Mittersill
Category: Reopened or "Partially" Lost Ski Areas
After Mittersill's closure in the 1980's, the Franconia Ski Club continued to minimally maintain the former ski trails for backcountry skiing. A quick hike over the saddle from near the top of Cannon would allow anyone who was willing to take the risk to ski the former trails at Mittersill, which, I can attest to, was a truly fun and surreal experience, as almost all of the old lifts and buildings were left standing. However, during the early 2000's, Cannon began leasing the state owned land that Mittersill is on, began clearing the trails on their own, and are installing a new double chair along the former chairlift line that is to be operational in January 2011. For a more detailed history and updates on the project, see Cannon's Mittersill website here. For more videos of the old lift removal and new lift installation, click here.
**November 2010**
Trails: The most obviously changed trail at Mittersill is the liftline, which has been significantly widened and more comprehensively cleared. Other old trails appear to have been touched up slightly.
Lifts: The old Mittersill double has been completely removed at this point, and work is underway to get the new lift up and running for its scheduled January 2011 opening date. As of this visit, all of the new towers appear to be in, with work going on to get the base drive and bullwheel installed, and finally get the haul rope on and chairs installed. The old T-bar on the western edge of the property has not been touched at this point and hopefully will remain as a relic of Mittersill's past.
Facilities: Same as before. It'll be interesting to see if the ancient looking Mittersill Inn recieves any attention or upgrades since, with the new double going in, Cannon could now advertise itself as having "lift served slopeside lodging".
Accessibility: At this point, the area around the new double chair is a construction zone so obviously don't be wandering around there at this time. The rest of the mountain still seems like a go though.
**August 2008**
Trails: Same. Continued growth, particularly around the chairlift towers.
Lifts: Decided to explore more on the T-bar side of the mountain this trip, and actually found a few old wooden T-bar towers in the woods of the mountain's ORIGINAL T-bar! Quite a cool find.
Facilities: Same.
Accessibility: Same.
**June 2007**
Trails: Continued growth.
Lifts: T-bar drive that was located in a field fairly close to the Mittersill Resort had been removed at this point. No changes to the chair.
Facilities: Same.
Accessibility: Same.
**August 2005**
Trails: Continued tree growth.
Lifts: Same. A bit more vandalism/graffiti in chairlift shack though.
Facilities: Same.
Accessibility: Same.
**February 2003/2005**
Trails: Skied them! It was epic. They weren't overly difficult, but the all-natural snow and frequent sapling/bramble made the skiing much more interesting...and awesome! Last run of the day in 2003 was the former T-bar liftline, which was quite narrow and difficult.
Lifts: Got to explore the unloading areas of the T-bar and chairlift. Old unload area for chair seems pretty unsafe and deteriorated. All lift control shacks remain for the T-bar and chair higher up on the mountain as well. The cable had derailed from the chairlift in spots, and the T-bar's cable was strewn on the ground.
Facilities: Same.
Accessibility: The summit of Mittersill is a short hike up from the Taft Slalom trail, and cut through trails lead back to Cannon near the base area. No patrol though...partner up and ski at your own risk!
**Winter 2002**
Trails: Still kept quite clear. Look to still be skiable.
Lifts: Summit Hall double chair still stands in it's entirety minus chairs. A smaller T-bar remains entirely intact as well only minus T's. Hangers for the T-bar are stacked up in the base barn for the double.
Facilities: The Mittersill Resort/Inn still stands and runs, though it seems a bit out of place located on an abandoned ski area.
Accessibility: Completely explorable, and probably still skiable.
