Abandoned Ski Butler
Decades ago, State funding was available so Kentucky could have its own Ski resort in Carrollton, and SKI BUTLER opened its doors in 1981 at General Butler State Park. At 25 acres it boasted 5 chair lifts and a 300 vertical drop.
Ahhhhh the 80's ,when Downhill skiing was Uber fashionable! However The resort being in the southeast still had trouble maintaining snow on the slopes even with snow machines.Though state owned the resort struggled and a group of private investors tried to keep it going for awhile. Ski Butler finally gave up the ghost in winter of 1997-98.
Ski Butler is where I got my first taste of a feeling I've been chasing my whole life. My brothers and I grew up in the adjacent county and our mom brought us here for lessons when I was 8. The 3 of us didn't wait for our instructor and just pointed them downhill, inevitably ending up in a pile at the bottom. My older brother Raymond ended up nordic skiing his way through college at University of New Mexico, a perennial top 10 Division I team. I'm 37 and still ski regularly having just spent a month in Hokkaido Japan chasing powder. I've also skied in a film called 'Unicorn Sashimi' which you can check out online where I completed a pretty amazing 1 1/2 backflip I've titled the lawn dart. Anyway, point is this place was awesome, bringing skiing to a population that would have otherwise missed out.
ReplyDeleteKarl ,thanks for the story that is interesting. Unfortunately nothing is left at this point but part of the chair lift.
DeleteWere exactly is the closed ski resort
ReplyDeleteIt was located here: https://goo.gl/maps/nVTVF9RyiKNHAGtS7
ReplyDeleteThis is where I learned to ski too. I spent every sunday skiing to my heart's content. I think I once saw Karl do a spread eagle and a daffy while going down the black diamond. My first attempt at the black diamond was when I was nine in 93. I went straight down and ended landing on my binding. It bruised my ass so bad that I couldn't walk for a few weeks.
Let’s start a movement to BRING BACK BUTLER!
ReplyDelete