructors were local, from Notre Dame and from Andrews University. We taught a lot of local schools as well as busloads of park districts from the Chicago suburbs and church groups from Indiana. It was a great time and we always seemed to have plenty of snow. Owned by Al and Sybil Rottman. Their daughter Sharon took over some of the responsibility as I was leaving the state. Great lodge on the top of the slopes with windows all around. I just remember trying to get a running start at the bottom of the hill up to the parking lot. Good times!
I’m the daughter of one of the former ski patrollers. My brother and I learned to ski here at ages 3 and 5, and we eventually joined our mom there every Friday night and frequent weekends when she patrolled. We hung out with the other patrollers’s kids-so much fun! The place was not huge-I think there were 3 rope tows, 1 double chair, 1 quad and a T-bar. They did races nearly every weekend. A lot of the traffic was from nearby schools. The main lodge was pretty nice too, with a giant fire always going in the middle. It was a fun and different way to spend Friday nights and weekends in middle school. Lots of great memories!
Royal Valley, WOW!!! Skied there regularly with my family in the early 80s and on park district bus trips for the day with school friends etc…Pretty much cut my teeth skiing at R.V. Memories of loading up the family truckster (a 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville) with skis snacks and gear, leaving in heavy snowstorms from 30 mi south of Chicago to get up there on a Saturday morning. Remember the aforementioned kicker jump too! And skiing the steep, mogulled and wooded run below the lodge. Took my first love there at about age14…threw Mom n Dad under the bus by leaving “the rookie” behind to pursue my own challenges! Selfish, but true. Now I spend most of my ski time teaching my 3 yr. old daughter to ski at Boyne Mtn.(next year will be Big Sky)…my only hope is she gets as many great memories and experiences out of skiing as I have! And it all started at Royal Valley! Oh, by the way, I still have my R.V. patch sewn on a jacket along with many other ski areas I skied as a kid! God blessed us with these hills, this snow, now get out there and DO IT! As Ella would say,”lets go schuss Daddy!”
If you could send us a photo of that old Royal Valley patch, we would appreciate it, Christoph.