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Health & Fitness

Let's Go Skiing in Farmingville

To this day I wish that the Bald Hill Ski Bowl was still in operation. I look back in time, and recall many fond memories of my wife and children, learning how to ski at our own "Bald Hill Ski Bowl."

That is exactly what we did in the Sixties and Seventies, here in Farmingville, N.Y. The Bald Hill Ski Bowl resided at the current location of the Brookhaven Amphitheatre Arts and Cultural Center, on Bald Hill in Farmingville. What a wonderful facility!

Our little Ski Slope had the feel of a genuine ski area. The Ski Bowl had a chair lift, a T bar lift, a tow rope lift, and snow making machines. The operators played genuine German music most of the time! It is the snow from the "snow making machines," and the German music that made me feel that I could actually ski down the Matterhorn! Ha! Ha! My courage was short lived!

The current amphitheatre is located on what was known as the advanced ski slope. The chair lift was on the "Stage Right," side of the amphitheatre. The Chair Lift picked up skiers at the bottom of the slope and dropped them off at the very back of the arena.

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The vertical drop was about 125 feet from top to bottom. The length of the Advanced Ski Slope was about 1000 feet long, but not all of it was useful as an advanced Ski Slope. As I recall the upper one third of the advanced slope was almost flat, and the bottom one third of the slope was also flat. Everyone would slowly ski down the upper one third of the slope, trying to look macho! We all knew what was coming! The second segment of the slope was what I call the "cliff." Yep! No kidding! We actually walked to the edge and looked over, to see how steep the slope was!

I eventually learned that my skiing skills were not good enough to permit me to ski straight down the "cliff." I was very proud of myself because I was able to somehow get down the "Advanced" slope, without killing myself" The advanced slope represented a portal to manhood; you weren't a "real man," until you could ski down the "Advanced Slope."

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To this day I wish that the Bald Hill Ski Bowl was still in operation. I look back in time, and recall many fond memories of my wife and children, learning how to ski at our own "Bald Hill Ski Bowl."

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