WATERTOWN — The Dry Hill Ski Area is enjoying a stretch of excellent conditions and the slopes are busy with skiers, snowboarders and tubers in this, its 60th year.
The facility has had its ups and downs with issues like the weather and ownership in the six decades since skiers first took to its slopes, but it has maintained a determination to survive and to remain a local treasure, if only because of it being a novelty — a ski center in the back yard, a brief leap, from a metropolitan area.
“I don’t think people realize that there aren’t too many communities that have skiing 15, 20, 30 minutes away,” said Dry Hill Ski Area owner Timothy L. McAtee. “And you can go there for three hours and spend $20. Most people’s skiing experience is, you wake up at 4 in the morning, you drive for two or three hours, you ski all day, and you’re tired and get back in the car and drive two or three hours. That’s what a lot of people put up with to be able to ski.”
John N. Russell, president of the Dry Hill Ski Development Corp., looks things over in 1960. Watertown Daily Times
But during this ski season, the pandemic is causing people to remain closer to home.
“We’ve had some great crowds almost every day we’ve been opened,” Mr. McAtee said. “I think this year, especially with the COVID thing, I see a little more appreciation that people realize that this is a big asset to the community and it’s important to the area.”
Before Dry Hill was developed as a skiing center, local residents took other Wartertown hills to ski on. In the late 1940s, according to Times files, there was a privately operated ski tow at a northwest slope at Thompson Park. In 1950, the city cleared a slope on a Thompson Park hill facing Gifford Street (Route 12).
In 1951, the city spent $5,000 ($49,000 in today’s dollars, factoring inflation) to install a 560-foot-long ski tow with a lighting system. At its Jan. 10, 1951 opening ceremony, city recreation superintendent John H. Patterson pushed a button to operate the tow for the first time. Its use was free for the public, and a warming house was built at the base of the slope.
“All the skiers have to do is grab the rope and ride to the top,” Mr. Patterson said at the opening ceremony.
In 1960, a corporation was organized to raise $10,000 ($88,000 in today’s dollars) for the creation of a ski area for the community. The development of the Dry Hill area began as a community development project by the Jefferson County Junior Chamber of Commerce. Its members spent weeks clearing the slope at Dry Hill, which legend says, got its name from a popular distillery located there in the mid-1800s that attracted thirsty patrons to new heights.
By the opening of Dry Hill’s second year of operation in December of 1961, the ski center had been “vastly improved,” the Times reported.
John N. Russell, president of the Dry Hill Ski Development Corp., said officials and members of the local organization “feel the trails are as good as any to be found at larger ski areas in the section.”
In December 1960, the Watertown Daily Times reported that work was nearing completion at the Dry Hill Ski Area on the two slopes to be used that winter.
Two chain-driven tow ropes were in operation. Three ski instructors gave lessons.
In the spring of 1962, lights were installed at Dry Hill, the Times reported. In the winter of that year, a T-bar lift replaced the rope tow. A lodge was also built.
By 1963, the place was buzzing, as “modern slope grooming equipment” was put to use.
“Last winter’s record snow depths for the Watertown region kept operations humming through a long season at Dry Hill, and brought many skiers from distant points, including Canada and far afield throughout New York state to enjoy the deep base and frequent fresh powder,” the Times reported in December 1963.
By the 1970s, a chair lift was operating at Dry Hill. In the 1970s and 1980s, events expanded to include freestyle jumping, sled dog events, a ski-athon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, formation of a ski school, tube races, a snowbake, and even an “ugly skier contest.”
In 1966 the ski area was leased by Hall Ski Lift Co., under a five-year plan with an option to purchase. Hall Ski Lift, which built and installed lifts around the country, was founded in Watertown by Victor E. Hall in the mid-1950s. In the early 1980s, the company was bought by Van Roll.
In 1972, Hall Ski Lift purchased the Dry Hill Ski Area. In 1973, it put the property up for sale and later in 1973, it was being leased by Snow Cap Ski Development, a new group based in Watertown.
But by 1979, Dry Hill was being called “the faltering ski area” by the Times due to financial issues. Watertown Resorts Inc., its owners at the time, quietly put the area on the market. But in the fall of 1979, Labrador Development Corp., owners of Labrador Mountain Ski Area near Cortland, leased the hill from Watertown Savings Bank, to the delight of local skiers.
In March 1980, the ski area was sold at public auction to, once again, Hall Ski Lift for $96,350, but the company backed out of the agreement and a second auction was scheduled. Watertown Savings Bank was the sole bidder, which allowed the institution to negotiate privately for the sale of the property.
