Elk Mountain Ski Resort is a

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

in the

Endless Mountains The Endless Mountains are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Endless Mountains region includes Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties. The highest peak in the region is the North Kn ...

on the summit of Elk Hill in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. It is located north of

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

. The mountain has been given favorable reviews from ''Ski Magazine'', including a listing in "Six Unsung Heroes", a roundup of hidden gems in skiing.

History

Elk Mountain opened in 1959. The ski area provided a small lodge, a T-Bar ski lift, tow rope lifts and a small number of trails. In 1961, a double

chair lift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

was installed, allowing for additional trails. A year later, in 1962, snowmaking was added along with a new A-frame lodge at the base of the mountain. Night skiing came to Elk Mountain in 1966, and trails were expanded further in 1972. Elk Mountain built a long quad chairlift in 1994.

Skiing at Elk Mountain

North Chair at Elk Mountain accesses a top elevation of —the highest lift-serviced skiing in eastern Pennsylvania. Elk has a vertical drop, 27 trails (six greens, 10 blues and 11 diamonds) and two terrain parks. Five double

s and a fixed-grip quad chair lift provide access to the top of the mountain. Four of the lifts, including the quad, run from the base to just below the summit of the mountain. Most ski runs are groomed, but a few are allowed to bump up, or become moguled, to allow for additional challenge. The mountain receives, on average, 5 feet of natural snow per season.

Snowmaking Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

covers 100% of the of skiable terrain. The base complex features a day lodge, guest services, ski school center, restaurant, rentals, and a ski-and-snowboard shop.

Climate

According to the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC) or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC) is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köppen ...

system, Elk Mountain Ski Area has a Temperate Continental (''Dc'') Climate with warm summers (''b''), cold winters (''o'') and year-around precipitation. ''Dcbo'' climates are characterized by at least one month having an average mean temperature ≤ , four to seven months with an average mean temperature ≥ , all months with an average mean temperature < and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. During the summer months at Elk Mountain Ski Area, episodes of high heat and humidity can occur with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. The result is als ...

values ≥ at the summit and ≥ at the base. The annual peak in

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

activity is July. During the winter months, episodes of extreme cold and wind can occur with wind chill values < at the summit and < at the base. The

plant hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

is 5b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of at the summit and at the base. The average seasonal (Oct-Apr) snowfall total is at the summit and at the base.

Ice storm An ice storm, also known as a glaze event or a silver storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on e ...

s and large snowstorms depositing ≥ of snow are somewhat frequent, particularly during

nor’easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use of ...

s from December through March.

References

External links

Elk Mountain Ski ResortElk Mountain Area Directory
{{coord, 41.721, -75.559, region:US-PA_type:mountain_scale:10000, display=title Buildings and structures in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Ski areas and resorts in Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains Tourist attractions in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania 1959 establishments in Pennsylvania