Snow in July

New lifts, face lifts, and the phasing out of old lifts will be in evidence by the time snow flies in the Upper Valley.

The new facility will be the second double chairlift at the Dartmouth Skiway above Lyme, which should be in operation for the coming season. Replacing the Pomalift which has been carrying skiers up Holts Ledge since the Skiway opened in 1956, it will increase the capacity to trails in the area from 700 to 1,100 an hour.

The face lift is on the landing hill for the 45-meter ski jump on the golf course. The hill was put to bed early this summer under a gleaming white 180 by 30 foot fiber glass blanket, startling to summer visitors who may have thought artificial snow was being carried to absurd extremes. The brainchild of a geologist from the Army's Cold Regions Research and Experimental Laboratory and the gift of Owens Corning Fiberglas Corporation, the blanket was designed to control erosion and revegetation. After the slope was reshaped and seeded and fertilized, the blanket was pinned down with staples in five-foot widths. The Christmas-in-July effect has already started to diminish as grass grows up through the fiber glass. In time, the experts say, the blanket will be an unnoticeable part of the hill.

Meanwhile, as two Dartmouth skiing areas benefit from new technology, another falls victim to it. With improved equipment on more challenging slopes, the Oak Hill area has lost popularity to the extent that it has been operating under an unacceptable deficit. Last spring the College commenced negotiations with local recreation groups which might be interested in leasing and maintaining it. Without outside support, Oak Hill, where generations of Dartmouth students and area youngsters learned to ski, will be abandoned.