In the fall of 1980, Donald B. Berry, a veteran of ski area management, purchased Dry Hill for an undisclosed sum. He renamed it Sun-burst Mountain.
Mr. Berry left town in the summer of 1982 and the area went into bankruptcy. Once again, Watertown Savings Bank became its owner.
Steve P. Satterfied, rental shop manager at Dry Hill Ski Area in Watertown, shows children in the ski school how to properly tighten down bolts on a snowboard. Kara Dry/Watertown Daily Times
Stability on the hill
Mr. McAtee continues to operate Dry Hill today after taking it over nearly 40 years ago.
Mr. McAtee and his financial backer, Steven P. Bishop, purchased the bankrupt ski center in 1984 for $150,000 ($373,000 in today’s dollars) from Watertown Savings Bank, after leasing it for two years. Mr. McAtee would eventually buy out the share of his partner, now deceased.
Mr. McAtee attributes his long stretch of ownership to “a combination of being lucky and stubborn.”
“I’ve just been fortunate,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of things: ice storms, banks going out of business and winters when it just wouldn’t snow. Now, we get to finish it off with a pandemic.”
But Mr. McAtee has been trying to make the most of the situation.
“The pandemic is obviously awful and it’s changed almost everyone’s life in so many different ways,” he said. “Normally, I don’t consider it lucky to be operating an outdoor, winter-dependent business, but during the days of COVID, this is what people are looking for. They’re looking for something to do where they feel safe.”
Mr. McAtee said that the nature of ski equipment, with face coverings and gloves, coupled with social distancing, can provide a safe environment in regards to COVID.
“It’s something that I believe people are finding at least relatively safe and somewhat comfortable doing, because there’s not much else to do in the winter up in Jefferson County,” he said.
Mr. McAtee said the nature of his business competes for people’s time. There’s more of that commodity with things like school-related activities such as sports and music events canceled.
“We’re busy this season because those things are gone,” he said. “They have more money to spend on things they can do, and that’s what we’re seeing happen.”
Those extra visits this season may pay off down the road for the ski area as more people get into the habit of skiing, or learning how to do it.
“We’re putting a crazy amount of people through our ski school,” Mr. McAtee said. “It’s just wild. A lot of people are trying skiing and snowboarding. I’m hoping that if this continues, we can turn many people into customers for the next few seasons.”
Kallie Jo McDermott, of Brownville, zooms down the hill in a tube at Dry Hill Ski Area in Watertown where she spent the day with friends on the slopes. Kara Dry/Watertown Daily Times
Good winter stretch
The weather has largely been working out for Mr. McAtee this year, or at least when compared to previous years.
“We’ve had snow on the ground since we opened in the middle of December,” Mr. McAtee said. “I think it’s one of the longest spells without a weather interruption in many years.”
The lack of consistent wintry weather makes the ski area owner skittish about new investments.
“The last really good winter around here was 2010-11,” he said. “Since then, they’ve just been mediocre.”
Speaking on Jan. 21 when lake effect snow and a long stretch of cold weather was in the forecast, he added, “This year is one of the better starts to winter we’ve had since then.”
In 1988, the ski area made major investments that included two new snow machines, an electrical cable along a 2,000-foot slope to power the new machines and a larger water pump to run the snow machines. That work, along with new lights and a third slope, cost about $75,000. In the late 1990s, a tubing hill was added.
The community support for the area was shown in December of 2018 when Mr. McAtee’s snowmaking pump house burned down.
The Dry Hill ski school has taught scores of people over the years the finer points of the sport. These skiers were learning in 1981. Watertown Daily Times
“The outpouring of support that winter was very humbling,” he said. “I really wasn’t prepared for the many people who came out and said something, or were concerned that we recover. We didn’t like the fire happening, but it was nice to see how many people in the community reached out in support.”
Mr. McAtee would have liked to further reflect on that community support by hosting 60th-anniversary events.
“With the COVID thing, it’s not a good idea,” he said.
But those events may be postponed to next year, or even the year after.
“Sixty years is a pretty good milestone,” Mr. McAtee said. “Especially for a small ski area to be surviving, because there’s not a lot of us left in the country.”
Times archive librarian Kelly Burdick contributed to this report.
January 31, 2021 at 10:30AM
https://www.nny360.com/communitynews/business/for-60-years-watertown-s-dry-hill-ski-area-has-seen-many-ups-and-downs/article_e3fd3879-829a-5aeb-ab3d-8935fccb9b11.html
For 60 years, Watertown's Dry Hill Ski Area has seen many ups and downs - NNY360
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